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Wow, I was not expecting this one to be as good as it turned out! Possibly Umberto Lenzi's best film, Almost Human is a violent and mean-spirited Italian crime-thriller from that golden age of the 70's. Tomas Milian stars as Giulio Sacchi, a lowly thug who is despised even by his peers. Sacchi has a lot of criminal perseverance, though, and manages to come up with a kidnapping/ransom scheme that should set him and his small crew up for life. Of course, the fact that Sacchi is a mean and crazy bastard makes things difficult (and deadly) for just about everyone involved, inadvertently or not! The dedicated, stone-faced cop investigating Sacchi's reign of terror was played by Henry Silva, who did a fine job in the role. To the tune of the thumping theme by Ennio Morricone, Almost Human delivers the details and action at a strong pace, keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout. And with cool dialogue that Tarantino would love, well, this was just a very entertaining and well-made piece of Eurocrime. The new DVD from No Shame features several interview extras, the best of which being from Milian, who even at his old age manages to be a lively, funny guy.

"Almost Human" is the best known of the "poliziotesschi", or Italian crime films, made by the highly respected Umberto Lenzi. It's a crackling story that travels far on the unholy magnetism of its unbalanced villain, and it's also a story with its fair share of dark twists and turns. The action scenes are first-rate, and the script (by the prolific Ernesto Gastaldi) keeps one absorbed, wondering when, or if, our antagonist will ever receive his comeuppance.

Tomas Milian stars as Giulio Sacchi, a low life criminal who never passes up an opportunity to make some money - or spread some blood around. He actually has a girlfriend (Anita Strindberg), and while sitting with her one day he gets the bright idea: kidnap his girls' boss' daughter for a hefty ransom. He seems to be one step ahead of the law the entire time, although a determined police inspector (Henry Silva) does soon pick up his trail.

Mean-spiritedness prevails in this interesting, effectively violent film, and it's never more interesting than when it follows the activities of the piece of scum at the story's centre. Milian is a force of nature to behold here, having no regard at all for human life and fixated on that "big score" that will make him an insanely rich man. It's something of a treat to see Silva as the good guy who will ultimately work outside the law to see justice done, although truth be told, he's often been at his best when playing roles similar to Milians'.

Punctuated by the typically grandiose talents of composer Ennio Morricone, "Almost Human" is very, very good of its kind. You won't believe what depravities Giulio will be capable of from scene to scene; in particular, that moment in the country manor will definitely drive that point home.

You may not like Giulio Sacchi, but you may find him fascinating as he sometimes just can't control himself from his most vile intentions.

Seven out of 10.

ALMOST HUMAN is a really clever kidnap thriller. I found myself rooting for the cunning, wretched, murderous and lecherous Giulio Sacchi (played by Tomas Milan who is unrecognizable after I saw him play an earnest journalist in DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING a couple of days ago). He is a character straight out of a Jim Thompson novel.

After he botches up a bank heist, Guilio hatches a plan to kidnap a rich heiress and demand 0.5 billion as ransom. He commits a string of murders during the kidnapping and hostage taking.

One of the main features of Italian police thrillers is that they pushed the boundaries with regard to what could be put on film. Some of the stuff that the Guilo character pulls off in this film would be frowned upon today.

The film has some great writing filled with witty one liners and jokes. Hope it gets a blu ray release.

Anita Strindberg as Milan's hapless but devoted girlfriend invoked sympathy. I find it hard to take Henry Silva seriously. He is unintentionally hilarious like in Cry of a Prostitute.

(8/10)

ALMOST HUMAN (Umberto Lenzi - Italy 1974.

I had missed out far too long on Umberto Lenzi's best known crime flick, which is hands down one of the best poliziotesschi I've seen so far, almost on par with the best of Fernando Di Leo's work, together with Lenzi one of the more prolific directors within the genre. Whilst generally acknowledged to be one of the better Italian crime flicks, Lenzi's somewhat ham-fisted approach to his gialli, had made me a little reluctant to catch up with any of his other work. Although Lenzi's own VIOLENT NAPLES is also a well-made, highly effective genre entry, this one comes close to beating out that one when it comes to sheer brutality and an almost unbelievable barrage of nasty violence.

A rarity in most Italian crime thrillers, this film benefits enormously from an intriguing and woefully ambivalent central character, played with tremendous vigour by Tomas Milian, who plays Guillio Sacchi, a violent low life scumbag with no regard for human life at all and with a real penchant for torture and rape. The other side of the law is represented by stone-faced Henry Silva, who switches to playing a cop this time, instead of his usual turn as the calculating crime kingpin. The story by Ernesto Gastaldi is simplicity itself and doesn't take all kinds of distracting side-roads that make many other genre efforts so forgettable in that department. Anyway, if you're still in doubt about the merits of Italo-crime flicks, watch this one. An intriguing story, Tomas Milian in a great role and Ennio Morricone contributes another impressive soundtrack what must be one of his most recognizable scores this side from Sergio Leone. I keep wondering if the members of the Academy, who recently honoured Morricone with the honorary Oscar, had any idea what kind of films the maestro generally got involved in.

Camera Obscura --- 9/10

Yet another winner from Umberto Lenzi, one of the masters of the Italian Crime movie (and there are many). For this one, he focuses mainly on the exploits of Guilio (Tomas Milian), a psychopath out for that one big score, who struggles to keep his insanity in check.

Julio's just botched a bank job by getting a bit paranoid and killing a traffic cop, and after receiving a well-deserved kicking from some gangsters, he heads off to his girlfriend's house to mooch some cash. When not getting a kicking or mooching, Guilio hangs around with his petty thief mates, preaching about a big score. After killing yet another cop while being caught stealing from a cigarette machine, Julio stumbles upon his plan – to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman and hold her for ransom. He's got two problems with this plan. The first problem is that Cop Henry Silva is on his trail ever since the murder of the cop at the cigarette machine. The second problem is that Guilio is a complete psycho and kills without thought, leaving a trail of bodies for Silva to find. Silva himself has a problem – he's a victim of the apathy and red tape of the Italian crime system and his fury grows every time he's held back from stomping all over Guilio's head. Although Almost Human is violent and sleazy, it's not as over the top as Violent Naples or The Rat, The Cynic, The Fist. Those two films had a larger cast, more car chases, and more characters to be killed off in various ways. Almost Human on the other hand is Milian's show all the way. Despite, according to the interview on my DVD, Milian being a bit full of himself, he really can act and here he displays every side of a sociopath, from a screaming murderer to a grief stricken boyfriend, to a begging, pathetic weasel (the switches in personality are really impressive). As the film concentrates almost exclusively on Milian, it's slower paced but not without it's set pieces, from Milian and his gang crashing a party, to Milian's drive with girlfriend Anita Strinberg out into the country. I'd say the title doesn't just refer to Milian, but also to Silva, who displays little emotion throughout the film, save his rage against Milian. I recommend this and all the other Lenzi crime movies I've seen: Violent Naples, The Rat, the Cynic, The Fist, and Syndicated Sadists. It's a pity he got bogged down trying to outdo Ruggero Deodato with those vile cannibal flicks, because it's with the crime genre he excelled at.

Thomas Milian gives a stunningly evil performance as a mad dog killer, while Henry Silva is uncharacteristically reserved as the pursuing police detective. Milan seems to go out of his way trying to control everyone around him, while at the same time killing innocents just for the hell of it. "Almost Hunan" does have a simplified kidnapping plot that is easy to follow, unlike many Italian crime films where the scripts can be muddled. If you are in the hunt for an Italian crime movie, this is one to get. The Ennio Morricone score is another plus, and is memorable. The film has plenty of violence, nudity, and totally acceptable acting. Be warned however that you will see some bloody action that could provoke a bit of disgust, especially as relating to children. Good of it's type, and recommended. - MERK

Umberto Lenzi's Almost Human is a film that takes in all the best elements of seventies Italian cinema and blends it all into one deliriously entertaining thriller! Umberto Lenzi is, of course, more famous for his cannibal and zombie films; but I have it on good authority that his real talent lies in police thrillers, and even though this is my first Poliziotteschi from Lenzi; it appears that would indeed be the case. The film takes obvious influence from successful American films such as Dirty Harry, but it's also obvious that Lenzi has added his own spin on the sub-genre, as the sadistic director implants a lot of scenes that wouldn't be out of place in an exploitation film. Almost Human is graphically violent throughout, and that is certainly no bad thing! The film follows a career criminal known as Giulio Sacci who realises that he's not making a lot of money out of small time crime and so hatches a plot to kidnap a wealthy man's daughter and hold her for ransom. It's not long before Milan's toughest cop; Inspector Walter Grandi gets on the case and sets into motion a bloodthirsty chain of events!

The cast and crew is like a who's who of Italian cinema. Lenzi himself has directed a number of the best Italian films, while nobody will disagree that films such as The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh and The Case of the Bloody Iris make Ernesto Gastaldi one of Italy's finest scriptwriters. The cast is superb, and benefits from two strong lead male performances. Thomas Milan, perhaps best known for performances as Django and a starring role in Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling, gives a sadistic and charismatic lead performance, while Henry Silva is his opposite number. There are support roles for the likes of Anita Strindberg and Ray Lovelock, and just to top things off; Almost Human is scored by the great Ennio Morricone! The plot is superb and continually delivers the unexpected as the lead character descends further into bloodthirsty insanity. Lenzi does a good job of presenting a dirty and gritty atmosphere for the film, and ensures that the film feels like a police thriller with several car chases and shootouts. Italian films are known for being cheap and nasty; but that isn't the case here, as the production values are good and the film always feels professionally made. Highly recommended for the fan of Italian cinema!

Almost Human (1974)

*** (out of 4)

Exciting crime picture has psychopath Giulio (Tomas Milian) growing more and more dangerous as he kidnaps the daughter of a rich man and holds her for ransom. A police inspector (Henry Silva) is following some murders and believes that it is the work of the kidnapper so he sets out to find him.

Umberto Lenzi's ALMOST HUMAN is an extremely entertaining mix of EuroCrime as well as something like DIRTY HARRY. The film offers up two great actors turning in great characters and this is just part of the fun. Many people have called this film dirty and nasty but I'm going to disagree because even some of the American crime pictures from this era contained more violence and blood. What this film succeeds at is telling a very good story and showing what a psychopath one can be.

Lenzi's direction certainly deserves a lot of credit and especially with the flow and style of the picture. There are some effective car chases at the start of the movie but what I liked the most was how Lenzi shows this madman slowly losing more of a grip on reality and falling into his madness. I really liked the character structure of the killer and thought it worked perfectly well against the cop who knows what he's dealing with and wants to handle it himself.

Of course, Milian and Silva are both wonderful in their roles and they bring a lot of entertainment value. Milian is a pure evil snake here and I thought he worked wonderfully as a villain that you love to hate. Silva is a lot more straight and doesn't have as flashy of a role but he too is still a lot of fun. The support cast are also quite good and help keep the film moving. Then you've got a terrific score by Ennio Morricone as well as some very good cinematography.

ALMOST HUMAN is certainly one of the better crime pictures out there. It has a nice story, some great characters and the style that you'd expect.

ONCE upon a time in Italy the "poliziottesco" movie. Titles like "Milano odia", "Roma violenta", "Torino nera" ecc. were common and that is significant to understand the 70, with fear of terrorism, austerity after the bachanal of the '60 boom. So, according to the Siegel line, Lenzi creates probably his best movie. Tomas Milian is the ideal actor for that kind of loser, raged agaist the richs but without ideals. Only ferine rage hopelessy. So today this film illustrated well the clime of grey tension of that years. In the days of his issue someone shout that it was a "fascist" movie, only because the cop (Silva) can applies his revenge not as a policeman but as a private citizen...this is a little bit siegelian... The only thing than Lenzi could make better is to realize a more significant characterization for the figure of Henry Silva, wich substantially is marginal in respect of Milian. But we all know that the importance of the movie is based on the shoulder of the loser. All in dark, dirty locations with bad wearing...Once upon a time the '70!!!

This seems to be a very typical Italian crime film...and boy, do i love it. Ennio Morricone has a short, but killer instrumental tune going on at the very beginning of the film, setting the mood for what this movie is all about. We have the fine Tomas Milian playing a pathetic, gunhappy bastard who gets ticked off very easily and spends most of the movie killing the people he gets near. A high bodycount for mr. Milian here. Great boys...are you happy??? i know i am for owning this movie. I even have the soundtrack in my collection. Go see it boys!!! The American title for this movie "Almost human" is very misconceiving, as Milian in no sense seems like a human being. A translation of the Italian title is more correctly "Hate in Milano-the police can't shoot".

One of my favorite Italian director is Umberto Lenzi, sadly he was extremely stigmatized by the critics, not to me, he was a benchmark for his outstanding career, possible it was his best work undoubtedly, Tomas Milian better known from Spaghetti's pictures here he makes an iconic psychotic cheap thief, who has an awful idea to kidnap a young daughter of a rich business man, tragic happenings come forward, he and his frightened beginners partners made a brutal bloody wave of needless violence against all in their path, a true milestone at Lenzi & Milian's careers, maybe the unique sin made by Lenzi was put Henry Silva in the role of the Police Commissioner to replace the previously contracted Richard Conte who had died one day before of the movie starts shooting, Henry Silva doesn't disappoint at all, but sounds weird so tagged actor linked at banditry making such role, also on DVD has a bonus on a rare interview gave by Lenzi before he pass away, talking about this picture and others subjects on small details over Milian's relationship !!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5

My summary line obviously referring to the international title of the movie (Almost Human). Now there is some crazy things going on and this is quite the understatement. The main bad guys are really mean. One maybe the meanest of them all. Depending on your mood and how you feel about moral codes and if you can see the humor in this (although it is mostly vicious), you may like what you get served here or not.

The movie is mean lean and ready to give it all. It also is crazy, which comes from the characters and how they operate. Kidnapping is not a fun game ... terrorising the victim is giving it a whole new note. But again, remember this is a movie and it is supposed to shock. So in that regard the movie succeeds quite well ...

Once again Umberto Lenzi and Tomas Milian deliver the goods. I was recently lucky enough to finally get ahold of an uncut Italian DVD of this (though the English version on it is dubbed not subtitled). It was my first time seeing it, and I was continually (and pleasantly) surprised at how the unfolding narrative, charging ahead like a runaway locomotive, confounded my expectations. This ultra-violent film has some of the most shocking moments from any film from the seventies and constantly grinds up cliches and spits them out like so much shredded celluloid. Utterly mesmerizing, in part due to the jawdropping performance of Milian as the psychotically sociopathic, wisecracking kidnapper. But Lenzi's direction and the script by Ernesto Gastaldi (veteran of some of the finest giallos)deserve credit, too. Although it's great to see Henry Silva in a substantial role as the doggedly pursuing detective, his performance is a bit uneven, unbelievably wooden in some scenes, over-the-top in others. Supporting cast Ray Lovelock, Anita Strindberg and Laura Belli are all great.

It's hard to believe that some of the folks supplying comments here found this boring! Thoroughly downbeat and uncompromising, refusing to deliver a happy ending for any of the characters, it's one of the great, gritty, up-from-the-gutter trash classics from seventies Italian cinema. Highly recommended. If you love this kind of movie and have still not seen it, search it out!

I don't doubt that "Almost Human" was at the time of it's release a very shocking movie about monstrous crimes of Giulio Sacchi, something truly new at the market, pushing up boundaries of what can be shown on screen (as one other reviewer on this page said), but nowadays "Almost Human" is just a passable crime movie with decent acting far surpassed by better and newer movies in the genre. There isn't anything inherently bad about the movie and Thomas Milian is great in the lead role, but "Almost Human" isn't a masterpiece which is a must-watch. It's an enjoyable movie for the fans of the genre, but a wide miss for everybody else. 6/10 from me!

Not sure what went wrong here. I like a good poliziotteschi (Massimo Dallamano's 'What Have You Done To Solange' and 'What Have They Done To Your Daughters' being two of the finest examples of Italian 70s cinema I can think of) and I'm also not adverse to some of Umberto Lenzi's grindhousey campfests either ('Eaten Alive' being a personal fave), but for some reason 'Almost Human' was a bit of a struggle to get through.

It's not without its moments of tension and typical giallo style nastiness, but nothing could disguise the strictly amateur hour feel of the whole thing, which smacked of both trying too hard and yet somehow not trying hard enough to engage the viewer. All the noise, sleaze, action and violence weren't enough to conceal a pretty self indulgent and ultimately directionless shaggy dog story. The dubbing, script and acting weren't even bad enough to be funny either. Overrated for my money, and I'm mystified by the largely excellent reviews on here.