InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Aubrey Hackett
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Marva-nova
Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
adrianswingler
There are a lot of things that go into a crime film, from car chases to clever plots by the crooks to betrayals and turn-arounds, power struggles, etc. This one is memorable in that it gets full marks for all the bits that go into one, and it delivers that for more than an hour and a half full stop. The dialogue was a bit trite at times, which is why I gave it 9/10, but if you like *any* kind of crime movie, I think you would not only like this one, it's one of those that has you thinking about it for a while afterwards. I grabbed a big pizza pie and a nice red wine and really enjoyed watching this. The director did all the usual Italian filone, but was pretty mediocre with his Westerns and it took him a while to get going with this filone, but I think in this one he hit his straps. I think this was actually better than his good, later, Roma Violenta. Has to get 9/10 in my book as it's a good example of the genre that transcends it to compete across the broader genre, in every era.
arfdawg-1
The music in this movie sounds like you're going to be seeing a James Bond movie.The main detective -- or whatever he is -- is way blonde. Whew. Never seen hair that died since Pam Anerson.Anyway there appears to be a kidnapping of a bus of kids and they are told to shut up or their tongues will be cut out. There there's a stick up.A heck of a lot is happening in this lazy town.Super Blondie gets the call.What follows is not horrible. It's a fairly tight fast moving film. Not James Bond. But a decent cop story.
Grzegorz Dabkowski
This is probably the most action-packed film I have ever seen - and I have seen quite a few. Unlike in many Italian films of the seventies, not much time is wasted on phony emotional slush. There are no slow-motion shots and few "face studies" so typical of cheap cinema,where poliziottesci generally belong. The story is usually quite believable and logical but also pleasantly fresh and unpredictable. Action scenes are imaginative and realistic - I particularly liked the car chases - though some fight scenes do look rather wooden and the the punches are always much too loud. Maurizio Merli does not overact too much (especially if compared with Franco Nero). He does a really nice job as a tough but likable inspector. He chases the criminals, but can also be lenient with those who want to mend their ways. There is also a nice romantic element in the story. Another advantage of the film is the absence of politics. One is frequently unpleasantly surprised at the amount of naive leftist brain-washing in Italian action cinema of the 70s. (eg. Milano callibro 9) I don't understand the undeservedly low rating of this film in imdb(5.9. I have also seen 'La polizia incrimina, la legge assolve' by Castellari, rated at 7.5, and I think this is a much better film. The dialogues are good though I can't guarantee for the translations. Learn Italian and see the original. However, this is not a family cinema. A few scenes are really rough, so I wouldn't recommend the film to anybody under 15.
Stefano
This 1976 Italian movie, which casts a great Maurizio Merli and the veteran John Saxon, is the third(and the last one)film of Commissario Betti's series, after Roma Violenta(also directed by Girolami) and Napoli Violenta(directed by Umberto Lenzi). It's really a terrific movie! The story is great, the soundtrack and the acting are outstanding and the action scenes are probably among the best shot ever, with a style very similar to Enzo G. Castellari's one(who is always synonym of quality). If you're big fans of Italian 70's poliziottesco, you have to watch this movie, which is one of the most representative and amazing ever shot! I suggest it to anybody!