I have decided today that barring anything major I won't be posting here again until Monday December 2. I need to do various things and catch up on other things. However, I will be rewatching some old movies to talk about on Letterboxd; at least that's the plan. Who knows how many I will see.
Until then... au revoir.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Stunts
Stunts (1977)
Runtime: 89 minutes
Directed by: Mark L. Lester
Starring: Robert Forster, Fiona Lewis, Richard Lynch, Joanna Cassidy, Bruce Glover
From: New Line Cinema (back when they were a real low-budget joint)
Here is something I only watched because of someone who does a bad movie podcast who mentioned during the livestream of the latest episode that he saw this movie on YouTube (I believe it's public domain) and yet he hasn't watched it because he's afraid it'll be bad. I did not say that I was going to volunteer but I decided to do so anyhow. As I have met this dude in person a few times I figured I should oblige him and I viewed this tonight.
To take the plot from the IMDb: “After a stunt man dies while he is involved in the making of a motion picture, his brother takes his place in order to find out what really happened.” Needless to say, sabotage is involved.
This movie is directed by Mark L. Lester, who I understand has directed a lot of crap but he was responsible for a pair of great movies, Commando and Showdown in Little Tokyo. This was obviously early in his career and unfortunately, it's no Stunt Rock, the wacky Australian movie involving stunts and a wacky rock band known as Sorcery. Besides there being no rock band (although there is a mellow late 70's soft rock soundtrack), the stunts aren't as great and there seems to be plenty of downtime between the stunts or the investigation the brother (Forster) does; in fact you don't see him do much sleuthing at all. I am not saying that the movie is bad; it's just average and not as awesome as Stunt Rock, although it does end in a cool way.
At least there are wacky moments, such as the movie starting off with the soon to die stuntman waking up from a good night's sleep (you get to see him in colored briefs, which I could have done without), getting on his bike that is in the living room, and riding right out the front door... or someone saying that they should be a stuntman because they can crush a beer can with their nose and eat glass, or someone randomly painting a naked lady mural on his truck... and later on you see that that someone owns the truck and he has a waterbed in the back of the truck!
Oh, and like in Stunt Rock there's a female reporter around who is doing a story about stuntmen in general; the one here has the initials of BJ and of course the expected joke is made to a horny guy in the crew and he giggles excitedly; yes, there's some late 70's sexism here.
Like I said, this is average so it's not a must-see but at least it's not awful so if you want to see some 70's character actors in action, there certainly are worse ways to go. I'll be back tomorrow night.
Runtime: 89 minutes
Directed by: Mark L. Lester
Starring: Robert Forster, Fiona Lewis, Richard Lynch, Joanna Cassidy, Bruce Glover
From: New Line Cinema (back when they were a real low-budget joint)
Here is something I only watched because of someone who does a bad movie podcast who mentioned during the livestream of the latest episode that he saw this movie on YouTube (I believe it's public domain) and yet he hasn't watched it because he's afraid it'll be bad. I did not say that I was going to volunteer but I decided to do so anyhow. As I have met this dude in person a few times I figured I should oblige him and I viewed this tonight.
To take the plot from the IMDb: “After a stunt man dies while he is involved in the making of a motion picture, his brother takes his place in order to find out what really happened.” Needless to say, sabotage is involved.
This movie is directed by Mark L. Lester, who I understand has directed a lot of crap but he was responsible for a pair of great movies, Commando and Showdown in Little Tokyo. This was obviously early in his career and unfortunately, it's no Stunt Rock, the wacky Australian movie involving stunts and a wacky rock band known as Sorcery. Besides there being no rock band (although there is a mellow late 70's soft rock soundtrack), the stunts aren't as great and there seems to be plenty of downtime between the stunts or the investigation the brother (Forster) does; in fact you don't see him do much sleuthing at all. I am not saying that the movie is bad; it's just average and not as awesome as Stunt Rock, although it does end in a cool way.
At least there are wacky moments, such as the movie starting off with the soon to die stuntman waking up from a good night's sleep (you get to see him in colored briefs, which I could have done without), getting on his bike that is in the living room, and riding right out the front door... or someone saying that they should be a stuntman because they can crush a beer can with their nose and eat glass, or someone randomly painting a naked lady mural on his truck... and later on you see that that someone owns the truck and he has a waterbed in the back of the truck!
Oh, and like in Stunt Rock there's a female reporter around who is doing a story about stuntmen in general; the one here has the initials of BJ and of course the expected joke is made to a horny guy in the crew and he giggles excitedly; yes, there's some late 70's sexism here.
Like I said, this is average so it's not a must-see but at least it's not awful so if you want to see some 70's character actors in action, there certainly are worse ways to go. I'll be back tomorrow night.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
No, Not Tonight
I unfortunately did not get a good night's sleep last night and I just don't feel well enough to watch a movie tonight. However, I shall return tomorrow night as I imagine tonight's sleep will go much better for me.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Killing Season
Killing Season (2013)
Runtime: 90 minutes (although the last 10 are some of the slowest moving credits you'll ever see)
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Milo Ventimiglia, Elizabeth Olin
From: Millennium/Nu Image
As I mentioned last night, I saw that this movie is being streamed for free on Xbox this weekend so I decided to take them up on the offer. I had heard about it before from a messageboard, where several people had seen it and there were mixed reviews. I don't think I would have ever paid to see it so this was perfect for me. The director being the guy who wrote and/or directed such “classics” as the Michael Keaton Jack Frost, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and When in Rome did give me pause, for sure.
The plot, stolen from the IMDb: “Two veterans of the Bosnian War -- one American, one Serbian -- find their unlikely friendship turn tense with one of them reveals their true intentions.” To elaborate, Travolta is the Serbian. Yes. His Abe Lincoln facial hair, almost shaved head and hilarious attempt at what he thinks is a Serbian accent: hilarious. He decides to hunt down De Niro's character in order to gain revenge for what happened in the 90's.
The highlights include the two old men doing shots of Jaegermeister and talking about the 90's, De Niro sometimes trying a Southern accent, De Niro telling dirty jokes, someone being waterboarded WITH A PITCHER OF LEMONADE, and other funny/wacky moments.
The movie isn't awful (I've seen far worse 2013 movies, that is for damn sure) but it isn't great. It's average, which was better than what I was expecting. There are some stupid moments and things that just don't make a whole lot of sense. I am not surprised given the director. I enjoyed the wacky and silly moments, sure, but it takes awhile for it to get going. I won't complain about the scenery (a lot of it is set in the woods), as it is very scenic and pretty; it was filmed in Georgia.
I do enjoy the idea of the movie being mano a mano, two guys and two guys alone doing battle against each other in the woods and the weapons aren't usually more high tech than a bow and arrow and sometimes they have to create makeshift weapons on the spot with random materials that are nearby.
The movie is more even-keel than I expected. I mean, there's ambiguous moments and you'd expect old Bobby De Niro to be the hero but it's not as clear at that in this movie. That was interesting, although I know that some people did not like how it ended and it is understandable. I was not upset with the ending except that it seemed like they dragged it out too long, and yeah I do agree it could come off as being implausible after what you had seen before that point.
Overall, it was average. I was expecting it to be worse but if they would have done some things different and cut out the nonsensical elements, I would have rated it higher. As is, at least it's not a long movie and you may think it is good yourself... or you could think it was worse than I thought. It's one of those movies where it could be quite polarizing.
I won't be back until Tuesday night.
Runtime: 90 minutes (although the last 10 are some of the slowest moving credits you'll ever see)
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Milo Ventimiglia, Elizabeth Olin
From: Millennium/Nu Image
As I mentioned last night, I saw that this movie is being streamed for free on Xbox this weekend so I decided to take them up on the offer. I had heard about it before from a messageboard, where several people had seen it and there were mixed reviews. I don't think I would have ever paid to see it so this was perfect for me. The director being the guy who wrote and/or directed such “classics” as the Michael Keaton Jack Frost, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and When in Rome did give me pause, for sure.
The plot, stolen from the IMDb: “Two veterans of the Bosnian War -- one American, one Serbian -- find their unlikely friendship turn tense with one of them reveals their true intentions.” To elaborate, Travolta is the Serbian. Yes. His Abe Lincoln facial hair, almost shaved head and hilarious attempt at what he thinks is a Serbian accent: hilarious. He decides to hunt down De Niro's character in order to gain revenge for what happened in the 90's.
The highlights include the two old men doing shots of Jaegermeister and talking about the 90's, De Niro sometimes trying a Southern accent, De Niro telling dirty jokes, someone being waterboarded WITH A PITCHER OF LEMONADE, and other funny/wacky moments.
The movie isn't awful (I've seen far worse 2013 movies, that is for damn sure) but it isn't great. It's average, which was better than what I was expecting. There are some stupid moments and things that just don't make a whole lot of sense. I am not surprised given the director. I enjoyed the wacky and silly moments, sure, but it takes awhile for it to get going. I won't complain about the scenery (a lot of it is set in the woods), as it is very scenic and pretty; it was filmed in Georgia.
I do enjoy the idea of the movie being mano a mano, two guys and two guys alone doing battle against each other in the woods and the weapons aren't usually more high tech than a bow and arrow and sometimes they have to create makeshift weapons on the spot with random materials that are nearby.
The movie is more even-keel than I expected. I mean, there's ambiguous moments and you'd expect old Bobby De Niro to be the hero but it's not as clear at that in this movie. That was interesting, although I know that some people did not like how it ended and it is understandable. I was not upset with the ending except that it seemed like they dragged it out too long, and yeah I do agree it could come off as being implausible after what you had seen before that point.
Overall, it was average. I was expecting it to be worse but if they would have done some things different and cut out the nonsensical elements, I would have rated it higher. As is, at least it's not a long movie and you may think it is good yourself... or you could think it was worse than I thought. It's one of those movies where it could be quite polarizing.
I won't be back until Tuesday night.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Thanx, Xbox Video
I saw when I went on Xbox Dashboard today that they are offering up a free movie for the weekend via their Xbox Video service. They've done it before but I've never checked it out. However, this weekend they are offering up Killing Season, a film from this year with De Niro AND Travolta and I've heard mixed reviews about it. However, my watching that won't come until late tonight so I'll have a review for it tomorrow.
Hopefully in the future they'll have more free movies as hey, it's a cool thing to do, especially if I possibly have any interest in wanting to check it out.
Hopefully in the future they'll have more free movies as hey, it's a cool thing to do, especially if I possibly have any interest in wanting to check it out.
Monday, November 11, 2013
First Blood
First Blood (1982)
Runtime: 93 minutes
Directed by: Ted Kotcheff
Starring: Sly Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney
From: Anabasis N.V.
While I was thinking of something appropriate to watch for Veterans Day I realized I wasn't sure if I had seen this movie and reviewed it for the movie blog or not. I looked and apparently I did not so I figured it was time for me to give it another viewing. I have seen it a few times before and the first time was actually on the big screen via something that Fathom Events (or a company like it) did one night. It was an obvious DVD projection but that was mostly OK with me.
I'll steal the plot description from Letterboxd as it greatly tickled me: “When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, the Vietnam vet snaps, runs for the hills and rat-a-tat-tats his way into the action-movie hall of fame. Hounded by a relentless sheriff, Rambo employs heavy-handed guerilla tactics to shake the cops off his tail.”
To think that this was based on a book by David Morrell that was in quite a few ways different from what ended up on screen (although I am sure he isn't complaining as he must have made a lot of money due to having rights to the character once it became an 80's pop culture icon later on) and that John Rambo ended up becoming an America F*ck Yeah killing machine in the sequels...
As in this movie he's just a highly decorated soldier from Vietnam who was in a small Washington town to visit an old war pal-who ended up having passed away-and as some soldiers like him had problems after getting back from 'Nam and he was a wanderer/drafter & he experienced problems and he reaches his breaking point due to mistreatment. Things changed with the sequel, for sure.
I am sure that some would much rather watch the sequels and enjoy him slaughtering even Commie bastards, but I also enjoy watching this movie as it's more serious and besides the action and suspense you get from people trying to hunt him down and him using his military training to take them down, there's also pathos and seriousness as they deal with the issues that some Vietnam veterans had to endure once they came back, from getting disrespected to literally being spat on. It's not a mindless sort of film by any means. I mean, Rambo doesn't even want to kill anyone but things escalate and due to circumstances some people do die. All the acting is good overall; yes, even from Stallone, someone who gets criticized a lot.
Overall, it's fine entertainment and I am glad I saw it again. If you see it on disc, Morrell does a commentary on the film and it's always interesting to listen to. He seemed fair to what the movie is compared to the book. The only other Rambo movie I've reviewed here was the 4th one from '08. Eventually I'll watch the jingoistic greatness of Parts II and III.
I'll be busy with a few things this week so I won't be back until Friday night.
Runtime: 93 minutes
Directed by: Ted Kotcheff
Starring: Sly Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney
From: Anabasis N.V.
While I was thinking of something appropriate to watch for Veterans Day I realized I wasn't sure if I had seen this movie and reviewed it for the movie blog or not. I looked and apparently I did not so I figured it was time for me to give it another viewing. I have seen it a few times before and the first time was actually on the big screen via something that Fathom Events (or a company like it) did one night. It was an obvious DVD projection but that was mostly OK with me.
I'll steal the plot description from Letterboxd as it greatly tickled me: “When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, the Vietnam vet snaps, runs for the hills and rat-a-tat-tats his way into the action-movie hall of fame. Hounded by a relentless sheriff, Rambo employs heavy-handed guerilla tactics to shake the cops off his tail.”
To think that this was based on a book by David Morrell that was in quite a few ways different from what ended up on screen (although I am sure he isn't complaining as he must have made a lot of money due to having rights to the character once it became an 80's pop culture icon later on) and that John Rambo ended up becoming an America F*ck Yeah killing machine in the sequels...
As in this movie he's just a highly decorated soldier from Vietnam who was in a small Washington town to visit an old war pal-who ended up having passed away-and as some soldiers like him had problems after getting back from 'Nam and he was a wanderer/drafter & he experienced problems and he reaches his breaking point due to mistreatment. Things changed with the sequel, for sure.
I am sure that some would much rather watch the sequels and enjoy him slaughtering even Commie bastards, but I also enjoy watching this movie as it's more serious and besides the action and suspense you get from people trying to hunt him down and him using his military training to take them down, there's also pathos and seriousness as they deal with the issues that some Vietnam veterans had to endure once they came back, from getting disrespected to literally being spat on. It's not a mindless sort of film by any means. I mean, Rambo doesn't even want to kill anyone but things escalate and due to circumstances some people do die. All the acting is good overall; yes, even from Stallone, someone who gets criticized a lot.
Overall, it's fine entertainment and I am glad I saw it again. If you see it on disc, Morrell does a commentary on the film and it's always interesting to listen to. He seemed fair to what the movie is compared to the book. The only other Rambo movie I've reviewed here was the 4th one from '08. Eventually I'll watch the jingoistic greatness of Parts II and III.
I'll be busy with a few things this week so I won't be back until Friday night.
Friday, November 8, 2013
RIP Blockbuster
I was planning on watching a movie today to talk about tonight, but today had its ups and downs and for awhile I thought it was going to be pretty bad. So, instead I'll mention how it was announced earlier in the week that for all intents and purposes Blockbuster was shutting down for good, closing down its remaining stores. Yes, they still had stores open and I in fact went to one that was open in my hometown here in Clermont, Florida.
However, up to a few years ago I had never been in a Blockbuster. Way back when (back in the day of Beta tapes and me being a toddler) my parents used to rent tapes at a grocery store. Then, a regular videostore opened up in my town called Videos 4 Le$$. My family and I went there for years. As a teenager I sometimes rented tapes from I believe a Hollywood Video. In college I got tapes from a pretty liberal store at Illinois State University called The Movie Fan. Once I moved down here I went to a few different spots but they all ended up closing down so I had to start using Blockbuster.
I know that not too many are sad about their demise, as they destroyed those mom and pop videostores back in the 90's; I do agree with that. For a long while now I've said elsewhere that I wouldn't be surprised to read one day that they would close down, and on Wednesday I was not surprised by the news.
There is on-demand, Netflix, and Redbox to rent films, but to me it isn't the same as browsing in person at a store and looking for awhile before picking out something to watch. Leave the memories alone!
I'll be back Monday night and as it's Veterans Day I'll try to review something with a military theme.
However, up to a few years ago I had never been in a Blockbuster. Way back when (back in the day of Beta tapes and me being a toddler) my parents used to rent tapes at a grocery store. Then, a regular videostore opened up in my town called Videos 4 Le$$. My family and I went there for years. As a teenager I sometimes rented tapes from I believe a Hollywood Video. In college I got tapes from a pretty liberal store at Illinois State University called The Movie Fan. Once I moved down here I went to a few different spots but they all ended up closing down so I had to start using Blockbuster.
I know that not too many are sad about their demise, as they destroyed those mom and pop videostores back in the 90's; I do agree with that. For a long while now I've said elsewhere that I wouldn't be surprised to read one day that they would close down, and on Wednesday I was not surprised by the news.
There is on-demand, Netflix, and Redbox to rent films, but to me it isn't the same as browsing in person at a store and looking for awhile before picking out something to watch. Leave the memories alone!
I'll be back Monday night and as it's Veterans Day I'll try to review something with a military theme.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Escape Plan
Escape Plan (2013)
49% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 101 reviews)
Runtime: 115 minutes
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Starring: Sly Stallone, Arnold, Jim Cavizel, Faran Tahir
From: Summit Entertainment
To think that THIS was the first time action legends Sly and Arnold starred together in a motion picture. Then again, the only time and De Niro and Pacino starred together in a motion picture (Righteous Kill) it wasn't so hot either.
I've heard about this movie for awhile now due to various sites and messageboards I frequent. I was excited because of who the two leads are. Even when I found out recently that it wasn't really an action movie but was more a drama, I was still pumped up for it. What a letdown I experienced yesterday afternoon.
To steal the plot description from the IMDb: “When a structural-security authority finds himself set up and incarcerated in the world's most secret and secure prison, he has to use his skills to escape with help from the inside.” The location of this secret and secure prison... once I found out what it was, I groaned. It makes no sense, which ends up being one of the themes to this movie.
I ended up not really liking this movie at all. And those sites and messageboards by and large really enjoyed the movie and I just don't get it. There are amusing moments and some decent bits, but overall the main themes I got out of this were nonsense, non-stop contrivances, stupidity, and coincidences. What I mean by nonsense is that characters would disappear when they shouldn't have, important plot points come up out of nowhere and apparently you're just supposed to know beforehand what they are yammering about... and it seems like there's dialogue missing to connect things together. This is jut a badly-made movie, or at least badly-edited. This sort of film, I shouldn't be befuddled multiple times as to what in the hell was going on; this isn't a David Lynch movie for calling out loud! Yet there was confusing way too often for my tastes. Not even the action scenes were all that well-filmed or put together.
Stupid moments or nonsense doesn't necessarily ruin a flick for me. However, everything combined together with too much of this movie being unpleasant equals me thinking that this wasn't an enjoyable movie to watch. It wasn't the acting that was a source of the problems; besides the people listed already there's Sam Neill, Vincent D'Onfrio, Amy Ryan... and yeah, 50 Cent. Fiddy wasn't bad, at least.
Overall, what a disappointment this was. Then again it wasn't the only film to earn that tag this year. At least there's been a pleasant surprise or two but I hope to see 10 worthwhile movies to rate and rank for the Best of 2013 list I'll do, likely in early January of '14.
I'll be back Friday night.
49% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 101 reviews)
Runtime: 115 minutes
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Starring: Sly Stallone, Arnold, Jim Cavizel, Faran Tahir
From: Summit Entertainment
To think that THIS was the first time action legends Sly and Arnold starred together in a motion picture. Then again, the only time and De Niro and Pacino starred together in a motion picture (Righteous Kill) it wasn't so hot either.
I've heard about this movie for awhile now due to various sites and messageboards I frequent. I was excited because of who the two leads are. Even when I found out recently that it wasn't really an action movie but was more a drama, I was still pumped up for it. What a letdown I experienced yesterday afternoon.
To steal the plot description from the IMDb: “When a structural-security authority finds himself set up and incarcerated in the world's most secret and secure prison, he has to use his skills to escape with help from the inside.” The location of this secret and secure prison... once I found out what it was, I groaned. It makes no sense, which ends up being one of the themes to this movie.
I ended up not really liking this movie at all. And those sites and messageboards by and large really enjoyed the movie and I just don't get it. There are amusing moments and some decent bits, but overall the main themes I got out of this were nonsense, non-stop contrivances, stupidity, and coincidences. What I mean by nonsense is that characters would disappear when they shouldn't have, important plot points come up out of nowhere and apparently you're just supposed to know beforehand what they are yammering about... and it seems like there's dialogue missing to connect things together. This is jut a badly-made movie, or at least badly-edited. This sort of film, I shouldn't be befuddled multiple times as to what in the hell was going on; this isn't a David Lynch movie for calling out loud! Yet there was confusing way too often for my tastes. Not even the action scenes were all that well-filmed or put together.
Stupid moments or nonsense doesn't necessarily ruin a flick for me. However, everything combined together with too much of this movie being unpleasant equals me thinking that this wasn't an enjoyable movie to watch. It wasn't the acting that was a source of the problems; besides the people listed already there's Sam Neill, Vincent D'Onfrio, Amy Ryan... and yeah, 50 Cent. Fiddy wasn't bad, at least.
Overall, what a disappointment this was. Then again it wasn't the only film to earn that tag this year. At least there's been a pleasant surprise or two but I hope to see 10 worthwhile movies to rate and rank for the Best of 2013 list I'll do, likely in early January of '14.
I'll be back Friday night.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Violent Naples
Violent Naples (Napoli Violenta) (1976)
Runtime: 91 minutes
Directed by: Umberto Lenzi
Starring: Maurizio Merli, John Saxon, Barry Sullivan, Elio Zamuto
From: Paneuropean Production Pictures
It's been awhile since I've seen a poliziotteschi film so I figured it was time to watch one. Unlike many I've seen (which I watch via a site I won't reveal as I never want it to be shut down, for selfish reasons) this one is easy to find online as it's on YouTube. I think it's public domain but sometimes I really don't know is a movie qualifies as one or not.
To give my own plot description: This is a sequel to Violent City, a movie I saw in April and reviewed here. This time, the cop with the great cop 'stache known as Betti (Merli) gets transferred to Naples, but he hasn't changed his ways. He's still a real loose cannon cop who is happy to stretch or break the rules in order to bring down the bad guys. There's no shortage of bad guys to deal with, either. There's robbers who end up being rapists, there's bank robbers who try to manipulate things via their leader being on parole (he has to sign in every afternoon and he races there after the robberies in order to try and have an alibi), and there's people who pay protection to underworld forces. This is a very fast-paced film that never lets up.
There were various interesting touches, like Betti using undesireables to obtain information on the big bad guys, and seeing the various tricks of the trade that the villains do to get the advantage. Then there's the usual you get from the genre... car/dirtbike chases, gunfights, fistfights, and yes, sleaze. There are some very violent moments, involving the likes of spiked fences and bowling balls. Nasty... and sweet.
I happen to really enjoy that segment of 70's films and this was a quality example of the subgenre. I got a lot of amusement out of the loose cannon aspects and there are several great setpieces, including one about an hour in and features a chase that turns into a tense showdown involving a cable car and gunplay. There's also a groovy score, which is another typical trademark of this genre. Good times, at least for me.
I won't be back until Wednesday afternoon.
Runtime: 91 minutes
Directed by: Umberto Lenzi
Starring: Maurizio Merli, John Saxon, Barry Sullivan, Elio Zamuto
From: Paneuropean Production Pictures
It's been awhile since I've seen a poliziotteschi film so I figured it was time to watch one. Unlike many I've seen (which I watch via a site I won't reveal as I never want it to be shut down, for selfish reasons) this one is easy to find online as it's on YouTube. I think it's public domain but sometimes I really don't know is a movie qualifies as one or not.
To give my own plot description: This is a sequel to Violent City, a movie I saw in April and reviewed here. This time, the cop with the great cop 'stache known as Betti (Merli) gets transferred to Naples, but he hasn't changed his ways. He's still a real loose cannon cop who is happy to stretch or break the rules in order to bring down the bad guys. There's no shortage of bad guys to deal with, either. There's robbers who end up being rapists, there's bank robbers who try to manipulate things via their leader being on parole (he has to sign in every afternoon and he races there after the robberies in order to try and have an alibi), and there's people who pay protection to underworld forces. This is a very fast-paced film that never lets up.
There were various interesting touches, like Betti using undesireables to obtain information on the big bad guys, and seeing the various tricks of the trade that the villains do to get the advantage. Then there's the usual you get from the genre... car/dirtbike chases, gunfights, fistfights, and yes, sleaze. There are some very violent moments, involving the likes of spiked fences and bowling balls. Nasty... and sweet.
I happen to really enjoy that segment of 70's films and this was a quality example of the subgenre. I got a lot of amusement out of the loose cannon aspects and there are several great setpieces, including one about an hour in and features a chase that turns into a tense showdown involving a cable car and gunplay. There's also a groovy score, which is another typical trademark of this genre. Good times, at least for me.
I won't be back until Wednesday afternoon.
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