Verdammte, heilige Stadt

In autumn 1974, High Crime was a monster hit for the Italian movie industry, but neither superstar Franco Nero nor director Enzo G. Castellari were available for a follow-up cash-in. So the producer of Roma Violenta rang up Maurizio Merli, who had already impersonated Nero in the Jack London rip-off White Fang to the Rescue, and teamed him up with Castellari's papa (!) Marino Girolami. The first part of the Commissario Betti trilogy, a fierce and ferocious vigilante opera, has the rawest, most unleashed feel of the remorseless triptych – followed by the bigger budgeted, slicker and more generic Napoli Violenta and the utterly bleak Italia a Mano Armata – and delivers all the nasty way to hell, culminating quite early in a high class car chase involving an Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 1600 and a BMW 1800. Despite the loose, vignette-esque script by Vincenzo Mannino, Roma Violenta is spot-on throughout, with Merli – who actually considered himself superior to Nero – doing his Italian job with a somber, easy-to-underestimate bravura that serves as the single anchor in the widening gyre of the inferno. Sure, that's crypto-fascist dirt, a shame for a country that got rid of the Duce only three decades before, the most successful poliziottesco ever, and a tightly entertaining affair summarized best in the timeless words of N.Y. punk rockers Ed Gein's Car: "I've got five dollars for each of you/ And a bullet in the back/ Boo f*ckin' hoo."

Violent Rome doesn't do anything that a whole load of other Italian crime flicks didn't do before it, but in true genre style - it's highly entertaining and the fact that director Marino Girolami is merely rethreading old ground doesn't matter too much since its old ground worth treading again! There are a number of things that I watch these films for, and violent Rome has most of them - those being car chases, gun fights, fist fights and good old' fashioned grit, and the fact that this film delivers all those things in a robust and unflinching manner means that it pretty much hit the spot. The plot, as the title suggests, focuses on various criminal and violent acts in the city of Rome (all the Italian cities seem to have been pretty violent in the seventies...). Commissario Betti is sick of the way that criminals can (literally) get away with murder because of the rules and regulations that govern the police force. It's inevitable that he would be kicked out, and pretty soon he is after shooting a criminal. However, there's a bunch of citizens who aren't too happy about crime either, and they gladly take him in.

The film takes obvious influence from Dirty Harry (like most Italian cop flicks) as the idea of a fed up high ranking police officer figures heavily, and here it works well because the film stars the excellent Maurizio Merli, who goes round beating up criminals in style and really does himself proud with his role here. The style of the film is gritty and dirty, and this reflects well considering the subject material. Naturally, the plot is nothing to write home about and it's clear that the director was more interested in entertaining the audience than putting on a show with any meaning - but that is fine with me! This does mean that we never really have any reason to care, even when the "emotion" surrounding one of the leading characters comes up. Violent Rome, like the later Violent Naples (also starring Maurizio Marli in the same role!) has more than it's fair share of cheese too...but somehow that sort of stuff goes well with the rest of the film. On the whole, Violent Rome may not be one of the best Italian crimes films of all time - but it's a good one and I doubt that fans of these films will regret seeing it!

A crippled guy in a wheelchair getting beaten by two jerks. Three schoolchildren gunned down in front of some nuns. Massimo Vanni hoofing Luciano Rossi in the nuts over and over again. Welcome to Violent Rome, where the moustaches are thick, the cars as brittle as poppadoms, and the general public certainly doomed.

Rome in 1975 is a filthy hovel full of bagsnatchers, conmen, bank robbers, hustlers, pickpockets, rapists, psychopaths, murderers and bawbags running riot while cop Maurizio watches in horror, almost helpless as there's only so many criminals one man can either shoot or punch in the jaw. He does have some help, however, in the form of undercover cop Ray Lovelock. And some guy who dresses up as an old lady to catch bagsnatchers, but don't get hung up on that as it has nothing to do with the rest of the film.

When Maurizio pops a cap in a particularly violent criminals ass, he ends up quitting his job as a violent policeman and starts working as a violent vigilante instead, which makes him even more violent and rage-filled. In fact, this film has so much violence, car chases, and member of the public killing that it leaves almost no time to have any kind of plot at all. Not that I was caring!

Out of the cast of regulars who keep showing up in these sorts of films for the next decade, John Steiner stands out the most as an evil bank robber who'll shoot anyone in his way. He always makes a great bad guy, and he's backed up by rapist Luciano Rossi and violent vigilante Massimo Vanni too. Richard Conte is a good guy in this one, and sadly, this is also his last film, as he died of a heart attack in 1975.

Completely lacking in style, good acting, or plausibility, Violent Rome makes an ideal addition to your collection as it's full of all the other stuff you want in a film called Violent Rome.

I think my fellow reviewers are overstating things a bit. Roma Violenta is by no means a bad movie, but it does nothing any number of poliziotteschi films can't do better and it doesn't impress with what it does either.

Maurizio Merli plays another inspector, this time Commisarrio Betti. There's a healthy number of car chases, fistfights, gundowns and just about anything you would expect from a film of this kind, but it's all done with such a workmanlike air from Marino Girolami (Castellari's father) that I couldn't help but glance at my watch every now and then. Girolami does Roma Violenta with the get-it-over-with attitude of a professional instead of the enthusiasm of a fan. Get in, take the master shot, take the close-ups, get it over with cos there's a paycheck in the end. No imagination whatsoever. I can imagine him on set crossing things off a list: "Car chase? Check. Fistfight? Check".

Polizioto fans that need their fix will be satisfied by Roma Violenta, but if you haven't seen true genre classics like The Cynic, The Rat and The Fist, Almost Human or La Mala Ordina, then Roma Violenta can wait.

Bit rough round the edges but full on all action with super central performance from Maurizio Merli. Tough, uncompromising and definitely politically incorrect, this barely pauses for breath as our hero takes on the young baddies of 70s Rome. Pretty shabby old Rome it looks to be too but I seem to recall London wasn't much better around that time.

There are probably a few too many fist fights and beatings but some are most effective and the central car chase was magnificent, and I'm not a real fan of them. Gritty, ruthless and unstoppable, like the main film itself. There is even time for a sleazy episode when a daughter enters the scene at the wrong time. The robberies are mainly all low key, handbags, shops and the like but there is no mention of the mafia here so maybe they kept a hold of all the big stuff.