Poliziotti violenti

Maestro, Michele Massimo Tarantini's flint-edged 'Poliziotti violenti' aka 'Crimebusters' (1976) is a terrifically entertaining Poliziottesco from the largely unheralded director of the no less exhilarating, 'A Man Called Magnum' & '7 Hours of Violence'. This enjoyably boisterous Euro-crime includes the splendidly stone-faced Henry Silva, charismatically delivering yet another Stoic, sinisterly simmering performance as the honourably straight-shooting, Maj. Paolo Altieri. Incensed by army corruption and the increasingly brutal machinations of the criminal underworld, Altieri is fatefully driven to acts of extreme retribution, and soon, wherever the militantly macho Major ventures, a bloody swathe of cathartic ultra-violence is sure to follow!

Swarthy cinematic stud, Antonio Sabato is well cast as the sharp-witted, belligerent Police commissioner, Paolo Tosi, whose fearsome propensity for twin-fisted justice is put to efficient use in Tarantini's enjoyably rough-hewn poliziottesco potboiler, and, rewardingly, the dynamic filmmaker constructs a number of compelling action scenes. The vehicular calamity, ear-shattering gun play and equally pugnacious punch-ups ensure that, Michele Tarantini's rumbustious, pleasingly action-packed actioner remains a shrapnel savage Poliziotteschi that most certainly merits a larger audience among Euro-cult fans. For me, one of 'Crimebusters' most enduring qualities is the robustly propulsive crime-jazz score by thrilling Euro-crime maestros, Guido & Maurizio de Angelis.

This is not a great movie. Director Michelle Massimo Taranti was very much a hack, and moreover a hack who usually specialized in comedy. Lead actor Henry Silva, on the other hand, was best playing either villains or VERY morally ambiguous anti-heroes (like the brutal gangsters he portrayed in "Cry of a Prostitute" and "The Boss"). Here though he's an annoyingly straight-arrow parachute major who has been sidelined from the army after he filed a report about defective parachutes. He comes to the city and decides to wage a one-man war on crime and corruption after he realizes organized bands of criminals seem to be getting their hands on military weapons. He is helped by a macho but possibly homosexual cop (Antonio Sabato). With the exception of a downbeat ending (and the homosexual subtext), this is way too much like an 80's era American police thriller (a genre which I personally hate).

This movie does have some good points. The pure stupidity of the plot is at times pretty entertaining. Silva ALWAYS seems to be where the action is. At one point he thwarts a kidnapping, but nearly barbecues the victim after running the kidnapper's car off the road. Then he knocks a would-be mugger off his scooter bike and the poor guy is set upon by a pack of vengeful senior citizens who beat him mercilessly with their canes in a truly surreal scene. The whole homosexual subtext is also interesting, especially when Sabato's character takes Silva's character into a transvestite bar and goes in the back room to "pump an informant" (actually he slaps the transvestite around, but for all our straight-laced hero knows. . .). I don't mean to imply, however, that this is really a gay movie. Silva, at least, has a love interest played by the sexy Silvia Dionisio. And Dionisio gets naked twice, not in particularly erotic scenes (in the first one she's being assaulted by goons), but a movie with Silvia Dionisio getting naked is ALWAYS better than a movie without Silvia Dionisio getting naked.

All in all, this is a pretty mixed bag. It's not great, but it's not totally worthless either.

Admittedly "Poliziotti Violenti" won't ever get listed in any "top 10 greatest Poliziotesschi" rankings (or top 20, for that matter) but nevertheless I'm still awarding it with a generous rating 7/10, simply because it plentifully features all the things that I seek and love about this genre! For starters, the film doesn't star one but two heroic macho protagonists. The stoic-faced Henry Silva and the groovy Antonio Sabato form a surprisingly good duo, especially when they're ravaging the city on borrowed motorcycles or visiting sleazy transvestite clubs! Furthermore is "Poliziotti Violenti" low on complex plot twists and overlong dialogues, but rich on virulent shootouts, ruinous chases and gratuitous violence. Silva stars as a fanatic military major who gets transferred to a desk job after bringing too many sensitive army issues to the surface. One day, he prevents a kidnapping on the street from happening and notices that the hoodlums were using machine guns of which he knows for certain they are only intended for military usage. Since his own supervisors are corrupt as hell, Silva teams up with unorthodox police inspector Sabato in order to find out who's supplying deadly guns to street gangs. "Poliziotti Violenti" contains a few very ingenious scenes, for example how to rob a jewelry store with an ambulance, as well as some perplexing moments like senior citizens beating a purse- snatcher to pulp! In spite of the astounding Silvio Dionisio appearing topless a few times, the number one reason why I'll remember "Poliziotti Violenti" is because of the excessively brutal collateral damage. Italian directors are notorious for butchering random bystanders in their movies, but this one goes quite far. Dozens of innocent people are gunned down in drive-by shootings or even savagely run over by cars. The bad guys even blow up an entire restaurant in an attempt to eliminate our two heroes (but naturally kill everybody in the restaurant except them)

Antonio Sabato and Henry Silva as violent police officers in Rome

This tough crime film was shot by Michele Massimo Tarantini in 1976. However, it was only released in cinemas in West Germany in 1982. The great film music is by the De Angelis brothers.

He's a great kid, this Inspector Paolo Tosi (Antonio Sabato)! And he knows it too when the camera glides over the body of this model athlete from a worm's eye view. But somehow his weapon seems like a strange extension of his arm. And he also seems to be a lone wolf with no social connections. But he's the best at his job, maybe a little too brutal, but oh well. While fighting crime in Rome, he has to deal with Major Paolo Altieri (Henry Silva), who, as an accidental witness, behaves just as brutally as the smart inspector. This Major Altieri was recently sent away to Rome because he asked too many unpleasant questions in his parachute unit. Just like Tosi, he seems to be more of a lone wolf, but he met the lovely kindergarten teacher Anna (Silvia Dionisio) on the train to Rome. In any case, the major is astonished that the gangsters in Rome used weapons from his parachute unit's inventory. There's something wrong going on there! Tosi and he are getting closer and closer and are looking for clues together. There two found each other! Somehow there seems to be a large organization behind this story, in which the influential lawyer Vieri (Ettore Manni) is somehow involved. In any case, the gangsters take extremely brutal action against the two investigators. They don't even shy away from a bomb attack in a crowded restaurant. After that the measure is full...

Car chases, shootouts, brawls - everything that the police and gangster film genre has to offer is here. But love and the political background are not neglected either. And with Golden Globe candidate Antonio Sabato (1943-2021) and Henry Silva, born in 1928, there are two deserving veterans of the EuroCrime era at the start.

It's worth it!

"Poliziotti Violenti" aka. "Crimebusters" (1976) is a decent enough, though in no way outstanding example for the Italian Poliziottesco, which mainly profits from the great Henry Silva in one of the two leading roles. The ultimate bad-ass Silva, doubtlessly one of the greatest 70s cult-cinema actors, particularly in the Poliziotteschi-genre, starred in two of the all-time greatest Italian Crime flicks, Fernando Di Leo's "Il Boss" (1973) and Umberto Lenzi's "Milano Odia: La Polizia Non Può Sparare" ("Almost Human", 1974); "Poliziotti Violenti" sadly cannot compete with the greatness of these aforementioned films, and yet it is an entertaining film that is well worth watching for my fellow fans of Italian cult-cinema. It must be said, of course, that director Michele Massimo Tarantini, who is probably most famous for the Cannibal-flick "Nudo e Selvaggio" ("Cannibal Ferox 2", 1985) isn't as accomplished a filmmaker as the brilliant genre-icons Di Leo and Lenzi; yet he made an action-packed, bad-ass and, which is most important, fast-paced and entertaining film here.

Silva plays the tough Army major Altieri, who teams up with the hard-boiled cop Tosi (played by regular leading man Antonio Sabato) in order to crush a gang of arms-dealers and corrupt officials... The storyline is pretty standard stuff, with little originality and few surprises. It is well-executed however. The action-scenes and cinematography are well done, and the score is cool (though, again, nothing special for the high Poliziotteschi standards). The stone-faced Henry Silva is fantastic and super-tough in his role as always. Antonio Sabato also fits very well in the other lead of the tough cop here. Sabato starred in numerous Poliziotteschi including Umberto Lenzi's "Milano Rovente", and he arguably had his finest hour in Lenzi's fantastic Giallo "Sette Orchidee Macchiate Di Rosso" ("Seven Blood-Stained Orchids", 1972); he once again delivers in this one, though it is, of course, Henry Silva who steals the show. Regular Italian genre-beauty Silvia Dionisio ("Nude Si Muore", "Blood For Dracula", "Paura In Citta", "Murder Obsession",...) makes a pretty and likable female lead. The film is full of violent action, though not particularly brutal for genre-standards. Overall, "Poliziotti Violenti" is gritty enough and well worth watching for my fellow Italo-Crime fans, though there is a lot in the field that is far more recommendable (such as all films by Fernando Di Leo, Umberto Lenzi, Damiano Damiani and Enzo Castellari, for starters). What I did find surprising about this film, though, is how often the good guys' negligence basically causes the bad guys to kill innocent bystanders. Overall, "Poliziotti Violenti" is certainly no genre-masterpiece, but it's still an entertaining film for Italian cult-cinema fans.