There are a bunch of reasons why "Torino Violenta" is one of the weakest Poliziotesschi flicks ever produced, and in order from least relevant to most important they are: 1) The year of release. The Italian cop/gangster thriller was an exhilarating but also very short-lived genre that spawned an immense amount of titles between 1972-1976. By 1977 the genre was slowly dying already, and no real classics were produced anymore. 2) The Director. Who is Carlo Ausino and where did he emerge from suddenly? I daresay I'm an expert when it comes to Italian cult cinema, but I never heard of him before. The average Poliziotesschi isn't exactly a meticulous piece of art, but you also cannot expect that an inexperienced director like Ausino delivers the same kind of powerful flicks as veterans like Umberto Lenzi, Stelvio Massi, Enzo G. Castellari or Fernando Di Leo. 3) The lead protagonist. I've admired George Hilton in several spaghetti-westerns, and even more so in numerous Gialli-masterpieces, but he totally missed the hype of the poliziotesschi. This man inarguably has a lot of charisma, but not the type of charisma that Maurizio Merli or Luc Merenda bring to a crime film set. Hilton is unconvincing as the tough & unorthodox copper, and even more so as the lawless vigilante. 4) The production values. Admittedly all poliziotesschi films suffer from budget restrictions, but usually the directors and their crews are far more creative than here in "Torino Violenta". The dubbing is truly horrendous, the Turin' locations are uninspired, and the action sequences are thoroughly unimpressive. The obligatory car chases appear to be much slower, while the shootouts aren't as cruel and nasty as you hope them to be. 5) The script. All previous shortcomings are basically minor excuses, but this is where "Torino Violenta" truly fails. It's a weak, derivative and boring story about a police detective fed up with the ever-increasing powers of criminal organizations in his city and the restrictions of the legal system that he must obey. And thus, outside of his duty hours, he tracks down and executes the criminals who spit in his face when he officially arrests them. This is a theme featuring in practically every poliziotesschi flick ever made, but it's very poorly elaborated here. The cops and villains are difficult to keep apart, Ugo Moretti's partner is a lot more fanatic than he is, in fact, and the situation in Turin honestly isn't as desperate as in other major Italian cities.
