Bracelets de sang

Syndicate Sadists is yet another film based on Dashiel Hammett's novel Red Harvest which was adapted more famously by Akira Kurosawa in

Yojimbo and Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars, amongst many others, but it also has some other intriguing origins. Its star Tomas Milian while filming in the US, picked up a cheap novel at the airport by David Morrell entitled First Blood a tale of a special forces soldier by the name of John Rambo, Milian was intrigued by the character but wanted to stay away from violent sadistic roles he had become famous for in films like Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974). So together with Lenzi and Luciano Martino they agreed to blend both stories together in a modern crime drama. While the film has some resemblances to both films its different enough to stand alone as an interesting film. Milian is excellent as the odd, scruffy biker with a heart, that turns to violence to avenge the murder of his brother by one of a group of rival crime gangs, he was investigating. Milian decides to play both sides against each other, his unkempt image, floppy red hat and large goggles, perhaps luring the criminals into a false sense of security that costs them dearly in some increasingly violent confrontations. Not Milian or Lenzi's best but still very watchable. Joseph Cotten also puts in a turn as one of the crime bosses, in what surely must be THE most wooden performance by the man ever, at one point he actually looked like a Gerry Anderson puppet…no really! For once the Italian didn't steal an idea, they had Rambo first. Oh and watch out for an homage to Steve McQueen.[

One of the myriad "poliziotteschi" to emerge from Italy during the 1970s, to which both director Lenzi and star Tomas Milian contributed a good deal; in fact, their previous collaboration – ALMOST HUMAN (1974) – is considered among the genre high-points. This, however, is fairly indistinguishable – apart from the fact that the surname of Milian's character is Rambo!; it does include plenty of typical action, not to mention a funky score by Franco Micalizzi. Rambo is a reformed gangster who now supplies iconoclastic help to the Police; predictably, his best pal in the force (actually a special vigilante squad) ends up murdered before long – which sets Rambo on exacting private revenge. This sees him coming face to face once again with his former boss, a now-blind Joseph Cotten (who, like Milian, followed a certain code of ethics in spite of the nature of the work involved) whose 'empire' is being unscrupulously run by the old man's son, Alfredo Lastretti. A smaller rival band of criminals – among whose members is the ubiquitous Luciano Pigozzi – also gets into our disheveled hero's hair by kidnapping an eminent citizen (Silvano Tranquilli)'s son. Incidentally, this incongruous sentimental emphasis on kids – since Milian also dotes on his cop friend's idolizing offspring – does the film the biggest harm; at the same time, while keeping an affectionate (but platonic) eye on the latter boy's mum, he is romantically involved with a prostitute (Femi Benussi) – who, unsurprisingly, is eventually victimized by the baddies for it. Though consistently offering reasonable gratification of various sorts, most examples of the poliziottesco genre suffered from a shallowness that made them instantly forgettable – and this one, alas, proved no exception despite the involvement of two of its major exponents.

Syndicate Sadists is yet another film based on Dashiel Hammett's novel Red Harvest which was adapted more famously by Akira Kurosawa in Yojimbo and Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars, amongst many others, but it also has some other intriguing origins. Its star Tomas Milian while filming in the US, picked up a cheap novel at the airport by David Morrell entitled First Blood a tale of a special forces soldier by the name of John Rambo, Milian was intrigued by the character but wanted to stay away from violent sadistic roles he had become famous for in films like Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974). So together with Lenzi and Luciano Martino they agreed to blend both stories together in a modern crime drama. While the film has some resemblances to both films its different enough to stand alone as an interesting film. Milian is excellent as the odd, scruffy biker with a heart, that turns to violence to avenge the murder of his brother by one of a group of rival crime gangs, he was investigating. Milian decides to play both sides against each other, his unkempt image, floppy red hat and large goggles, perhaps luring the criminals into a false sense of security that costs them dearly in some increasingly violent confrontations. Not Milian or Lenzi's best but still very watchable. Joseph Cotten also puts in a turn as one of the crime bosses, in what surely must be THE most wooden performance by the man ever, at one point he actually looked like a Gerry Anderson puppet…no really! For once the Italian didn't steal an idea, they had Rambo first. Oh and watch out for an homage to Steve McQueen.[

Fantastic picture on the recent Blu-ray release, certainly a great improvement of the old copy of a copy, I once had but a little surprisingly lacking in over the top violence. Moves along as one would expect a Lenzi film to and Tomas Milian holds the attention throughout, just a little short on that certain something. Violent enough here and there and Milian motorcycles around in a wooly hat always out to save the day with an eye for the ladies and a helping hand for their young sons. Joseph Cotten looks to be on his last legs but would in fact live another 20 years and make another 15 films plus TV, so maybe he was just drinking heavily - too much of the J&B maybe.

Il giustiziere sfida la città seems a bit uninspired compared with the other poliziotteschi, for example: Milano Calibre 9, Roma Violenta, Napoli Violenta, Almost human. Though this one is made by poliziotto master Umberto Lenzi (who made around three films a year in that period), it is certainly not one of them.

The story about one very cool cop who wants revenge on two criminal families, lacks the real energy and the dramatic intensity of the others. Thomas Milan is too cool as a cop, when you compare him with Maurizio Merli (serious mustache), or Franco Nero (intense eyes). We don't really believe that he is pain because he lost his best friend.

It's not a Thomas Milan one-man-show like in other films, in which he went all out with his acting abilities (like Milano odia…). He plays his larger than life hero straight in this film. But I think it is ALWAYS a show when he plays a role, last and not least for his sense of what is cool. No actor I know of smokes a cigarette as aesthetically as Milan, and this biker outfit looks terrible on most men, but he could wear it to a fashion show without a problem. Also fashionable are the FABULOUS sunglasses worn by Joseph Cotton, but that was also the most interesting bit about his role, which is as uninspiring as uninspiring can get. Citizen Kane was far, far away.

But then there is the music. You'll have to play this film loud, to fully enjoy the marvelous tunes from Franco Micalizzi, who had a lot of work to do in the 70's.

A seemingly real life poliziotto story is hidden in the story of actor Duilio Cruciani, who plays the part of Luigino, the son of Milan's brother. He died from an overdose heroin in 1984 when he was only 26 years old. Newspapers from that day mentioned there were already six death of heroin overdose in Rome in that year already (it was only 17 January). Unfortunately there weren't any poliziotteschi anymore to make films about the subject.