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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Lasting somewhere between the late
1960s and continuing on until the late 1980s, the so-called Italian Years of
Lead was a period of social unrest and upheaval including but not limited
to terrorist attacks from the left and right sides of the political fence as
well as boundless political corruptions.
Referring to the number of shootings during the period, the term ‘Poliziotteschi’
or police-related crime film (Euro-crime or Italo-crime) gradually emerged from
the mayhem plaguing contemporary Italy. Of
this period, an entire subgenre of Italian cinema in response to the Years
of Lead as well as a response to the Dirty Harry movies in the
United States presented itself, which brings us to Arrow Video’s newly curated Years
of Lead blu-ray boxed set.
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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Consisting of five feature films (two
of which are from director Vittorio Salerno), the Years of Lead box
gives newcomers something of a smorgasbord of titles illustrating a thematic
progression and stylistic journey over the course of the movies in the
set. Transposing the troubling daily
news stories of crime and murders onto the silver screen, the Poliziotteschi
genre is unique for treading a fine line between entertainment and exploitation. Gritty, rough and ragged, each film offers a
different perspective of a different facet of criminal activity originating
within Italy, whether it be tied to robberies or senseless murders or whatever
the case of corruption is being dramatized.
Often gruesomely hyperviolent and adorned
with sex, drugs and nudity, the Years of Lead box is a bumpy but well
worthwhile ride through the fast and dangerous life of mid-70s Italy that’s
equal parts outrageous and enlightening.
Of a period that cannot be replicated no matter how hard filmmakers of
the new millennia try, the Years of Lead is a welcome smattering of the
Poliziotteschi genre that’ll please die hard fans as well as shock and enthrall
the uninitiated eager to dive into the mire of distinctly Italian cinematic
criminal underworlds thanks to the good folks at Arrow Video with what is easily
one of the year’s most important blu-ray boxed sets released by the company.
*Note: the films being reviewed are
presented out of chronological order, instead following the set’s arrangement
and thematic journey of the films*
Savage Three (1975)
One of the more unusual offerings in
Joe Dallesandro’s career in Italian film and one of the most brutally violent
films in the Years of Lead box, Vittorio Salerno’s Savage Three is
unusual for all of the crimes being senseless exercises in egomaniacal
sociopathy. Concerning a Turing office
building consisting of punching numbers into an oversized archaic computer, Ovidio
(Dallesandro) and two of his co-workers get bored one day and start a brawl at
a soccer game. Turned on by the thrill
of vandalism, the trio starts committing random crimes against innocent bystanders
for their own amusement, each act increasingly more destructive and vicious
than the last. Only a grizzled veteran
commissioner (Enrico Maria Salerno) stands to bring an end to the bored
threesome’s goalless bloodletting.
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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Memorable for an unforgettably nasty
murder of a topless woman involving a forklight, Savage Three packs just
as hard of a brass knuckled punch as it did for Italian moviegoers in
1975. From its non-judgmental study of
senseless violence feeding a sociopathic ego to its regard for how the
mundanities of day to day life can give rise to violence percolating in
apathetic individuals, Savage Three presents viewers with a conundrum. On the one hand, with the film’s pulsating
rock track by Franco Campanino, the film invites you to participate with the
killers in the havoc being wrought. On
the other hand, the acts of violence are so devoid of motivation and are
presented so completely you’re automatically repulsed by their actions anyway.
One of the darkest films in the set for
depicting Italian social breakdown in microcosm, particularly with the
hard-to-watch analogy of caged rats attacking one another followed by the film’s
infamous soccer game riot, Savage Three is every bit as bumpy and
morally adrift ride as you would come to expect from the Poliziotteschi subgenre. In the order of the set, it starts off Years
of Lead with a brutal bang, letting you know right away the journey is only
going to get more complex, more violent and more deathly startling from
here.
Like Rabid Dogs (1976)
Picking up where Kubrick’s A
Clockwork Orange left off with a dose of impishly perverse The Last House
on the Left camaraderie among the killers, Mario Imperioli’s nasty and
often rapey Like Rabid Dogs thematically follows in the footsteps of Savage
Three for continuing the study of senseless unmotivated violence committed
purely because the choice is there.
After (like Savage Three) a stadium murder is committed,
inspector Paolo Muzi (Jean-Pierre Sabagh) finds himself hot on the trail of four
criminals engaged in a killing spree replete with robberies and rapes. All of which is at the behest of overprivileged
maniac Tony (Cesare Barro) who recruits his college buddies as his cronies in
the increasingly vicious crime spree.
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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Loosely based on the Circeo Massacre
and the toughest to watch film with many sequences of women’s clothes being
ripped off before they’re murdered, Like Rabid Dogs is easily the
roughest and bumpiest ride in the set.
Partially a critique of the overprivileged leading lives of lawlessness
and exploitation of others in their way as well as a pure offering of
exploitation with more than a few sex scenes tossed in for good measure, Like
Rabid Dogs comes the closest to crossing over into transgressive
territory. The film also presents the
struggle between the long little cop versus the Goliath of wealthy socialites
who continue to sweep their dirty little secrets under the rug.
Visually the first panoramic film in
the set thanks to lush cinematography by Romano Albani and also boasts a funky
score by Mario Molini. Still, of the
poliziotteschi’s presented in the set thus far, this one was actually even more
brutal and nasty than say Umberto Lenzi’s The Tough Ones which also didn’t
leave any act of violence off the table.
As a crime thriller it is a fascinating if not abrasive and occasionally
disturbing one. Fans of the
poliziotteschi won’t be disappointed but the uninitiated are in for one
seriously rude awakening. Moving right
along…
Colt 38 Special Squad (1976)
Now this is what I’m talking
about! What Have You Done to Solange?
director Massimo Dallamano’s Colt 38 Special Squad out of the gate
is an instant over-the-top poliziotteschi classic! While the first two films took some time to
develop the crimes onscreen, Colt 38 Special Squad opens immediately on
a heated gun battle between cops and a criminal kingpin. After the police captain Vanni’s (Marcel Bozzuffi)
wife is shot dead at point blank range, he takes the law into his own hands and
assembles a squad of enforcers armed with .38 colt revolvers, unleashing an
unstoppable armada against the kingpin who also start raising the stakes as
more and more terrorist bombings in public venues begin to spike.
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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Featuring some extended gun shootouts rivaling
Michael Mann’s Heat and a car door closing on a gangster’s hand you won’t
soon forget, Colt 38 Special Squad is truly a home run of a movie. Not only the most enjoyably brutal and
over-the-top violent film in the set with some chase stunt sequences that have
to be seen to be believed, Colt 38 Special Squad stands on its own as
one of the best Italian action crime thrillers of the 1970s period! While sadly the last film of Massimo Dallamano
who passed away shortly after completing the picture, this could well be his
masterpiece he had been working towards all of his career. Though open to debate which is his best, for
my money Colt 38 Special Squad is easily my favorite of his.
Visually the film is expertly
photographed in widescreen by Gabor Pogany with some arresting sequences
involving chases with motorcycles, cars and even one where a car is on top of a
train driving towards the front boxcar.
The film also enlists the musical talents of Nightmare City composer
Stelvio Cipriani who infuses the piece with an urgency that drives the film
forward. Mostly though the film is a
showdown between Marcel Bozzuffi and the crime boss played with gusto by Ivan
Rassimov from All the Colors of the Dark with many scenes of colorful
set designs such as the nightclub which functions as a sort of hideout for the
killers. All in all, Colt 38 Special
Squad gets my pick for favorite film in the set and is one Hell of a crime
thriller in its own right, poliziotteschi or not.
Highway Racer (1977)
The first of many collaborations
between director Stevio Massi and actor Maurizio Merli who soon became the face
of poliziotteschi or Eurocrime itself, Highway Racer is a rare case of
the iconic Merli taking on a central starring role devoid of his trademark
mustache. Anyway, the film concerns
tough cop Marco Palma (Merli) whose partner is killed during a particularly
high-speed chase and is suggested by his girlfriend who works in a car dealership
to “soup-up” his own car to keep up with the criminals being pursued. Meanwhile, his boss suggests he go undercover
and temporarily takes him under his wing to train him to be an expert police
driver so when the time comes for another chase with the criminal syndicate, he’ll
be ready.
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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Chock full of wild car chases and
stunts that would make John Landis blush, a terrific score by the
aforementioned Stelvio Cipriani and taut cinematography by Frano Delli Colli
and Richard Pallotini, Highway Racer is one of the more energetic poliziotteschi
offerings with the legend himself Merli at the forefront. Though the plot itself isn’t much more than a
tough cop wanting to take out the criminal enterprise all by himself, where it
soars are in the technically brilliant chase sequences and the stern face of
Merli who more or less was born to play in poliziotteschi films.
While tense and fast paced, Highway
Racer is the first film in the Years of Lead set with the fewest exploitative
elements, instead focusing on the action set pieces and riding on the cool
swagger of Merli. Mostly it’s just a
cool good-guys vs. bad-guys thriller with more than a few arresting stunts and
some unbelievable car crashes. Like the
films before it, the film also boasts glorious Rome locations and city life
with the criminals buzzing around the city like insects. While fans accustomed to the grittiness of
the first three might feel a bit let down here, Highway Racer nonetheless
remains a staple of the poliziotteschi genre for Merli and for how it
accelerated the car chase rules in the genre itself.
No, the Case is Happily Resolved (1973)
Finally the most sobering, melancholy
and artistically inclined film in the set, Savage Three director Vittorio
Salerno’s still blistering No, the Case is Happily Resolved is something
of an outlier for refraining from exploitation and instead using elements of
the giallo thriller and poliziotteschi to criticize the criminal justice system
itself and its occasional miscarriages of justice. Opening on a somber cue by legendary composer
Riz Ortolani, which sets the mood for the whole thing, the film is a classic
study of how easily innocent people can be wrongfully convicted for a crime
they didn’t commit and how easily the real culprit can get away with his crimes
almost publicly.
The other side of the coin that was
Elio Petri’s Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, the film
concerns a family man named Fabio Santamaria (Enzo Cerusico) who goes out
fishing when he sees a half-naked woman being beaten to death by an older
man. After his eyes lock with the man
and he flees the scene, he contemplates going to the police but refrains fearing
it’ll only make trouble for his family.
Bad move because it so happens the murderer is a respected college
professor named Eduardo Ranieri (Richard Cucciolla) who beats Fabio to the
authorities and pins the crime on Fabio who tries to hide out by shaving his mustache
and altering his attire.
Notable for being the only film in the Years
of Lead box armed with a message instead of exploitative entertaining
thrills, No, the Case is Happily Resolved is a savage critique of the
flaws in the criminal justice system and how the privileged and wealthy have a
better shot at escaping conviction than a lowly everyman. Eduardo is clearly guilty as charged but more
or less succeeds in drawing the unwanted attention away from himself. It’s also critical of a system that is likely
to cause more problems for you by going to the police to report a crime. Fabio knows he has a moral obligation to
report the crime he witnessed but fears the systemic repercussions of doing so
and thus keeps silent.
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| Courtesy of Arrow Films |
Though the earliest release in the set,
No, the Case is Happily Resolved is presented at the end of the lineup
as it represents a full circle thematic completion of the Years of Lead box. While the first two start out noisy and abrasive,
its fortuitous that the last one would be quiet and contemplative, painting a contemporary
legal drama through the mold of giallo and poliziotteschi. Moreover, it illustrates how corruption and inconsistencies
in the system more or less allowed criminals to manipulate the law in their
favor even if the rest of the world knows they’re guilty as sin.
Ultimately, No, the Case is Happily
Resolved which is compromised somewhat by studio meddling favoring a more
user friendly coda, is a good closing chapter to Years of Lead,
enthralling and exciting the viewer with its visceral thrills initially while
leaving viewers with an intellectually and morally challenging finish, rounding
out Arrow Video’s Years of Lead box as one of the most important curated
releases of European cinema of 2021!
--Andrew Kotwicki
