La cité de la violence

One of the better Charles Bronson films, with an exhilarating wordless car chase opening sequence, a memorable shock ending, and one of Ennio Morricone's greatest scores. The story does not sustain its initial momentum, but the film is stylishly shot throughout by Sergio Sollima, who gives it the flavor of an urban spaghetti Western. Bronson is typically muscular and assured; Jill Ireland, whom I often find bland, is quite hot this time, and gives one of her most accomplished performances. **1/2 out of 4.

First of all i must admit that i'm a Charles Bronson fan and have been for quite a while. I have seen a lot of his films including all of them made after Violent City. So when i came across the movie being released on DVD and i was still yet to see it, i was quick to buy it. The DVD is presented in a fantastic format (trailer, production and movie stills, 15 minute interview with the director and cast and crew backgrounds). The movie is structured in a very unique way. Being an Italian/French coproduction and filmed largely in New Orleans the film consists of English and Italian dialogue to satisfy both cultures and uses flashback scenes to illustrate what is a very straightforward story of hitmen and mobsters and doublecrossings. The music score is by Ennio Morricone and as expected first rate. The cast is headed by Bronson. He doesn't talk much in this movie, more so than in his other outings and uses more of a physical style of acting with many close ups on his charactaristic face. He does well as usual. Telly Savalas has a small, but important role as the head of his "family". His philosiphies to Bronson are interesting. And Jill Ireland as Vanessa is truly seductive. She has never looked more beautiful than in this movie and you get to see plenty of her in this version. Her acting is not great but not too bad compared to some of her later stuff with her husband. As a whole i wasn't expecting too much but "Violent City" is quite under-rated and does have some very good scenes including a car chase, a sniper scene and the very well done ending. There are no good guys in this movie, but it is truthful. I give it a 7 out of 10, but i don't know if non-Bronson fans would enjoy it as much. I hope they continue to put more of Charlie's films on DVD and done in a similar way. Particularly "Rider On The Rain", "The Mechanic", "The Valachi Papers" and the little known Bronson/Curtis "You Can't Win 'Em All.

It is an interesting drama/thriller plenty of thrills , taut , intrigue , twists and turns . Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson , though Tony Musante and Jon Voight were considered for the part) is the number one killing people with a bullet whose reputation has caught up with him . After a bloody double-cross leaves him for dead and barely escapes a murder attempt , the professional hit man named Jeff tracks down the shooter and his gorgeous mistress Vanessa Shedon (Jill Ireland , Bronson's wife , though Sharon Tate was considered and Florinda Bolkan was originally lined up to star) to New Orleans . But when Jeff takes revenge , he finds himself blackmailed by a mobster (Telly Savalas , who does not appear in the movie until about one hour in) wants him to join his organization . Jeff refuses , and is then chased and hunted through an unforgiving city where love is like a serpent or like a loaded gun .

Thrilling movie about the very deadly rivalry between two extreme contenders , a double-crossed wealthy murderer , Charles Bronson , betrayed by his girlfriend , Jill Ireland , and a powerful crime boss , Telly Savalas . This crime thriller packs intrigue , suspense , noisy action-packed with exciting racing cars , explosive excitement , thrills and lots of violence . United Artists cut about eight minutes from the Italian version of this film for its American release . The film relies heavily in the complex , inter-relationship between a fiercely independent gunman , a mob boss , and their shared love interest . Bronson is pretty good as a killer sets out to revenge his Femme Fatal woman and the gang boss who put her up to it . He gives his usual stoic acting and displays efficiently his weapons and killing mercilessly his objectives , that's why the debts of vendetta are paid in bullets . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time , as the spectators were clearly on the Bronson's side in spite of being a ruthless killer . Bronson as a very professional hit man for a powerful organization offers the sort of monolithic acting , as always . This was one of the first major star teamings of action star Charles Bronson with his actress wife Jill Ireland . Jill Ireland gives a mediocre performance as Jeff's love interest , but the romance isn't what this movie is about and director knows his action . Furthermore , it appears a nice secondary cast , such as : Umberto Orsini , Ray Saunders , Michael Constantin , George Savalas , Telly's brother , and there stands out Telly Savalas who though received second billing , he gives a brief but magnificent acting . It contains atmospheric musical score composed , orchestrated and performed by the great Ennio Morricone , including an unforgettable leitmotif .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by recently deceased Sergio Sollima , he even choreographed the fight scenes himself because he wanted each character to have a fighting style tailored to their personality . This movie was inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville's The Samurai (1967). Sergio Sollima's direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and more inclined toward violence and too much action . Sergio wrote and directed all kinds of genres such as Pirate films as ¨Sandokan ¨ and ¨ Black Corsario¨ ; Peplum : ¨Rocha¨ , "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" , "Triumph of the Ten Gladiators" , ¨Ursus¨ "Goliath Against the Giants" ; Thriller : ¨Revolver¨ (1973) ; Euro-spy : "Requiem for a Secret Agent" , "Agent 3S3: Hunter from the Unknown" , ¨Tanger 67¨ ; being especially known for his ¨Cuchillo trilogy¨ : ¨Run Cuchillo run¨, ¨Face to Face¨ , ¨The big Gundown¨. And this ¨Violent City¨ is essential and indispensable watching for Charles Bronson fans . This is a satisfyingly violent and thrilling flick that avid fans of the genre will love .

I'm a big fan of Sergio Sollima's ingenious Spaghetti Westerns, and Charles Bronson is without doubt a great enrichment to any movie he played in. Sollima's "Citta Violenta" aka. "Violent City" aka. "The Family" of 1970 is a very good crime/action flick with Bronson in the leading role and a great score by Ennio Morricone. "The Family" may not quite share the brilliance of Sollima's Westerns, but it is definitely a very solid, greatly acted film that no Bronson fan can afford to miss!

After hit man Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson) is double crossed by his girlfriend (Bronson's real life wife Jill Ireland), and almost gets killed by rival gangsters, he spends the following four years in prison. After getting out of jail, he wants to track down those who betrayed him. It is not so easy, however, to find out who was involved in his assassination attempt, and Heston has to make quite an effort to distinguish between friends and enemies.

Charles Bronson is once again great as the leading character, and definitely the best choice to play Jeff Heston. Telly Savalas also delivers a great performance as the boss of a crime family. Although many folks seem to think differently, I also found that Jill Ireland did a great job as femme fatale Vanessa. One of the few things that were not quite necessary in "Citta Violenta", were the endless car chases. Car chases are of course mandatory for a film like this, but when they get too long, they can get a bit boring easily. The car chase sequences here are usually followed by violent action, however. The movie is quite imaginatively photographed, and Ennio Morricone's score is, as always, great, and although it is a bit different to the 'typical' Morricone that we're used to from Westerns, it is immediately clear who composed this soundtrack.

A very well made action flick with a great leading performance by Bronson, "Citta Violenta" is a great flick, maybe not quite as essential as Sollima's Westerns, but immensely entertaining, atmospheric and totally badass, and not to be missed by a Bronson fan. 8/10

After the highly entertaining Run,Man, Run, writer/ Director Sergio Sollima returned with this satisfying,if not all successful, tale of a hit-man, Jeff, who gained a conscience (Charles Bronson) and his quest to find the people who've double-crossed him and had him thrown in jail (and almost killed). Mrs. Bronson, Jill Ireland, is on hand as the conniving girlfriend who along with local mafioso boss, Weber (Telly Savalas) play him for a patsy. Entertaining enough and the re-added minutes of footage in the Anchor Bay released DVD of this is very welcome. Any fellow Bronson appreciator will find nothing to complain about with this one, and Jill (it very well could be a body double though) supplies the T&A content quite nicely (and multiple times). Fans of the director will be slightly off-put as this isn't as good as his films that came directly before (Run, Man, Run, The Big Gundown, Face to Face), nor after (Revolver) all of which are highly recommended by me by the way. However this is still a welcome enough diversion.

My Grade: B-