Poliziotteschi

[MrBarlow]

The Cynic, The Rat And The Fist. 1977.

Maurizio Merli plays the hardened cop who is gunned down and left for dead by a henchman of gangster Tomas Milan who is recently escaped from prison and strikes up with American gangster John Saxon.

We get the usual gangster...legitimate business man who coerces people to pay him for protection, prostitution, robberies and murder. We do get a small torture moment with this even though it is off screen and do hear the shins meeting something metal. The acting in this is decently done even though Saxon is using his own voice surprisingly, from the start right to the end credits the pace is kept steady and nothing gets boring just more entertaining.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Gang War in Milan (1973)

Antonio Sabato plays a Milanese greengrocer (for want of a better word) who acts as a notorious pimp at nights. When Phillipe Leroy's French drug lord tries to do a deal with him to sell heroin via his girls. Sabato refuses as his cut would be a meager 30% which brings about a turf war between Sabato and other Sicilian gangs as well as the French crime lord.

One of director Umberto Lenzi's none gore films, although there is some strong violence along the way such as electro torture and breast mutilation. Lenzi gives us a solid if unspectacular crime saga where we are supposed to root for a pimp. Really? He's probably the least amoral of any character. Although Sabato does play him with a certain amount of sleazy charm and he even manages to date Marisa Mell, who sadly is wasted in little more than a few elongated cameo appearances.

There's also a lack of car chases which definitely goes against Gang War in Milan, but plenty of bullet strewn shoot outs and one or two nice plot deviations and twists. Ultimately Gang War in Milan is an enjoyable film but nowhere near the top of the Poliziotteschi genre.