Director: Vittorio Salerno
Year: 1975
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Fango bollente
Genre: Action (Politziotteschi)
Plot:
Working day-to-day in a variety of jobs, a group of friends are soon incredibly bored and figure that embracing a life of crime is a suitable practice. Following a slew of such incidents, they draw the attention of a dogged inspector who tries to bring them to justice but their growing distaste for petty crimes and desire to move up in the criminal underworld soon turns their hijinks into more violent endeavors. More determined than ever, he tries whatever tactic he can think of to stop their reign of terror in the city and bring them to justice.
Review:
This was a fairly unconventional but still rewarding genre effort. One of the film’s more unusual stances, which could very easily turn this into a negative for some, was the shift in focus away from the investigating officer into more of a showcase for their lives instead. Getting to see their own lives and individual stories for the most part. Seeing the leader working at a science lab determining special formulas and diagnosis from rats, while his friends tend to be high-strung due to a constantly tumultuous series of incidents involving their living situations, seeing how everything comes to head and causing them to blow by starting football riots, murdering innocent civilians on city streets and much more throughout here. The fact that it’s unknown when they will explode or how into these random acts of violence that are terrorizing the city and bringing the authorities to utter befuddlement at being unable to determine the cause of it brings about a rather enjoyable atmosphere with their antics on display.
Likewise, equally fun is the inherent social commentary on display that’s beaten over the head of the audience from the very beginning. Shown how the rats at the computer lab interact with each other when the separation falls and the walls are no longer controlling them, that one will always break free and begin to attack and fight with others causing total chaos to erupt serves as a stringent commentary on their own individual lives. Structured into a rigorous and unyielding social order that requires people to blindly follow the rule from above and control their own impulses is entirely impossible, that the only possible outcome of his format is violent, hedonistic behavior becomes quite apparent if not forgiven. Taking strides to ensure their anarchy and disruption is not to the betterment of society but instead dragging it down, the implication here is more on justifying their actions showing why they’re out and about in such a manner.
While all this serves the film well, it falls short slightly when viewed in the context of the genre. A factor that some might not even consider or approach on their own when watching, the fact that there’s a turn away from the high-energy thrills of the genre might be a drawback for some. Rather than focus on high-speed car chases, stunts, or shootouts, the film brings about more of a restrained, quiet approach that ramps up around their outbursts but has nothing else to really deliver that kind of content. The lack of investigation here with only a few scant scenes of the inspector out doing his job and being followed up almost immediately by sequences showing him being dressed down by his superiors doesn’t generate the kind of high-energy action that’s usually associated with these films. Again, this might not even be a considering factor for those going into the film who won’t notice or care about the unconventional approach taken here but it’s still entirely possible for some looking for more traditional genre thrills to find fault with the film on this point.
Overview: ****/5
A highly impressive and enjoyable genre effort that seems to fall only under the auspices of not being a traditional genre film at all, this is quite a confusing entry with the non-traditional approach potentially upsetting the die-hards but still generating a fun film in its regards. Those who are curious about the different approach this takes, genre die-hards unimpressed with the change in style, or just general Eurocult fanatics will find a lot to like here while only those who are more traditionalists will have some fault with this.
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