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Violent Naples
Directed By Umberto Lenzi
Released: 1976
Starring: Maurizio Merli, John Saxon, Barry Sullivan, and Elio Zamuto
Running Time: 95 minutes
Region: 0 NTSC
DVD Released By Alfa Digital
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Commisioner Berti (played by Maurizio Merli) arrives
in Naples to help the city fight against the mafia. Berti is a great cop;
he busts a car thief and hauls him in on his way to his first day on the
job. While uncovering several small time operations, Berti begins to work
on a drug ring lead by Francesco Capuano (John Saxon) and a high level
mafia man known as The Commandante (Barry Sullivan). When Capuano decides
to rip off The Commandante, all hell breaks loose in the city. Berti soon
discovers that the law isn’t strong enough to control this quickly
escalating situation, so he takes the law into his own hands.
The talented Umberto Lenzi (Almost Human) brings us
Violent Naples, a gritty and
bristling crime film as only the Italians can provide. Tight
cinematography and a cool soundtrack are delivered as expected. However,
what the damn hell is with the horrible closing credit song. “A Man Before
Your Time” by The Bulldogs has to be one of the most God awful ways of
closing a film. Ouch. The screenplay comes from Vincenzo Mannino, the
writer behind works such as Syndicate
Sadists and
New York Ripper.
The only issues I have with Violent
Naples (other than that friggin’
Bulldogs song) are some sped up scenes and mediocre English dubbing.
The cast of Violent Naples
is really a superb collection of actors. Man, I’m really diggin’ on
Luciano Rossi (Death
Smiled At Murder) lately. I was hoping he’d be the main
villain here but his gruesome (and well deserved) fate is too cool to
miss. It’s no surprise that Maurizio Merli (A
Man Called Blade) is excellent in his
role as Berti, a good cop who is frustrated by the powerlessness of the
law he fights for. Merli was a fine actor with a relatively short list of
credits under his belt before he passed away in the late 80s.
John Saxon (Tenebre)
and Barry Sullivan (Take A Hard Ride)
make a nearly awesome evil duo who can’t stop trying to double-cross each other
every five minutes. Elio Zamuto is seriously smooth as Franco Casagrande,
bankrobber extraordinaire. I find it odd that there’s not even a whisper
of a love interest in this one. Surprisingly, the movie lacks either some
trashy nude scenes or one of those heartfelt moments where the woman begs
her man not to go out onto those violent streets of Naples. What am I
saying?
As
usual, Umberto Lenzi (Seven
Blood-Stained Orchids) displays his incredible knack
for economical storytelling and staging breathless action sequences.
Despite the violence on display here, Lenzi really wants to show the human
cost and depressing outcome of the (sometimes frightening) brutality of
the criminal world. Don’t let Cannibal
Ferox fool you, Umberto Lenzi is a
pretty sensitive guy.
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DVD Stuff:
No extras other than chapter selections on this Alfa Digital disc.
Although the widescreen presentation isn’t anamorphic, the picture still
looks quite good with minimal damage to the print and faded colors. The
English audio is clear and dialogue is easy to understand. Euro-crime
fans, buy this disc at your earliest convenience. Like, hurry.
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Links:
Get this DVD from
Xploited Cinema.
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