Poliziotteschi
Featuring nine hard-hitting, white hot lead-filled, pedal-to-the-metal movies straight out of a 70s Italy that was bitterly and dangerously divided along political and social lines, all of the films in the Poliziotteschi collection offer a fascinating insight into a highly specific time and place where corruption and class informed the filmmakers' choices in these often morally dubious action-packed thrillers.
Brutal criminals and super-cool cops collide in knuckle-breaking car chases featuring gorgeous retro automobiles flung through traffic at insanely dangerous speeds, and gritty violence doled out by anything from a Colt .38 to a fork lift truck! Featuring the work of extremely brave stunt men literally risking it all for some truly death-defying moments, in these Italian crime thrillers, or crimi, you hold on tight and you take justice any way you can get it.
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Savage Three
1975 • Italy • Directed by Vittorio Salerno
By day, Ovidio (Joe Dallesandro, The Climber) and his two friends work at a data center. After work, they blow off steam by committing random acts of savage violence, swiftly graduating from sparking a riot at a football game to vehicle theft, rape and...
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The Big Racket
1976 • Italy • Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Over a long and wide-ranging career, director Enzo G. Castellari (Keoma, The Inglorious Bastards) helmed some of the most infamous of all the poliziotteschi – the gritty, action-packed crime films that proliferated in Italy throughout the 70s. In 19...
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Highway Racer
1977 • Italy • Directed by Stelvio Massi
Devil-may-care driving ace Marco Palma (Maurizio Merli, Violent City) of the Rome police’s Mobile Squad has a reputation for risk-taking – making him the perfect candidate for an undercover op to take down “Il Nizzardo” (Angelo Infanti, The Godfather), a ...
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Shoot First, Die Later
1974 • Italy • Directed by Fernando Di Leo
Luc Merenda is a highly regarded police detective who is taking syndicate money in exchange for departmental favours. His father, a simple man, also works for the department, but on a lower rung. A series of events leads the young detective to ask his f...
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Kidnap Syndicate
1975 • Italy • Directed by Fernando Di Leo
After his son is kidnapped, a millionaire industrialist seeks revenge, in spite of the potential danger that his rash actions will bring about for his child and another kidnapped boy, the son of a poor mechanic.
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Colt 38 Special Squad
1976 • Italy • Directed by Massimo Dallamano
The city of Turin is in the grip of a brutal crime boss known as “the Marseillaise” (Ivan Rassimov, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key), and plenty of cops have good reason to want him dead – none more than Inspector Vanni (Marcel Boz...
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Naked Violence
1969 • Italy • Directed by Fernando Di Leo
In the night school of Andrea and Maria, a group of eleven boys, mostly small street criminals in their teens, brutally murder their female teacher Matilde. The police begins to investigate the murder, but finds no clear evidence or sufficient informati...
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The Heroin Busters
1977 • Italy • Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Over a long and wide-ranging career, director Enzo G. Castellari (Keoma, The Inglorious Bastards) helmed some of the most infamous of all the poliziotteschi - the gritty, action-packed crime films that proliferated in Italy throughout the 70s. In 19...
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Like Rabid Dogs
1976 • Italy • Directed by Mario Imperoli
Three wealthy youths – ringleader Tony (Cesare Barro, Violence for Kicks) and his friends Rico (Luis La Torre, Evil Eye) and Silvia (Annarita Grapputo, Magnum Cop) – get their kicks from committing a series of random thefts and murders. Commissario Muzi ...
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Rulers of the City
1977 • Italy • Directed by Fernando Di Leo
HE'S THE GODFATHER OF DEATH AND HES GIVING OUT FREE SAMPLES
Tony, a mob loan collector, is dissatisfied with his station in life. After meeting up with Napoli, another mob enforcer who’s just been fired from his job, the two hatch a plan to rip off Mis...
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The Italian Connection
1972 • Italy • Directed by Fernando Di Leo
The second film in Fernando Di Leo's Milieu Trilogy focuses on Luca Carnali, a mobster who has been set up by his gangland boss. When a shipment of heroin disappears between Italy and New York, Carnali is framed for the theft.
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No, The Case Is Happily Resolved
1973 • Italy • Directed by Vittorio Salerno
While out fishing at a tranquil lakeside one peaceful afternoon, Fabio Santamaria (Enzo Cerusico, Blood and Black Lace) inadvertently witnesses the brutal murder of a young woman. Terrified that he too will be targeted by the maniac, Fabio resolves to ...
