Arguably, the 1970s produced the nastiest action movies ever, and the Italians might possibly edge out the Americans and the Japanese for the depths of depravity reached. Fabio Testi's movies are certainly among the most brutal of the Italian "Poliziotteschi" films and Contraband is definitely the most brutal of the Fabio Testi movies I have seen. Exhibit One - the blowtorch scene. Exhibit Two - the rape scene. In both cases, the "action" goes on far longer than it needs to for the purpose of dramatic impact and well into the realms of sadistic voyeurism. The plot involves an attempt by hard drug dealers to take over the transport infrastructure of the general contraband smugglers (cigarettes, liquor etc.) who use a flotilla of fast speedboats to circumvent Italian customs and excise. Apparently, the filmmakers ran out of money part way through and actual smugglers agreed to provide additional finance, as well as their boats, their services as extras and "suggestions" as to how the script might be improved. Authentic stuff then!
Review of Contraband
