SILENT ACTION and the Gonzo Greatness of Italian Crime Movies
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Let it never be said that most Italian popular cinema played things too subtly. In the late ’60s through around the mid ’80s, the Italian film industry had a boom. The world loved their western cycle, so Italy used that to churn out hundreds of films exploiting the intrigue over various genres. After the Spaghetti Western faded, there came the giallo boom; nearly concurrent to that, in the wake of American cop movies like
Dirty Harry and
The French Connection, Italy ushered in a wave of cop-action flicks, usually with tons of over-the-top car chases and shootouts. One of these, Sergio Martino’s
SYNOPSIS:
A series of murders made to look like suicides connected to the military leads a cop to suspect foul play.
A retired army Major dies after crashing his car into a tree, a Colonel is found in his office with a bullet from his own gun in his head and a General is decapitated after seemingly laying on the tracks and waiting for a train – whatever could it mean? It means that dogged detective Inspector Giorgio Solmi (Luc Merenda –
Torso) is on the case and is suspicious that these aren’t the suicides they are being made to look like. Why does he think this? Because three high-ranking military officials dying in close succession is suspicious, of course, but when a master electrician is found dead in his villa Solmi’s suspicions are confirmed. How? Because it’s a 1970s Italian poliziotteschi and it doesn’t matter how – he just knows.
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