The Heroin Busters (1977) La via della droga (original title)

Director:

Enzo G. Castellari

Writers:

Massimo De Rita
Galliano Juso

Release Date:

13 August 1977 (Italy)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

An Ialian policeman goes undercover to break up an international heroin smuggling ring and butts heads with a hot-tempered Interpol agent assigned by his agency to do the same task. |

Plot Keywords:

Heroin | Undercover | Heroin Smuggling | Interpol | Airport Police

Cast

Fabio Testi	...	Fabio
David Hemmings	...	Mike Hamilton
Sherry Buchanan	...	Vera
Wolfango Soldati	...	Gilo
Massimo Vanni	...	Massimo
Angelo Ragusa	...	Dealer
Romano Puppo	...	Gianni's Assassin
Sergio Ruggeri	...	Sergio
Joshua Sinclair	...	Gianni, the boss (as Johnny Loffredo)
Leonardo Scavino	...	Hashish Dealer (as Leon Lenoir)
Gianni Orlando
Salvatore Billa	...	Detective
Giovanni Bonadonna	...	Dealer
Guido Cerniglia
Antonella Della Porta
Annabella Franchetti
Margherita Horowitz	...	Druggie's Mother
Fulvio Mingozzi	...	Customs police
Ettore Pigliapoco
Ferdinando Poggi
Giuliano Sestili
Luigi Schiboni
Franco Ukmar	...	Cop
Clemente Ukmar
Patrizia Webley	...	Blonde Lesbian
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adolfo Belletti	...	Old Café Owner (uncredited)
Dino Cassio	...	Finanziere all'aeroporto (uncredited)
Enzo G. Castellari	...	Undercover Cop in Amsterdam (uncredited)
Domenico Cianfriglia	...	Drug Lab Assistant (uncredited)
Giovanni Cianfriglia	...	Drug Lab Worker (uncredited)
Carolyn De Fonseca	...	Motorcyclist (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Roberto Dell'Acqua	...	Luciano (uncredited)
Franco Fantasia	...	Jewellery Shop Manager (uncredited)
Michael Forest	...	Fabio (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Lina Franchi	...	Donna al Palazzo di Giustizia (uncredited)
John Gayford	...	Gianni - Boss (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Stefania Girolami Goodwin	...	Student (uncredited)
Rocco Lerro	...	Martinez (uncredited)
Edward Mannix	...	Dealer (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Emilio Messina	...	(uncredited)
Benito Pacifico	...	Genoese Assassin (uncredited)
Claudio Ruffini	...	Detective at College (uncredited)
Robert Spafford	...	Mr. Meade (uncredited)
Frank von Kuegelgen	...	Gilo (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Enzo G. Castellari

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Massimo De Rita
Galliano Juso

Produced by
Galliano Juso	....	producer

Original Music by
Goblin
Agostino Marangolo
Massimo Morante
Fabio Pignatelli
Claudio Simonetti

Cinematography by
Giovanni Bergamini

Film Editing by
Gianfranco Amicucci

Production Design by
Corrado Ricercato

Costume Design by
Luciano Sagoni

Production Management
Maurizio Amati	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Giuseppe Giglietti	....	second assistant director

Stunts
Ottaviano Dell'Acqua	....	stunts
Angelo Ragusa	....	stunt coordinator

Production Companies

• Cinemaster S.r.l.

Distributors

• Schier Film (1980) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Blue Underground (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• EuroVideo

Also Known As:

"La via della droga" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

132 min (DVD) | West Germany:93 min | Italy:100 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia

Company:

Cinemaster S.r.l.

Trivia:

Fabio Testi was a licensed and experienced pilot and did all of his own aerial stunts.

starts off slow, but this Fabio Testi/David Hemmings euro-crime film eventually delivers the goods

When I first saw this film many years ago, I was put off by its slow and fragmented first ten minutes, featuring scenes of (gratuitous!) drug use in various parts of the world. Also, I had just seen David Hemmings' other Italian crime film from this year, SWINDLE with Tomas Milian (directed by Bruno Corbucci), which was INCREDIBLE, and this did not seem as good. However, once the film kicks into gear after fifteen minutes or so, it is quite good and features some incredible stunt work, imaginative action sequences, exciting guitar-driven music from Goblin (not as repetitive as some of their work), a wonderful over-the-top performance by David Hemmings as an interpol narcotics investigator, and a cool, smoldering performance by Fabio Testi as an undercover cop out to bust the international drug trade. As a later 70s product, this film features unnecessary closeup shots of drug use and some gratuitous nudity (a lesbian scene presented as a FANTASY of a minor character!), but there's not enough of either to derail what becomes a nail-biting action film. The final fifteen to twenty minutes of HEROIN BUSTERS are incredible--the motorcycle chase in the subway, which leads into an outrageous airplane chase--some of the most interesting and daredevil action-film stunt-work I've seen in a while. The film also has nice bursts of humor here and there (such as when Hemmings, chasing a crook, gets a ride from a young lady on a motorcycle and has to grab on to her breast to hold on!) and was quite satisfying on all levels. It does start slow, however, so don't give up on it (or fast forward through some of the initial scenes). What a "golden age" of Italian crime films the 1970's was--even a standard genre entry turns out to be a gem, the likes of which would NEVER be made today.