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Umberto Lenzi tried his hand at just about every popular type of film in Italy during the sixties, seventies and eighties, and while he has some very nice entries on his list of directorial credits; it has to be said that he isn't the best director to try his hand at the likes of Giallo, zombie and cannibal movies. However, when it comes to crime films; Lenzi comes into his own, and just like Almost Human a couple of years earlier, Violent Naples is an entertaining and nasty little crime thriller. Like every film in this sub-genre, the major influence comes from the masterpiece American film 'Dirty Harry', and here we follow a copper not too far removed from Clint Eastwood's famous character. Commissario Betti is your typical disgruntled cop that favours violence over proper police procedure. He's fed up with the way that Naples is being run by the criminals, and so sets his sights on The Commandante. However, this man isn't easy to bring down, and since Betti is receiving no help from his fellow townsmen, the task of ending crime in Naples is left to our leading man.

The title of the film leads the viewer to expect lots of violence, and Lenzi certainly doesn't disappoint in this respect. We've got bowling balls to the head, a young woman having her face scraped off on a moving train, a man impaled on a sharp fence and many other such delights. Overall, it has to be said that this film isn't very original, but Lenzi injects some freshness into it with a barrage of exciting chase scenes (the best of which take a point of view shot from the front of a motorbike) and violent shootouts. The good thing about these Polizia movies is that they are played out for pure entertainment value, meaning that Lenzi is free from trying to be arty, and can pack in as much violence as he likes; a fact which is often capitalised on. The film benefits from a strong Italian cast, including Maurizio Merli; who may be no Clint Eastwood, but still delivers a strong and entertaining lead performance. John Saxon gets to join in the fun also, and there's also a place for fellow American actor Barry Sullivan, in the role of the villain. Overall, if you're into Italian cop movies; this isn't one to miss!

Highly efficient, high octave stuff from director Lenzi and I'm not really sure why I'm not rating it higher. Thing is, I think, there maybe is not quite enough sex and violence! Actually there is violence a plenty, all through the film actually, but is is mainly guns and fists and the really outrageous and gory kills are shown so briefly that their impact is somewhat muted. Good job too, some may say, but this is a Lenzi pic and I was rather surprised. Nevertheless, this is violent action all the way and mostly out on the crowded, Naples streets. Colourful location shooting and some amazingly well shot street chases, on foot by car and motorbike. Very good action movie.

Italian director Umberto Lenzi made films in many of the genres that were popular at different times throughout a career which spanned the golden age of Italian genre cinema. He will probably remain most (in)famous for his key contributions to the cannibal film cycle but, really, the sub-genre best suited to his sensibilities was the Italo-crime film, better known as the poliziottesco. These movies revelled in brutal action and often featured cops who dealt with crime fighting in a decidedly fascistic fashion; which brings us to the brilliantly - and accurately - titled Violent Naples. In this one we have a Dirty Harry style cop who prefers beating criminals up to questioning them; a punch now, ask questions later kind of thing. He arrives into a Naples rife with crime and run by criminals, a place where his brand of no-nonsense violent retribution seems like the obvious answer to combat the hordes of thieves, rapists and Mafia types bringing the place down.

Needless to say, Violent Naples is severely politically incorrect, which of course, only serves to elevate its entertainment and cult value even higher. Lenzi's sledgehammer directorial style is a pretty significant factor in this. The pacing is fast due to his typically rapid choppy edits that propel us from scene to scene with no messing around. And his approach to violence could never exactly be described as reticent. There are loads of punch-ups and gun fights but also some moments of creative violence such as where a rapist dies by way of facial impalement via fence post and another occasion where a policeman is murdered by way of death by bowling ball. On the action front there is a pulse-pounding race across town on a motorcycle and a well-staged gun battle on a train carriage that includes a poor woman having her coupon obliterated when an unreasonable gangster shoves her head out a window into the path of an oncoming train. Lenzi even makes time to show his sensitive side too with scenes involving a young boy that introduces some pathos into all this mayhem, although these particular scenes are cheesy to the point of hilarity and only ultimately serve as a springboard for our tough cop hero to return to his day-to-day business of physically assaulting petty criminals in the name of good old 70's Italian law and order.

"Violent Naples" is the second part of a loose trilogy of Italian crime films (poliziotteschi) about Commissario Betti, a Dirty Harry-style cop who is out to clean up the "violent" cities of Italy.

"Naples" is the only part of the trilogy made by someone other than Marino Girolani: for this second entry it's the infamous Umberto Lenzi in the director's chair, a filmmaker better known for his boundary-pushing gore films like the widely-banned "Cannibal Ferox" and other such delights.

If nothing else, "Violent Naples" shows that Umberto Lenzi was a splendid action filmmaker. Car and motorcycle chase scenes in this movie are extraordinarily well done, with Lenzi employing point-of-view shots and creative camera angles for exhilarating results.

The movie has a few other notable moments, such as a scene where a crooked jeweler pretends to flush a ring down the toilet, and our hero shows that it was a trick with a little tray in the bowl (apparently a common trick as well? How many jewelers make a habit of taking their customers into the bathroom?) and another scene where a woman has her face smashed against the side of a speeding train.

Most of the fisticuffs in the movie - and there are a lot - look like people punching air, but there are other more violent moments apart from the above, such as a man being shot with a machine gun.

Unfortunately, the movie has the same problems "Violent Rome" had: as the protagonist, Maurizio Merli makes absolutely no impression, and the movie has very little plot to string the violence and chase scenes together.

As such it was kind of an endurance contest sitting this one out, waiting for the next awesome chase scene or interesting moment, but Lenzi's entry in this trilogy is still the best, simply by virtue of having these things in it, and making them worth waiting for.

From Director Umberto Lenzi, VIOLENT NAPLES follows Inspector Betti (Maurizio Merli) as he hunts down a vast assortment of scumbags, thugs, and other ne'er-do-wells. His quest leads him into the darkest depths of the drug-fueled underworld, where he uses a little police brutality to take care of the criminal element.

As crime-thrillers go, this is a great one. As its hero, Merli is tough, brave, and unstoppable on his mission to shut down the mob. The bad guys are quite colorful in a vile sort of way. One classic scene involves two of these psycho crooks who pick the wrong people to rob with tragic / hilarious results! Also, the scenes of motorcycles roaring through the streets of Naples are exhilarating!

Co-stars John Saxon as a seemingly mild-mannered businessman who is actually mixed up with a figure known as 'O' Generale (Barry Sullivan).

Hyper-violent and relentless, this is one of the best movies Lenzi ever made...