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Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply Perfect

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Blistering performances.

Enzo G. Castellari's first police procedural crime thriller "High Crime" a.k.a. "La polizia incrimina la legge assolve" (1973) qualifies as violent, tragic, but memorable. The auto chases are fast and furious. The villains are thoroughgoing dastards who are prepared to kill anybody, including children. They run down our hero's daughter without a qualm in one scene. Not only do they smash into her, but they also drive over her body. Of course, obvious dummies were used in this scene as well as in the explosion scenes, but the violence is emphatic. This is like dummies pitched off a building that hit the street several floors below. A policeman on foot fires into a car barreling toward him and the criminals smash into his body. Again, the filmmakers use a dummy, but everything is done with a visceral sense of urgency that makes it exciting if not horrific. Castellari and company stage some beautiful fireball explosions that hold your attention. Spaghetti western star Franco Nero plays the energetic but frustrated Italian Vice-Commissioner Belli who will never be the same after this war with the mob. "High Crime" comes with a double-digit body count, and the significant shootings are presented in slow-motion. A high-ranking police official takes three bullets in his body when his back is turned to a heavy. You'll hate the bad guys and savor their deaths by fade-out. Although this 100-minute melodrama features a happy ending, the toll that Belli's crusade against crime takes leaves a bitter after-taste. One anonymous commentator at a download site has written that "High Crime" "was largely responsible for setting off the entire Italian crime film movement of the 70's.""High Crime" opens with our heroic police officer arresting an elusive Lebanese drug dealer in Genoa after a careening auto chase through the city. Unfortunately, Belli doesn't keep the Lebanese in custody long before the wily criminals blow up the police car transporting his prisoner. Miraculously, Belli wasn't seated in the vehicle when it blew up and killed the Lebanese and four cops, along with a young girl playing nearby in the street. Meantime, Belli's superior, Commissioner Aldo Scavino (JamesWhitmore), wants to get adequate evidence on everybody from the bottom to the top and he is prepared to exercise patience in his battle with organized crime. Assiduously, he has compiled a dossier on mafia connections, but Belli lacks Scaviono's patience. Belli is a man of action. He consults with a former crime boss, Cafiero (Fernando Rey of "The French Connection"), who spends most of his time in his rose garden. Cafiero warns our hot-headed hero that if the mob cannot put him on ice, they will go after the people that he loves. Meanwhile, the mob ambushes Scavino as he is getting into his car in an exciting shoot-out sequence that continues when a street cop opens fire on the two killers as they flee from the scene of the crime. "High Crime" is unforgettable.

This was my introduction to Poliziotteschi films, and also my introduction to Enzo G Castellari, who in my opinion may be the greatest Italian director of the 70s and 80s. I can't get enough of this guy's films! In fact, when I started watching this, a large beam of light focused on me and a voice said "Spend cash on all my movies, chosen one." This was a rubbish video transfer copy of High Crime that I picked up for a quid, but even the washed out look and occasional flicker couldn't detract from the greatness of this movie. It's proof that beyond zombie flicks and slasher movies, there's a whole world of groovy Italian films out there. A mysterious man is taken from Marsielles to Genoa, and before he can go about his business, he's on the run from the cops, led by Comissioner Belli (Nero). The chase soon switches from foot to car, with some really dangerous looking stunts going on. There's one shot where the cars are heading straight for the cameraman, then abruptly cuts away. Hope the guy survived. If not, then he died contributing towards a good cause. Who knows in these films.Belli gets his man, but before he can question him a car bomb kills the guy, three cops, and a little girl. As this is an Italian movie, we get to see a burning carcass flying out of the car window when it blows up. The film has hardly started. It seems that there's a new crime family trying to muscle in on things in Genoa, and Belli wants to get straight to the top and arrest Mister Big. Belli's boss, played by James Whitmore, knows who these guys are but due to their political connections is reluctant to do anything about it. Belli ends up getting help from an unlikely source: an ailing mafia boss who's own men are starting to switch sides, a man who also seems to be obsessed with using metaphors and analogies littered with animal/insect/eating imagery. He's cool though, and his sidekick was alright too. The problems facing Belli and numerous: who is the real Mister Big? Who can he trust? Every time he thinks he's got to the top, the suspect is murdered. Worse still, the deeper he gets the more his loved ones are put at risk. Does he risk all or heed the repeated warnings to back off? This being an Italian film, do you think anyone at all will be alive at the end of the film?There's hardly a minute wasted in High Crime. A constantly shifting storyline that flys through its running time, switching scenes at an alarming rate, and only slightly getting confusing once all the characters are introduced. By that point, however, people start getting bumped off as characters double cross each other and try to shift suspicion onto others. This is done usually in slow motion, with a kind of standard squib-or-no-squib-at-all technique that is also prevalent in Italian war movies. Aside from the funky soundtrack, there are two main factors that make this film a classic: Castellari and Nero. The direction is flawlessly high energy: even dialogue scenes are infused with nervous hyperactivity. There's good use of slow motion, especially when main characters are assassinated, plus plenty of bizarre camera angles, shaky cam, and some shots that reminded me of spaghetti westerns. Everyone is kind of sleazy, and you can't help applaud when a guy with a slight squint sniffs some smack, turns to the camera and mutters 'pure snow'. He doesn't shy away from the violence either. One character is killed by meathooks, another has his head run over by a bike, then gets castrated, a kid gets run over and dragged along the road, and in one stand-out scene, Massimo Vanni gets shot in the balls in slow motion! When Massimo Vanni turns up in a film he always does two things - a couple of stunts, and a mini massacre, then a (sometimes) gory death. He's class. Watch for him in Street Law, Bronx Warriors, Big Racket, Bronx Warriors 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (and 3!) and other films I've forgotten. I befriended a stray dog when staying in Sorrento last year, and someone had gone out their way to buy this dog a tag naming him Massimo. I knew there and then it was a tribute to Massimo Vanni. Franco Nero is the icing on the cake. The guy acts his socks off here. Belli does three things: chasing people, shouting and slapping people around. When he's not doing one he's doing another. He shouts at the bad guys, his colleagues, even his girlfriend. He slaps six different people around. The guy literally cannot sit still. His agitation at the ever elusive Mister Big comes out in flailing hands and stamping feet, gnashing of teeth and bursting into rooms. When the film calls for him to be more calm and emotional, he can do that too. Then he slaps more people around and kills them. This is a brilliant film, and it feels somehow epic even though it lasts just over 90 minutes. If they remade it today in Hollywood it would last 4 hours and be Shiite.

Fast paced, violent and innovative crime thriller with director Castellari and star, Franco Nero on top form. This becomes a little complicated in the middle when there is some jockeying for position between baddies but it finishes well and that start! The great cinematography is evident from the beginning of the credits when from behind the titles we see the gradually enlarging exit to a shipping tunnel. As soon as we dock the chase is on as the suspected drug dealer is chased around the streets by good cop Nero. And what a chase, now I'm no great fan of such things that can in my opinion be overused as padding, but here is a real thrill, and so it goes on for much of the film. Not much time for romance and just the briefest nudity before we are back on the hectic and all consuming search for Mr Big. Lots of references to corruption, communism and general unrest all add to the atmosphere. Have only had the chance to see this dubbed so a subtitled print would be good to see some time.

One of Castellari's finest works. The acting is superb. Excellent usage of lighting and settings. Unpredictable turn of events and good images. There is almost nothing wrong with this film for people who are into crime dramas.