The Violent Professionals (1973)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie but grossly overrated

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Dirty Harry like cop investigates the murder of a fellow cop and beats up and kills a good number of bad guys in the process.Violent police drama keeps your attention focused thanks to an almost constant stream of beatings and shootings. Not the best film and certainly far from the worst, this is just a good solid action film for a rainy Sunday without the kids. The best thing is this is a regular in bargain bins for around a buck which, as entertainment goes is quite a bargain for a film as good as this.Go get some popcorn and some sodas.7 out of 10

After his mentor, the only cop who is both honest and "by-the-book" in this movie (and possibly any other Italian "poliziani"), is assassinated in the street, a rogue cop, who has been suspended for gunning down two surrendering suspects, goes undercover, mixing with prostitutes, pimps, and reckless, amateur bank robbers in an effort to crack the case; only to find that it involves both Red Brigade terrorists and corruption at the highest levels of Italian government. It is easy to write-off this and other Italian polizianis as cheap "rip-offs" of American films like "Dirty Harry" or "The French Connection". But this genre really resonated in Italy which was even more beset by rampant crime, high-level corruption, and would-be "revolutionaries" in 1970's than America was. And whereas American police thrillers got dumber, more simplistic, and sometimes downright fascist going into the Reagan era (i.e. "Make my day!", "Crime is a disease and he is the cure!"), the Italian films went off in a decidedly more morally ambiguous and often more cynical direction, which I personally find much more interesting. (It's perhaps understandable that America would later blunder into Iraq, convinced that they were the unambiguous "good guys" and weren't going to get any blood on their white cowboy hats, while the Europeans were generally much more wary and realistic).This movie is pretty confused. It's pretty hard to believe that corrupt law enforcement officials would be connected to the radical Marxist Red Brigades and vice versa. It's also hard to separate the "rogue cop" here from the regular Italian police, who also shoot unarmed suspects and kill innocent hostages in reckless high-speed car chases. (One villain makes the mistake of trying to ally himself with hero, naturally assuming that anyone so violent and unconcerned the law or public safety would be a natural partner in corruption).Still it is more realistic and honest in many ways to admit that fighting violence with violence, even it doesn't outright corrupt, is very messy and will leave you with hands that are far from clean. "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection" themselves were much more noirish and morally ambiguous than is acknowledged these days. But what this movie really reminded me of was the first Dirty Harry sequel "Magnum Force" where the troubled vigilante cop with some morals faces off against vigilante cops with no morals (and who also turn out to be very implausibly connected to his most liberal critics). Like that movie this poliziani is pretty confused, but, at the same time, all the more honest for it.It's also well-made and very entertaining. It was directed by the great, and still underrated Italian director, Sergio Martino. It's currently only available on cheap DVD (part of "The Grindhouse Collection Volume 1") ported from a very messed-up videotape (the sound is atrocious). Still I would highly recommend it.

This was my first taste of the Italian police movie sub-genre of the Seventies (if I'm honest I'd have to say I didn't even know there was such a sub-genre) and I can't remember being so bored by a film so filled with gunplay and car chases. Perhaps it's because I watched it at six in the morning after being unable to sleep, or maybe it's because of the lousy dubbing but, whatever the reason, this very obvious Dirty Harry rip-off had little to offer.Luc Merenda is too much of a pretty boy to make a convincing enough anti-hero. He looks more like a Dirty Harry sidekick who gets killed in the first reel than a gritty tough guy, and his style of acting is too bland to draw the viewer in. The storyline is convoluted – although the plot is actually quite simple – and its twist becomes increasingly obvious as the film runs down. There are a couple of good car chases, and not many people get to beat up Richard Conte twice in one movie, but otherwise all this flick did for me was make a bout of insomnia that much worse.

Many of the best Giallo directors tried their hand at the Dirty Harry-inspired Polizi sub-genre at some point, and The Violent Professionals is Sergio Martino's classy effort. The film isn't as good as Martino's Giallo efforts (few films are), but it still stands up as one of the better Polizi films. Martino packs the film with all the elements that make this sort of thing successful; we've got car chases, gun fights, fist fights, a headstrong lead character etc. Unfortunately, despite working from a script by ace writer Ernesto Gastaldi, The Violent Professionals does suffer from the classic Italian film problem of a confusing plot. The plot follows the murder of a police chief. Lieutenant Giorga doesn't take this very well, and decides to follow up the chief's investigation by going undercover in a local gang of low lives. His plan is to build up enough of a reputation for himself that will enable him to get close to the leaders of the group and learn their secrets; but this foolhardy plan runs into a lot of adversity...Like many Italian crime flicks, this one takes place in Milan. I've never been to Milan, but I'm guessing that it was one hell of a sleaze den back in the seventies as these films don't exactly paint a pretty picture! Sergio Martino does well at presenting a gritty urban atmosphere, and this hugely benefits the film. Martino's direction is solid throughout, and he can certainly take his place as one of the finest directors that Italy ever produced. Even when I wasn't completely sure what was going on, Martino keeps the tension bubbling and the film ticks over nicely all the way through. The standout moment takes the form of a car chase through the streets of Milan, and cinematic chases have rarely been better. The acting is strong also, and the film features a brilliant performance from Luc Merenda in the lead role, as well as film noir regular Richard Conte in support. The film lacks a good female lead, but other than that it pretty does everything you would want it to. Overall, The Violent Professionals isn't the best film of its type - but it's certainly a good one and gets high recommendations from me.