aka Il Grande Racket
Maybe it's because I'm half Italian, but there is just something about the Italian style of filmmaking that appeals to me. They always seem ready to push the envelope of good taste and aren't afraid to be politically incorrect or smash taboos. There's also a dark grittiness to their films--especially the ones from the 70's and early 80's. I can't say I'm a big of a fan of some of most “artsy” Italian films--when I want artsy I usually go with the French, but for a good time I go with the Italians. I think it has something to do with living under the shadow of the Vatican, and the ultimate rebellious nature that having religious pundits trying to control you inspires. Maybe it’s just that Italians can appreciate a sleazy good time--who knows? But I for one love Italian exploitation, in all of its forms. One of my favorite Italian genres are "polizioettesci" or crime-driven thrillers, and THE BIG RACKET is certainly one of the genre's best offerings.
THE BIG RACKET or Il Grande Racket is my favorite of Enzo G. Castellari’s films and my favorite poliziotteschi flick. A fantastic Italian director, Castellari--unlike some other famous Italian horror/giallo directors of his era, he specialized in action films. Crime thrillers (COLD EYES OF FEAR, HIGH CRIME, THE HEROIN BUSTERS, this film), war movies (THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS), westerns (KEOMA, ANY GUN CAN PLAY), and even post-apocalyptic science fiction films (THE NEW BARBARIANS, ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX) can all be found in his magnificent filmography. Sam Peckinpah has always been a big influence for Castellari. Peckinpah, like Castellari, was an innovator of non-horror movie violence and made some damn entertaining movies. Like Peckinpah, Castellari paints a canvas with beautiful splashes of violence that not many other directors have the nerve to try, or the talent to pull it off.
The film stars, Italian screen hunk, Fabio Testi (CONTRABAND, REVOLVER), as Inspector Nico Palmieri, a take no shit cop in the vein of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry. The story revolves around a gang of thugs that have taken control of all the local businesses with a racketeering scheme, i.e. black mail. The gang offers protection for money, when what they really mean is "pay us, and we won't fuck up your business". The inept police force of the town can't do jack shit about it, and the Inspector Palmieri decides to take it upon himself to put an end to the gang, before their power gets so great they are running the whole country. Alone, Palmieri is no match for the thugs, and he eventually has to stop the gang by any means necessary, which means resorting to non-legal actions.
Soon, Palmieri is taken off the case, but continues the investigation on his own. He starts to work with a petty thief, Zio Pepe (played by Vincent Gardenia) and Pepe's hotheaded nephew. Pepe and his nephew join the gang, and become Palmieri's inside men. Things soon go wrong, and Palmieri ends up getting fired for his involvement with Pepe. Meanwhile the gang wreck havoc on the town, and they are definitely some bad motherfuckers. They rape a restaurant owner's teenage daughter (she kills herself after), they turn a club owner into a cripple, and they get Pepe's nephew killed in a riot. During a shootout with the cops, an Olympic skeet shooter (Orso Maria Guerrini), helps out and takes out some members of the gang, and that really pisses them off. The gang end up raping and kill the his wife as payback.
Up until this point the film's story is captivating, yet I was wondering--so how the hell is this going to end? What happens next made me remember why I love these kind of fucking movies. Palmieri gathers up all the men who's lives have been destroyed by the gang, the Olympic skeet shooter, the club owner, the restaurant owner, and even ol’ Pepe--the latter of the two men, he has to break out of prison. Also tagging along is a guy that the gang of thugs muscled out months before. All these men want revenge, and crave blood, which all leads to an absolute badass conclusion--spaghetti western style; all guns blazing!
I love revenge movies! It's very rare that we can act out revenge in our own lives, and seeing it acted out in movies is a kind of a release. The fact that the bad guys are so damn evil just makes the revenge so much sweeter. One of the gang members is even a woman (Marcella Michelangeli), and the film evokes no sympathy for her because she's female--in fact she's every bit as evil as the men in the gang.
The cast is absolutely superb in every sense. I've seen Fabio Testi in a few other films, but he shines here; as badass as they come (much more so than his character in THE HEROIN BUSTERS with the fruity sense of fashion). Gardenia is good as Pepe; the comic relief. Joshua Sinclair (a Castellari regular) plays the leader of the thugs and is great at looking smug; you'll want to punch him right in the face. The same can be said about Antonio Marsina, who plays the gang's attorney.
The cinematography is beautifully shot, which is to be expected for Castellari film, but it's extra good here. There is a scene where Palmieri's car gets flipped over and rolls down a hill--with him in it. The camera stays locked on Fabio Testi's face, and we experience the ordeal along with him as glass flies everywhere, and the car rolls and rolls and rolls. It probably has to been seen to fully appreciate it, but it's so damn cool!
Above all, what really sold the film to me was the ass kicking, and over the top score by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis. The theme song is without a doubt one of my all time favorites, not just from a poliziotteschi film, but from a movie period—it fucking rocks! It's a mixture of jazz-fusion, funk, and rock, with conga drums, spastic sax, and a mean fuzz toned guitar lead—it is pure 70’s sleazy brilliance! Its perfection only brings the film to a higher level. The De Angelis brothers should be no strangers to fans of these kind of films. While they contributed scores to a lot of different genres, there music for Eurocrime films are by far some of their best (excluding their excellent theme for the sc-fi/fantasy romp, YOR)
