If you start watching Poliziotteschi from the 1970s, or Eurocrime movies where they attempt to go further than Dirty Harry and Death Wish, there’s always going to be some heinous shit in there in terms of the violence and sleaziness. The Big Racket (1976; Il Grande Racket) has that and more, but it is one of the best examples I’ve seen of the genre for its sustained scumminess and its excellent climax. Fabio Testi is the tall and handsome supercop who exhausts every legal method of trying to break up an extortion and racketeering ring run by a corporate creep and his gang of hatable thugs. The twist is that when Testi finally goes rouge vigilante, he assembles a team of violent crooks and traumatised victims seeking revenge, which turns things into a suicidal mission movie (shades of WW2 flicks like The Dirty Dozen). Includes a great shot of Testi bouncing around in a car pushed off a hill, a moment when Testi uses the cast on his broken arm to beat up a crim, Death Wish’s Vincent Gardenia as the one recognisable American actor livening things up as a gentleman thief, Peckinpah inspired slow-motion death scenes, and a thumping prog-rock score by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis. Directed by Enzo G. Castellari of 1990: The Bronx Warriors and Keoma fame. Watched a copy on YouTube. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 