Il giustiziere sfida la città

One of the myriad "poliziotteschi" to emerge from Italy during the 1970s, to which both director Lenzi and star Tomas Milian contributed a good deal; in fact, their previous collaboration – ALMOST HUMAN (1974) – is considered among the genre high-points. This, however, is fairly indistinguishable – apart from the fact that the surname of Milian's character is Rambo!; it does include plenty of typical action, not to mention a funky score by Franco Micalizzi. Rambo is a reformed gangster who now supplies iconoclastic help to the Police; predictably, his best pal in the force (actually a special vigilante squad) ends up murdered before long – which sets Rambo on exacting private revenge. This sees him coming face to face once again with his former boss, a now-blind Joseph Cotten (who, like Milian, followed a certain code of ethics in spite of the nature of the work involved) whose 'empire' is being unscrupulously run by the old man's son, Alfredo Lastretti. A smaller rival band of criminals – among whose members is the ubiquitous Luciano Pigozzi – also gets into our disheveled hero's hair by kidnapping an eminent citizen (Silvano Tranquilli)'s son. Incidentally, this incongruous sentimental emphasis on kids – since Milian also dotes on his cop friend's idolizing offspring – does the film the biggest harm; at the same time, while keeping an affectionate (but platonic) eye on the latter boy's mum, he is romantically involved with a prostitute (Femi Benussi) – who, unsurprisingly, is eventually victimized by the baddies for it. Though consistently offering reasonable gratification of various sorts, most examples of the poliziottesco genre suffered from a shallowness that made them instantly forgettable – and this one, alas, proved no exception despite the involvement of two of its major exponents.