That's not to say his films are just purely fascist mouthpieces glorifying police violence. Castellari is not a toothless director and he has a certain way of having both empathy for the criminals with their backs against the wall, as well as criticisms for the police force's excessive use of force. It may not be exactly the perfect time to revalue these now, but there are some grains of wisdom sprinkled throughout. I think at core Castellari is a lot more humane than many other, more nihilistic Italian genre directors.
Street Law (Il cittadino si ribella), 1974
The film has some plot elements similar to the same year's American hit film Death Wish, but instead of having a liberal character straight-up lose his humanity due to tragedy like that film, it is clear that Nero's character still has strong empathies as he's trying to protect his friend through a criminal underworld getting increasingly violent. The character is not infallible, making dumb mistakes along the way, but still miracously not getting killed. Nevertheless, the journey drags him through the mud and punches him in the gut.
Castellari first highlights standing up to the violent underworld similar as standing up to fascism in WWII, but then muddies the waters more so as not to make a clear line of right and wrong. There are some irredeemable psycopaths on the crimal side, but also people with their backs against the wall, just doing what they can to survive and to get out of a bad hand dealt to them. The film is light on shoot-outs and car chases, but makes each of them stand out and have a maximum impact. The resulting gem is among the very finest works of both Castellari's career, as well as the Eurocrime genre as a whole.
★★★★
Cold Eyes of Fear (Gli occhi freddi della paura), 1971
Since it's darker, noirish tones and strong suspense, many would categorize Cold Eyes of Fear as a giallo. However, it's visual stylizations are just something that was popular at the time it was made. The plot has more elements similar to some of the more brutal Eurocrime films and thier home invasion or kidnapping subgenre. The film concerns a young lawyer (Gianni Garko) in London picking up a girl (Giovanna Ralli) and takes her to his uncle's house, only to find out there is a gunman (Julian Matteos) hiding out in the same house. He is waiting for a backup (Frank Wolff), attempting to get their revenge on the uncle, who happens to be a judge (Fernando Ray).
The film has a superb swinging soundtrack by Ennio Morricone that can also shift gears when the scenes get more disturbing and suspenseful. The film's weak point is its bungling its cenral mysteries. First of all, its not much of a mystery of waiting to find out why the would-be assassings want to kill the judge. Secondly, the siege situation is dragged on a bit too long for its own good.
Many similar movies, like Almost Human or Hitch-hike get thrills out of big villanous characters and their nastiness, whereas here the characterizations are a bit lacking in interset and they are not properly fleshed out. Here, there's not enough development, except on Ralli's Anna on the very last moments of the film. The visual, film noirish flare of the film saves a lot for fans of giallo, but other wise it seems it is a bit middling in its qualities.
★★★
The Big Racket (Il grande racket), 1976
Towards the end of the 70's, Italian crime films started to take more note on movies like such as The French Connection and Dirty Harry. Thus, they also started to center around tough guy cops roughing things up. In the hands of more capable directors, the police brutality was also criticized and these sort of characters were more like anti-heroes, playing western outlaws at their own amusement and not for the betterment of society.
Fabio Testi's Nico Palmieri is a prime example of a character like this. Rome is taken over by ruthless gangsters, and he takes upon himself to kill just about everyone that comes in the way of his handling of the case. The police superiors are furious at this, trying to have a more bureaucratic approach, that is also ineffective. At the same time, the gangsters also up their violence and go from extorting cash in a small Italian town to torture, rape of women and borderline terrorist strikes.
The film is built like a freight train, with not a moment going by without some new action scene, more ante on the grittines or dramatic development on the case. They are also mostly stuff everyone has seen and expects out of cop movies, just taken to extremes and bigger stakes. With modern eyes, the film has a lot of questionable qualities, from the nasty rape scenes to the depiction of police brutality of a necessary evil to battle violence. But Castellari is still not happy about it. The film is more of a cry of anguish of a circle of violence beginning to engulf everything around it.
★★★ 1/2
The Heroin Busters (La via della droga), 1977
Many of Castellari's films have some level of western in them. It is perhaps the most clear here. After a globe-trotting opening that sees Fabio Testi as a short-fused cop and David Hemmings as a cold-blooded Interpol agent take down drug lords around the world. These two must learn to co-operate to take down the head of the cartel in Italy. And this is done mostly by having car chases and fist fight around.
The film seems a lot lighter than the other fares into the genre, even the violence is mostly suitable for kids. The movie has the ingredients for something great, but seems at times to be a bit unsure of itself and just shoving out faces with big showstopping action scenes. Thet are plenty well directed, though. There's a great chase scene through a construction site, and in the finale Testi himself piloted a small plane giving chase to the main drug lord. That last scene does resemble a bit too much of an airshow, though with all the tricks possible to do with two planes being utilized.
This is more of the mindless entertainment Castellari began to give us towards the late 70's and 1980's. His earlier work had something to say, but it seems that when he upped the grittiness and the violence, he also managed to burn himself out on these. Nevertheless, his steady quality does make him one of the most notable directors of the era, and especially of the Eurocrime genre.
★★★
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