EUROCRIME
I RAGAZZI DELLA ROMA VIOLENTA (1976)-In Italian with English subtitles for the first time! Based on a true shocking story about a gang of rich boys who kidnap a girl and submit her to repeated rape and torture. The leader of the gang indulges in violent sexual fantasies, which ultimately leads to rape and murder. This inspires a teen gang from the streets, whose members are poor kids from the ghetto. They are doomed to repeat the same crimes.
LIKE A RABID DOG-english subs 1977 italo crime directed by Mario (MY WIFE HAS A BODY FOR LOVE) Imperoli film with Paola Senatore. Young rich but bored kids decide to go on a violent robbery spree, killing all who get in their way. These people are like Hess and company in LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT! They kidnap, torture and kill a prostitute just for the Hell of it and the sickest part is the lead sadist is a oung woman. Great obscure Eurotrash that must be seen.
I’M SCARED (1977)-In Italian with English subtitles, letterboxed print. An excellent Italian crime film by Damiano Damiani, starring Gian Maria Volonte, Erland Josephson, Mario Adorf, Bruno Corazzani, and Laura Trotter. Gian Maria Volonte' gives one of his best performances, playing the scared policeman who unwillingly becomes aware of secrets which he knows might lead him to his death. Morricone's score is as usual perfect. Damiano Damiani’s direction is secure as the movie never drops its rhythm and the ending is tough, but it fits.
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TWISTED DETECTIVE (1977)-Letterboxed print. The film stars Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Klaus Kinski, Stephane Audran, and Mirelle Darc, directed by Georges Lautner. The film begins with, well, the death - or more accurately the murder - of a corrupt man. Only this corrupt man was keeping a detailed journal of his illegal activities and transactions, implicating a lot of the top politicians of Paris. The killer steals the journal and comes to the house of his best friend and president of a company (Alain Delon), in the middle of the night, asking for help. Delon agrees to provide him with an alibi, but there are plenty of people who will be ruined if the journal falls into the wrong hands, and they will stop at NOTHING to get it back.
Malavita attaca…poliza risponde (1978)-In Italian with english subs ltbx,Mario Caiano crime film first time in English! Leonard Mann, John Steiner, and Maria Rosario Omaggio. Balls to the wall italo-crime film with Mann hunting down Steiner, the mad dog thug on a killing spree.
CRAZY KILLER (1991)- An amazingly bad french film, starring Charley Boorman, son of John... But this ain't THE EMERALD FOREST, guys! The people behind this are the same people behind LA REVANCHE DES MORTES VIVANTES only this time Pierre B.Reinhard is only editor and Jean Claude Roy directs the flick himself. You still got gore FX ( not enough ) from Benoit Lestang too. The plot, about a small time hustler turning into a crazy killer shooting snuff movies and messing with the Corean Mafia, is quite appealing if you're a trash movie lover. Unfortunately, on this one, J.C Roy forgot that he was not such a good director and focused too much on boring talks instead of delivering the goodies. Don't get me wrong, you got plenty of T & A in this flick ( that's the least you can expect when all the actresses are strippers ) and even a few sickening scenes ( especially the acid torture scene).
DAY OF THE COBRA (1980)-Letterboxed for the first time! Franco Nero and Sybil Danning star in this Enzo Castellari crime film. An American narcotics agent is murdered in Italy. The head of the department decides to hire Larry Stanziani, 'The Cobra'. Larry, a former agent and now a third-rate private detective, uses the opportunity to get even with an old enemy, but soon he finds out he's facing a relentless organization.
SICILIAN CHECKMATE (1972)-Letterboxed print. Finally a beautiful print of this underrated Italian crime film! This version is 12 minutes longer than previous versions. Mario Adorf, Enrico Maria salerno, Gastone Moschin, Mariangela Melato, and Silvia Dionisio. Taking place almost entirely during a murder trial, the film details in significant detail the deep roots sunk by organized crime in the business and political life of Sicily. There are a few flashbacks which include what little 'action' the film includes, but the vast majority of the film is a lengthy, but interesting, indictment of mafia corruption.
BLOODY FRIDAY (1972)-Letterboxed print. Once again I can say, FINALLY A BEAUTIFUL LOOKING PRINT of this rare German/Italian crime film with a great score by Francesco De Masi. An extremely violent German-Italian police thriller. When psychotic criminal Heinz Klett (Raimund Harmstorf) escapes police custody, he promptly sets out to commit the biggest bank robbery in the history of Germany. Storming heavily armed into the bank with his accomplice Luigi (]Gianni Macchia), his pregnant girlfriend Heidi (Christine Böhm) and her reluctant brother (Amadeus August), the hold-up quickly deteriorates into a hostage situation, resulting in horrendous bloodshed.
L’ARME A GAUCHE (1964)-In French with English subs. Lino Ventura, Sylva Koscina, and Leo Gordon star in this French gangster film directed by Claude Sautet. The plot is a flimsy affair. Cournot/Ventura finds himself implicated in the theft of a yacht belonging to a beautiful widow. Eventually the yacht is found, stranded on a sand bank, and hijacked by gunrunners. The last forty minutes is a suspenseful, virtually mano-a-mano between Ventura and the head-honcho of the gun runners.
ROME THE OTHER FACE OF VIOLENCE (1976)-In Italian with English subs, letterboxed print. This is one of the last great Italian crime films to finally appear with English subs. Classic but seldom seen Euro Crime gem from Marino Girolami (Violent Rome, Zombie Holocaust). This one has it all - pensioners being thrown down stairs, women getting pistol whipped, great car chases and funky score. Stars Marcel Bozzuffi (French Connection, Stunt Squad etc) and Italian genre regular Antony Steffen.
COMMISARIO PEPE (1969)-In Italian with English subs, letterboxed print. Awesome film starring Ugo Tognazzi, Silvia Dionisio, Tano Cimarosa, and Rita Calderoni. A police commissioner in a little town in the Italian Venetian province investigates a prostitution ring run by two pensioners; during his investigations he also learns that a former manicurist shacks up with ten students, the prefect's daughter prostitutes to keep her pimp, a famous doctor has sex with his young patients, a headmaster has his eyes on the pupils, a noblewoman organizes orgies in her villa, the local convent is run by a dyke and his actual girlfriend poses for a hardcore magazine. He wants everything to come out in the open but his superiors try to put obstacles in his way.
SARDINA KIDNAPPED (1968)-Letterboxed print. Franco Nero and Charlotte rampling star in this excellent example of Italian Crime. Struggles over Sardinian grazing land have long been a tradition in the interior of the island where shepherding is a main economic force. This violent tale of kidnapping, extortion and murder finds a family victimized by the abduction of their college-student son. The student's girlfriend runs into a stone wall of silence from the residents before she finally goes to the police. When property rights are signed over to the mastermind of the abduction, he orders himself to be kidnapped to collect on the insurance and property monies. A friend of the family uncovers the real estate scheme linked to the crime, as the family tries to get enough money to see their son returned safely.
SERIE NOIRE (1979)-In French with English subs, widescreen print. Franck Poupart is a slightly neurotic door-to-door salesman in a sinister part of Paris' suburbs. He meets Mona, a teenager, who's been made a prostitute by her own aunt. Franck would like to change his life and also save Mona from her aunt. Murder is the only solution he finds to achieve his goal... A very gloomy movie, exuding despair and uneasiness, with pathetic characters. Patrick Dewaere stars as the murderous Travis Bickle type character. Directed by : Alain Corneau. Starring : Patrick Dewaere, Myriam Boyer, Marie Trintignant, Bernard Blier, Jeanne Herviale, Andreas Katsulas, Charlie Farnel, Samuel Mek, Jack Jourdan, Fernand Coquet.
CRIME ON A SUNDAY MORNING (1965)-In French with English subs, letterboxed print. Jean-Paul Belmondo stars and Jaques Deray directs this excellent French thriller. An ill-assorted group of international criminals executes a tightly-planned ransom sting in Spain. Things go along swimmingly until various tensions within the group come to the fore. A somewhat predictable, but enjoyable crime melodrama, enhanced by a cool soundtrack, a sustained atmosphere of sunlit unease and a touch of incest. Geraldine Chaplin's film debut in which she gives the insanely sexy Sophie Daumier a run for her money. Based on a novel by James Hadley Chase.
DEATH OF A HOODLUM (1975)-In Spanish with English subs. Paul Naschy plays Marcos, a criminal who takes refuge in a house peopled by a wheelchair-bound, impotent man and his horny wife and daughter. Before long Marcos is pitting one family member against the other as he pleasures himself with the females. Marcos' immorality is caused by his own family tragedy, the murder of his mother by his father, which he witnessed when a child. He is a man who out of psychological necessity must debase the family unit and rage at anyone who says a bad word about his deceased mom. Marcos also lost his hearing during this traumatic incident in his childhood (the father hits him in the head before he does the deed), so besides the emotional scars left on Marcos, there is a physical one. Thus Naschy creates a novel villain who carries a framed photo of mom in his suitcase and wears a hearing device in his ear.
NIGHT OF HATE (1968)-Obscure crime film shot in San Antonio Texas! A Retired safecracker agrees one last Job to protect his son (Tomas Milan) , Filled with Double cross , Excitement and Knife Fights in the Dark Anita Ekberg, Claudio Camasso and Fernando Sancho star.
BATTLE OF THE GODFATHERS (1973)-Beautiful, Letterboxed print. Henry Silva stars in this badass example of EuroCrime. An Italian/German co-production starring Henry Silva as mafia hot shot Luca Messina who comes to Hamburg with the main intention of taking it over. However, the local German crime lord isn't particularly down with Mr Messina's plan and a bloody gang war ensues.Patrizia Gori co-stars.
CASE IS CLOSED…(1971)-In Italian with English subs, letterboxed print. Damiano Damiani directs, and Franco nero stars in this excellent Prison film (also a bizarre score by Morricone). Because of a violation of traffic regulations an architect is put in prison. There he witnesses the grim reality of life behind bars: corrupt staff, corrupt inmates, an inhuman judicial system and the power of the Mafia.
LES HOMMES (1973)-In French with English subs, beautiful letterboxed print. A hell of a French gangster film with henry Silva, Marcel Bofuzzi, and Michel Constatine. The movie is about a succession of settling of scores and the revenge of a mobster who think he has been framed. It's set in the 1950's in Corsica, Marseilles and Paris and it's based on real events. France was producing a lot of crime films back in this time and this one is one of the few that really resembles more to some poliziotteschi flick than to the regular french film noir. The Corsican setting, with a culture and a local language seemingly pretty closed to italian ones maybe explains that.
MURDER INVESTIGATION OF A STUDENT (1972)-In Italian with English subs, letterboxed print. One of the greatest things about this movie is Ennio Morricone's soundtrack ,as gorgeous as ever. Martin Balsalm investigates a murder that points to a student rebel. Balsalm discovers he’s being used and set up to get rid of a politician’s enemies. He gives a great performance as a nobody who refuses to be manipulated by the system. Directed by Mauro Bolognini.
THE SUSPECTS (1974)-In French with English subs, letterboxed print. Candice Strasberg, a young American tourist, is found dead in the south of France. The possible culprits are many and the police investigates to discover what she's done during the five weeks she spent in France before to be murdered. Great French thriller starring Mimsy Farmer, Michel Bouguet, Michel Lonsdale, and Bruno Cremer.
AND HOPE TO DIE (1972)-In French with English subs, letterboxed and UNCUT at 135 minutes for the first time! Robert Ryan, jean-Louis Trintignant, Aldo Ray and Lea Massari star in this Rene Clement crime film. In this decidedly offbeat and rather arty crime drama, a French fugitive heads for Canada and ends up joining a gang of desperate criminals who have been plotting to kidnap a crimelord's retarded daughter. Things go well until she accidentally dies. Despite the unfortunate turn of events, the crooks decide to keep on as if things were fine. The English language version was retitled to And Hope To Die and cut to 95 minutes.