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So much average

One of my all time favorites.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

In all honesty, I must state that my rating and review of "Napoli Spara!" perhaps aren't 100% reliable. Reason for this is because I watched the film in Italian language, without any subtitles, but I don't speak Italian at all! In my defense, the film had been standing on my must-see list for an awful long time and the only version available for purchase was this cheap Italian DVD-R without any extras or language options whatsoever. Here's a word of advice: if you ever, like me, assume that you don't necessarily need to understand what's being said in a Poliziotesschi film, think again! Of course these movies are primarily about wild action sequences, explicit violence and guerrilla stunt work, but the plot and the dialogues are still very important! What I did understand is that the ultra-charismatic Henry Silva depicts a real bad SOB! He commits an extremely violent armed train robbery, with naturally lots of civilian casualties, and even organizes a heist on the evidence room of a police station! Leonard Mann is the devoted police detective tailing him, but Silva is the smart and slimy type of gangster who always comes up with a waterproof alibi. Mann is also looking after a clever street kid, to prevent him from becoming a juvenile delinquent. Standard poliziotesschi stuff, in other words, but there were also other things going on in "Napoli Spara!" that I couldn't follow properly, like a Maurizio Merli lookalike taxi driver assisting the police and mafia retributions on the parking lot of an illegal casino. I also spotted many familiar themes, like corruption (within the police force as well as in prison), bloody attacks on genitalia and the kicking of pregnant women in the stomach. Auch! But "Napoli Spara!" was also released in 1977, and from this year onwards the poliziotesschi began to lose its overwhelming force and impact. There are still many car chases and shootouts, but they are approximately 25% less raw and gritty. To compensate for this, the directors started throwing in comic reliefs, like in this film when Mann's little protégé-kid carjacks a sports car and goes on a joyride through the crowded streets of Naples. He can hardly even reach the pedals or look over the steering wheel, for crying out loud!

Weapons of Death is not the most original Polizi flick you're ever likely to see, but that's not too much of a problem since the genre tends to borrow from itself often anyway. This film includes pretty much all the staples that you would expect from an Italian crime flick, and it has to be said that prolific director Mario Caiano has pretty much hit the nail on the head as Weapons of Death features no shortage of car chases, shootouts and cool characters. The plot is just your basic Polizi stuff, and focuses on a city where crime is taking over - with organised robberies becoming the norm. Naturally, the police don't take too kindly to this and it's not long before Captain Beady decides to do something about it and soon identifies gangster Santoro as one of the causes of the problem. However, getting something to pin on Santoro is not all that easy as despite plenty of criminal acts pointing to him - the man always has an alibi. This plot is run parallel with a less interesting tale revolving around a young kid, himself getting into crime.The fact that the film isn't very original doesn't really affect the enjoyment level of it much as the director keeps things going with a constant stream of action. The film features a strong cast which features Henry Silva as the lead villain; and despite being horribly dubbed, he cuts a menacing figure. His opposite number is Leonard Mann who fits into the role as the hard-bitten copper much better than I thought he would considering his 'pretty boy' looks. The film also features an all too brief performance from the beautiful Evelyn Stewart. I would not rate this film as one of the more violent Polizi flicks, but it certainly has its moments - a castration springs to mind instantly. The way the plot works helps to keep things interesting too; there are a number of things going on in the film, sometimes certain parts of it feel irrelevant, but it's usually brought together by the end. The plot line revolving around the young kid is slightly irritating (particularly the music) and it's always obvious that it's going to lead into a ham-fisted moral lesson; but that's by the by and in spite of it, Weapons of Death is still an excellent Italian crime flick!

Surprisingly tolerable poliziottesco thanks to its action-packed narrative (with robberies, shoot-outs, fistfights and chases galore) and vivid locations (this was one of a long list of such thrillers revolving around a specific Italian city); Francesco De Masi’s score is also serviceable. Leonard Mann, however, is no substitute for Maurizio Merli (or even Luc Merenda) – at one point, he takes on two thugs in a bar, but he’s just too skinny to be a credible tough guy! On the other hand, while Henry Silva isn’t particularly taxed by his overly familiar criminal boss role, he always proves to be good value for money in this type of film.A number of seemingly irrelevant subplots are eventually nicely integrated into the main storyline: Mann occasionally looks out for a likable juvenile delinquent who subsequently saves his life from the clutches of Silva’s minions (the boy’s own sacrifice at the end was rather unwarranted, though); Alfredo Lastretti appears as a would-be child kidnapper who’s put behind bars and castrated by his fellow inmates (an incident which serves as a diversion for Silva’s own escape); and Evelyn Stewart appears very briefly at the end as Silva’s old flame (whom he now wants dead), brought back from abroad by Mann specifically to bait his old nemesis.The film is quite violent: apart from the afore-mentioned castration, a pregnant woman is kicked in the belly during the opening bank robbery, a squealer is decapitated, and Silva himself is graphically trampled by a train at the climax. There isn’t that much of the typically hard-boiled dialogue (which actually sounds even funnier when spoken in the almost unintelligible Neapolitan dialect) but the standout is when a bank robber tries to persuade his associates to give themselves up rather than shoot it out with the cops, because if they’re caught “not even the Virgin Mary could prevent them getting a life sentence”!

My personal favorite of overlooked director Mario Caiano's films, this movie is pretty much THE formula for an extremely successful Italian crime movie. First off, it's got the exotic Neopolitan locations down pat and does a good job showing how brutal the streets can be with plenty of random bank-robbery and purse-snatching going on. Secondly, it's got a great cast headed up by Henry Silva as a slimy underworld boss who gets a little too ambitious for his own good, robbing a money train and a police station in broad daylight. Of course one shouldn't overlook Leonard Mann, Adolfo Lastretti, Benito Pacifico, Richard Raymond and the rest of the regular euro-crime gang that pops by. Thirdly, this film has tons of action, violence, and random explosions to not only keep the casual viewer awake, but highly entertained! This is probably one of the most violent of the 70's Italian crime films with lots of shootouts, protracted car crashes, people on fire, mutilated faces, a Gino De Rossi-patented decapitation, and such. Fourth, a very memorable musical score by Francesco De Masi, possibly one of his best and most widely copied of all his scores. Fifth, this film has many tie-ins with Umberto Lenzi's NAPOLI VIOLENTA (which starred Maurizio Merli and John Saxon), since it has a reappearance of the Gennaro kid that got crippled in that movie, here he's back and turned to a life of petty crime. The musical cues that follow little Gennaro in particular are very memorable, as they vary on the same theme depending on the situation, creating a very good effect towards the tragic ending.I can't recommend this movie enough. It's too bad NAPOLI SPARA is just so hard to find.