Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Leofwine_draca Another superior slice of Italian crime, once again teaming director Enzo G. Castellari and star Franco Nero to good effect after their successful previous collaboration on HIGH CRIME. REVENGE is a straightforward tale of violent thugs, an insufficient police force, and one just man out for revenge. As is mostly the case with Italian "polizia" flicks from the 1970s, it's not the plot that's important here, which is good because this particular vigilante-themed exercise in blood and bullets is no different from dozens of others made over the years. What makes REVENGE special is the effort that both the star and director put into the movie; this may not be Castellari's very best film but it's certainly up there with his better movies.As is generally the case with the director's movies, the film has some fine editing and photography, and makes great use of slow motion during the various staged action sequences. Every penny of the budget is put to good use, making for one slick, exciting, and often gripping adventure. REVENGE also takes care to build up characterisation of the lead characters, sometimes at the expense of putting more action into the film, but the pay off works as star Franco Nero gets a meaty and interesting character to explore. His Carlo Antonelli is an everyday guy with strict moral upbringings, who has always been taught that the only way to save face is to battle dangers head on. Therefore, after being humiliated, beaten, and robbed by the gang of crooks, he can't let the crime slip from his mind and must hunt down the thugs at whatever the cost.Although Castellari's direction is stylish, it's never flashy, and you get the impression that this is a director who really understands cinema and what he can do with his camera. The film always retains a strong sense of realism which make the action sequences all the more powerful when they do arrive - the moment in which an exhausted Nero is chased by a crook in a car and nearly run down is sweaty, exciting, and feels dangerous to boot (partly because Nero does his own stunts here!). The film is pretty gory and culminates in a very violent shoot-out in an empty warehouse, which is a fully appropriate way to end such a movie and pays off nicely.Performances are generally spot on, with Nero leading the way; special mention goes to Giancarlo Prete as the small-time crook Tommy, who ends up befriending Nero's character: his portrayal of the edgy but non-violent criminal is one of the most realistic I've seen on film. Also around are veteran Renzo Palmer as an exasperated cop, and the beautiful Barbara Bach playing Nero's surprisingly frumpy wife; sadly she is forced to wear unflattering glasses and cardigans for this (relatively small) role - what was Castellari thinking?! The music from the famous De Angelis brothers fits the bill nicely and proves to be perfectly hummable, whilst the pacing is spot on and the action sequences as good as ever. The criminals are sufficiently rotten and hateful enough to provide suitable menace, whilst the viewer is given the opportunity to identify with Nero's on-the-edge character throughout thanks to some excellent outbursts that the actor gets to spit as he is repeatedly foiled by both police and robbers. A perfect evening's entertainment and a must for the Italo crime fan.

adrianswingler The comments largely have it right, though not always the right conclusion. Many said, "not the usual revenge flick", and a few of the less sentient commentators dissed Franco Nero's performance. Put it all together and that's precisely why this gets 8/10 from me. MUCH better than anything Charles Bronson did, and I think better than a lot of the Spaghetti Western "revenge" movies. Nero's character isn't invincible. He's not even very good at it. But that gives it a realism that owes more to Italian horror films than to the westerns. Perhaps that's why Barbara Bach is in it. Could have changed her name...Very much a period piece, if it seems a bit much at times, you need to read up on what Italian society was like when this was filmed. A strike every other day, a bombing on the off days, petty crime rampant, sex drugs and rock 'n roll everywhere, police on the take, mafia shakedowns about anywhere, kidnappings, extortion... If you're not going to make a primo revenge flick in that milieu, I guess you never will. The Italian title is more descriptive. "A Citizen who Rebels".

Michael_Elliott Street Law (1974) ** (out of 4) Italian crime flick has Franco Nero playing a man who walks into the post office one day and ends up getting kidnapped by the men robbing in. The three bad guys severely beat Nero and although he survives the ordeal his hatred just grows when the police refuse to help him. Soon Nero is entering the underworld to try and locate the men so that he can seek revenge. Considering this was released just three months after Charles Bronson's DEATH WISH, I'm really not sure how much of an influence the American film had on this one but the end result here just didn't work for me. I really love vigilante movies and I had heard so many good things about this one but there was just a few minor problems I had with the picture and one big one that really turned me off. My biggest problem with this film is that the Nero character is just so downright stupid that I really fell off his band wagon and in fact I started to cheer for the bad guys! I mean, really, how many stupid things could a person keep doing without someone finally knocking him off? Obviously the character doesn't know what he's doing but after doing one silly thing after another I finally just gave up. Another minor problem I had with the picture is that at nearly 105-minutes long, there's way too much dry space where nothing is happening. A major editing job probably would have done wonders for the picture. I should add that the English dubbing didn't help matters either but this isn't the fault of the film. I found the performances to be among the good things in the picture. Nero is certainly believable as the simple man and you can also believe him when he's finally had enough. Giancarlo Prete nearly steals the film as the man who is forced to get Nero information and I also enjoyed Barbara Bach in her role as the girlfriend. The only thing that really keeps STREET LAW viewable are some of the hilariously bad moments including the opening credits sequence, which shows various crimes being committed. The highlight of the picture has to be the entire sequence in a junkyard where Nero is forced to outrun a car!

Michael A. Martinez The best part of this film is definitely the scene where a filthy and beaten-up Franco Nero has to outrun a '66 Mustang in a junkyard, complete with a really good long lens slow motion shot of Nero running toward the camera with a car right behind him.The plot details Nero's quest to bring three bank robbers (Romano Puppo, Nazzareno Zamperla, and Massimo Vanni) who took him hostage and beat him up to justice. To do this, he blackmails a local street thug (Giancarlo Prete in a good role) and forces him to show him around the underworld and eventually find them to exact vigilante justice on them. What sets this mundane tale apart are the frequent changes-of-alliance and doublecrosses, as the action sequences are relatively weak (considering it's a Castellari movie). STREET LAW is not really that violent either when compared with most other Italian crime films. (Compare Romano Puppo's final scene here with a similar scene in Lucio Fulci's CONTRABAND.)Guido and Maurizio De Angelis's score is certainly similar to their work for the many Bud Spencer / Terence Hill films (though not under their usual Oliver Onions pseudonym), but to me sounds a lot better. While the songs are weird and use seemingly every possible instrument and sound in the book, the "Good Bye My Friend" song is a great song even though the lyrics in most of it make no sense. The same can be said of "Driving All Around". Nero once again plays the same character he plays in every movie, but his character is not totally developed (though that may have been hurt severely by the confusing re-editing of the US version that I saw) and his relationship with his girlfriend Barbara Bach is barely touched on. While the plot is simple, it often becomes uninteresting, and certainly doesn't have the more epic feeling of Castellari/Nero's previous film High Crime. Castellari's next film (the goofy but surreal CRY ONION) tried to capitalize off this one, with Nero once again up against the same trio of thugs along with another over-the-top De Angelis score, though any similarity with this film ends there.Watch for an amusing cameo by charismatic American actor Mickey Knox (who made a career as a dubbing voice in many Italian movies and Japanese Anime cartoons) as a gangster who runs a gaming parlor.Not a great film, but colorful and different enough to make it entertaining to most casual viewers.