Hunted City

Fresh from battling it out all the way From Corleone to Brooklyn, Merli and Merola are at it again. This time the English dubbing is by the B-team however, the same people who brought us the awkward dubbing for EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS. They do a better job here but Merli's voice by Michael Forest (who had moved back to the USA from Italy the year prior) here is sorely missed.

Of all of Stelvio Massi's crime films, this is one of the more enjoyable Merli pairings, up there with CONVOY BUSTERS. I particularly appreciated the chaotic and violently unpredictable side of the narrative early on coupled with the uneasy alliance between Merli, seasoned mafia don Francisco Rabal, and supposedly reformed mobster Mario Merola trying to pass himself off as a mere restaurateur. You know one of them is going to double cross another at some point, and the tension helps keep this one from falling on autopilot like a lot of Eurocrimers can do.

Unfortunately for Massi, the genre was already running out of gas at this point and this film really doesn't offer much new. The action scenes don't quite hit the same fever pitch energy that Castellari could dish out and the energy of an Umberto Lenzi outing isn't there. It's just kind of in-between helped out by another funky groovy soundtrack by the late great Stelvio Cipriani. It suffers from a lot of the same pitfallls of other Stelvio Massi offerings of the time, including an overly complicated plot and a highly unsatisfactory ending. It is also bizarre that Francisco Rabal and Nando Marineo, two very similar looking actors, have such large roles in the same movie. It leads to a lot of unintentional questions of mistaken identity, especially during a key scene late in the film.

'Hunted City' (1979) aka 'Sbirro, la tua legge è lenta... la mia... no!' While somewhat of a later entry in the piledriving Poliziotteschi cannon, it has much to recommend it to avid Euro-cult fans! The remarkably dynamic filmmaker, Stelvio Massi & the no less estimable Thespian, Maurizio Merli, are said to have been great friends, and this tangible chemistry translates into yet another adrenalin-spiking, violently gun-happy, rousingly eventful, Gangland-busting classic! Featuring a rare, low-key performance from erstwhile tyro Thespian, Merli, his tempered steeliness adds some welcome nuance to his default, twin-fisted, vengeful cop persona; and, as ever, the powerfully charismatic, characteristically rotund, Mario Merola excels as the bovine, violence-prone hood, Raffaele Acampora.

Stelvio Massi's beloved poliziotteschi are unusually robust, thrillingly watchable affairs, and his propulsive, 'Hunted City' is certainly no exception! Particularly noteworthy are Massi's dynamic, visually savvy camera angles which eke as much tension as possible from scenarios that might strike one as wildly pedestrian in a lesser director's timorous hand! All the pistol-packed poliziotteschi goodness is present and correct in, 'Hunted City': gratuitous car carnage, squalls of slo-mo squibbage, and Merli's lobotomising fisticuffs to quell errant thugs pixillated brains!!!! This singularly sterling, Merli/Massi collaboration remains an exhilarating one, and absolutely worthwhile B-Movie entertainment for cannier celluloid thrill-seekers, Euro-crime newbies, and degenerated, twist-headed psychotronic lags such as I!

One of the things I love most about the Italians and their cult cinema from the 60s-80s is the use of vivid, colorful and extendedly descriptive titles! The unwritten rule states: the duller the international title in English, the more amusing the original one in Italian. "Hunted City" is such a standard and fairly dull title, so I promptly looked up the meaning of the odd sounding "Sbirro, la tua legge è lenta... la mia... no!" Apparently, the title literally translates as: "Copper, your law is slow... Mine isn't!" Now that sounds like something I want to see!

Maurizio Merli really only know how to play one role, namely the tough but righteous cop who ignores the rules, yet books results with his unorthodox methods. He, Commissioner Paolo Ferro, is called to his hometown of Milan to help solve a strange series of murders of lawyers and businessmen. Due to the brutal execution style of the murders, everyone suspects the mafia to be behind them, but Ferro doesn't think so. Quite the contrary, Ferro even forms an alliance with the mighty Don Alfonso (Francisco Rabal) to reveal who is truly behind the killing syndicate.

I will always find joy in these Italian Poliziotesschi flicks but, to be very honest, the best years for the genre had long passed by 1979. The film still contains all the right ingredients (like violent shootouts, car and foot chases, exhilarating Cipriani score...), but the surprise-effects and non-stop adrenalin rushes have vanished. With its 105 minutes, "Hunted City" is also too long. Certain footage, like the commissioner's romantic interludes or even the entire sub plot with his nephew, could have been cut. All the scenes with Mario Merola, on the other hand, ooze with oppressed tension.

Another 1-2 years later, the "Poliziotesschi" genre was dead and buried entirely. For most Italian directors and actors, this didn't cause too many problems and they moved on. For Merli, though, it was a catastrophe.

Mario Merola seems to be in every cop film made in 1979. This time round, get this, he plays a down-to-earth Mob boss with a big heart...or does he?

Cop Maurizio Merli doesn't give a crap either way. What he wants to do is take down the hitman syndicate that seems to have sprung up in his beloved town of Milan. Businessmen here and there are being gunned in typical Stelvio Massi fashion and someone's got to be in charge, but who is it?

Could well be Merola, but he claims to be legit and running a string of restaurants (what else?). We also get to see his soft side, as he helps a young man who has lost all of his earnings in Merola's gambling den (which he always manages to hide every time Merli shows up). Or is it suddenly bald Francisco Rabal, an old Mafia enemy of Merli who claims to have respect for Merli? The main question is: How many people is Merli going to shoot and/or punch in the face before the film ends?

On the domestic front Merli's nephew seems to be getting into the drugs and driving a Porsche around everywhere so he's got to sort that out with the usual results when Merli gets involved in such things, and on the romantic front Merli's romancing a lady who works for a suspicious businessman who could also be head of the murder syndicate. It's a long day when you've got to keep relatives on the straight and narrow, bed a young lady and still find time to take on random bank robbers.

Although I found this one a little overlong, I've got to hand it to Stelvio Massi; He knows you need punch ups, car chases, and gun fights and we get plenty of that. Plus Merli angrily pointing at things. What I did notice is that the ending was a bit weak and Mario Merola didn't get to sing! Massi also uses his cinematography skills to make everything look interesting at all times.

I never tire of these films. Sadly, the cinema going public did.