MKS... 118

This is not a great movie. Director Michelle Massimo Taranti was very much a hack, and moreover a hack who usually specialized in comedy. Lead actor Henry Silva, on the other hand, was best playing either villains or VERY morally ambiguous anti-heroes (like the brutal gangsters he portrayed in "Cry of a Prostitute" and "The Boss"). Here though he's an annoyingly straight-arrow parachute major who has been sidelined from the army after he filed a report about defective parachutes. He comes to the city and decides to wage a one-man war on crime and corruption after he realizes organized bands of criminals seem to be getting their hands on military weapons. He is helped by a macho but possibly homosexual cop (Antonio Sabato). With the exception of a downbeat ending (and the homosexual subtext), this is way too much like an 80's era American police thriller (a genre which I personally hate).

This movie does have some good points. The pure stupidity of the plot is at times pretty entertaining. Silva ALWAYS seems to be where the action is. At one point he thwarts a kidnapping, but nearly barbecues the victim after running the kidnapper's car off the road. Then he knocks a would-be mugger off his scooter bike and the poor guy is set upon by a pack of vengeful senior citizens who beat him mercilessly with their canes in a truly surreal scene. The whole homosexual subtext is also interesting, especially when Sabato's character takes Silva's character into a transvestite bar and goes in the back room to "pump an informant" (actually he slaps the transvestite around, but for all our straight-laced hero knows. . .). I don't mean to imply, however, that this is really a gay movie. Silva, at least, has a love interest played by the sexy Silvia Dionisio. And Dionisio gets naked twice, not in particularly erotic scenes (in the first one she's being assaulted by goons), but a movie with Silvia Dionisio getting naked is ALWAYS better than a movie without Silvia Dionisio getting naked.

All in all, this is a pretty mixed bag. It's not great, but it's not totally worthless either.

Maestro, Michele Massimo Tarantini's flint-edged 'Poliziotti violenti' aka 'Crimebusters' (1976) is a terrifically entertaining Poliziottesco from the largely unheralded director of the no less exhilarating, 'A Man Called Magnum' & '7 Hours of Violence'. This enjoyably boisterous Euro-crime includes the splendidly stone-faced Henry Silva, charismatically delivering yet another Stoic, sinisterly simmering performance as the honourably straight-shooting, Maj. Paolo Altieri. Incensed by army corruption and the increasingly brutal machinations of the criminal underworld, Altieri is fatefully driven to acts of extreme retribution, and soon, wherever the militantly macho Major ventures, a bloody swathe of cathartic ultra-violence is sure to follow!

Swarthy cinematic stud, Antonio Sabato is well cast as the sharp-witted, belligerent Police commissioner, Paolo Tosi, whose fearsome propensity for twin-fisted justice is put to efficient use in Tarantini's enjoyably rough-hewn poliziottesco potboiler, and, rewardingly, the dynamic filmmaker constructs a number of compelling action scenes. The vehicular calamity, ear-shattering gun play and equally pugnacious punch-ups ensure that, Michele Tarantini's rumbustious, pleasingly action-packed actioner remains a shrapnel savage Poliziotteschi that most certainly merits a larger audience among Euro-cult fans. For me, one of 'Crimebusters' most enduring qualities is the robustly propulsive crime-jazz score by thrilling Euro-crime maestros, Guido & Maurizio de Angelis.

When para Paolo Altieri (Henry Silva) brings up the awkward matter of defective chutes that have claimed two lives, he is given a promotion to major and a comfy office job in the city, where he can be less of a bother to his superiors. But trouble seems to follow Altieri, and, after foiling a kidnapping, he finds himself targeted by a gang of criminals armed with military issue machine guns—weapons that have only ever been supplied to his old unit. Teaming up with tough cop Paolo Tosi (Antonio Sabato), Altieri tries to find out who is supplying the gang with the guns, but in doing so puts the life of his girlfriend Anna (Silvia Dionisio) on the line.

Poliziotti violenti is a fairly routine poliziotesschi, meaning that it delivers lots of noisy shoot outs (innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, with excessive use of bright red squibs!), fist fights, car and motorbike chases (with stacks of crates being knocked in all directions), and general acts of violence, plus a smattering of gratuitous nudity, the lovely Dioniso baring her boobs for a couple of scenes. All of this is set to a wonderfully funky '70s soundtrack. Unfortunately, the unexceptional story, which primarily serves to deliver the regular bouts of action, is far from gripping, while Michele Massimo Tarantini's direction is lacking in style, making this particular thriller rather a forgettable affair, at least until the surprisingly downbeat ending.

Admittedly "Poliziotti Violenti" won't ever get listed in any "top 10 greatest Poliziotesschi" rankings (or top 20, for that matter) but nevertheless I'm still awarding it with a generous rating 7/10, simply because it plentifully features all the things that I seek and love about this genre! For starters, the film doesn't star one but two heroic macho protagonists. The stoic-faced Henry Silva and the groovy Antonio Sabato form a surprisingly good duo, especially when they're ravaging the city on borrowed motorcycles or visiting sleazy transvestite clubs! Furthermore is "Poliziotti Violenti" low on complex plot twists and overlong dialogues, but rich on virulent shootouts, ruinous chases and gratuitous violence. Silva stars as a fanatic military major who gets transferred to a desk job after bringing too many sensitive army issues to the surface. One day, he prevents a kidnapping on the street from happening and notices that the hoodlums were using machine guns of which he knows for certain they are only intended for military usage. Since his own supervisors are corrupt as hell, Silva teams up with unorthodox police inspector Sabato in order to find out who's supplying deadly guns to street gangs. "Poliziotti Violenti" contains a few very ingenious scenes, for example how to rob a jewelry store with an ambulance, as well as some perplexing moments like senior citizens beating a purse- snatcher to pulp! In spite of the astounding Silvio Dionisio appearing topless a few times, the number one reason why I'll remember "Poliziotti Violenti" is because of the excessively brutal collateral damage. Italian directors are notorious for butchering random bystanders in their movies, but this one goes quite far. Dozens of innocent people are gunned down in drive-by shootings or even savagely run over by cars. The bad guys even blow up an entire restaurant in an attempt to eliminate our two heroes (but naturally kill everybody in the restaurant except them)

Henry Silva plays a Army Major who teams up with a tough cop (sabato) to investigate of a series of crimes that used a army issued machine gun. Lots of car chase, and action centers in a standard Italian action film. Silva, who isn't dubbed is good as usual and Sabato is a little more low key than his usual performance. Recommended.