This classic entry in the Italian crime thriller (or "polizia") genre is highlighted by the unforgettable pairing of director Umberto Lenzi and star Maurizio Merli, who combine to make this one of the very best Italo crime films you'll see. This is a perfectly-made movie, well-shot at all times and incredibly fast paced. In the first twenty minutes you'll see enough action to make three low budget made-for-TV thrillers and the pacing doesn't let up until the very end. Shoot-outs, hold-ups, fist-fights and car chases, they're all here and done in splendid style by a director who was at the very peak of his career before his star began to wane in the '80s. Anyone put off by plot complexities can relax because this, like many other Lenzi/Merli collaborations, is a relatively plot less movie that just features lots of random crimes, plot-threads and sub-plots linked together by Merli's ever angry Inspector Tanzi.Whilst the name of Maurizio Merli's character may change with each film he's in, you can rest easy knowing he'll play the same angry, on-the-edge, anti-criminal policeman each time whose hard-edged tactics cause him to inevitably fall out with his superiors. Merli is at his best here, dubbed with a typically hardman voice and perfectly believable as the dedicated, no-nonsense lawman, a character you can really cheer for. Once again Lenzi assembles a cast of familiar Italian faces like Stefano Patrizi, Luciano Catenacci and Luciano Pigozzi to play the various scum who are terrorising the streets of Rome. Plus there's Ivan Rassimov (THE RED BERETS) playing a really evil creep who keeps his pretty, unfortunate girlfriend hooked on heroin and Arthur Kennedy (KILLER COP) reprising his "angry man" routine as Merli's increasingly frustrated chief. Hats off to Giampiero Albertini as a sympathetic fellow cop, Caputo, and in particular Tomas Milian (FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP) who excels as the slimy villain, an unbelievable hunchback character who runs amok shooting innocent civilians in his bid for escape! This un-politically correct film definitely isn't for all tastes, especially with a near-the-knuckle rape sequence which pushes the boundaries of bad taste and is deeply unpleasant stuff to watch. Thankfully the rest of the violence is well-deserved and thus enjoyable, as we watch Merli beat up endless bad guys, smashing heads on pool tables, through pinball machines and roughing up countless bad guys. The action sequences are highlighted by a superb catchy and jazzy score (which kept me humming for days) and noisy engine revving and gunfire. The car chases are excitingly portrayed, especially a great scene involving an ambulance speeding through the city. Other moments to watch out for include the bank hold-up where the robbers go wild with machine guns and the hilarious, unforgettable sight of Milian's hunchback running amok in a crowd of pedestrians, gunning them down with his machine-gun! Dialogue is as snappy and rich as ever and my only minor complaint is with the ending, which is slightly abrupt but not as jarring as Lenzi's other polizia movies. I can't sing this movie's praises highly enough and recommend all Euro fans to track it down now, as it really is priceless stuff.One word of advice : ignore the hacked-up, edited US release of this movie and instead track down the harder to find European releases (I know of a Dutch release for instance). The result is worth it; not only will the picture be of a better quality, but you can watch the film as it was meant to be before an American tycoon got his grubby paws on it.
... View MoreThis is a dumb, but thoroughly enjoyable Italian police thriller from journey-man Italian director Umberto Lenzi. Maurizio Merli is not my favorite actor (he was kind of a cut-rate Franco Nero), but he's pretty entertaining here as an over-the-top vigilante cop who slaps around suspects, engages in dangerous high-speed chases, and has shoot-outs in busy downtown Rome. When five young punks rape a girl, he goes into their hangout BY HIMSELF and beats up ALL of them up before chasing down and eventually shooting one of them to death. Even when his superior (Arthur Kennedy) transfers him to the licenses unit, he won't stay out of the action. In one of the funnier scenes, he beats information out of a bartender, breaks into a suspect's apartment without a warrant, and chases him around the Rome rooftops (in a great cinematic scene), but after the whole thing goes awry, he blames his superiors for making him go "by the book" (if that's true I'd hate to see "the book").This movie has a great supporting cast. Besides Arthur Kennedy (who was in movies like "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" and "Rico, the Mean Machine"), the movie features Ivan Rassimov, perhaps somewhat wasted as a low-level thug who gives his girlfriend an overdose of heroin simply because she's a "pain in the ass". The best of all though, is the great Tomas Milian as a psychotic hunchback, who starts out as a sympatheic figure, but turns out to be a frightening heavy. In one scene Meri's detective slaps him around and makes him swallow a bullet, which he later he craps out and vows to shoot the detective in the face with face with it for revenge! The real weakness of this movie is the loose plotting. There's a lot of action set pieces, but the whole thing doesn't really hold together, especially whenever Milian is not on screen. The movie also could have used more women. Merli does have a pretty girlfriend (who the villains at one point threaten to put through a car compactor), but her role is pretty perfunctory.Still this is definitely a fun movie and I would recommend it.
... View More"Rome Armed to the Teeth" actually just confirmed something I already knew, but it was a more than welcome reminder. Umberto Lenzi was a genius (or better, IS a genius as he's still alive only no longer active for obvious reasons) and with this film he delivered another high-speed, adrenalin-rushing, mega-violent, hyper-brutal and ultra-demented Poliziottesco masterpiece! I admit I'm biased regarding the director and the genre, but this is unquestionably the most fun any movie can possibly offer. The plot is standard and the characters are stereotypical, but the action moves forward like a derailed train and something new & exciting happens approximately every one and a half minutes. And would you just look at that cast! The top of the contemporary Italian cult-industry is gathered here, including the impressively mustached Maurizio Merli, the naturally uncanny looking Ivan Rassimov and my personal favorite the multi versatile Tomas Milian in another formidably villainous role. Merli embodies everything the cinematic 70's copper stands for; reckless, stubborn, vengeful, disobedient towards his supervisors and, most of all, sick & tired of apprehending criminals only to see them terrorize the street again a couple of hours later. The first fifteen minutes or so perfectly illustrate how Commissioner Leo Tanzi struggles: his superiors are only concerned about the police's image in the media, his psychologist girlfriend disapproves his harsh methods and claims criminals should be helped instead of arrested and spoiled, self-confident thugs openly laugh in his face. And so Tanzi creates his very own one-man special brigade, with a little help and sympathy from his friends at the force. His main occupation is to exterminate an organized gang of armed bank robbers, led by the hunchback super criminal Il Gobbo, but in his spare time (which is often just when he drives from one crime scene to another) he makes a clean sweep of underage purse-snatchers, youthful serial rapists and drug-dealing pimps. "Rome Armed to the Teeth" guarantees 100% excitement, with plenty of wild car chases, shoot-first-ask-questions-later spectacle, and testosterone-packed dialogs. Franco Micalizzi's score is terrific, Frederico Zanni's camera-work is often dazzlingly fast and the gifted filmmaker he was Umberto Lenzi stuffs his film with ingenious little gimmicks and details, like the opening credits from a criminal's point of view, spotting potential heist targets. The actors are great. It is said that Maurizio Merli and Tomas Milian couldn't possibly get along in real life. This might have resulted in unpleasant days on the filming sets, but on the screen their 'vendetta' definitely assures an even more convincing good vs. bad chemistry. Magnificent film, highly recommended in case you can stomach a lot of brutal violence.
... View MoreIf you ask me, Umberto Lenzi is the king of Italian crime flicks; the director worked in a lot of different genres, and while he has certainly had a lot of success with Giallo and zombie flicks, it's clear after seeing films such as Free Hand for a Tough Cop and the pinnacle of the genre, Almost Human, that crime flicks are where he is at his best. And when you add the fabulous Tomas Milian into the mix, you're never likely to hit upon a bad example of the genre! While it's clear that The Tough Ones is not his best crime flick, it's certainly a very good one and I doubt many fans will be disappointed with it! The whole genre takes most of its influence from Don Siegel's classic Clint Eastwood flick, Dirty Harry, and this one takes more influence from that than most. There isn't really much of a plot; the film merely focuses on Maurizio Merli's disgruntled police officer, Commissioner Leonardo Tanzi. Tanzi is tired of crime and even more tired of the way that the police are bound by restrictions on how to deal with it, and when hunchbacked maniac Vincenzo Moretto starts throwing his weight around, Tanzi has to take the law into his own hands...The lack of plot is never really a problem in this film. Tanzi goes after a number of criminals and even if sometimes the plot doesn't get furthered by this endeavour, it's still great fun to watch. The Tough Ones is an extremely robust and action packed crime drama and plays to it's strengths at all times with a myriad of car chases, shootouts and fist fights; all of which is very enjoyable. Merli obviously took his inspiration from Clint Eastwood as the two performances share a lot in common, but the Italian actor makes the role his own and it never really seems like he's imitating Eastwood. The film also stars two other Italian luminaries in the form of Tomas Milian and Ivan Rassimov. Milian lights up the screen in all of his performances, and while he has done better work than what we see here and we don't get to see him enough; it's still another fine performance. Rassimov doesn't get a lot of screen time either, but any cast with Milian, Rassimov and Merli is unlikely to get a thumbs down from many cult film fans! Overall, this is a balls to the wall thrill a minute crime flick and should not be missed by fans of this genre!
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