Im Hexenkessel der Gewalt

I guess the title clues you in - this is a Eurocrime film set in Chicago during Prohibition, with many a Spaghetti Western actor in a zoot suit with white spats. Peter Lee Lawrence plays Erik, a hoodlum controlling part of the city. A petty war starts up when some of Erik's goons get machine gunned while transporting hooch into the city, and that shipment is saved thankfully by drifter Frank, who is added quickly to the ranks.

Frank likes what he sees when he gets an eyeful of Erik's girlfriend (doing the trot or God knows what dance they did back then - electric boogaloo or whatever). Frank also helps track down the guys who attacked Erik's shipment, which leads to many folk getting bloodily machine gunned as we're introduced to the rest of the mobsters in Chicago. Like Irish, a guy who doesn't look remotely Irish, and some other guys. There's also a Mr Big who wants to bring them all together into one huge gang, which Erik isn't too happy with. Better bust out those machine guns again!

Even though there's not a single likeable character within the whole film, there's still wall to wall bloody violence and many a gun battle as the police and the various gangs take on each other. There's also some early nudie action that I wasn't expecting. The only character with any kind of depth is Peter Lee Lawrence as the messed up Erik, who is mentally unbalanced, likes to play with dolls, and isn't that great in a gun fight. The guy who plays Frank mainly cracks his knuckles and smokes.

I liked the 'the end....?' type ending though, gave me a chuckle as I sat in my rocker, cane in one hand, brandy in the other.

They Paid with Bullets: Chicago 1929 (1969) is a film that doesn't chase you - it follows you. It trails behind like a cigarette drag in a rain-slick alley, waiting for the moment to strike. At first glance, it plays like another B-tier gangster flick, dubbed rough and edited like the reel was spliced in the dark. But underneath the clumsy audio and languid pacing is a pulpy heart beating steady - and mean.

The film follows Frank, a regular guy who stumbles into a gangland war and rises through the ranks not because he's clever, but because he's willing to bleed. It's not an original arc, but the execution has that gritty Euro-crime texture - all dust, sweat, and cigarette ash. The film meanders in its first half, dragging through scenes that don't say much and do even less. But once Frank's ambition kicks in, so does the narrative.

That's when the movie finds its legs - and its gun. The second half delivers exactly what genre fans crave: shifting alliances, cold betrayals, bullet-drenched stairwells, and a city that feels like it's always watching.

The dialogue is flat, not helped by a stilted English dub that drains emotion from already subdued performances. And yet... it works. The awkwardness almost adds to the detachment, like you're hearing confessions through a wall. It's that distance that makes the violence hit harder when it finally lands.

Visually, it has its moments. Dirty lighting. Claustrophobic framing. Shadows that wrap around characters like debts unpaid. It's a look that might feel accidental in more polished cinema, but here, it feels honest. Lucie, the femme fatale, is a standout - barely speaks, but her presence is a loaded weapon every time she enters frame. She's not written to steal scenes - she is the scene.

This isn't a movie that will impress newcomers to the genre. It's not accessible. It's not flashy. But for those of us who love noir the way it used to be - slow, brutal, and unforgiving - They Paid with Bullets is worth the trouble it takes to find it. Not on streaming, not on shelves. Just hidden in the dark, waiting.

Bottom line: If you're into mob flicks that take their time, wear their flaws openly, and bleed when they should, this one's a slow pull on the trigger - but the impact lingers.