Busting Crime

It was quite by accident that I came across:

Crimebusters aka. Poliziotti Violenti (1976).

I wasn't looking for a poliziotteschi movie, but it popped up and I said why not?

Directed by Michele Massimo Tarantini and starring Henry Silva and Antonio Sabato, Crimebusters is not one of the greats in the poliziotteschi genre, but it is compelling to watch.

Some spoilers ahead.

Henry Silva who I have mentioned many times, plays Paratrooper Major Paolo Altieri, an officer, a gentleman and a moral professional. He gets promoted and moved to Rome, where he runs straight into one dangerous situation after another. He foils a kidnapping which earns him the enmity of some very dangerous people who have him beaten up. The beating is overseen by a mid level thug who can't get through a single scene in the entire movie without stuffing himself with chocolate. (He is even listed on IMDB as Man Eating Chocolate). In hospital, Major Altieri meets Inspector Tosi (Sabato) and they don't hit it off. They do however keep running into each other, especially during a shootout between the cops and some thugs with submachine guns. Guns, the Major knows should only be in the hands of his old paratrooper regiment. The Major and the Inspector join up to uncover the clear corruption that goes on.

I should warn you that there is a pretty rough scene where two thugs assault Altieri's girlfriend to get to him. 

A few fights, some chases, a hand grenade or two and things finally escalate to a violent and abrupt end.

All in all, the story in Crimebusters is very good, but the movie is let down by some questionable directing decisions. Example: the car and bike chases are very good, but the camera keeps zooming in on the spinning wheels, breaking the momentum of the chase itself. It ruins the flow and is, ultimately, pointless.

The acting is standard fare for a poliziotteschi, so no real complaints and as I said, the story is actually pretty damn good. The movie does a great job in showing the thugs for what they are; vicious, sadistic jackals that delight in violence but run desperately away as soon as the police arrives. There is no glamour here, nothing admirable, just savagery and cowardice. Our heroes could stand to be a tad smarter, but you can't get everything.

Beyond the somewhat questionable direction (and to be fair, it was the directors fourth movie), I disliked that the ending was as abrupt as it was and that so many bad guys just got away. I'd liked to have seen them get some comeuppance. Likewise, the plot itself is only half way solved. It's not that we don't know what is going on, but that the movie isn't long enough to get everything done. Maybe they ran low on money or time or they just got sloppy, I don't know. What I do know is that it was too much for a 94 minute film. I have suggested before with other movies that the story would need a short TV series to really get things done, and Crimebusters is absolutely such a movie.

So, do I recommend it? To poliziotteschi fans, and fans of 70's crime movies, yes. Just be aware that it is flawed. To others? No, skip it and watch one of the better poliziotteschi like Caliber 9, Goodbye and Amen or The Boss.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!