SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Bezenby Guido and Maurizio De Angelis Soundtrack!Notable actors: Fabio Testi! Renzo Palmer! Orso Maria Guierrini! Romano Puppo! Sal Borghese! Joshua Sinclair! Massimo Vanni! Stefania Girolami! Enzo G Castellari!Enzo Castellari stands out in an overcrowded market by showing everyone how it should be done - a full on Poliziotesschi, brutal and action packed, but also delivered with that pure Castellari style. This is the ideal starting place for anyone because if you don't like this, the genre probably isn't for you. A new breed of criminal are moving in on Rome's protection rackets. Fearless, violent and ambitious, they go from shop to shop in the Piazza Navona threatening the patroni but unaware that they are being tailed by cop Nico (Fabio Testi) and his sidekick Sal Borghese. Their smartly dressed boss Rudy (Joshua Sinclair) does notice, however, and the result is Testi having his car rolled off a cliff. With him inside it. Castellari of course introduces Rudy with a serious of quirky edits set to a drum beat and films Nico from inside the car in slow motion while he rolls about in a blizzard of glass. This is in the first ten minutes. Basically this new gang have the populace terrified and Nico is struggling to find someone brave enough to come forward as a witness. One restaurant owner does (Renzo Palmer) and the result is his daughter getting kidnapped and raped by the gang. Palmer then becomes insane and starts killing any criminals he can get his hands on. This of course lands Nico in trouble with his boss.A gang this ruthless make a lot of enemies and eventually it's from this pool of bereaved husbands, vengeful fathers, double-crossed gangsters and petty criminals that Nico has to gather a small army to take on the gang, resulting in a gun battle that isn't so much a shoot out as full on warfare that decimates the populace of Rome and leaves it a smoking ruin littered with corpses and burning cars. There's a lot to recommend this one. Fabio Testi's frustration as the gang constantly wipe out anyone who stands up to them is something to behold. Massimo Vanni as the cocky gangster and his rape-happy mates stand out as they beat shopowners, incite riots and kill without thinking. Vincent Gardenia adds a bit of humanity as the old pickpocket who helps Testi and gets his nephew killed in the process. Enzo does his usual tricks, from slow motion to unusual camera angles to quick edits, and you've got the usual funky soundtrack by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis. This is one of the best of 1976 and the genre, and although it's the only Eurocrime film Castellari made in 1976, he would also make Keoma the same year, and that's one of the best Spaghetti Westerns ever made. What a guy.I must however point out that some moron who did the English dubbing decided to sanitise all the swearing, which marrs the film slightly. They all literally sound like Ned Flanders, talking about being in "deep diddly", or "that lousy basket" or "you mucker." Thankfully it doesn't ruin the film.

JasparLamarCrabb One of Enzo Castellari's great '70s crime films. Fabio Testi is a police inspector bent on ridding the city of a gang of brutal extortionists only to be rebuffed continually by a corrupt legal system. Taking matters into his own hands, he recruits a number of the gang's victims to help exact revenge. An extremely violent (even for a Castellari) film that takes no prisoners. Test is terrific and the supporting cast is unusually strong: Vincent Gardenia; Renzo Palmer; Glauco Onorato; Orso Maria Guerrini. Castellari moves this film along so quickly it's breathtaking. There are a number of now legendary action sequences including an astounding and protracted shoot out in an abandoned factory that has to be seen to be believed. The great music score by Guido is a major asset and the beautiful cinematography is by Marcello Masciocchi.

Witchfinder General 666 Enzo G. Castellari has enriched Italian cult-cinema in various genres, and "Il Grande Racket" of 1976 is arguably the coolest of them all. At least this breathtaking, ultraviolent and supremely nasty Poliziottesco has surpassed "Keoma" and the original "Inglorious Bastards" of 1978 on my list of favorite Castellari flicks. "Racket" delivers gritty, rough and brutal Italo-Crime excitement in its purest form and proudly stands up there with the works of Fernando Di Leo and Umberto Lenzi among the true highlights of 70s Italian Crime Cinema. The vast majority of Italian crime flicks from the time are about unorthodox cops hunting sadistic criminals (inspired by "Dirty Harry"); some, such as Castellari's own "Il Cittadino Si Ribbela" ("The Citizen Rebels",1974, which I regretfully haven't yet seen) are about enraged citizens, who, after being tormented by thugs for too long, take the law in their own hands. This wonderfully gritty gem actually serves both premises! Cult-star Fabio Testi plays Rome police Inspector Nico Palmieri, who leads a hopeless battle against a protection racket of hoodlums who terrorize and torment a whole neighborhood of innocent people. Palmitieri's rough but legal methods always seem to fail, as the gangsters' surviving victims are too intimidated to talk, which is why a sleazy lawyer always gets his scumbag clients out. When all legal methods fail, the rough-and-ready copper is not afraid to bend the law in order to provide justice...Fabio Testi, a regular leading man in Italian genre-cinema, delivers another great performance in his role here. Of all the films I've seen him in, I would say that this is Testi's second-best (the unmatched No 1. being Massimo Dallamano's 1972 Giallo-masterpiece "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange"). The rest of the cast includes several familiar faces for fans of Italian cinema, such as Castellari-regulars Joshua Sinclair and Orso Maria Guerrini (who played Franco Nero's malicious brothers in "Keoma"), Salvatore Borghese (who was in many Bud Spencer & Terence Hill Comedies, as well as many Spaghetti Westerns) and others. It is notable that the gang of sadistic thugs in this film includes a particularly sadistic female (played by Marcella Michelangeli)."Racket" brings the whole spectrum of genre-typical nastiness: Loads of bloody violence, rape, sadistic murders, brutal torture - there's plenty of it all here. The film is action packed, and, the action sequences are very well-done. The film si full of violent shootouts, car chases, fistfights etc., and, as usual Castellari provides some spectacular effects (such as a car rolling spinning over down a hill from the inside). The cinematography is very well-done, and the score is genre-typically great and underlines the adrenaline-driven atmosphere. All things considered, "Racket" is a spectacular example for Italian Crime Cinema, which ranges among the highlights of both director Castellari's and leading-man Testi's careers. A fan of Poliziotteschi in particular and Italian Cult Cineama in general should make sure not to miss this brutal, action-packed and remarkably gritty gem. Highly recommended!

BA_Harrison No, not a film about cheating at Wimbledon, but rather an enjoyably trashy Italian crime flick about a tough cop determined to bring to justice the violent gangsters responsible for running a nationwide protection racket.Fabio Testi (snigger, snigger) is Nico Palmieri, a hard as nails copper who is forced into taking extreme measures in order to defeat the bad guys. After usual police procedures fail to stop the escalating violence, Nico gathers together a group of embittered victims lusting for vengeance (plus an ageing hit-man keen to earn himself a passport) and sets out to blast the scum into oblivion.Director Enzo G. Castellari (he who made the original Inglorious Bastards) conducts proceedings with gusto and an eye for an interesting shot (Testi's car crash, seen from inside the rolling vehicle, is particularly impressive), and despite an increasingly preposterous plot, this movie will prove to be loads of fun for those who enjoy the genre, with bloody shoots outs and fist-fights aplenty.The diabolical English dubbing, which replaces swear words with some really daft alternatives, is also rather entertaining: it took me a while to understand exactly what was going on, but once I'd cottoned on, the words 'diddly' and 'basket' had me in stitches.