Il cinico, l'infame, il violento

With great works in a variety of genres, such as Gialli, Poliziotteschi and Cannibal Flicks, Umberto Lenzi is doubtlessly one of the most productive and versatile directors in Italian Exploitation/Cult-Cinema. And, along with Fernando Di Leo, he is arguably the ultimate master of the Italian crime-genre. Though maybe just not quite as great (and neither quite as brutal and uncompromising) as its predecessor "Roma A Mano Armata" ("Rome Armed To The Teeth", 1976) or the masterpiece "Milano Odia: La Polizia Non Può Sparare" ("Almost Human", 1974), "Il Cinico, L'Infame, Il Violento" aka. "The Cynic, The Rat And The Fist" of 1977 is yet another gritty and great Poliziottesco by Lenzi.

Its title doubtlessly being derived from Sergio Leone's 1966 masterpiece "Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo" (better known as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", and arguably the greatest Western ever made), "The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist" stars three iconic actors in Italian genre-cinema, Maurizio Merli, Tomas Milian and John Saxon. This is a sequel to Lenzi's own "Roma A Mano Armata", in which Maurizio Merli reprises his role of the super-tough and uncompromising Inspector Leonardo Tanzi. Tanzi is a supremely bad-ass, unorthodox Rome cop who hates criminals as he hates crime and whose methods make Dirty Harry seem tame in comparison. Tomas Milian is back with greatness, in a different villain-role than that he played in the predecessor. Leonardo Tanzi, who has retired from the police in this one and yet keeps chasing down (and beating up) criminals is targeted by Luigi 'Er Cinese' Maietto ("Tomas Milian") a brutal and unscrupulous criminal whom he helped bring to justice and who has just been released from prison. After an attempt on his life, Tanzi fakes his own death, which gives him the opportunity to secretly carry on with his investigations. 'Er Cinese', in the meantime, has founded an alliance with the Italian-American mob boss Frank Di Maggio (John Saxon), a man who likes to feed enemies to his dogs...

It isn't explained which titular attribute refers to whom of the characters. Even so, Merli is doubtlessly 'the Fist' ('Il Violento'), and it's safe to assume that Milian is 'the Cynic', which would make Saxon 'The Rat' ('L'infame'/the infamous). All three leading men are great as always. Merli is great in his typical leading role of the unorthodox and super-tough copper and John Saxon shines as the slick Mafia Don; however, one might still say that the number one performance in this film comes from Tomas Milian, who is once again downright brilliant in the role of another cynical and sadistic thug. The supporting cast includes many regulars of Italian genre-cinema, such as Guido Alberti or Bruno Corazzari. The film is action-packed, full of violent shootouts, chases and sequences of genre-typical brutality. As Lenzi's other Poliziotteschi, the film is accompanied by a great score, this one being composed by Franco Micalizzi, who also did the scores for "Roma A Mano Armata" and "Napoli Violenta". Even this does not quite reach the level of "Milano Odia" and "Roma A Mano Armata", in my opinion, it is still a gritty, violent, immensely entertaining and simply great Crime offering by Umberto Lenzi, carried by loads of action, three sublime leading men and Lenzi's magnificent direction. Not to be missed by lovers of cinematic bad-assery!

This is one of the better poliziotteschi I've seen - written by Lenzi with two other Euro-Cult stalwarts, Ernesto Gastaldi and Dardano Sacchetti - and also, perhaps, the quintessential Maurizio Merli film (not that this, in itself, is a guarantee of quality!).

From the title, one presumes that this was intended to be THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) of crime films - although, here, the shifty alliance is made between two baddies (Tomas Milian - dubbed "The Chinaman", for some reason a favorite nickname in films from this subgenre! - and John Saxon). Again, having just watched COP IN BLUE JEANS (1976) the previous day, I couldn't help noticing just how many of these films open with a robbery sequence; likewise, the leading man's girlfriend generally emanates from the wrong side of the tracks and is victimized for aiding our hero during the course of the film!

As is to be expected, the film's pace never lets up by providing a steady quota of highly proficient action scenes - culminating in a heist committed at one of Saxon's offices by Milian's thugs(!) and which also involves Merli and "The Professor", an elderly pint-sized expert in gadgetry, in the elaborate diffusion of the building's security system. Still, characterization is not entirely neglected: Merli is obsessed with catching Milian (even if the two only come face to face at the climax) and, feigning his own death, works undercover to this end but remains in contact with his chief; Milian is a small- time hood with ambitions of taking over the territory of American mobster Saxon; the latter, then, is the typical gangster - wealthy, ruthless (with a penchant for leaving traitors at the mercy of his enormous hounds!) and apparently omnipotent. The scenes in which the villainous duo clash - each with his own agenda which sees no place in the scheme of things for the other! - constitute some of the film's highlights; Franco Micalizzi's score is also notable.

Even if the film's in no way a spoof as COP IN BLUE JEANS had been, its script features a comparable surfeit of hard-boiled dialogue which is so over-the-top as to be quite funny - extending even to the notes of condolences passed on amongst the criminals as a means of heralding someone's death sentence!

My estimation of Umberto Lenzi has risen over the years. Maybe I shouldn't have started with his late-era movies like House of Lost Souls etc, but during the seventies he was one of the great. This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

If there's a bad Italian crime movie, I haven't seen it. This one has Maurizio Merli as a cop driven to fake his death as Tomas Milian gets out of jail and swear revenge. You seen these films, right? I don't have to explain any more (gunfights, fistfights, car chases, showdowns).

These films, above all Italian genre movies, make me feel like a little kid again, from the music, to the style, to John Saxon's moustache, you just can't beat them. This is benefits from having Merli, Saxon, and especially Milian trying to out act each other.

The Cynic, The Rat and The Fist makes me want to go out, by a kipper tie and flared pastel suit, grow a moustache, grab a bottle of J&B, light up a Malboro, slip the safety of a sub-machine gun and jump onto a moped with a hooker with a heart of gold (who isn't averse to a friendly smack in the chops if she gets lippy).

Get it now - you can get box sets of these from the US for pennies.

This is probably the best example of a 70's Italian crime movie, though not the "best" movie of the genre (does that make sense?). It has, besides Saxon, an entirely Italian cast but most of them are pretty recognizable regulars in very amusing roles. Maurizio Merli is best as the role he was born to play, that of yet another ticked off Police commissioner. His very charismatic, yet level-headed performance is the one thing that keeps this movie moving along so well, and it is notable that of Lenzi's crime movies, this is probably the one that entrusts Merli with the most screentime (besides FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN - though that is not so much a crime movie).

It's a pretty sloppily-shot, and haphazardly edited film (probably because most of Lenzi's films from this time were made with little money and over the span of 2-3 weeks), but has some very memorable shots (Merli charging across the foot-bridge, Merli pulling a bandage off of his newly healed arm, etc.) and a killer soundtrack by Franco Micalizzi (probably his best one). What's not to like about poorly-dubbed Italians smacking each other, breaking chairs over each-other's heads, shooting people in hospital beds, and stealing women's cars? The only weaknesses in this film are the fact that the heist sequence is far too long and drawn out, and the ending shootout is too quick and confusing (centering only on Milian vs. Merli when there is a whole gang war going on). Otherwise, a solid and action-packed film. It should also be noted that this probably has the most swearing of any 70's Italian movie, at least in the English version, making it the polar opposite of THE BIG RACKET.

With "The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist", Umberto Lenzi proved once more what he had already proven numerous times before, namely that he was Italy's greatest and hardest-working crime-movie director! Even during the second half of the 70s decade, when the heydays of the Poliziotesschi were actually over already, Lenzi still made a handful of downright awesome genre classics. "The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist" is even one of the best Poliziotesschi ever, with a very eventful but nevertheless solid script, no less than three of the finest contemporary lead actors and a truckload of impressively staged action footage. The title, and quite many of the themes as well, are obvious (and sublime) references towards Sergio Leone's landmark western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". However, in Leone's film, it was unmistakably clear who was who, whereas here the three main protagonists are never referred to with one of the aliases/nicknames of the title and it's not all that obvious to guess, neither! I presume Maurizio Merli - Tanzi the good guy - is "the Fist", since he's battling the organized crime in Rome with his bare vigilante hands now that he quit the police. I also daresay John Saxon's character Di Maggio is "the Rat", since his filthy mafia activities infest the entire city like a disease. And finally, Tomas Milian - in a truly superb performance - is probably "the Cynic" because, well, he's one of the cruelest and most relentless villains to ever appear on screen (just look at the hospital execution sequences for evidence).

Great movie, ditto soundtrack and particularly the sequences that feature Tomas Milian and John Saxon together rank as some of the most powerful ones in Italian cult cinema history!