The Tough Ones

Director Umberto Lenzi is widely known for his raw and uncompromising films of a variety of genres, his doubtlessly most famous films being his gory and gruesome Cannibal flicks "Cannibal Ferox" (1981) and "Mangiati Vivi" (1980). These are flicks one is not likely to forget, of course, but, as far as I am concerned, Lenzi's most memorable and brilliant achievements are his tough-minded and ultra-violent Poliziotteschi, such as "Milano Odia, la polizia non pùo sparare" (aka. "Almost Human", 1974) or this "Roma A Mano Armata" (aka. "Rome Armed To The Teeth"/"Brutal Justice") of 1976. "Rome Armed To The Teeth" is an action-packed fast-paced, brutal and breathtaking crime flick like it could only be made in Bella Italia, and a perfect proof for what gifted a director Lenzi was.

Even more than the foregoing "Milano Odia...", this delivers the absolute opposite of political correctness. Commissario Leonardo Tanzi (Maurizio Merli) is a super-tough and relentless cop with a mustache, whose unorthodox methods make Dirty Harry look like a peace-loving social worker. Respectless towards his (hypocritical) superiors and without any form of sympathy for offenders, Tanzi hates criminals as much as he hates crime, and he has no scruples to beat information out of suspects and bend the law whenever it is necessary to do the right thing. Tanzi is super-tough and the role seems as if it was written for Maurizio Merli. The great Tomas Milian (one of my personal all-time favorite actors) plays 'Il Gobbo', a hunchbacked and psychotic gangster. Milian is excellent in any role I see him play, and this particular role of the malicious and sadistic criminal fits him like a glove. Apart from Merli and Milian, who are both excellent in their roles, the cast includes a bunch of other regulars of Italian genre-cinema, such as Giampiero Albertini, who plays a cop, Luciano Catenacci, and, most prominently, Ivan Rassimov as a sleazy drug dealer. The film contains a vast amount of sleaze and brutality, and is definitely not for those who are very sensitive when it comes to violence. For my fellow lovers of Italian genre-cinema from the 70s, however, this is an absolute priority. The score by Franco Micalizzi is absolutely brilliant, the cinematography is excellent, and the film is tantalizing from the beginning to the end. Tough-minded and gripping throughout, "Roma A Mano Armata" is an ultra-violent and wonderfully politically incorrect Poliziottesco that no lover of Italian-genre cinema can afford to miss. In short: Brutal, brilliant, and an absolute must-see for all fans of Italian Crime cinema!

Maurizio Merli and Tomas Milian star in probably the most typical, yet completely enjoyable Italian crime movie by Umberto Lenzi. With a blazing soundtrack by Franco Micalizzi and some exciting camerawork by Federico Zanni, this film is fast-paced and furious although the narrative makes relatively little sense. This reminds me of THE RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS, a film Dardano Sacchetti also penned, which was completely fun and enjoyable although it didn't make any sense whatsoever.

The best scenes in this movie have to be the extended car chases. Milian hijacks an ambulence and kills all the people on board for no reason. When it crashes in a crowded flea market, Milian jumps out of the ambulence and just starts randomly firing his sub-machine gun into the crowd to create enough confusion to get away. Another great scene has a gang of upper-class teenagers led by the baby-faced Stefano Patrizi who get bored of nightclubbing and proceed to rape a girl and beat up her boyfriend in a vacant lot. Patrizi is wholely unsympathetic as he punches the boyfriend in the gut repeatedly and knees him in the face, then making weird gestures with a nearby piece of wood. Merli later pops by their nightclub and smashes Patrizi's face right through a pinball machine and then simultaneously beats the tar out of the six or so members of the gang!

This film comes fast and furious. Good performances all around by a veteran cast (with Arthur Kennedy, Ivan Rassimov, and Luciano Pigozzi along for the ride). It's not the most coherent of Lenzi's works, but it's definitely a genre classic. Where's the DVD?

Terry Levine done it again! He picked up a 1975 italian cop film, edited it down to 79 min, and open it wide in New York in 1982 (or was it 1981). People Magazine even reviewed this film!! Levine failed to mention the stars Arthur Kennedy, Tomas Milian, and little known (in the U.S.) the late action star Maurizio Merli doing the franco Nero role of a cop hellbend on going after the hunchback psycho (Milian). Levine tacked in the movie poster as the begining credit (!) (similar to what he did in MEAN FRANK AND CRAZY TONY, which he failed to mention Tony LoBianco) Kennedy is the only actor not dubbed, and the film just look standard with A to Z script. Milian, who use to get lead good guy roles in Italian film slowly became supporting player playing bad guys. Kennedy looks like he shot this film back to back with KILLER COP. Not recommended, unless the un-cut print runs better.

I don't know how the uncut Italian version runs, but the American version released by Aquarius under the ASSAULT W/A DEADLY WEAPON title is probably one of the most fastmoving, violently over-the-top Euro crime movies you'll ever see. The closest thing I could compare it to would be Kinji Fukasaku's early 1970s yakuza movies like BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR & HUMANITY series(aka THE YAKUZA PAPERS) with Bunta Sugawara or Kosaku Yamashita's TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE YAMAGUCHI GANG (released here in fastmoving but severely edited form as THE TATTOOED HITMAN). Although not as well written as its Japanese counterparts, Dardanco Sacchetti's screenplay is suitably deranged with Maurizio Merli portraying an apoplectic, hot tempered cop who makes Dirty Harry seem like a flower child. Super charismatic Tomas Milian is stupendous as the wisecracking hunchback psycho villain who occasionally likes to gratuitously machine gun innocent bystanders. My only problem with the English voice dubbing is that they didn't have Milian, who speaks English and dubbed many of his films himself, do his own voice. The guy who does it isn't terrible but it would have definitely added another aura of dementia with Milian's own vocal performance. Also unfortunately whomever the fast buck artists were who released the film here to USA grindhouses back in the 1970s created a completely fictitious credit list for the titles where Merli, Milian and even American movie veteran Arthur Kennedy receive no screen billing whatsoever. A crime! Likewise the adrenaline pumping, nerve pounding score by Franco Micalizzi and Umberto Lenzi's expert direction (this is the best film I've seen by Lenzi by the way) are credited to imaginary persons. Although it has a completely predictable cliche-ridden story, the treatment is fresh, the dialogue memorable (and often hilarious) and the ultra violence and degenerate depravity continous. Strangely satisfying and watchable as only the best of grindhouse cinema can be. As one of the other reviewers asked, where's the DVD release!?

First film in the pentalogy from the Tanzi/Moretto/Monnezza universe (first shown: February 25, 1976)

With this film, Umberto LENZI started a series of five films in which three characters appeared again and again. The focus was on Tomas MILIAN, who played two criminal twin brothers who were very well received by the audience. In the film ROMA A MANO ARMATA, the Italian actor MILIAN plays the hunchbacked gangster Vincenzo Moretto, who is characterized by excessive cruelty. His twin brother will not make his first appearance until the second film in the pentalogy (IL TRUCIDO E LO SBIRRO).

In Rome, crimes are happening all the time. A hotheaded inspector like Leonardo Tanzi (Maurizio MERLI) cannot like that at all. The powerful inspector is always on hand when the criminals strike. But it's stupid that there are sensitive juvenile judges like the attractive Anna (Maria Rosaria OMAGGIO), the grumpy police chief (five-time ACADEMY AWARD nominee Arthur KENNEDY) and the somewhat sleepy colleague (Giampiero ALBERTINI) who put obstacles in the way of the hyperactive inspector. Whether dealer (Ivan RASSIMOV), rapist (Stefano PATRIZI) or unscrupulous gangster (Tomas MILIAN): crime in Rome never sleeps.

With this thriller, Umberto LENZI has created a film that has essentially become the blueprint for a hard-boiled Maurizio Merli poliziottesco. It was very well received by audiences, with more than 1.6 billion ITL being made at the Italian box office.

In German-speaking countries, the connections between the five films were hardly noticed. MERLI is dubbed here as Inspector Ferro. His next appearance will not be until the third film (IL CINICO, lL INFAME, IL VIOLENTO) of the pentalogy.