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Monday, June 16, 2008Revolver Year: 1973 AKA: Blood In The Streets Directed by Sergio Sollima Oliver Reed, Fabio Testi, Agostina Belli, Daniel Beretta, Paola Pitagora Music by Ennio Morricone There’s one trait in Italian crime thrillers that I really admire. Nearly all of them, no matter how hyper stylised and cartoon like they may be during their running time, at the end they have a touch of realism. Rarely does the hero ride off into the sunset with his girl by his side. Think about Teleport City favourite Maurizio Merli – how many times has he been shot in the back during the final reel? Revolver is a not a cop film in the usual sense – American or Italian. It can be argued that the hero, Vito Cipriani (Oliver Reed) does make it to the end, and he has his girl by his side, but the film still ends on a cynical, realist note. Just before the credits roll, Cipriani’s wife, Anna (Agostina Belli) pulls away from him, disgusted at the man he has become. But as usual, I am getting ahead of myself – I am talking about the end credits and I’ve only just started the review. Milo Ruiz (Fabio Testi) and his best friend are small time hoods. When this film opens it finds them running from the police after a robbery has gone wrong. Ruiz’s friend has been shot in the stomach and is losing a lot of blood. Ruiz manages to hot wire a car and the two of them make their getaway out of town. They pull up beside a stony river bed. Ruiz’s friend pleads not to allow the police to find his body. He doesn’t want to be taken to a morgue and chopped up by the coroner. Ruiz promises that won’t happen. After his friend has died, Ruiz buries him under some rocks by the river. Some time later, we meet Vito Cipriani – the warden of an Italian prison. One afternoon he is called into the prison to deal with a prisoner, armed with a knife who is causing a riot in the prison’s hospital. Cipriani handles the situation quickly and effectively and then returns home to his wife, only to find she isn’t in the house. Cipriani then receives a telephone call from two men who have kidnapped his wife, Anna. They demand that Cipriani arranges the release from his prison, a prisoner named Milo Ruiz, or his wife will be killed. Cipriani hasn’t go much choice, but explores every avenue possible before agreeing to release Ruiz. But rather than take the blame for Ruiz’s release, Cipriani makes it look like an escape. Cipriani takes Ruiz into an interrogation room and beats the crap out of him. This results in Ruiz being transferred to the prison’s hospital. Then Cipriani calls away the hospital guard giving Ruiz the opportunity to escape. Ruiz grabs the opportunity with both hands, but once over the wall he is picked up at gunpoint by Cipriani. He isn’t the type to ‘hope’ that the kidnappers keep their side of the bargain. He wants Ruiz as a bargaining chip to make sure they keep to their word. Trading Ruiz for Anna doesn’t go as planned. The kidnappers try to double cross Cipriani, and when that doesn’t work they flee with Anna to Paris. Meanwhile Ruiz and Cipriani form an uneasy alliance and both choose to follow the kidnappers to Paris to find and release Anna. Revolver is a pretty good tough thriller. It may not have the same heart pounding car chase scenes that other popular Italian thrillers have, but it doesn’t need them. This film has a solid centre in the form of Oliver Reed. Reed gives a characteristically intense performance that drives this film on. Fabio Testi’s performance is lighter, and it times it seems like it is all a game to Ruiz. And in some ways it is a game. Not a particularly nice game, and one that seems to have the odds stacked fairly against the two anti-heroes.  Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Oliver Reed posted by David at 12:14 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Sunday, April 27, 2008From Corleone to Brooklyn (1979) Directed by Umberto LenziMaurizio Merli, Van Johnson, Biagio Pelligra, Mario Erola Music by Franco Micalizzi From Corleone To Brooklyn is slightly different to most of Merli’s poliziotteschi – but not too much. Firstly he is still one tough cop, who’ll go to extreme lengths to stop crime dead in it’s tracks. He is still determined to see justice done. But in this film he get’s along with his superiors. He even jokes around with them, and in turn they back him up. And there is not one single tirade about the system protecting the criminals, and punishing the victims of crime. It’s only a subtle change to Merli’s usual screen persona, but one that presents a new slant to his character. He isn’t a loner. At times he may have to do the job on his own, but generally he has the support of his colleagues and friends. From Corleone To Brooklyn opens in New York. Vito Fernando (Mario Merola ) has just moved out from Sicily. He is meeting a few old friends in a restaurant when two uniformed police officers enter and demand to see the newcomers passport. Fernando supplies his passport only to have the officer declare it a fake. A commotion in the restaurant allows Fernado to get away, much to the embarrassment of the officers involved. Then we cut to Palermo. Lieutenant Berni (Maurizio Merli) is investigating the Mafia related killing of one of the local mob bosses, Salvatore Santoro. Santoro’s brother, Francesco is walking through the markets when two men with machine guns burst out of a delivery van and gun him down. The police were watching Francesco but were unable to stop the killing, but they pursue the delivery van as it tries to make a quick getaway. During the pursuit, the police radio for back up, and soon, Berni and a whole battalion of police cars are on the narrow Palermo streets chasing the van. The chase ends up on foot, and as one of the perpetrators tries to get away, Merli proves he can still throw a decent punch. Meanwhile the US police fax through the details of Vito Fernando hoping for some background information. Upon seeing the fax, Berni realises that Fernando is actually Barresi hiding out in the USA. Misguided by his lawyer, Barresi voluntarily turns him to the police. He figures they do not know he is Baressi, and he has committed no crime in the U.S. Except for illegal entry. But Berni notifies them otherwise and convinces one of Barresi’s footsoldiers, Salvatore Scalia (Biagio Pelligra) to act as a witness against Barresi. That way he can be extradited back to Italy to stand trial.  But it isn’t as simple as that. Naturally Barresi doesn’t want to be extradited or stand trial so he arranges for every hood between Palermo and New York to kill Berni and Scalia. With every mob enforcer on their trail, Berni and Scalia’s trip is vigorous and fraught with danger.This film is more atmospheric and less visceral than some of Merli’s earlier poliziotteschi films, and it is aided by a story that makes sense. It features investigative police work, rather than Merli simply being in the right place at the right time or beating up snitches for a scrap of information. I enjoyed From Corleone To Brooklyn. It is more mature than some of Merli and director Umberto Lenzi’s other collaborations, but sadly this would be the last time they would work together. Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Maurizio Merli posted by David at 1:15 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Sunday, March 23, 2008Violent Rome (1975) AKA: Roma Violenta, Forced Impact, Violent CityDirected by Marino Girolami Maurizio Merli, Ray Lovelock, John Steiner, Richard Conte, Luciano Rossi Music by Guido De Angelis, Maurizio De Angelis Writing a few recent reviews of Eurocrime films has made me want to revisit Violent Rome. I know Keith has covered it pretty comprehensively in his long form review – to read it, click here – but a part of me just couldn’t leave it alone. And can you blame me? Consider this an appetiser, compared to Keith’s three course meal. The man with the moustache, Maurizio Merli is back, as another hard-hitting, no holds barred police officer, in this the first of a trio of poliziotteschi films (the other two being Violent Naples (1976), and A Special Cop in Action (1976)). This time, Merli is Commissioner Betti, and guess what? He is committed to stopping crime at any cost, and he doesn’t get along with his superiors. Sound familiar? It is very similar Rome Armed To The Teeth, which I reviewed a few months back. It’s also similar to hundreds of other tough police dramas, not the least being Dirty Harry. Have already made the comparison between Violent Rome and Rome Armed To The Teeth, I’ll continue the association. While both films are episodic and hardly feature any police work (leads are obtained by informers or beating suspects within an inch of their lives), I must say that Violent Rome is the weaker of the two films. And this is based solely of the strength of the villain. Tomas Milian provided a focal point for the police’s frustration (and hostility) in Rome Armed To The Teeth. But Violent Rome doesn’t provide us with such a character. Sure there are dozens of scumbags for Betti to chase, punch, kick, or shoot at, but none last more than two scenes. Then again, that may be the point. It doesn’t matter how quickly Betti cleans the scum off the street, there are always more ready to take their place. Another big difference between Violent Rome and Rome Armed To The Teeth is at the half waypoint in the movie, Betti hands in his badge. Betti is disgraced after he shoots a criminal dead (John Steiner), rather than attempting to bring him in. It doesn’t matter to the powers that be, that this crim had shot a police officer in the back, and then whilst attempting to escape, indiscriminately fired a machine gun at a playground full of children, killing three. It was far easier to remove Betti, whose methods were an embarrassment to the police department. For the second half of the movie, Betti works as a professional vigilante. A group of businessmen, led by lawyer Sartori (Richard Conte), have had a gutful of the impotence of the police force and the increase in crime in their city. They have banded together to fight crime, their own way. It’s all legal of course (citizen’s arrests – no killings), but it isn’t long before the group become a nuisance to the criminal underworld, and the underworld strike back. There are a few other things worth mentioning. The first is a subplot involving corporal Biondi (Ray Lovelock). During the course of the movie, he sustains a gunshot wound to the spine. He becomes paralysed from the waist down. His scenes are the most poignant in the film. Biondi had joined the force wanting to be like Betti. Even after he is shot, he still has the burning desire to put the scumbags behind bars. But as he slowly watches Betti change into a ‘monster’ (it’s an exaggeration, but you get the point), Biondi slowly changes his point of view. It’s a subplot that could have been expanded more, but quite simply on the whole this film doesn’t slow down for characterization. Another great scene involves a car chase through the streets of Rome. What impressed me, in a scene that shows just how cool headed and determined Betti is, is when his windscreen is shattered during the chase, obscuring his view. Does he stop? No. While driving, with one foot planted fully on the accelerator, he uses his other foot to kick out the windscreen. Violent Rome, is vigorous, heart pounding stuff. If violent seventies style cop thrillers are your cup of tea, this is well worth checking out. It isn’t high art, by any stretch of the imagination but it does provide all the elements that you’d expect from this genre; car chases, gun fights, fist fights, fierce interrogations. And as a slight warning, it also features a particularly ugly rape scene. Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Maurizio Merli posted by David at 7:21 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Saturday, March 22, 2008Destruction Force (1977) (La Banda del trucido)Directed by Stelvio Massi Luc Merenda, Tomas Milian, Elio Zamuto, Franco Citti, Katia Christine, Rosario Borelli Music by Bruno Canfora Destruction Force is another poliziotteschi, and despite the title, there really is no “force” involved. By that I mean, it’s not a tough band of men within the police department who make up ‘The Destruction Force’. There is physical force in the form of Luc Merenda who beats up on quite a few people. There’s one great scene where the villain has the jump on Merenda, and has him don a set of handcuffs. Does this stop Merenda? No way! He kicks the crap out of the villain. The movie opens with a nifty pre-credit sequence where a family are being held hostage in their apartment by three drug fuelled, gun toting punks. Detective Ghini (Luc Merenda) is called to the scene and tries to negotiate with the hoodlums. They demand a car in twenty minutes. This doesn’t give Ghini much time. Also the drug induced high is wearing off the punks and they are starting to get agitated. Ghini has two officers shoot the front door lock and go in, while he swings down from the roof on a rope and blasts through the window. Meanwhile there has been another shooting across town. The bandits involved have escaped, but in the act they have shot and killed the Police Chief of Crime. He is the sixth cop to die in the line of duty during the year. A shaggy Tomas Milian plays Monnezza, who is a returning character from the prequel to this film; Umberto Lenzi’s Free Hand For A Tough Cop (which I haven’t seen). Here Monnezza runs a restaurant which specialises in insulting the patrons. Apparently the tourists enjoy being abused by the Romans. It adds a little colour to their dining experience. Monnezza also runs a gang of anti-violence criminals. They like to steal things the old fashioned way, without guns or violence. Monnezza is approached by a crim called Gianni. Gianni is a second tier gangster working for a guy named Belli (Elio Zamuto). Belli is planning a diamond heist. Gianni needs a driver for Belli’s heist. On the proviso that the heist will not be violent and no guns involved, Mannezza puts forward his childhood friend ‘Frog’ to do the driving. After the death of the Police Chief of Crime, Ghini is offered the position. He says he will take it on the condition that he is allowed to clean up the streets his way – no questions asked. His methods are quickly on display in a billiard parlour when a gang of hoods hinder his apprehension of a criminal. He takes the hoods apart with a billiard cue. With ‘Frog’ driving, Belli, Gianni and another hood attempt their planned diamond heist. Apparetly it wasn’t planned too well, as the couriers vehicle had bullet proof glass. The heist is a flop and Belli plans to try again in another way, on another day. As robbery involved guns, ‘Frog’ wants out of the deal, and refuses to drive again for Belli. For his trouble, he is executed. Not only does this execution stir Ghini into action, it also angers Monnezza. Until this point Monnezza has been an a ‘old school’ crim, but now he has been pushed to use violence. So not only does Belli have the police force after him, he also has Monnezza and his gang. Destruction Force, while maybe not as viscerally heart pounding like some other Eurocrime films is still very solid entertainment. It has a good selection of characters and a story that you can actually follow for once. Milian seems to be having a great time playing Monnezza and has some amusing monologues with Monnezza junior, his baby son. Merenda is a good dashing hero type and throws a punch well. Labels: Eurocrime posted by David at 8:08 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Thursday, March 20, 2008The Bloody Hands Of The Law (1973) Directed by Mario GariazzoPhilippe Leroy, Klaus Kinski, Cyril Cusack, Tony Norton, Silvia Monti, Fausto Tozzi, Pia Giancaro, Lincoln Tate, Rosario Borelli Music by Stelvio Cipriani The film opens at an airport. A professional hitman, Joe Gambino (Lincoln Tate) has flown in. He meets with another hood, Salvatore Perrone (Rosario Berelli), and together they go an assassinate and old guy lying in a heavily guarded room in a hospital. The hit goes like clockwork, and Gambino returns from whence he came. Unfortunately for our two killers, a girl at a counter at the airport noticed Gambino as he came in. Equally unfortunate, the two killers noticed her, noticing them. Once an identikit photo of Gambino is splashed all over the newspapers, the criminal organisation behind the hit, decree that the girl should be silenced. The task of killing the girl falls on Vito Quattroni, played by Klaus Kinski. Kinski looks very dapper in this role. He wears nice suits and a slick pair of sunglasses. As with most of Kinski’s performances, there is something creepy about it. This is amplified by the fact that he doesn’t speak throughout the film. Quattroni does what he is paid to do. He arranges to have the key stolen to the girls apartment, so he can wait for her return. Quattroni isn’t even perturbed when she turns up with her boyfriend. He kills her and then stabs the boyfriend in the back. All without a flicker of emotion. All this criminal activity is assigned to Detective DeCarmine (Philippe Leroy). Leroy has all the best clichéd dialogue. He is a cop from the Maurizio Merli, Franco Nero school. That is to say, he is doggedly determined to fight crime, no matter what methods are required to obtain results. Of course this brings him into conflict with his superiors. You know the score. Here the difference is that Leroy doesn’t have the ‘golden boy’ looks of some of the other stalwarts of the Eurocrime genre. He is not a gorgeous avenging angel. He is a bit older, his hair is thinning and his face is gaunt. He looks like he really has spent his time on the bricks. After a few more witnesses and suspects die, DeCarmine’s superior’s allow him to use some more aggressive methods for tracking down the ringleaders of this current crime wave. This leads to some good old fashioned interrogation scenes, with bright lights and suspects chained to their seats, while DeCarmine beats the living shit out of them. Eventually, along with some furniture and a few skulls, DeCarmine starts to break the case. One lead, leads into another and so forth. The Bloody Hands Of The Law is a half decent Eurocrime feature. It doesn’t have the flair of some of the ones that were made in the mid seventies, but all of the pre-requisite Dirty Harry inspired clichés are here. What stops this from being a great Eurocrime film is the repetition in the second half. Once DeCarmine’s shackles are removed and he can go about the case his way, it is almost a foregone conclusion that he’ll break the crime ring. But we see one beating after another, and it all becomes mind-numblingly the same.  Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Klaus Kinski posted by David at 5:58 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Wednesday, March 19, 2008Fear In The City (1976) (Paura in Citta)AKA: Hot Stuff, Street War Directed by Giuseppe Rosati Maurizio Merli, James Mason, Raymond Pellegrin, Silvia Dionsio, Franco Ressel, Cyril Cusack Music by Giampaolo Chiti When it comes to giving crime a right proper kicking, no one kicks harder than Maurizio Merli. And he’s back in another hard-hitting poliziotteschi. This time he plays Inspector Murri whose methods are...hang on, you should know the spiel by now. Merli and his moustache are a regular fixture here at Teleport City. For the one or two of you who need a refresher, click on the following titles to jump to previous Merli adventures: Violent Rome: Violent Naples: Convoy Busters: Rome – Armed To The Teeth. The rest of you know what to expect. Fear In The City delivers more of the same. The film starts with a prison break out. Master criminal Letteri (Raymond Pellegrin) and ten other prisoners barely raise a sweat as they traverse the prisons corridors until they get to the library. Inside the library, Masoni (Cyril Cusack), a model prisoner is doing a spot of reading. The escapees grab Masoni and drag him along as they make their way to the gates, and out into a waiting van. After the breakout, the retribution begins. The gang start erasing all the snitches who got them put away in the first place. The first is a prostitute who gets picked from a roadside kerb. For $30 she promises to take the driver around the world. He agrees. She gets in. After a few minutes, she enquires where she is being taken. She is then grabbed by a guy hiding in the back of the car. Once restrained, she is shot. Next, three men burst into a bar, and shoot the bartender. The carnage continues as a couple are enjoying a bit of horizontal relaxation in a dingy room when the door is kicked in by a scary lookin’ guy brandishing a shotgun. He blasts both man and woman. The last guy to get whacked is a guy wearing an ugly green suit. I don’t know if the villains killed him because he was a snitch, or because anyone wearing such an ugly suit should die. Either way, he is kicked and pummelled and then hurled off a bridge. James Mason is the Police Commissioner and he is in a quandary about what to do about the increase in crime. He wants action and results, but the men under his command are incapable of giving it to him. But despite the cities problems, there is one option that the Commissioner refuses to take – and that is get Inspector Murri (Maurizio Merli) back on the force. He doesn’t agree with Murri’s violent methods of law enforcement. Unfortunately for the Commissioner, the Minster for the Interior does not share his view, and insists that Murri be re-instated, and assigned to ‘sort out’ the city’s problems. Unlike other Merli films, this one is a little different in that he actually does some police work. Usually he just drives along, and crime will happen outside his car window -no investigation required. But in Fear In The City he actually follows a few leads. He tracks down the niece of Masoni, Laura (Silvia Dionisio). She’s a good girl gone bad, who now works as a hooker. Naturally, Murri pumps her for information. But Fear In The City is not so different that it doesn’t feature a high speed chase through the streets of Rome. This one happens to be on motorbike. Another staple of the Eurocrime thriller is the bank hold-up scene, complete with hostages. And to the film’s credit it gives it a twist. Rather than have Murri sneak into the bank and then shoot the ‘perps’, they have Murri sneak into boot of the getaway car. Once the crims have made their getaway, Murri pops out and shoots them. The music by Giampaolo Chiti is avant-guarde jazz. Many Eurocrime thrillers go for loud pumping rock scores – but Chiti is more subtle. He creates a tense atmosphere using syncopated bass and bongo beats, and the film is all the better for it. Fear In The City is exactly like it should be. Loud and violent. It may not be everybody's idea of a great night’s entertainment, but if you like hyper-realised Italian cop thrillers, then add this one to your list. Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Maurizio Merli posted by David at 2:07 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Sunday, February 10, 2008The Boss (1973) AKA Murder Inferno, WipeoutDirected by Fernando Di Leo Henry Silva, Richard Conte, Gianni Garko, Antonia Santilli, Howard Ross, Marino Masé, Claudio Nicastro, Andrea Aureli, Pier Paolo Capponi Music by Luis Enríquez Bacalov Based on the novel "Il Mafioso" by Peter McCurtin Does any other actor do ‘menace’ like Henry Silva? Sure there were some good ‘bad’ actors in the seventies. John Saxon, Michael Ansara and John Colicos were all featured as nefarious characters in films too numerous to mention. They were bad. They were evil. But were they menacing? No, that was solely Henry Silva’s domain, and during the seventies and eighties he was the king of ‘menace’. The Boss, an Italian Euro Crime thriller, showcases Silva’s unique brand of intimidation: death and destruction. The film, set in Palermo, opens with Don Antonio Attardi (Andrea Aureli ) and some mafia colleagues arriving at a cinema to watch a private screening of the latest, top-shelf porn from Copenhagen. Sneaking into the projection room is Nick Lanzetta (Henry Silva). Lanzetta assembles a bloody great grenade launcher, and then fires some shots into the cinema. Don Attardi and his colleagues are blown to pieces. Lanzetta is a vicious soldier for mafia Don Giuseppe Daniello (Claudio Nicastro). And as you will have surmised, Attardi was Daniello’s main competitor. Not anymore. But Daniello, while being high on the mafia chain, isn’t the local head of the syndicate. That honour goes to Don Carrasco (Richard Conte). Corrasco is the Boss of Bosses. And it is under his orders, that Daniello has arranged the hit. Accompanied by Don Daniello, Lanzetta, dressed in black turtle neck which just screams out ‘I am a killer’, arrive at Don Corrasco’s palatial home. Corrasco greets them enthusiastically after their successful coup. Corasco takes Lanzetta aside and indicates that Lanzetta’s initiative and skill will help him rise in the family. Back at the Attardi family, Cocchi (Pier Paolo Capponi) has taken control. He refuses to accept the family’s defeat and plans an all out gang war. His first move is to kidnap Don Daniello’s daughter. Cocchi telephones Don Daniello while he is meeting Corrasco and informs him that he has Rina (Antonia Santilli), Daniello’s daughter. But there is no ransom demand. It is a simple trade – Don Daniello’s life for his daughter. Naturally Daniello turns to his number one man, Lanzetta, to formulate a plan to get her back The Boss is the third part of an unofficial Euro Crime trilogy, the other two films being Milan Calibre 9 and Manhunt, which also features Henry Silva. And this one isn’t too bad. Some Eurocrime thrillers have a tendency to be over-ripe, with a lot of sweating, shouting and wild hand movements. Thankfully The Boss plays it pretty cool. This is probably due to Silva, who is ice-cool and Richard Conte’s steady understated performance as Corrasco. Conte, after playing Don Barzini in The Godfather spend the rest of his life playing mob bosses and the like. Overall, The Boss is a very entertaining flick. As you can imagine, with the themes it encompasses, it is pretty violent. But if violence doesn’t bother you, and you’re a fan of tough mafia films, this is well worth checking out. Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Henry Silva posted by David at 3:08 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Light Blast (1985) AKA: Colpi di luce, Neon KillerDirected by Enzo G. Castellari Erik Estrada, Thomas Moore (Ennio Girolami), Michael Pritchard, Peggy Rowe, Bob Taylor Music by Guido De Angelis and Maurizio De Angelis “It’s maggots like you that make me like my job!” Light Blast is a trashy B-grade cop thriller starring Erik Estrada who was swept to fame in the late 70’s and early 80’s playing Frank ‘Ponch’ Poncharello in the TV series CHiPs. For those too young to remember CHiPs, it was a show about two California Highway Patrol police officers, Estrada, and Larry Wilcox, who rode motorcycles and arrested crooks. In Light Blast, again Estrada plays a cop, but this time he’s decidedly more ‘Dirty Harry’ than 'Ponch’. To readers, it must seem lazy for a reviewer to continually mention Dirty Harry, but Harry casts a very long shadow. If a cop film features a tough, violent loner who is good with a gun, then the film is undoubtedly influenced by Harry Callahan and his 44 magnum. Likewise, if a film is more gritty and character driven, it probably owes a debt to The French Connection. And in keeping, if a film features a black actor as the lead, then the film is measured up against Richard Roundtree’s Shaft. All three films were made in 1971. It was a good year for cop movies (although Shaft was a ‘private dick’). And all three films provide the template for the cop films that followed. It could be argued that over the years in police films, although the cops have battled a various assortment of psychos, it wasn’t until the success of The Silence Of The Lambs, that the style of cop films changed from the model set up in the early 1970’s. These days, cop shows on television (like C.S.I.) and at the movies are pretty dark affairs, with serial killers, stalkers, paedophiles, and bizarre cults plaguing society. As entertainment, I must admit I find it all rather distasteful - that’s not to say that some of them aren’t good productions. But I long for the days of good old fashioned ‘cops and robbers’. It’s easier to understand the motives of your old style villain. It’s greed and selfishness. He wants money. But today’s villain tends to keep a collection of body parts in his basement, which I can’t really relate to. And furthermore, I am not too enamoured when it is served up as entertainment night after night (C.S.I. and Bones – I am looking at you), and yearly at the movies (how many Hannibal Lechter films do we need?) But I have digressed. Light Blast is from the Dirty Harry school of cop films. Estrada is Ronn Warren, a San Francisco cop. The film opens with Dr. Yuri Soboda (Michael Pritchard) test firing a new high tech laser weapon at a railway depot. At the depot a young couple are engaging in a bit of hanky-panky in a train carriage. Unusual location for a secret tryst, but whatever works for you! As the ray hits the carriage, the young lovers melt...yuk! Then we cut to a hostage situation. Two armed robbers are holding a dozen people hostage in a bank. Police have circled the building and are trying to negotiate a resolution. But it isn’t easy to reason with the gunmen. To prove that they mean business they shoot one of the hostages. They demand a plane. The police officer in charge of the negotiation – the one with the megaphone – tells them that the plane will take time. Next, the gunmen want a meal. They also want the food delivered by someone without clothes, that way they can see if the person is armed. Naturally the police don’t send a civilian. They send Ronn Warren. He walks up to the bank practically naked, holding a giant turkey and french-fries (or ‘CHiPs’ as I like to call them – sorry, bad pun). Warren quickly overpowers the ‘perps’ and frees the hostages. He does this with a pistol hidden in the turkey – er, yeah! Meanwhile, a message is sent to the mayor of San Francisco, by Soboda saying that he wants five million dollars. But first he will fire the weapon again at 5:48pm to prove that the threat is legitimate. As a precaution the city’s police officers are sent to cover and protect all the public event happening that day. Warren is sent to the Freemont Speedway. And of course, that’s where Soboda and his team of extortionists strike. They fire the weapon and melt the announcers booth at the speedway.  Warren observes this, and pursues the laser, which is housed in a television broadcast truck. This leads us to the first of the films four car chase scenes. As the film is set in San Francisco, you will naturally think of Bullitt when you see the vehicles speeding around the undulating San Fran street scape. Needless to say, that none of these chases even comes close to the level of excitement in Bullitt. After each chases, Soboda raises his ransom demands. The final chase starts with a citizen exclaiming, “Hey! What the f*ck are you doin!”, and that perfectly sums up the viewing experience.Light Blast is trash. The only reason to watch it, is if you are old enough to remember CHiPs fondly, because Erik Estrada is all this film has going for it. The acting is generally atrocious, and the action scenes are repetitive. Each one is a car chase! Labels: Eurocrime posted by David at 3:05 PM | 0 Comments | Links to this post Rome: Armed To The Teeth (1976) AKA: Assault with a Deadly WeaponBrutal Justice Tough Ones Directed by Umberto Lenzi Maurizio Merli, Arthur Kennedy, Giampiero Albertini, Maria Rosaria Omaggio, Tomas Milian, Ivan Rassimov, Luciano Pigozzi, Stefano Patrizi Music by Franco Micalizzi Here's a quick look at another cop thriller from Italy. This poliziotteschi (as Italian cop thrillers are called), features Maurizio Merli as Dectective Leonardo Tanzi, a tough cop in the Dirty Harry tradition. As an actor, Merli was often derided as being a Franco Nero wannabe, but this probably has more to do with his blonde hair and blue eyed looks than the quality of his acting. In fact Merli carved out quite a niche for himself playing tough cops in a series of films, most notably, Violent Rome (1975), Violent Naples (1976), and the sequel this film, The Cynic, The Rat And The Fist (1977) – the last two, also directed by Umberto Lenzi. Rome Armed To The Teeth doesn't have much of a plot. It is very episodic and there is very little investigating or police procedure involved. There are a lot of 'right place at the right time' sequences. Crime just seems to happen around Tanzi. As I said, this film is Dirty Harry inspired, that is, Tanzi keeps arresting the crooks, and the next day they are back out on the street. Also, Tanzi's unorthodox (and sometimes violent) methods continually result in him being dragged over hot coals by his superior, Ruini (Arthur Kennedy). And interesting subplot, which isn't explored as fully as it could be, is the relationship between Tanzi and his girlfriend, Anna (Maria Rosaria Omaggio). Anna is a criminal psychologist, and on her recommendation many criminals are released early or set free. Of course, this is at odds with Tanzi's opinion, that all criminals should be locked up – no matter what the circumstances. Her attitude (understanding, and rehabilitation), doesn't even waver, even after a gang of hoodlums kidnap her, and beat and humiliate her in an attempt to get to Tanzi. She refuses to tell him the details of the abduction, in the fear that he'll fly off the handle and seek retribution. The villain of the piece is a hunchback named Maretto, played by Tomas Milian. At first glance, because of his deformity, he seems like a weedy lower tier punk, but he actually is psychotic (but it is hard to take seriously someone who wears red trousers!) Maretto's most violent act is when, armed with a sub-machine gun, he hijacks an ambulance. In transit, he kills the doctor and patient on board, and forces the driver to race around the streets of Rome; all the while an armada of police cars follow in hot pursuit. A traffic light stops the chase, and the ambulance crashes in a crowed market. Maretto jumps out of the ambulance and fires his sub-machine gun into the crowd to create a diversion. There's some very good setpieces in this film. One of the best is after a gang of upper-class teenagers, led by the baby-faced Stefano Patrizi, rape a girl and beat up her boyfriend. Tanzi catches up with the 'perps' at a billiard parlour, and after smashing Patrizi's face right through the glass top of a pinball machine, he beats the crap out of the other members of the gang. It is very interesting to compare this scene to a similar scene in a billiard parlour, in Chuck Norris’ Code Of Silence(1985).  Rome Armed To The Teeth is a good fast paced cop thriller. If it has a small weakness, it is the resolution. After all the good action set pieces (the two mentioned above, a rooftop chase, and a good hostage situation in a bank), that the final confrontation doesn't really stack up. But that aside, this film has good, tough dialogue, good action scenes, and terrific pumping score, by Franco Micalizzi. If you like cop films, this is worth a look, but beware – there are butchered versions of this film out there that only run 79 minutes, and apparently are missing the opening scenes, that set up much of Tanzi's frustration with the system.Labels: Eurocrime, Stars: Maurizio Merli posted by David at 4:12 AM | 0 Comments | Links to this post |
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