Napoli si ribella

Ah well...the title says enough really. This is a cheap Eurocrime flick and it shows. The hero is played by a "handsome" Italian with the acting skills and charisma of a goldfish. Action is okay, soundtrack is pretty loud. All in all...there are better Eurocrime films out there.

When Naples steps out of line: EuroCRIME with Luc MERENDA

This film by Michele Massimo TARANTINI is certainly not the strongest crime film from the Italian heyday of the genre.

Luc Merenda plays an inspector who comes to Naples and has to get used to some of the drudgery. Enzo Cannavale plays his assistant, who is completely different from the dashing inspector. But he can drive like hell; it's not for nothing that they call him "Nicola Lauda." The way the unlikely team pulls together and sets their sights on their common enemy Don Domenico (Claudio Gora) is one of the film's strengths. It is also interesting that three complex female characters are introduced: the not so "eternal" victim Rosa (Sonia Viviani), the cunning lady boss Carola (Marianne Comtell) and the smart girl Luisa (Francesca Guadagno). Beyond that, only dozens of items are offered from the assembly line. There are more worthy representatives of the genre.

The Italian audience seems to have liked it quite a bit, with 999 million ITL sales in the domestic box office being decent. The film did not make it into West German cinemas.

Brutish, bold and fast moving Italian police thriller set in a decayed Naples. Characterful faces abound, as does the gang rivalry and bloody violence. Luc Merenda is so cool throughout you begin to wonder if he has noticed just what is going on, but then he is there ready around the corner. Probably about five car chases but there are not overlong and in fact work well amid the terrible street traffic. The chase against the city train is very well done, as are all the set pieces and elements of sleaze are provided for by the presence of a luscious Sonia Viviani. Always looking sensational and half the time nude she suffers a beating, a rape, forced drug injection and being shackled naked, all for our viewing pleasure and to underline the brutish element within Naples gangland. Tough, gritty and well worth a watch.

Okay, I've seen my fair share of 70's Italian crime movies... about half that exist I'd imagine, maybe a little less. The only ones worse than this are the ones from Mario Bianchi and Alfonso Brescia just because those are so campy. What really sinks this one is a very low budget. Everything seems awfully third-world, from the flatly shot dialog scenes, boring chases, and toned-down shootouts.

Not to mention the dubbing - by God, this has to be the worst dub-job I've ever seen on an Italian film! Borderline unwatchable had it not been so unintentionally funny. Take the scene where Sonia Viviani gets raped by Salvatore Billa for instance... the actress dubbing her voice is far less than convincing and just keeps calmly saying "no please let me go" about 16x in a row. I don't even think the dubbers actually watched the movie, as the plot points don't even make sense, and the comic relief provided by the lieutenant just confusing.

That said, this has a very good cast (Lastretti, Merenda, Murolo, Billa, and the genre regulars) and moves along fairly quickly with its fair share of violence. There's just a lot of better ones out there such as anything by Castellari, Lenzi, or even Stelvio Massi. This one looks more like a better-funded-than-usual student film.

This is the first film I've seen by Tarantini and hope to see other work by him. The story is about a Milanese cop (Luc Merenda) assigned to bust the mob in Naples. What makes the film worth watching is that the film has bits of unexpected originality sparking what would have been in lesser hands, a routine film. Tarantini also uses very dynamic framing in the cinematography, with lots of low angle shots as well as using extreme close ups for contrast. The action includes several shoot outs, car chases and a fistful of dynamite. While some of the humor is culture specific with the rivalry between northern and southern Italy, other bits are handled lightly eliciting some earned chuckles courtesy of co-star Enzo Cannavele. The DVD probably looks better than when the film first hit theaters, with 5.1 Dolby I am sure it sounds better.