Eurocrime! The Italian Cop And Gangster Films That Ruled The 70's

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the 70's (2012)

Runtime: 128 minutes

Directed by: Mike Malloy

Starring: This is a documentary

From: Subgenre Entertainment

I was quite happy to finally check out this documentary as I've been wanting to watch this for a long while now. I am now glad I was able to see it. Besides what I say about it below in my Letterboxd review, it also has a quality score from several musicians. I'll return tomorrow night.

While I haven't seen one in months (something I'll try and rectify soon) I do love me some poliziotteschi films; thus, I've been real interested in watching this documentary since I first heard about it. I had to wait a few years but I finally watched it last night via Amazon.

This slick documentary (at times maybe a little too slick) explains what poliziotteschi films are (Italian crime dramas made on the cheap/made fast with a lot of sex, violence and action, usually over the top; those are rough and hard-boiled movies) and how Hollywood and life in Italy had a big influence on the genre and made them so popular over there. Various figures are interviewed, including Franco Nero, Henry Silva, Antonio Sabato Sr. (wearing an amazing outfit of pink shirt, pink vest and tan shorts), Fred Williamson, Christopher Mitchum, John Saxon and Enzo G. Castellari. Also, you Troll 2 fans will laugh that another person interviewed is Claudio Fragasso.

While I tend to rate those films pretty high (albeit acknowledging that many of the ones I've seen are the classics of the genre) I realized after watching this I knew precious little about the genre. I am a nerd so I enjoy learning new information in general and I loved greatly expanding my knowledge of these films. I won't reveal what sort of content this has, except that Italy sounded pretty crazy back then and organized crime had a direct influence on those movies, in that they got involved.

If you've ever watched some of those motion pictures or even if the genre sounds interesting to you, this is a must-see and I am happy that this was made as it brought more attention on a subject that precious too few are familiar with. For me, it gave me many more recommendations for motion pictures to track down and add to my poliziotteschi watch list.