Le cynique, l'infâme, le violent

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!

The Cynic, The Rat and The Fist clearly takes influence regarding it's central theme from the Sergio Leone masterpiece 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', and here we follow the fortunes of three strong male characters as their lives intertwine in the name of crime. Director Umberto Lenzi plied his trade in a number of Italy's most popular genres, and his resume includes the likes of zombies, cannibals and Giallo; but the only field he's a master in is the Dirty Harry inspired sub-genre, 'Polizia'. This is only my third Lenzi crime flick, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's one of the best he ever made, as the masterpiece 'Almost Human' only just edges it out. Umberto Lenzi packs his film with all the things you'd expect from the crime genre; with things such as shootouts, car chases and sadism featuring strongly. The actual plot is a little convoluted, and follows Italian mob boss 'The Chinaman', as he hooks up with New York crime lord Frank Di Maggio. The cop looking to take the pair of them down is Leonardo Tanzi, a man not afraid to break the law in order to bring in his man.

Exactly which of the title monikers apply to which of the three characters is never really explained; although personally, I wager that Tomas Milian's Chinaman is 'The Cynic', John Saxon's mob boss is 'The Rat' and Maurizio Merli violent copper is the aptly named 'The Fist'. One of the film's strongest elements is undoubtedly the cast list, as the central trio of characters are brought to life by three of cult cinema's best actors. Tomas Milian certainly knows his way around a sadistic part, while the underrated (and sadly here underused) John Saxon's resume speaks for itself. Maurizio Merli is perhaps the least accredited member of the cast, but lead roles in this and Lenzi's Violent Naples certainly shows that the man can play the gritty copper. The plot flows very well, and Lenzi's direction continually impresses. It can be a little hard to follow at times, but there's always enough shooting and murders to keep genre fans happy. The ending is a major strongpoint too, as Lenzi spends the entire film building up to a showdown, and when it hits; it doesn't disappoint. Overall, this is a first class example of the Italian crime thriller and comes highly recommended.

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!

"The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist" is definitely one of the better Poliziotteschi flicks. These movies are usually boring, incomprehensible wastes of time for everybody concerned. "Cynic" is head and shoulders ahead of the pack because it is actually consistently entertaining, though I was still confused and left in the dark for parts of it. It also has legendary actor Tomas Milian as the bad guy, though he isn't as memorable here as he was in the classic Eurocrime, "Almost Human".

The movie has a lot of action, but not so much violence. What do I mean by that? There are a lot of punches thrown in the movie, not to mention slaps and backhands, and actors convincingly take these blows when they topple over backwards. However, it often doesn't look real. You can tell the blows didn't really connect, and nor is there much make-up work to depict bruises as a result of them.

There is one shocking scene in which a woman has acid thrown in her face. It wouldn't be an Italian crime flick without a surplus of violence against women. I think every woman in the movie gets roughed up somehow. Interestingly, there is a scene where the hero reacts unfavourably to a guy beating a prostitute. There is so much violence against women in these movies - and particularly movies by the director, Umberto Lenzi - that you feel obliged to assume that he was a proponent of it. Of course, the hero later gets his own hands dirty in this regard later in the flick.

Be on the look out for a ridiculous scene later in the movie where the hero and some other guy break into a building that uses invisible laser beams for security, and you can clearly tell that, when they appear, these laser beams are made out of string.

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.