Austrian actor Helmut Berger reigns supreme here as a truly nasty piece of work. He plays Nanni Vitali, a true foaming-at-the-mouth kind of bad guy who escapes from prison with three cohorts. They proceed to go on a spree of robbery, rape, and revenge; he even forces Giuliana (Marisa Mell), whom he assaults, into participating in his armed robbery. On the mad dogs' trail is the determined police inspector Santini (Richard Harrison).
Directed with verve by Sergio Grieco (his final directing credit), this piece of Italian crime fiction is notable for its mean streak, its efficient pacing (Grieco doesn't waste a lot of time here), and a sufficient amount of bloody violence. It's well shot in widescreen and strikingly scored by Umberto Smaila. In general, it's good fun: straightforward and with no pretensions about what it's doing.
It gets a lot of juice from the central performances of Berger and Harrison. Harrison is an engaging, charismatic good guy, but Berger ultimately dominates the proceedings as the villain who is a true force of nature. He has his flunkies dispose of an informant by roughing him up, then leaving him bloody and beaten in a puddle, dousing him with lime, and burying him. This character is just pure slime, and yet Berger does play him with an impressive amount of self-confidence.
Mell is very good as the frightened but equally determined rape victim who does seek help from the police the first chance that she gets. Claudio Gora & Marina Giordana also earned this viewers' sympathies as the inspectors' father & sister, who end up brutalized themselves by our merry maniac.
Good sleazy entertainment (with some fleeting nudity) for fans of Euro-cult flicks, with a fairly satisfactory ending.
Seven out of 10.
Directed with verve by Sergio Grieco (his final directing credit), this piece of Italian crime fiction is notable for its mean streak, its efficient pacing (Grieco doesn't waste a lot of time here), and a sufficient amount of bloody violence. It's well shot in widescreen and strikingly scored by Umberto Smaila. In general, it's good fun: straightforward and with no pretensions about what it's doing.
It gets a lot of juice from the central performances of Berger and Harrison. Harrison is an engaging, charismatic good guy, but Berger ultimately dominates the proceedings as the villain who is a true force of nature. He has his flunkies dispose of an informant by roughing him up, then leaving him bloody and beaten in a puddle, dousing him with lime, and burying him. This character is just pure slime, and yet Berger does play him with an impressive amount of self-confidence.
Mell is very good as the frightened but equally determined rape victim who does seek help from the police the first chance that she gets. Claudio Gora & Marina Giordana also earned this viewers' sympathies as the inspectors' father & sister, who end up brutalized themselves by our merry maniac.
Good sleazy entertainment (with some fleeting nudity) for fans of Euro-cult flicks, with a fairly satisfactory ending.
Seven out of 10.