Fear in the City (1976)

That was an excellent one.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Italian police thrillers were partly inspired by 70's American films like "Dirty Harry", "The French Connection", and "Serpico", so they have a kind of indirect film noir sensibility to them, but one updated to the gritty urban decay of the 1970's. They were also, of course, inspired by the Spaghetti Westerns, a popular Italian genre which they would essentially replace. The Spaghetti Westerns had taken the white-hatted American John Wayne type heroes and substituted much more morally ambiguous anti-heroes, often ruthless and violence prone and pursuing only their own self-interest. These kind of ambiguous anti-heroes carried on into the police thrillers, and that mixed with noir elements and the social turbulence of 70's led to a cynical, downbeat, and extremely morally ambiguous genre that was nevertheless entertaining as hell. The problem is though in the hands of hacks these films could very easily turn into the most trite right-wing fantasies imaginable.Actor Maurizio Merlino was one of those hacks. Basically, he was Franco Nero with a fraction of the talent. Still, he was OK in some of the films he made with Umberto Lenzi and other relatively talented directors. Unfortunately, director Guiseppe Rossi was an even bigger hack, responsible for such nonsense as the dim-witted giallo "The Perfect Crime". As a result, this movie has no intelligence, no depth, and no irony (not even the over-the-top fascist excesses of something like Ruggiero Deodata's "Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man"). It's just the typical ho-hum story of a vigilante cop who defies his superiors and refuses to go "by the book" as he fights crime--in this case a dozen ruthless gangsters who have broken out of prison and are out to settle the score with everyone that put them there. This is the kind of thing Hollywood crapped out about a thousand times in the 80's, usually with Sylvester Stallone or some other meat-head in the lead role. There's not even a memorable villain like Thomas Milan or Henry Silva on hand.On the plus side, the music is pretty good and visual style is serviceable. Silvia Dionisio turns up as Merlino's love interest and she has her usual highly gratuitous (but highly enjoyable) nude scenes. James Mason is also in this, and even though he is obviously slumming and his role is pretty perfunctory, an actor of his caliber can't help but add a little gravitas to the proceedings. Still,this is generally a weak entry into the Italian cop genre.

If you are a fan of the Euro-crime type films then this a typical violent outing that delivers a lot in 90ish minutes running time. Merli plays the usual tough cop Dirty Harry type role, and gets a decent motorbike chase that is a highlight. I certainly disagree with comments that the film is dull as there's plenty of great action sequences. There is less plot than say 'The Marseille Connection' (High Crimes) or other similar films though. Merli is good in this film, though naturally dubbed. He's great in the action scenes especially the fights! It's more than can be said for an clearly ill at ease James Mason, who acts like he'd rather be somewhere else.Its a shame this genre of films is difficult to come by (certainly in the UK) and the copy i've watched is the grainy '23rd Century' release which i gather is missing footage at the start. Even so it's definitely worth a watch if you can track it down.Recommended.

I'm a big fan of the Italian Polizi flicks, and for me; having made some of the most entertaining films in the genre, Maurizio Merli is much more than just a Franco Nero clone...but despite the title similarity to the great French-Italian co-production Fear Over the City, Fear in the City is unfortunately a lesser example of the genre. The entire genre owes itself to Don Siegel's masterpiece Dirty Harry; although some of the films in it have taken some creative licence and made something a bit different out of it; that is not the case with this film. The film focuses on Murri; the token maverick cop. He is called in (reluctantly) after a bunch of criminals pull off a successful prison break and spend the night picking off various informers and people they don't like. Murri investigates; hooking up with one of the criminal's nieces along the way. He uses his own methods; which mostly involve breaking all the rules, and thus comes under a lot of scrutiny from his superiors who don't take too kindly to the cop's way of working.The main problem with this film is undoubtedly the pacing; as we skip from one action scene to the next without much substance in between. Of course, it's the action scenes that make this genre what it is; but the more successful films in it generally have something else to like, and this one doesn't. Maurizio Merli makes a likable lead as ever and it's not hard to see why he so often gets cast in these films as the roles suit him like a glove; but even he doesn't have enough to make Fear in the City a success. Anyone who has seen more than a handful of these films will have seen everything in this one before and not even the action scenes are anything to write home about; although there is an amusing motorcycle chase midway through the film which is well done. This is one the lesser known Polizi flicks outside of Italy and I'm not really surprised about that because there are so many better ones. Overall, I could perhaps recommend this film to hardcore fans of this sort of stuff; but everyone else would do well to not bother with this film.

Maurizio Merli turns in his standard hard-nosed/violent cop routine in this one. The score is solid, story is easy to follow and there's a fantastic motorcycle chase toward the end. It's not quite as good as Convoy Busters or High Crimes but you're better off watching this than something like Cannibal Holocaust.Merli is no Franco Nero but his not-so-subtle acting is more than made up with his charm and delightful mustache. Not sure if this is part of the 'A Mano Armata' series but it certainly could be.If you're a fan of the Polizio genre this one should sate your appetite.