La polizia ringrazia

Me, I was born to watch all the movies. And that's what I've been doing all my life for 62 years. I'm aware that it's impossible, I'm not crazy. Now, in present times, it's harder and harder to choose a movie to watch, when there are so many, millions and millions. It's hard to find a real good movie. That's why, many times, I choose to re-watch a movie that I really liked sometime in the past. I've seen this one for the first time in 1972 or 1973 and I remember that I liked it very much. I was only about 13 years old. Exceptional actors, Enrico Maria Salerno, Mario Adorf, Mariangela Melato, Franco Fabrizi, Cyril Cusack. Cool music, with obsessive piano and violins, in Morricone's style, signed by Stelvio Cipriani. Cool cinematography too by Riccardo Pallottini and, especially, precise direction signed Stefano Vanzina (Steno). The film is "related" to "The Great Kidnapping" (1973)La polizia sta a guardare (original title) directed by Roberto Infascelli. Enrico Maria Salerno plays a similar character in both films, Commissioner Cardone in the one directed by Infascelli, and Commissario Bertone in the one directed by Steno. This "Execution Squad" (1972)La polizia ringrazia (original title) has something in common with the absolute masterpiece signed Elio Petri, "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (original title). The character played by Salerno has very similar features to the police chief played by Gian Maria Volontè. OK, watching the film again in 2020, at the age of 62, I didn't like it as much as at 13, it didn't fascinate me anymore, but anyway, it's worth seeing, it's a good film.

"La Polizia Ringrazia" is, at first sight, a prototype of an Italian euro-crime/poliziotesschi thriller like there were dozens during the first half of the 1970s. They practically always featured the same recurring themes, like unorthodox coppers, the ever-failing Italian justice system, vigilante squads violently cleansing the streets, corrupt politicians and police superiors, media circuses and liberal newspapers influencing the public opinion. You'd think the audience eventually grew tired of these familiar and continuously recycled themes, but no. Quite the contrary, every Poliziotesschi is unique and, for avid genre fanatics like me, it's almost becoming an obsession to track them all down. "La Polizia Ringrazia" is a downright stellar example of the euro-crime's peak period, complete with a compelling & intelligent script, an intensely raw atmosphere of realism, a few shocking bits of violence, a great soundtrack (Stelvio Cipriani, of course) and brilliantly devoted performances by some of the finest contemporary stars (notably Enrico Maria Salerno, Mario Adorf, Cyril Cusack, ...)

Salerno is truly amazing as the clearly tormented Commissioner Bertone, caught between the frustration of seeing criminals getting released without a proper punishment and the accusations of the press about the police being too violent when making their arrests. Whilst on the case of finding two bank robbers who killed two people during their escape, Salerno is suddenly confronted with another major challenge. A secret group, existing of former policemen and even judges, are hunting down acquitted or fugitive criminals and brutally execute them in true mafia-style. Moral dilemmas aside, Commissioner Bertone must find now the bank robbers before the so-call "clean up squad" does. The material may be familiar, but writer/director Stefano Vanzina (better known as Steno) keeps the levels of suspense, plausibility and originality quite high and steady. I was particularly surprised by this, because Steno is mainly known for his light-headed comedies starring Bud Spencer!

The last thing you can say about "La Polizia Ringrazia" is that it is light-headed! There are a couple of sequences that initially seem very bizarre, but they actually work quite effectively. For example, Commissioner Bertone invites a whole bunch of journalists on a nightly tour bus drive through the city, just to demonstrate how disastrous the crime plague is. The role of Mario Adorf, as the unreliable district attorney, is also quite unusual for this type of film, but the role (and, of course, Adorf's performance) add a great deal of value to an already intelligent film. "La Polizia Ringrazia" is far from being the most explicitly violent Poliziotesschi, but several scenes are nevertheless immensely brutal and gritty. The clean-up squad's cold-blooded executions, for instance, and especially the horrendous fate of a poor woman who's taken hostage and eventually thrown off a driving vehicle. It's the second time in a short period that I've seen such a similarly shocking death, the other movie being "La Legge Violenta della Squadra Anticrimine", starring John Saxon and J. Lee Cob. And no, it's not recycled footage, as I know the Italians were infamous for that.

Director Steno (birth name: Stefano Vanzina) is best known as a director of comedy (e.g. films with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill), but this crime thriller is everything but a comedy. It tells the gripping story of an organized vigilante group that kills criminals who couldn't be convicted by the police.

Enrico Maria Salerno is brilliant as the police officer who tries to discover the big ones behind the vigilante group. Mario Adorf is convincing as ever - once more portraying a rather dubious district attorney. This Italian-German co-production is also remarkable for singer Jürgen Drews who plays one of the criminals that fall victim to the vigilantes.

All in all, "La Polizia Ringrazia" delivers impressive social comment and handles the topic with a complexity one rarely sees in a crime thriller. Highly recommended.

I wasnt aware of the sub genre titled "Poliziotesschi", until I read the reviews here for this title. Yeah, i'm definately a fan. I watched docu recently, where Martin Scorsese talks about post war film making in Italy and a movement called "neo-realism", there is definately an element of that to be found here in this genre also. These early 70s Italian movies definately had a big influence on American film makers for decades to come. The Sopranos, Nico (also known as Above the Law), & Sidney Lumet's Serpico & Prince of the City, are all examples that spring to mind of popular culture 80s/ 90s cinema/ Tv, which are direct descendants of this subgenre. I found this film intelligent and analytical. Most likely these themes have a historical foundation in 1970s Italian politics as they appear often, but they exist in every country to one extent or another, maybe so, more than we would like to admit. The biblical quote I refered to in the review title, used by a character in this movie, resonated at the end of the movie when the brave officer falls foul of his good intentions. Its gritty powerful storytelling.

This is definitely a kind of Italian MAGNUM FORCE or even STAR CHAMBER, the kind of film for which I would have more guessed a director such as Damiano Damiani or Pasquale Squieteri - though it's a bit too much action bloody packed for both of their styles. Anyway Steno was more used to Bud Spencer's comedy flicks, saturday evening cinema. Yes this is a so gloomy, downbeat story but that makes you really think about many politics matter in the Italian state of the mid and late seventies. and it is not necessarily question here of mafia of any kind. That's also a real surprise. But after all what's the difference?