Giustiziere sfida la città, Il (1975)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Vincenzo Mannino (screenplay)
Vincenzo Mannino (story)

Release Date:

1976 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Action | Thriller

Plot:

A biker's brother is killed while investigating the kidnapping of a young boy, the byproduct of a war between two crime families. The biker vows to get revenge by finding the kidnapped boy and destroying the two families.

Plot Keywords:

Poliziottesco | Child Kidnapping | Child | Fight | Hitman

Cast

Tomas Milian	...	Rambo
Joseph Cotten	...	Paternò
Maria Fiore	...	Maria Scalia
Mario Piave	...	Pino Scalia
Luciano Catenacci	...	Conti
Guido Alberti	...	Owner of Billiard Salon
Femi Benussi	...	Flora
Silvano Tranquilli	...	Dr. Marco Marsili
Shirley Corrigan	...	Conti's mistress
Antonio Casale	...	Philip Duval
Rosario Borelli	...	One of Paterno's men
Luciano Pigozzi	...	One of Conti's men
Mario Novelli	...	Franco
Bruno Di Luia	...	One of Conti's men
Giuseppe Castellano	...	One of Conti's men

Also Known As:

Final Payment (Canada: English title) (cut version)
One Just Man (Europe: English title)
Rambo's Revenge (USA) (dubbed version)
Syndicate Sadists (USA)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Norway:15 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Dania Cinematografica

Lenzi and Milian do it again

Syndicate Sadists is yet another film based on Dashiel Hammett's novel Red Harvest which was adapted more famously by Akira Kurosawa in

Yojimbo and Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars, amongst many others, but it also has some other intriguing origins. Its star Tomas Milian while filming in the US, picked up a cheap novel at the airport by David Morrell entitled First Blood a tale of a special forces soldier by the name of John Rambo, Milian was intrigued by the character but wanted to stay away from violent sadistic roles he had become famous for in films like Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974). So together with Lenzi and Luciano Martino they agreed to blend both stories together in a modern crime drama. While the film has some resemblances to both films its different enough to stand alone as an interesting film. Milian is excellent as the odd, scruffy biker with a heart, that turns to violence to avenge the murder of his brother by one of a group of rival crime gangs, he was investigating. Milian decides to play both sides against each other, his unkempt image, floppy red hat and large goggles, perhaps luring the criminals into a false sense of security that costs them dearly in some increasingly violent confrontations. Not Milian or Lenzi's best but still very watchable. Joseph Cotten also puts in a turn as one of the crime bosses, in what surely must be THE most wooden performance by the man ever, at one point he actually looked like a Gerry Anderson puppet…no really! For once the Italian didn't steal an idea, they had Rambo first. Oh and watch out for an homage to Steve McQueen.[