La via della droga

There are some preposterous situations and developments in LA VIA DELLA DROGA aka THE HEROIN BUSTERS but it still reeled me in and had me interested to the end.

Director Enzo Castellari is no household name, not even in his native country, Italy. To be frank, I had never heard of him. That said, the production looks far from shabby thanks to effective cinematography by Giovanni Bergamini and the convincing if unusual leading duo of Fabio Testi - undercover cop looking tall, fit and muscular despite wearing cowboy boots in his almost nonstop running - and Hemmings, the somewhat podgy Interpol inspector still able to climb walls. They exchange some cryptic, even funny lines, none more so than when Testi teaches Hemmings on how to use the pronoun "whom" instead of "who."

The film posts some well made car, bike and running chases - though I found the final one, aboard two light planes, downright risible. The top villain with his fake wig rather struck me as a clearly unintended comedian, especially when piloting the aircraft.

Despite those flaws, I found HEROIN BUSTERS and its level of violence credibly engrossing. 7/10.

Politically and Objective, Subjective viewed this film is a kind of insult for every drug consumer (and i mean every drug: illegal and legal)and suits actually well the political"comedy" concerning this theme. Castellari shows here a strong stereotype world of the "drugscene" that i cannot associate with the word intelligence especially with such a theme(though funny it is). Here we have the "typical" junkie whos halfcrazy coz he doesnt get his "medicine", and the tough b*****d dealer who beats the s*** out of everybody when it comes to money. it gets then "socio-critical" when the police says how many poor people die due the use of (illegal)drugs (fine that its unimportant how many die due excessive alcohol consume-especially when the state gets money for it) Naturally if you dont take it seriously this film is quite entertaining: fabio testi here who plays a cop who goes undercover in the drug scene, wears most of the film a cap and some priceless wildleather boots(!) The (psychedelic)music from goblin is great, and is a perfect start for the film Needless to say that some decent action is also included here. Patrizia Webley the sleazy blonde, has here a short cameo as one of the lesbian customers of sherry buchanan -who gets her money for the drugs by selling her body. Yes, its a "mondo candido"!..

When I first saw this film many years ago, I was put off by its slow and fragmented first ten minutes, featuring scenes of (gratuitous!) drug use in various parts of the world. Also, I had just seen David Hemmings' other Italian crime film from this year, SWINDLE with Tomas Milian (directed by Bruno Corbucci), which was INCREDIBLE, and this did not seem as good. However, once the film kicks into gear after fifteen minutes or so, it is quite good and features some incredible stunt work, imaginative action sequences, exciting guitar-driven music from Goblin (not as repetitive as some of their work), a wonderful over-the-top performance by David Hemmings as an interpol narcotics investigator, and a cool, smoldering performance by Fabio Testi as an undercover cop out to bust the international drug trade. As a later 70s product, this film features unnecessary closeup shots of drug use and some gratuitous nudity (a lesbian scene presented as a FANTASY of a minor character!), but there's not enough of either to derail what becomes a nail-biting action film. The final fifteen to twenty minutes of HEROIN BUSTERS are incredible--the motorcycle chase in the subway, which leads into an outrageous airplane chase--some of the most interesting and daredevil action-film stunt-work I've seen in a while. The film also has nice bursts of humor here and there (such as when Hemmings, chasing a crook, gets a ride from a young lady on a motorcycle and has to grab on to her breast to hold on!) and was quite satisfying on all levels. It does start slow, however, so don't give up on it (or fast forward through some of the initial scenes). What a "golden age" of Italian crime films the 1970's was--even a standard genre entry turns out to be a gem, the likes of which would NEVER be made today.

The always studly and the always charismatic Fabio Testi plays a character named Fabio here, a police detective working deep undercover in order to get the goods on the top dogs in a drug syndicate. He makes life a little weary for Hamilton (David Hemmings), an Interpol agent working on the same case. But he's still the kind of guy who *will* get the job done, taking on as many baddies as he can along the way.

Don't look for much more story than that in this topical Eurocrime action picture from Enzo G. Castellari ("The Inglorious Bastards"), although the pitiful state of an addict / pusher named Gilo (Wolfango Soldati) forms a subplot. The ladies are lovely (including Sherry Buchanan as Vera) and there's a bit of sex and nudity, but mostly what Castellari serves up is action, and it's executed with skill. The chases are particularly effective; the big finale with the planes is likewise impressive; Testi is in real life an accomplished pilot and did his own aerial stunts.

Hemmings offers a truly fun supporting performance as the exasperated Hamilton; Soldati earns a fair bit of sympathy as the pathetic Gilo. Other familiar faces to fans of Italian exploitation include Massimo Vanni ("Rats: Night of Terror"), Romano Puppo ("2019: After the Fall of New York"), and Joshua Sinclair ("1990: The Bronx Warriors"). Helping to make it all go down easily is a groovy, kick ass music score by the great progressive rock band Goblin. That theme that opens the movie is terrific!

There's no deep thinking required with this simplistic enough tale. It's just good old fashioned entertainment.

Seven out of 10.

A splendid opening with shots of Hong Kong, Colombia, New York and Amsterdam of the drug journey but it ends on the streets of Rome and Fabio Testi the main man. He is in the film the whole time and I assume also his own stunts and he is great and David Hemmings is also fine, probably not doing his own stunts. The last twenty minutes are really wonderful, with planes as well although most of the time it is the drug and mafia crew on the streets. It is good but not anything like as good as Enzo G Castellari's first film of The Big Racket (1976) although it is nice to hear the music of Goblin.