I think I will omit Naples from any planned world
tour. Kiev, sure. Somalia, why not. But no way am I going to Naples. Pickpocketing,
mugging, rape, burning people alive, bank robberies, murder are like the
common cold. Director Umberto Lenzi works under the belief that if five minutes
goes by without something of a criminal violent nature taking place, the
audience will get bored and leave. It is a constant stream of action thrown
like acid into our face.
From literally the moment Commissioner Betti is transferred to Naples (after
his Violent Rome), he is banging heads and taking prisoners. No crime is
too small or too big for him to ignore. It is one beat down after another
and Lenzi provides some lovely exclamation marks. Lenzi was one of the great
genre directors which Italians seemed to specialize in. Whatever was the
trend of the day Lenzi was there - Adventure to Peplum to Euro-Spy to Giallo
to Crime to Cannibals. A Man of All Genres.
Betti is portrayed by Maurizio Merli in the second of the Commissioner Betti
Trilogy, A Special Cop in Action being the third. He is a Dirty Harry styled
cop happy to break the rules and leave bodies beaten and dead littering the
city. His superiors of course tsk tsk tsk but realize they need someone willing
to break heads. There are many smaller crimes but the main baddie is played
by Barry Sullivan who runs a protection racket among other sidelines. He
is doing a deal with John Saxon that goes bad. A few great bits. Two scenes
of a motorcycle screaming through the busy traffic wonderfully filmed at
street level or a head on a spike or most gruesome a woman on a train having
her head smashed against a passing train. Not to forget someone's head being
used as a bowling pin. A terrific Poliziotteschi with enough energy and violence
to satisfy most fans of the genre.
