Italian Crime Cinema: Blood In the Streets & A Decade of Violence Part 4

Franco Nero in HIGH CRIME (1973)

THREE FACES OF CRIME: CORRUPTION, CLIQUES & CALABRESI CHAPTER 4

***WARNING! This article contains pics of nudity***

"Be careful Commissioner. Your anger is not enough to see you through. No, don't try anything. You can't fight alone. If you get caught, your superiors will send you in the hills somewhere to patrol sheep. Try to learn...that it's wise to close an eye. I mean...we're in a corrupt country."

The third, the most dominant and seemingly most popular of the three styles of Italian crime pictures, is the violent cop thrillers that erupted from Italian studios like so much machine gun fire. The progenitor of this style was Enzo G. Castellari's HIGH CRIME (1973). That film starred Franco Nero as Commissioner Belli, a frustrated and short tempered policeman hellbent on ridding the city of its criminal activities. The character Nero portrays is representative of the real life and controversial authority figure, Luigi Calabresi.

Maurizio Merli (middle) in VIOLENT NAPLES (1976)

One look at such films as HIGH CRIME (1973) or VIOLENT NAPLES (1976) and one could immediately label them as clones of more widely known American action pictures such as DIRTY HARRY (1971) or THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). But the Italian counterparts were more visceral and personable in their depictions of exasperated police inspectors battling crime in Italian cities. They all (at least the most notable entries of this style) are modeled on the life of Luigi Calabresi. Many of the films also end the way Calabresi met his demise.

James Whitmore (left) and Nero in HIGH CRIME

Nero points his finger a lot as Commissioner Belli in HIGH CRIME

Nero's role as Commissioner Belli is one of a frustrated civic defender who is constantly shouting, berating, or stepping on all the wrong toes in an effort to squash the mob, drugs and corruption in Genoa, Italy. When his superior, whose loyalty to the force is questioned, is killed, Belli steps in and takes his investigation to the next level. However, he gets in too deep and Belli's actions brings about consequences too close to home.

Such scenes are par for the course in dozens of Italian crime movies. This is from VIOLENT ROME (1975)

Several scenes in this movie mirror situations and events that surrounded the controversial Calabresi that led up to his assassination in 1972. Nero is good here, overacting though he may be. Once he takes over from his superior, Scavino (played by American actor, James Whitmore), he calms down quite a bit, but that's when the violence level cranks up and a number of shocking scenes become staples of the 'Violent Cop' subgenre of Italian crime picture. Often times the elderly, young children and most especially, women are prime targets for the villains in these movies.

Maria Rosaria Omaggio is bullied by the bad guys in COP IN BLUE JEANS (1976)

A woman is brutally beaten near the beginning of LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN (1975)

Women are frequently beaten up in any genre of Italian cinema, but they're especially savaged in the crime pictures with regularity. The elderly are frequently bullied and usually get bullets in their heads for being a bit slow in complying with the criminals. Small children are generally treated as mere animals who made the mistake of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether being purposely and graphically run over by speeding cars, or shot down by vicious thugs, no age is taboo here.

Deodato's LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN

Biagio Pelligra (left) and Luciano Pigozzi (right) hold up a bank in the seminal ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (1976)

As far as public establishments, whether in real life, or in the movies, Italian banks, grocery stores, or even the street in broad daylight were seemingly more violent than the lawless old west. An Italian bank was also the location of one of the major acts of terrorism in Italy during the late 1960's. A particular incident was one that brought the soon to be immortalized, Luigi Calabresi into the crosshairs of a number of criminal organizations.

Belli (Nero; right) is advised by Cafiero (Fernando Rey) in HIGH CRIME (1973)

Calabresi was a police commissioner notorious for his use of excessive force in dealing with rampant crime in Italy. Leading up to his death in May of 1972, Calabresi, as an authority figure, wasn't very well liked. The extreme left movement perpetuated this image after controversy surrounding the death of anarchist, Giuseppe Pinelli, pointed to the no nonsense policeman as an act of murder. The 'Strategy of Tension' was seemingly at work yet again.

HIGH CRIME

In mid December of 1969, a bomb was detonated outside a Milanese bank at the Piazza Fontana. Sixteen people were killed and over 80 others were injured. Anarchist, Giuseppe Pinelli was one of the men allegedly responsible for the explosion. In the early morning hours of December 15th, 1969 Pinelli suspiciously fell to his death from a window while being interrogated inside the police station. Other such activists such as Adriano Sofri, the leader of the extreme left wing political movement, the Lotta Continua ('The Struggle Continues'), believed that Calabresi murdered Pinelli. Charges against the fervent police commissioner and other officers were dropped in 1975 for lack of evidence to support either suicide, or murder.

Merli administers his patented bitch slap to Franco Garofalo (Santoro in HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD) in IL COMMISSARIO DI FERRO (1978)

Then, on May 17th, 1972 Luigi Calabresi was assassinated while leaving for work. It would take some sixteen years before the men responsible were arrested and convicted. Adriano Sofri, the leader of the Lotta Continua, was taken into custody along with two others for the murder of Calabresi. Another (then) political activist, Leonardo Marino, after years of battling the guilt, came forward in 1988 and claimed that Sofri ordered him to commit the execution. Sofri is apparently not in prison at this time due to health reasons. Years later, Pinelli would be cleared of the Piazza Fontana bombing and the act of aggression would be later placed on the Ordine Nuovo ('New Order'), an extreme right political organization.

Tomas Milian in SYNDICATE SADISTS (1975)

Jack Palance (left) and Tomas Milian (right) as the COP IN BLUE JEANS

With the onslaught of Calabresi inspired cop thrillers being unleashed on the Italian populace, the once hated commissioner became something of a cinematic folk hero after his death. With the films being labeled as Fascist by critics, various filmmakers presented their dramatizations of the infamous police inspector as a proletarian seeker of justice. The movie versions of Calabresi were constantly at war not only with crime in the streets, but with a corrupt political and judicial system that was perceived as too liberal allowing criminals to get off with merely a slap on the wrist. 35 years after his death, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in Milan on May 17th, 2007.

VIOLENT NAPLES

Whereas Nero took the lead in the first film to embody Calabresi as proletarian hero, he was most famously portrayed by the much loved actor, Maurizio Merli in a string of movies directed by either Marino Girolami, Stelvio Massi and Umberto Lenzi. Merli took the indomitable cop role to new levels. Many other actors followed in similar movies, but Merli carved an intimidating persona making him the ultimate representation of the tough Italian cop out to sweep the scum off the streets. He was so good at it, when he tried changing up his one dimensional tough cop stigma he was saddled with, it just wasn't the same without the patented Merli bitch slap and rabble rousing speeches about smashing corruption and killing the criminal element.

VIOLENT ROME

No doubt Merli wished to escape the shadow of Franco Nero, the actor with whom his resemblance was his reason for getting the lead in the wonderfully grim VIOLENT ROME (ROMA VIOLENTA 1975) directed by Franco Martinelli (Marino Girolami). This film is special in that it melds the Calabresi style policeman with the machinations of the vigilante squad seen in LA POLIZIA, RINGRAZIA (1971) aka EXECUTION SQUAD. There were also other movies that featured a secret vigilante squad of police officers hellbent on ridding the city of crime at any cost. Two examples are COLT .38 SPECIAL SQUAD (1976) and STUNT SQUAD from 1977. Both films star Marcel Bozzufi (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) and both have similar plotlines.

Above and below--COLT .38 SPECIAL SQUAD (1976)

COLT .38 stars Bozzufi as Inspector Vanni out to get his hands on 'The Black Angel', a cruel and vicious criminal whom Vanni has a personal vendetta against. The villain has a propensity of using explosives to both kill dozens of victims as well as get the attention of the law. Rassimov is suitably disgusting as the main villain and the film contains some striking photography and some choice stunts and quite a lot of bloody violence. It's directed by former DP, Massimo Dallamano.

Above and below--STUNT SQUAD (1977)

STUNT SQUAD sees Bozzufi as Commissioner Griffi out to stop a mad bomber who is blowing up shop owners who refuse to participate in a protection racket. Griffi forms an elite group of motorcycle riding officers skilled in martial arts and firearms. There's lots of action involving car chases, explosions and blood squibs. Director, Domenico Paolella, an acceptional action adventure director, helmed some choice sword and sandal movies and westerns during his career.

Richard Conte and Maurizio Merli are the Execution Squad in a VIOLENT ROME

VIOLENT ROME, the first of a trilogy of films where Merli plays a Commissioner Betti, is his debut outing. It has a good amount of pathos in addition to the brutality, but the action scenes take precedence such as a bravura car chase sequence which sees the villains mow down a group of children with machine gun fire in the hopes of getting Betti off their tail. The Commissioner stops momentarily and observes the situation, but then carries on with the pursuit. An incredibly violent movie, it gets more over the top towards the end. Merli's other two 'Commissario Betti' movies are VIOLENT NAPLES (NAPOLI VIOLENTA 1976) for Umberto Lenzi and SPECIAL COP IN ACTION (ITALIA A MANO ARMATA 1976) again for Franco Martinelli.

VIOLENT NAPLES

Merli is a SPECIAL COP IN ACTION (1976)

Merli played virtually the same character in two additional movies for Umberto Lenzi, but this time as a Commissioner Leonardo Tanzi. Those two movies are ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (ROMA A MANO ARMATA 1976) and THE CYNIC, THE RAT & THE FIST (IL CINICO, L'INFAME, IL VIOLENTO 1977).

ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH

Lenzi's Merli movies are fan favorites as they all, at least for the most part, are incredibly violent in a comic book way. Rife with outrageous characters, ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (1976) personifies the ultimate example of the wild and wooley 'Violent Cop' movie. Merli's Tanzi is no different from his other similar styled brutish cops, but where this film excels is in its villains. There's Tomas Milian as the Hunchback, a character he would revive to more comical effect in BROTHERS TILL WE DIE (1977). Then there's Ivan Rassimov as Parenzo, a supporting villain. He doesn't get a lot of screen time, but he's just one more link in Lenzi's sleazy chain of events.

Above and below; misogyny in ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH

A third criminal element is Stefano Patrizi as the leader of a group of rich kid bastards who get their kicks from raping women and beating up their boyfriends. Lenzi taps into the real life Youth gang violence that was going on at the time which wasn't just relegated to the poor. The upper class had their share of scum who were seeking the lowest kind of thrill. These brutal activities by the young was demonstrated in the exemplary YOUNG, VIOLENT & DANGEROUS (1976). ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH is prime viewing and highly recommended to those curious about the genre. Quite possibly the single most essential title for initiates.

FEAR IN THE CITY (1976)

HIGHWAY RACER (POLIZIOTTO SPRINT 1977)

Also in 1976, the very busy Maurizio Merli tackled yet another similar role in one of my favorite films in the genre, Giuseppe Rosati's FEAR IN THE CITY (PAURA IN CITTA). Here, Merli plays Inspector Murri, a role played by Leonard Mann in a film entitled THE LEFT HAND OF THE LAW (LA POLIZIA INTERVIENE: ORDINE DI UCCIDERE) also from director Rosati in 1975. For two years Merli played virtually the same role. 1977 was a year in which the popular actor seemingly wanted to change his image. He appeared in a western (MANNAJA) and another cop film as a speed racing policeman in POLIZIOTTO SPRINT directed by Stelvio Massi. The director apparently enjoyed doing this film as he also directed a few more cop films involving officials who were race car drivers.

THE CYNIC, THE RAT & THE FIST

1977's THE CYNIC, THE RAT & THE FIST is a lively crime caper laced with grim mobster violence as two foul factions secretly vie for control and Merli's Commissioner Tanzi is caught in the middle. Tomas Milian is 'The Chinaman' who escapes prison with a score to settle with Tanzi. John Saxon is mafioso Frank Di Maggio who figures into an uneasy alliance with 'The Chinaman'. After an attempt on his life by his hated enemy, Tanzi, faking his death, is ordered to leave the country.


However, he continues his investigation in autonomy after his uncle is murdered. Meanwhile, both Di Maggio and Chinaman work together, but not before Tanzi, along with his helper, 'The Professor', instill distrust between them. Both villains ultimately plan to do the other in. This is a Lenzi "epic" as it covers a lot of ground and has a number of interesting set pieces including one in a high rise involving a diamond heist. Sadly, it seems to be the last movie of the gorgeous Gabriella Lepori.

Above and below--IL COMMISSARIO DI FERRO

1978 brought slight change to familiar territory for Merli in IL COMMISSARIO DI FERRO (THE COMMISSIONER OF IRON). It's an ironic title for a movie about a policeman whose iron fisted guise slowly crumbles when his son is kidnapped. Despite a troubled production resulting in an abrupt and lackluster ending, it's a fairly solid thriller. Also that year, Merli injected comedy into his peculiar FEARLESS FUZZ. Very different from any of his other movies, it also benefits from the presence of Joan Collins who gets naked on a couple of occasions.

Merli tries his hand at comedy in FEARLESS FUZZ (1978)

CONVOY BUSTERS

Then there was the mostly trite CONVOY BUSTERS (1978) which breaks no new ground and is a few steps below Merli's best entries from a few years earlier. Frequent and popular peplum actor, Mimmo Palmara plays the main villain here. Olga Karlatos, the actress who got a large splinter in the eye in Fulci's ZOMBIE (1979), plays Merli's love interest in this one. Merli would then close out his cop films with three very interesting pictures by 1980.

Above and below--FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN

FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN (1979), his last for Umberto Lenzi, saw Merli playing a by the book cop (for a change) trying to escort and protect an assassin who will testify against an Italian mobster residing in America. However, the Mafia sets a number of ambushes to prevent the prisoner from making it to the US to testify. Rotund Mario Merola plays the sly and resourceful mob boss Merli wants to put away. It's quite a tightly produced movie and one of Lenzi's best and most "mature" crime movie. Merli is also good, if reserved compared with his past roles in a similar vein. Frequent player of thugs, Biagio Pelligra plays the assassin Merli must protect and he gets a chunky role here and is actually a bit likable. The film ends on a somewhat somber, if anti climactic note.

HUNTED CITY

Merli's last two Italian crime movies are decidedly slower paced, but no less interesting productions. HUNTED CITY (1979), a movie that melds all three Eurocrime varieties; the political, the Mafia and policeman styles is a very well made thriller with quite a sting at the end. Mario Merola again plays a mysterious mobster in a similar role to the one he played in FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN. The script is very intricate and far more deep than the average Merli cop movie. Stelvio Massi directs with an assured hand and despite more intrigue and less action, it's never boring.

THE REBEL

With THE REBEL (1980), Merli said "Arrivederci" to his long list of crime flicks with a very somber and depressing entry. Merli finally gets the chance to emote on a level seldom afforded him in any of his previous pictures. Here, he's given a love interest of more substance and believability. In this film, Merli plays a retired cop who assumes the identity of a hitman belonging to an international assassination cartel responsible for the deaths of a number of wealthy businessmen. It's quite a good movie which seldom gets mentioned when the man's name is brought up. It reminds me of similar, but larger scale thrillers like Don Siegel's TELEFON (1977).

Luc Merenda is A MAN CALLED MAGNUM

While Nero was appearing in a variety of crime pictures and Merli was essaying the ultimate crime stopper, a whole slew of other 'Violent Cops' were on the beat between the years of 1973 leading up to 1980. Familiar faces such as Luc Merenda (THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS 1973, A MAN CALLED MAGNUM 1977), Fabio Testi (REVOLVER 1973, VAI GORILLA 1976) and Tomas Milian (EMERGENCY SQUAD 1974, COP IN BLUE JEANS 1976); the latter of which spun off into a long running series of increasingly comical crime comedies with Milian as Nico Giraldi.

COP IN BLUE JEANS

Fabio Testi in VAI, GORILLA! (1976)

Henry Silva in ALMOST HUMAN

Henry Silva, who was discussed in the previous chapter as part of Fernando Di Leo's exceptional Mafia trilogy, played in a lot of other Italian crime films. Fluctuating between good guys and bad guys, some of Silva's best are the MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE style espionage thriller, ASSASSINATION (1967) for director, Emilio Miraglia. Silva is sleazy in the savage exploitation of CRY OF A PROSTITUTE (1974), where he played a mob hitman in a crime rendition of YOJIMBO (1961).

"Now look, you motherfucker!! This guy's killed a lot of people!!! And if you try to cover up for him, I'm gonna hang your ass!!!"--Commissioner Grandi lays down the law to Ugo (Luciano Catenacci)

ALMOST HUMAN (1974), arguably Lenzi's best effort in the genre had Silva as a frustrated detective obsessed with nabbing a vicious killer and kidnapper. MANHUNT IN THE CITY (1975), another Lenzi effort and much less manic than the directors usual outings has Silva as a vengeance seeking businessman. CRIMEBUSTERS (1976) saw Silva in another policeman role this time teamed up with Antonio Sabato in Michele Massimo Tarantini's entertaining action film. WEAPONS OF DEATH (1977) had Silva as a crime boss being hassled by Leonard Mann.

Franco Gaspari holds up a lifeless John Saxon in MARK COLPISCE ANCORA

MARK IL POLIZIOTTO

Stelvio Massi, one of the genres most prolific directors in addition to being a celebrated cinematographer, also directed his own trilogy of European crime movies starring Franco Gasparri as a cop in much the same vein as the dozens of others proliferating Italian theaters at the time. These were MARK IL POLIZIOTTO (1975), MARK IL POLIZIOTTO PER PRIMO (1975) and MARK COLPISCE ANCORA (1976). Gasparri had a good look about him and seemed to be on his way to promising career when a motorbike accident resigned him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

John Saxon from THE CYNIC, THE RAT & THE FIST

American actors were also used regularly in these movies often as gangsters, or police chiefs. Actors such as John Saxon (THE CYNIC, THE RAT & THE FIST), Arthur Kennedy (ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH), James Mason (FEAR IN THE CITY) and Barry Sullivan (VIOLENT NAPLES) are featured in many of the more well known and best entries the genre had to offer. John Saxon especially. More often than not, he was featured as a mafioso, such as his turn as Albertelli in SPECIAL COP IN ACTION (1976). He also got the chance to play a lead 'Violent Cop' in Stelvio Massi's CROSS SHOT from 1976 and another cop on the corrupt side of the law in MARK COLPISCE ANCORA (1976).

Stuart Whitman has a BLAZING MAGNUM

Oscar nominated actor, Stuart Whitman took the lead role in one of the most outrageous Italian cop movies in the Canadian co-production, BLAZING MAGNUM (A SPECIAL GUN FOR TONY SAITTA 1976). For once the European style of violent policeman movies clearly took inspiration from DIRTY HARRY, but director, Alberto De Martino's movie also adds elements of the Giallo genre. That in itself wasn't unusual as a handful of Italian crime films were hybrids featuring Giallo elements that implemented sometimes gory murders to the proceedings.

CALLING ALL POLICE CARS

Some of these crossovers were WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974), SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR (1975) and CALLING ALL POLICE CARS (1975). While these films have a good balance of frustrated detectives and slight horror overtones, Whitman's Tony Saitta in BLAZING MAGNUM is so over the top, his wild antics take precedence over everything else. Not only that, but the movie contains one helluva bravura car chase sequence that is without doubt one of the greatest high speed pursuit smash ups in cinema history. Whitman also appears to have done quite a bit of his own stunt work here as well.

The show stopping car chase from BLAZING MAGNUM

The film revolves around a police captain on the prowl for the person that killed his sexually liberated sister with poison while attending a Montreal college. Saitta is just about driven mad on his search through her boyfriends and connections which lead him into gun battles and even a high rise apartment free for all with a band of transvestites! The ending is a doozy as Saitta attempts to take down a helicopter with his huge magnum over a crowded section of the city. Truly an inspired piece of cinema trash, John Saxon is Whitman's partner (he gets very little screen time), Martin Landau is a suspect and Tisa Farrow is a blind and potential victim of the killer. Marketed as a horror thriller outside of Italy, it stands tall as one of the liveliest, most energetic and exploitation crammed polizio's ever made.

Ray Lovelock (left) and Marc Porel (right) in LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN

Ruggero Deodato, the director of one of the most inflammatory and violent movies of all time (CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) also got in on the act with the story of two Rome cops who are more ruthless than the criminals on the streets. Entitled LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN (1975), Deodato pulls no punches in creating a savage look at men that live outside the law. Containing a hefty amount of misogyny, the film also contained a gruesome sequence where a man had his eyeball torn out and then squashed by a gangster.

LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN

The scene apparently no longer exists, but Deodato's movie is grim enough, although the ending is a bit of a letdown. He was married to Silvia Dionisio at the time who also has a supporting role in the film. She frequently got naked a lot in her movies and she does just that here as well. This particular movie is a favorite of many. It's just slightly above average for me. Still, it is quite vicious and well worth owning.

George Eastman is KNELL, THE BLOODY AVENGER

The 'Violent Cop' thrillers became a crowded subgenre with many great films, average entries and a good number of poor examples that were mediocre, or simply downright awful. One of the worst was KNELL, THE BLOODY AVENGER (1976) from perennial hack, Alfonso Brescia. Knell is the title character played by George Eastman who makes the trip to New York to avenge the murder of his father, an ex-cop. Jack Palance plays the Mafia bad guy in this thoroughly awful movie that definitely has some trashy moments, but it's sloppily executed by Brescia. Formerly an AD to Mario Caiano on some of his sword and sandal epics, Brescia directed one of his own with the terrible THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR (1965), a movie made up of lots of scenes from Caiano's TERROR OF ROME AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES (1964). Brescia did turn in some decent westerns, though. KNELL is hardly worth talking about. Despite having oodles of violence, there's hardly any blood at all and Brescia's direction makes for one of the most boring Eurocrime films.

Tomas Milian is ALMOST HUMAN

The above mentioned ALMOST HUMAN (1974) is one of the finest entries the genre has to offer. Tomas Milian steals the show and runs off with it as the sleaziest criminal of them all, Guilio Sacchi. In a fascinating change of pace, the determined cop (played by Henry Silva) takes a back seat to the villain. Still, Silva is damn good here and encapsulates everything about the hero who must go beyond the law to see that justice is done. However, Milian's role IS the movie. The entire production is structured around him and his characters actions which go from petty theft to an all out massacre. The daughter of a rich businessman is kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded. Silva is the frustrated cop on the case trying to bring Sacchi to justice. It's quite a brilliant movie and one of the best of director Umberto Lenzi's career.

Scene from SPECIAL COP IN ACTION

Movies featuring kidnapping at the heart of their plots was also a commonplace occurrence taken straight from Italian news headlines. Throughout the 1970's, kidnapping was a frequent practice among the criminal element whether from the poor, or from more sinister sources. In 1975 alone, there were close to a hundred kidnappings predominantly involving victims of wealthy backgrounds. There were a number of movies that dealt with this subject matter and many of the 'Violent Cop' movies revolved around it as well.

Many of the films featured in this article can be purchased at the site linked below...

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