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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.

Umberto Lenzi's "Napoli Violenta" is a first class cop movie that really shocked me.It's exciting and really memorable with some nasty bits of violence(including a fence post impalement and bowling ball facial).Maurizio Merli is great as a veteran cop named Betti.He sets out to clean up a protection racket run by the Commandant(Barry Sullivan).Along the way,Betti befriends a little boy whose father is murdered by the criminals.Since Merli passed away in 1989,"Violent Protection" attained almost a cult status in some places.There are some great car chases and plenty of exciting gun-play.So if you're a fan of Italian crime genre give this one a look.Highly recommended.

Untarnished Euro-crime favourite, 'Violent Naples' aka 'Napoli Violenta' (1976) is yet another thrillingly bellicose, fruitful cinematic coupling betwixt the mightily short-fused, Maurizio Merli & steely powerhouse Poliziottesco director, Umberto 'Cannibal Ferox'. Lenzi. This time out the irrepressible, routinely roundhousing rage of Commissioner, Berti (Maurizio Merli) angrily finds gory grist to his ever-more violent mill by unearthing the criminal machinations of rapacious drug overlord, Francesco Capuano (John Saxon).

Needless to say with thrill-master general, Umberto Lenzi behind the wildly-spinning wheels of this rampaging Poliziotteschi juggernaut, Lenzi's brutal fistful of molars, 'Violent Naples' excitingly escalates to a fever pitch of tumultuously unexpurgated thug trashing, Berretta blasting mayhem! The stolid performances of craggy-looking, Barry Sullivan, and devilishly handsome Euro-cult hero, Silvano Tranquilli offer a temporary reprieve from the hyper-masculinity of, John Saxon and Maurizio Merli! The musical icing on this spectacularly Moorish Euro-crime treat is capably provided by maestro, Franco Micalizzi, his electrifying crime-funk score robustly complements the wrathful modus operandi of commissioner Berti, going pell-mell after the scum and villainy like some incandescently vengeful, PCP-crazed, Dirtier-than-Harry cop! Berti's histrionic approach to justice evokes the catastrophic tableau of a blood-mad bull run amok within the genteel environs of a Fortnum & Mason tearoom!

Well, look no further! "Violent Naples" is the second entry in the masterful Commissario Betti trilogy, released in between "Violent City" and "A Special Cop in Action", and it's the only one not directed by Marino Girolami. Die-hard Poliziotteschi fanatics needn't worry, though. Quite the contrary in fact, because the man who took over the director's seat is none other than Umberto Lenzi: Italian cult director genius and particularly experienced in the field of Poliziotteschis. I tend to repeat myself when reviewing titles in this particular sub-genre of cinema, but "Violent Naples" is once more a brilliant cop thriller with harsh violence, exhilarating action sequences, fascinating characters, gritty atmospheres, mean dialogs and a splendid soundtrack. Straight from the opening credits, with a camera attached on the hood of a car that is rushing through the traffic-infested city to the tunes of awesome Franco Micalizzi music, you have the guarantee that Lenzi & Co will deliver 95 minutes of non-stop excitement. Commissioner Betti (no first name) gets transferred to Naples because this crime-laden metropolis is in desperate need for his unorthodox but highly efficient methods. Betti takes every case very personally and obsessively hunts down all type of criminals. He's equally intolerant for jewelry thieves, home-invading rapists, armed bank robbers and mafia kingpins that run a relentless protection racket. In the highest regions of the Naples crime hierarchy, there's a bit of a feud going on between Francesco Capuano and the nicknamed "Commandante", and Betti terrifically uses this to bring them both down. The highlights of the film are numerous and nearly impossible to list! There's the race across town on a motorcycle, which has to bring a dangerous but slick bank robber from the scene of the crime towards his waterproof alibi at the police station in less than ten minutes, or the vicious battle inside an upwards train carriage (that poor woman). Unforgettable as well are the bowling ball massacre and the impalement of Luciano Rossi's ugly mug on a fence. There isn't a whole lot structure in "Violent Naples" and it doesn't look as if Betti ever sleeps, but action addicts will get everything the wish for … and more!

"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.