Aspen Orson
There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
Phillipa
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
ghoule-582-207091
"Roma a mano armata" aka "Assault with a Deadly Weapon" might have been done for two reasons : 1. Pure shock value, the producers hoping to bring in more cash.and / or 2. Propaganda in favour of giving law enforcement "carte blanche" to use and abuse brute force.*** Tanzi, the main cop - described as a magnet attracting trouble midway during the movie -, just has to be somewhere for crime to happen.Exchanging his "you bore me" look for his grinding teeth "I joined the force to catch criminals" face, he jumps into action to punch and kick his new found enemies.Wait a minute... did he really say that he "joined the force to catch criminals"? That is exactly the film's problem : police officers are not working to ensure social peace, but to catch criminals.The script even uses Tanzi's wife - whom he does not really seem to care for - to (in a very poorly done manner) attack social practises giving small criminals a chance to repent and become honest law-abiding citizens.Wave after wave, evil-doers cross Tanzi's path, "proving" the cop's approach that only violence can resolve violence. Thus, the movie spirals downwards into ceaseless gunfire, knifing, raping, stealing, shooting a machine gun in a crowd for no reason at all and etcetera.Did I say that there is no real story, apart from a few of the criminals Tanzi has hard time to catch throughout the movie? Yes, police force is necessary. But a movie which tries to implant the idea that it needs to become more violent is pure propaganda. Given proper care, most people are peaceful.We need more Gandhi, and less Tanzi.
Witchfinder General 666
Director Umberto Lenzi is widely known for his raw and uncompromising films of a variety of genres, his doubtlessly most famous films being his gory and gruesome Cannibal flicks "Cannibal Ferox" (1981) and "Mangiati Vivi" (1980). These are flicks one is not likely to forget, of course, but, as far as I am concerned, Lenzi's most memorable and brilliant achievements are his tough-minded and ultra-violent Poliziotteschi, such as "Milano Odia, la polizia non pùo sparare" (aka. "Almost Human", 1974) or this "Roma A Mano Armata" (aka. "Rome Armed To The Teeth"/"Brutal Justice") of 1976. "Rome Armed To The Teeth" is an action-packed fast-paced, brutal and breathtaking crime flick like it could only be made in Bella Italia, and a perfect proof for what gifted a director Lenzi was.Even more than the foregoing "Milano Odia...", this delivers the absolute opposite of political correctness. Commissario Leonardo Tanzi (Maurizio Merli) is a super-tough and relentless cop with a mustache, whose unorthodox methods make Dirty Harry look like a peace-loving social worker. Respectless towards his (hypocritical) superiors and without any form of sympathy for offenders, Tanzi hates criminals as much as he hates crime, and he has no scruples to beat information out of suspects and bend the law whenever it is necessary to do the right thing. Tanzi is super-tough and the role seems as if it was written for Maurizio Merli. The great Tomas Milian (one of my personal all-time favorite actors) plays 'Il Gobbo', a hunchbacked and psychotic gangster. Milian is excellent in any role I see him play, and this particular role of the malicious and sadistic criminal fits him like a glove. Apart from Merli and Milian, who are both excellent in their roles, the cast includes a bunch of other regulars of Italian genre-cinema, such as Giampiero Albertini, who plays a cop, Luciano Catenacci, and, most prominently, Ivan Rassimov as a sleazy drug dealer. The film contains a vast amount of sleaze and brutality, and is definitely not for those who are very sensitive when it comes to violence. For my fellow lovers of Italian genre-cinema from the 70s, however, this is an absolute priority. The score by Franco Micalizzi is absolutely brilliant, the cinematography is excellent, and the film is tantalizing from the beginning to the end. Tough-minded and gripping throughout, "Roma A Mano Armata" is an ultra-violent and wonderfully politically incorrect Poliziottesco that no lover of Italian-genre cinema can afford to miss. In short: Brutal, brilliant, and an absolute must-see for all fans of Italian Crime cinema!
The_Void
If you ask me, Umberto Lenzi is the king of Italian crime flicks; the director worked in a lot of different genres, and while he has certainly had a lot of success with Giallo and zombie flicks, it's clear after seeing films such as Free Hand for a Tough Cop and the pinnacle of the genre, Almost Human, that crime flicks are where he is at his best. And when you add the fabulous Tomas Milian into the mix, you're never likely to hit upon a bad example of the genre! While it's clear that The Tough Ones is not his best crime flick, it's certainly a very good one and I doubt many fans will be disappointed with it! The whole genre takes most of its influence from Don Siegel's classic Clint Eastwood flick, Dirty Harry, and this one takes more influence from that than most. There isn't really much of a plot; the film merely focuses on Maurizio Merli's disgruntled police officer, Commissioner Leonardo Tanzi. Tanzi is tired of crime and even more tired of the way that the police are bound by restrictions on how to deal with it, and when hunchbacked maniac Vincenzo Moretto starts throwing his weight around, Tanzi has to take the law into his own hands...The lack of plot is never really a problem in this film. Tanzi goes after a number of criminals and even if sometimes the plot doesn't get furthered by this endeavour, it's still great fun to watch. The Tough Ones is an extremely robust and action packed crime drama and plays to it's strengths at all times with a myriad of car chases, shootouts and fist fights; all of which is very enjoyable. Merli obviously took his inspiration from Clint Eastwood as the two performances share a lot in common, but the Italian actor makes the role his own and it never really seems like he's imitating Eastwood. The film also stars two other Italian luminaries in the form of Tomas Milian and Ivan Rassimov. Milian lights up the screen in all of his performances, and while he has done better work than what we see here and we don't get to see him enough; it's still another fine performance. Rassimov doesn't get a lot of screen time either, but any cast with Milian, Rassimov and Merli is unlikely to get a thumbs down from many cult film fans! Overall, this is a balls to the wall thrill a minute crime flick and should not be missed by fans of this genre!
chrisdfilm
I don't know how the uncut Italian version runs, but the American version released by Aquarius under the ASSAULT W/A DEADLY WEAPON title is probably one of the most fastmoving, violently over-the-top Euro crime movies you'll ever see. The closest thing I could compare it to would be Kinji Fukasaku's early 1970s yakuza movies like BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR & HUMANITY series(aka THE YAKUZA PAPERS) with Bunta Sugawara or Kosaku Yamashita's TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE YAMAGUCHI GANG (released here in fastmoving but severely edited form as THE TATTOOED HITMAN). Although not as well written as its Japanese counterparts, Dardanco Sacchetti's screenplay is suitably deranged with Maurizio Merli portraying an apoplectic, hot tempered cop who makes Dirty Harry seem like a flower child. Super charismatic Tomas Milian is stupendous as the wisecracking hunchback psycho villain who occasionally likes to gratuitously machine gun innocent bystanders. My only problem with the English voice dubbing is that they didn't have Milian, who speaks English and dubbed many of his films himself, do his own voice. The guy who does it isn't terrible but it would have definitely added another aura of dementia with Milian's own vocal performance. Also unfortunately whomever the fast buck artists were who released the film here to USA grindhouses back in the 1970s created a completely fictitious credit list for the titles where Merli, Milian and even American movie veteran Arthur Kennedy receive no screen billing whatsoever. A crime! Likewise the adrenaline pumping, nerve pounding score by Franco Micalizzi and Umberto Lenzi's expert direction (this is the best film I've seen by Lenzi by the way) are credited to imaginary persons. Although it has a completely predictable cliche-ridden story, the treatment is fresh, the dialogue memorable (and often hilarious) and the ultra violence and degenerate depravity continous. Strangely satisfying and watchable as only the best of grindhouse cinema can be. As one of the other reviewers asked, where's the DVD release!?
