User reviews

Charles Bronson is at his coolest and most bad ass in this entertaining Italian crime flick. Bronson plays Jeff Heston, a professional hit man who wants to leave that line of work behind him. But his associates will have NONE of that, and spend a lot of time trying to set him up and take him out. When attempts are made on his life, Jeff makes it his mission to get revenge on the old "friend" and current flame who tried to eliminate him.

Adding a shot in the arm is Telly Savalas, appearing around the one hour mark, as a slick, rich gangster, Al Weber. Telly is a lot of fun to watch. Female lead Jill Ireland is less satisfactory (but looks amazing), but she's not bad as this scheming, conniving person. The excellent international cast also includes Michel Constantin as Killain, Umberto Orsini as Steve, and Ray Saunders as one of Jeffs' cell mates.

This twist laden script, with six people in total credited for the story and screenplay (including Lina Wertmuller and director Sergio Sollima), has the potential to confuse the viewer, especially as it doesn't always exist in one time frame. But Sollima does an excellent job at crafting the action. One can hardly fail to notice that the opening set piece plays out wordlessly, with no actors speaking until about 12 minutes along. A climactic elevator ride similarly plays out almost without sound. The camera work is first rate, as is the use of various locations. The pacing may cause some viewers to fidget, as it's very deliberate most of the time.

Bronson fans will see a different side of him here, as he roughs up his real life wife Ireland on more than one occasion. He's not a squeaky clean protagonist, for sure. The ending may likewise take some people by surprise.

Overall this is stylish trash, well shot in Techniscope and featuring a typically eclectic soundtrack courtesy of the legendary Ennio Morricone. There are also little doses of nudity along the way.

Seven out of 10.

One of the better Charles Bronson films, with an exhilarating wordless car chase opening sequence, a memorable shock ending, and one of Ennio Morricone's greatest scores. The story does not sustain its initial momentum, but the film is stylishly shot throughout by Sergio Sollima, who gives it the flavor of an urban spaghetti Western. Bronson is typically muscular and assured; Jill Ireland, whom I often find bland, is quite hot this time, and gives one of her most accomplished performances. **1/2 out of 4.

It is an interesting drama/thriller plenty of thrills , taut , intrigue , twists and turns . Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson , though Tony Musante and Jon Voight were considered for the part) is the number one killing people with a bullet whose reputation has caught up with him . After a bloody double-cross leaves him for dead and barely escapes a murder attempt , the professional hit man named Jeff tracks down the shooter and his gorgeous mistress Vanessa Shedon (Jill Ireland , Bronson's wife , though Sharon Tate was considered and Florinda Bolkan was originally lined up to star) to New Orleans . But when Jeff takes revenge , he finds himself blackmailed by a mobster (Telly Savalas , who does not appear in the movie until about one hour in) wants him to join his organization . Jeff refuses , and is then chased and hunted through an unforgiving city where love is like a serpent or like a loaded gun .

Thrilling movie about the very deadly rivalry between two extreme contenders , a double-crossed wealthy murderer , Charles Bronson , betrayed by his girlfriend , Jill Ireland , and a powerful crime boss , Telly Savalas . This crime thriller packs intrigue , suspense , noisy action-packed with exciting racing cars , explosive excitement , thrills and lots of violence . United Artists cut about eight minutes from the Italian version of this film for its American release . The film relies heavily in the complex , inter-relationship between a fiercely independent gunman , a mob boss , and their shared love interest . Bronson is pretty good as a killer sets out to revenge his Femme Fatal woman and the gang boss who put her up to it . He gives his usual stoic acting and displays efficiently his weapons and killing mercilessly his objectives , that's why the debts of vendetta are paid in bullets . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time , as the spectators were clearly on the Bronson's side in spite of being a ruthless killer . Bronson as a very professional hit man for a powerful organization offers the sort of monolithic acting , as always . This was one of the first major star teamings of action star Charles Bronson with his actress wife Jill Ireland . Jill Ireland gives a mediocre performance as Jeff's love interest , but the romance isn't what this movie is about and director knows his action . Furthermore , it appears a nice secondary cast , such as : Umberto Orsini , Ray Saunders , Michael Constantin , George Savalas , Telly's brother , and there stands out Telly Savalas who though received second billing , he gives a brief but magnificent acting . It contains atmospheric musical score composed , orchestrated and performed by the great Ennio Morricone , including an unforgettable leitmotif .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by recently deceased Sergio Sollima , he even choreographed the fight scenes himself because he wanted each character to have a fighting style tailored to their personality . This movie was inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville's The Samurai (1967). Sergio Sollima's direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and more inclined toward violence and too much action . Sergio wrote and directed all kinds of genres such as Pirate films as ¨Sandokan ¨ and ¨ Black Corsario¨ ; Peplum : ¨Rocha¨ , "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" , "Triumph of the Ten Gladiators" , ¨Ursus¨ "Goliath Against the Giants" ; Thriller : ¨Revolver¨ (1973) ; Euro-spy : "Requiem for a Secret Agent" , "Agent 3S3: Hunter from the Unknown" , ¨Tanger 67¨ ; being especially known for his ¨Cuchillo trilogy¨ : ¨Run Cuchillo run¨, ¨Face to Face¨ , ¨The big Gundown¨. And this ¨Violent City¨ is essential and indispensable watching for Charles Bronson fans . This is a satisfyingly violent and thrilling flick that avid fans of the genre will love .

First of all i must admit that i'm a Charles Bronson fan and have been for quite a while. I have seen a lot of his films including all of them made after Violent City. So when i came across the movie being released on DVD and i was still yet to see it, i was quick to buy it. The DVD is presented in a fantastic format (trailer, production and movie stills, 15 minute interview with the director and cast and crew backgrounds). The movie is structured in a very unique way. Being an Italian/French coproduction and filmed largely in New Orleans the film consists of English and Italian dialogue to satisfy both cultures and uses flashback scenes to illustrate what is a very straightforward story of hitmen and mobsters and doublecrossings. The music score is by Ennio Morricone and as expected first rate. The cast is headed by Bronson. He doesn't talk much in this movie, more so than in his other outings and uses more of a physical style of acting with many close ups on his charactaristic face. He does well as usual. Telly Savalas has a small, but important role as the head of his "family". His philosiphies to Bronson are interesting. And Jill Ireland as Vanessa is truly seductive. She has never looked more beautiful than in this movie and you get to see plenty of her in this version. Her acting is not great but not too bad compared to some of her later stuff with her husband. As a whole i wasn't expecting too much but "Violent City" is quite under-rated and does have some very good scenes including a car chase, a sniper scene and the very well done ending. There are no good guys in this movie, but it is truthful. I give it a 7 out of 10, but i don't know if non-Bronson fans would enjoy it as much. I hope they continue to put more of Charlie's films on DVD and done in a similar way. Particularly "Rider On The Rain", "The Mechanic", "The Valachi Papers" and the little known Bronson/Curtis "You Can't Win 'Em All.

After the highly entertaining Run,Man, Run, writer/ Director Sergio Sollima returned with this satisfying,if not all successful, tale of a hit-man, Jeff, who gained a conscience (Charles Bronson) and his quest to find the people who've double-crossed him and had him thrown in jail (and almost killed). Mrs. Bronson, Jill Ireland, is on hand as the conniving girlfriend who along with local mafioso boss, Weber (Telly Savalas) play him for a patsy. Entertaining enough and the re-added minutes of footage in the Anchor Bay released DVD of this is very welcome. Any fellow Bronson appreciator will find nothing to complain about with this one, and Jill (it very well could be a body double though) supplies the T&A content quite nicely (and multiple times). Fans of the director will be slightly off-put as this isn't as good as his films that came directly before (Run, Man, Run, The Big Gundown, Face to Face), nor after (Revolver) all of which are highly recommended by me by the way. However this is still a welcome enough diversion.

My Grade: B-

Director Sollima first forsook the Western genre with this stylish gangster drama: its complex revenge plot is, basically, a combination of two seminal American noirs – OUT OF THE PAST (1947) and POINT BLANK (1967). The end result is overlong and deliberately-paced – but the second half generates considerable tension, and the action sequences (particularly the opening car chase, a racing-car ‘accident’ and the climactic shoot-out in a rising elevator which, incidentally, are all the more effective for being completely dialogue-free) are undeniably well-staged and exciting.

The film also provided its star, Charles Bronson, with a virtual template for all his subsequent vehicles; though his real-life wife Jill Ireland (who appears in a surprising number of nude scenes) doesn’t quite cut it as a femme fatale, the couple’s chemistry is more than evident and gives credence to the on/off romance which essentially drives the narrative. Also in the cast: Telly Savalas (in his all-too-typical role of crime kingpin), Umberto Orsini (as a shady lawyer) and Michel Constantin (as Bronson’s ageing junkie pal). Beneficial, too, is the unusual New Orleans setting – and the remaining credentials are certainly imposing: “Euro Cult” fixture Ennio Morricone’s score is excellent (but, again, the main theme is awfully similar to that of REVOLVER [1973] and THE UNTOUCHABLES [1987]!); renowned cinematographer Aldo Tonti; and, most astonishingly, co-screenwriter Lina Wertmuller.

The DVD features an informative 15-minute interview with Sollima, in which he discusses how he became involved with the project: invariably, he had found the original script terrible but was eventually lured by the opportunity of a U.S. shoot, mentions that the lead roles were originally intended for Jon Voight and Sharon Tate(!), and even recalls an amusing anecdote which sums up Morricone’s attitude to films.

Uh-oh! We've got a hit-man here who has fallen in love and wants to go straight – we all know that there's only one way to leave the mob, right? Bronson is the hit-man and Jill Ireland is the chick who's turned his head, and after one of my favourite credit sequences ever where we see Bronson under observation to a kick-ass Morricone soundtrack, a bunch of guys turn up to waste our stone-face killer. One car chase and a double-cross later, Bronson's having bullets pulled out of him and sent to jail for a while.

It gives him plenty of time to stew over what's happened. Seems the last guy who hired to him to kill someone has double-crossed him and somehow his missus seems to be involved. Being a 'let bygones be bygones' kind of guy, Bronson's first task upon being released from jail is to try and track down these two and kill them both.

Luckily for us his past-employer is also a race car driver! That gives us a lengthy sequence at a race track where Bronson scopes out a good place to take out this guy with a sniper rifle, a sequence which is dialogue free and lasts about ten minutes. Also, it takes place under a huge advertisement for Pan-Am airlines, so I guess they were fitting the bill for the film, or Sergio Sollima was just a big fan of that airline.

Once this guy has been incinerated, Bronson starts receiving pictures of him setting up the kill at the race track, and realizes that starting a new life won't be so easy after all…

Those expecting an action-packed film with Bronson taking down waves of bad guys would probably be better switching the film off around the ten minute mark because the film is more about Bronson brooding about his relationship with Jill Ireland and arguing with Telly Savalas (a mob boss who is blackmailing Bronson and wants to hire Bronson full time). Savalas is good here as a seemingly legit-businessman who may be telling more home truths than Bronson wishes to hear.

Set possibly in New Orleans and Detroit Michigan at the same time (I was a bit confused by that), the film looks great, sounds great and for the first half is great, but be warned that pace slows way down before you get to the grim ending. Also, the version I watched had eight minutes of extra footage added in Italian with English subtitles that seems to add a bit more depth to the proceedings.

For the mopiest hit-man that wants to leave the mob, look out for Tony Arzenta!

I'm a big fan of Sergio Sollima's ingenious Spaghetti Westerns, and Charles Bronson is without doubt a great enrichment to any movie he played in. Sollima's "Citta Violenta" aka. "Violent City" aka. "The Family" of 1970 is a very good crime/action flick with Bronson in the leading role and a great score by Ennio Morricone. "The Family" may not quite share the brilliance of Sollima's Westerns, but it is definitely a very solid, greatly acted film that no Bronson fan can afford to miss!

After hit man Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson) is double crossed by his girlfriend (Bronson's real life wife Jill Ireland), and almost gets killed by rival gangsters, he spends the following four years in prison. After getting out of jail, he wants to track down those who betrayed him. It is not so easy, however, to find out who was involved in his assassination attempt, and Heston has to make quite an effort to distinguish between friends and enemies.

Charles Bronson is once again great as the leading character, and definitely the best choice to play Jeff Heston. Telly Savalas also delivers a great performance as the boss of a crime family. Although many folks seem to think differently, I also found that Jill Ireland did a great job as femme fatale Vanessa. One of the few things that were not quite necessary in "Citta Violenta", were the endless car chases. Car chases are of course mandatory for a film like this, but when they get too long, they can get a bit boring easily. The car chase sequences here are usually followed by violent action, however. The movie is quite imaginatively photographed, and Ennio Morricone's score is, as always, great, and although it is a bit different to the 'typical' Morricone that we're used to from Westerns, it is immediately clear who composed this soundtrack.

A very well made action flick with a great leading performance by Bronson, "Citta Violenta" is a great flick, maybe not quite as essential as Sollima's Westerns, but immensely entertaining, atmospheric and totally badass, and not to be missed by a Bronson fan. 8/10

One of Bronson's oddest films, but still not as odd as Morricone's ultra-weird score. The plot is standard "revenge" stuff, but there are some imaginatively shot sequences (like the unexpected finale) by the Italian Sollima, who shows some flair. The fast-cutting, "neurotic" editing is clumsy, however, and reminded me of the editing in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which was made one year earlier. The widescreen photography really suffers on TV.

Bronson is cool but his character lacks depth. Story is minimal, hardly any background for the setting and plot is provided. Soundtrack is interesting, edgy Morricone score.

But what really makes this movie problematic is a super casual attempted rape that makes absolutely no sense and has no consequence for the rapist (Bronson) or the victim, their behavior towards each other even gets better mere seconds after it happens. Really hard to watch.

There's absolutely no way that any movie can start off better than "Violent City". Charlie Bronson on a yacht with a ravishing blond chick, then moving onto land where the couple immediately gets subjected to a wild car chase through extremely narrow streets (and over stairs!) and ending with a violent shootout! And all this time not a single word is being spoken by anyone and all we here are the sounds of squeaking tires, snorting car engines and Ennio Moricone's umpteenth fabulous soundtrack. The first ten minutes of "Violent City" are so damn brilliant I was even tempted to stop watching the film because I honestly feared things could only go downwards from that point, ha! Luckily it didn't. Sure the pacing slowed down a bit (only a little bit, mind you) but a great film unfolds itself, with a simplistic but nevertheless compelling plot, gritty atmosphere and terrific acting performances by Charles Bronson (as the silent as always but deadly killer), Telly Savalas (as the sneering, sleazy and eccentric super-villain) and Jill Ireland (as the bimbo who appears to screw around with half of the city). Jeff is a retiring hit man who completes one more personal killing job when a former friend double-crosses him, leaves him for dead and runs off with his lady friend. Jeff's spectacular payback, executed at a race car circuit) gets him noticed by the big boss of the city's organized crime network. He wants Jeff to be a part of his successful crime-family, and when he refuses an exhilarating and testosterone-packed cat and mouse game ensues. The plot isn't highly original, but several independent sequences are magnificent, like the aforementioned opening, the intense finale or – most of all – the scene where Vanessa gets introduced to Weber (Savalas) in a restaurant. Sergio Sollima is a gifted director, who primarily earned his fame in the spaghetti western genre ("The Big Gundown" and "Run Man Run"). That's also exactly what "Violent City" often resembles; a gritty urban western with Bronson in his familiar role of lone outlaw passing through a town where no one can be trusted. If I understood correctly, the titular violent city is supposed to be Michigan, where strangely everyone speaks a combination of English and Italian. Funny detail on the Dutch DVD-release is that the dubbing is incomplete. Some of the dialogs start in English but halfway the conversation swifts to Italian and back to English again. Not at all bothering, especially not in case you looked forward to this movie as much as I did.

Foreign movies suffer an incurable disease, it weren't belong to America's market, whenever the movie are retaliete by press whose are paid by film industry to talk down, so this outsider movies are managed to another maket places where get a propper respect.

The car chasing which open the movie is a sort a breathtaken scene, it if were made by American will be marvelous, however it wasn't, who cares anyway??? After some successful movies in Europe Charles Stoneface Bronson became a legend one most better paid actors in USA together with great Eastwood!!

Resume:

First watch: 1990 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.

Hit man Charles Bronson, double crossed and barely escaping an assassination attempt, is now determined to get those responsible, including, seemingly his girlfriend, played by Jill Ireland.

Hard to overstate how much I disliked this film. The plot is sort of complex in a silly way mainly because I believe nobody understood what on earth they were making. The set pieces are slow, drawn out, sluggish, badly edited exercises milking Morricone's repetitive score for all its worth with Bronson out Bronsoning Bronson for looking tough and not resorting to the use of any expressions etc. Jill Ireland is dreadful both as a character and in the acting stakes, completely overdoing it in just about every scene, with director Sergio Sollina seemingly contriving to have her appear in various states of undress throughout the film. Bronson's relationship with Ireland is extraordinary - one minute he's beating her up or raping her the next it's all champagne and smiles. The whole thing is an extraordinary mess.

I saw this on a streaming service and whilst the film is Italian, it is largely in English. However vast swathes of the film are in unsubtitled Italian featuring badly dubbed Bronson and Ireland - it even changes languages in mid scene. As a result if you don't speak Italian you're going to miss a great deal of plot - not sure that's necessarily a bad thing! I assume this is an error as opposed to some form of artistic jigger-pokery, either way it's very annoying. I urge you to avoid this mess and tidy your sock drawer instead.

This is a very underrated gangster pic that stars "Old Stoneface" himself. The plot is standard revenge fodder with a few twists added in for fun. It's pretty fast paced in it's execution and Morricone score is weird and atmostpheric. This is one of Charlie's better 70's efforts and the final scene is great filmmaking. It's too bad Ms. Ireland's nude scenes were cut out (only her midsection and cleavage are shown before cutting to the next scene) cause she can't act worth a damn.

***

An early poliziotteschi by the director of "The Big Gundown," "Violent City" is a thriller about a hitman and his adversaries who are manipulated by a femme fatale, so that they end up in a worse situation than before they met her. Bronson plays his typical 70's action star schtick, which works fine, but Ireland, although pretty, really brings down the film, as she doesn't have the charisma of a Sharon Stone or Lauren Bacall. There's a scene where she talks about how she "can't share power, as it has to be held by one set of hands," which coming from her seems lame. "Violent City" is aptly named, as it is violent, and in between the violence it is tense. The Morricone score is also good. This is worth adding to your collection if you're a Bronson fan; not as good as "Death Wish," but better than "The Mechanic."

Of late, I am watching some Bronson films I'm not familiar with. Violent City (1970) was up next. Recently, I watched Chato's Land, followed by Hard Times (recommended). I thought this film started off tensely and I was drawn into it, aided along by a long but tense car chase. The exotic locale also helped somewhat. I wasn't too pleased or interested in the middle part and for some odd reason there suddenly was Italian dialog in some scenes, which made sense with the subtitles, but not why a character talked English one moment and the next Italian. Must be a glitch in the version I watched. It felt shoddy and cheesy. The director was Italian, I get it. Maybe someone left in some dubbed-over scenes in the film. Another cheesy bit was the giant spider, a tarantula or something, or that's what it was supposed to be; the spider was an obvious fake. Later on, some shrubbery as background also was fake. Blood also looked fake, but I'm not complaining about that. I knew going into this film that it's no masterpiece. If I wanted a masterpiece, I'd watch Once Upon a Time in the West one more time :)

Bronson's role was the only factor keeping me from falling asleep. Eventually, there was a very good ending to the film. Oh, Jill Ireland also was pleasing on the eyes. Damn, Bronson did have a good taste in women.

Would I recommend this film? No. You could watch the car chase and see if it's your cup of tea. I'm not particular to car chases that much, but I will say it was neat. The ending, seen separately, probably makes no sense to a viewer. It is, however, a very fitting end and I was definitely awake by that time, as the elevator went up.

Charles Bronson at his best? In a way yes, but maybe no. I guess it all depends in what you want to see. An all out action film, moving like a speeding car (in which the opening sequence ---and what a beginning it is! --- has a beautifully staged car chase through the slender streets of the Virgin Islands) and throwing caution to the wind. Well that would be a no on that aspect. However something a little twisty within its narrative, tension building through its dramatic story developments and brooding atmospherics with a watershed performance by Bronson. I would go yes.

After a double-cross that leaves him for dead, professional hit man Jeff survives and serves some time before tracking down the culprit - an old friend and his former mistress to New Orleans. Jeff gets revenge and his lady back, but he finds himself being blackmailed by an influential crime boss Al Weber.

Bronson at this period of his career was etching out a name through European productions and "Violent City" aka "The Family" happens to be one of those better enterprises. Italian director Sergio Sollima ("The Big Gundown", "Run, Man, Run" and "Revolver") stylishly lays out the rough and ready groundwork like a fuse waiting to ignite. The slow-tempo works, due to the plots knotty structure of betrayals and double-crossings with slice of tragedy in something of a modern western vibe and these moments are either broken up by reflective instances (like splicing together flashbacks), getting reactions in a game of wits between characters or relentlessly dynamic and imaginative action sequences. Sollima's crisp cinematography frames it all with remarkable long shots and showy camera angles, as the visuals are simply stunning and the location work is brought live by its authentically flavoured New Orleans backdrop. Ennio Morricone composes the scorching music score, which is excitingly cued with its majestically saucy edge… but despite the masterful effort I thought the greatest sequences arose from the silent periods in the intensely crackling opening spectacle and climatic finale passage of the film (which was beautifully unsettling). The tight screenplay keeps it sly and cynical, but at the core behind its engagingly complicated plot mechanisms is a simple minded, but seething revenge outlook. The acting fairs-up with more of a physical, but terse performance by Bronson, which his silent and tough persona fitted right at home with. There's burning conviction by Jill Ireland with her tantalizingly devious turn and Terry Savalas is living it up as a powerful crime figure. Umberto Orsini and Michel Constantin are quite good too.

A gritty, compelling crime potboiler.

Anticipates Bronson's signature role in 'The Mechanic' by a couple of years as he plays an assassin on the wrong end of the hit, seeking revenge on those who set him up.

International cast also features Mrs Bronson as his two-timing mistress, Umberto Orsini his confident counsel, Michel Constantin an old friend helping to learn the identities of those who wronged him (and whom co-starred with Bronson in 'Cold Sweat' a short time after this was filmed), and appearing only very briefly after almost a full hour, Telly Savalas playing the local crime boss Webber (little brother George Savalas also has a minor supporting role as a shady mechanic).

The film's opening car chase is a highlight (almost rivalled for suspense by a tense footrace through the streets of downtown New Orleans later in the film) whilst the upbeat Morricone score is funky and psychedelic. The climax is an absolute cracker albeit a little hasty.

Curiously, the version I saw included many extended scenes which hadn't been dubbed resulting in apparent bi-lingual dialogue which made no sense. Confusing flashback editing makes continuity difficult to follow, but there's an undeniable stylishness in the locations, set design and cinematography that's appealing in spite of the plot flaws.

Violent City (The family) is a curious introspective into the life of a paid assassin and the chain of events that unravel around him. Brilliant score by Ennio Morricone, it empowers the film ten-fold without question. Bronsons stoic nature and animalistic presence are used to their strengths perfectly here, his character counteracts Jill Ireland's soft & innocent persona wonderfully and works well. Telly Savalas is entertaining as always, brimming with charm and personality as usual. Violent City never got the exposure in the U.S. that it saw in Europe, a recent U.S. DVD release has finally brought this seemingly-lost gem back into the conversation. The film has a fast pace to it, this is the quintessential Italian crime film that others are replicated from. Car chases, shoot-outs and Charles Bronson. Worth a watch!

Violent City is an Italian crime film starring Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas. It was directed by Sergio Sollima who made the notable spaghetti western, The Big Gundown. It's about a hit-man from New Orleans who is framed for a crime by a Mafia boss who has also stolen his girlfriend.

This is a pretty middling poliziotteschi with some good moments. It begins very well indeed though, with an energetic Ennio Morricone theme playing over stylish credits, followed immediately with a very dramatic car chase topped off with a by bloody gun battle. There's almost no dialogue at all for the opening ten minutes that encompasses this action – it's all very cinematic and exciting. It would only be fair to say that this section is the best part of the movie as a whole. Once the narrative kicks in, it gets a little melodramatic with a plot-line that is quite messily told and not especially inspired. Bronson is solid enough in the lead role – he certainly looks the part. Savalas is very good as the crime boss and his screen charisma certainly counts for quite a lot, it's a pity he didn't have a more expansive role. The overall dynamics between all the characters isn't as interesting as it might have been though, meaning the story is not always as engaging as it could be.

There is a limited supply of action scenes but they are sometimes quite memorable, such as the racing car smashing through a brick wall. While the lift scene at the end was very well staged with dramatic use of sound - or lack of it rather. Another moment that had me more baffled was the whole sequence involving the large spider in the jail cell; it was played out in a decidedly surreal manner that felt like was from another movie entirely, it seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever and felt suspiciously like Sollima had got hold of the – extremely creepy – mechanical spider thing and just wanted to use it in his film, so wrote it in utterly randomly! All-in-all, one for fans of Italian crime flicks, although it's certainly not one of the best examples of this genre. There is, however, some well shot action, a couple of B-movie legends and a muscular Morricone soundtrack – so there is definitely enough reasons to check it out if you like this kind of stuff.