Diamanti sporchi di sangue (1977)

A man is arrested and condemned to five years in jail for robbery. After serving his term, he is out for revenge on the gang members he considers were to blame for his arrest. The prize for this deadly fight is a large cache of diamonds.

Director:

Fernando Di Leo

Writer:

Fernando Di Leo

Stars:

Claudio Cassinelli, Martin Balsam, Olga Karlatos

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Claudio Cassinelli	...	Guido Mauri
Martin Balsam	...	Rizzo
Olga Karlatos	...	Maria
Pier Paolo Capponi	...	Tony
Barbara Bouchet	...	Lisa
Vittorio Caprioli	...	Commissario Russo
Carmelo Reale	...	Marco (as Roberto Reale)
Alberto Squillante
Franco Beltramme	...	Tony Henchman
Salvatore Billa	...	Tony Henchman
Fernando Cerulli	...	Mr Philips
Camillo Chiara
Agostino Crisafulli	...	Rizzo Henchman
Domenico Di Costanzo	...	Policeman
Sandro La Barbera

Storyline

A man is arrested and condemned to five years in jail for robbery. After serving his term, he is out for revenge on the gang members he considers were to blame for his arrest. The prize for this deadly fight is a large cache of diamonds.

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Plot Keywords:

diamonds | poliziottesco

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Genres:

Thriller

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Also Known As:

Blood and Diamonds

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Italfrance Films

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Not Fernando Di Leo's best Polizi flick

Fernando Di Leo gets a lot of harsh criticism, but in my opinion; he's been behind some of the very burst Polizi flicks to come out of Italy, in particular The Italian Connection and Milano Calibre 9. On the strength of this film, however, you would be forgiven for thinking he's more than just a little bit sub-par as despite some truly excellent action scenes; Blood and Diamonds is not a completely successful film, and a lot of that is down to the fact that the plot doesn't flow too well and the film constantly fluctuates between exciting and boring. The plot focuses on a man named Guido who goes down for robbery. He is released several years later and gets picked up by his girlfriend. They decide to take the bus, and it turns out to be a bad decision as the bus comes under attack by a gang of thugs and despite the heroic ex-convict jumping the rescue of his fellow passengers; it doesn't stop the thugs from murdering his girlfriend. Guido begins to suspect that the murder may have some connection from his time inside and resolves to get to the bottom of it.

The opening is actually pretty good and makes you think you might be in for another excellent thrill ride, but unfortunately the bus sequence is never matched until the very end and by then it's too little too late. Prolific Italian actor Claudio Cassinelli takes the lead role and does a fairly good job with it, although he's not charismatic enough to lead the film on his own. His two main co-stars stand out more than he does, and the beautiful Barbara Bouchet as well as American actor Martin Balsam deliver great supporting performances. There's not a great deal of thrills during the middle of the film, which is a shame as this type of film is famed for shootouts and car chases; only an indoor fist fight is really memorable. Thankfully the plot does start to thicken as the film moves into the final third, although we are never really given a good reason to care for the lead character and so his plight is not all that interesting - that being said, the ending itself is better than the vast majority of what came before it. Overall, Blood and Diamonds is not a must see Polizi flick and I would only recommend it to hardened fans of the genre.