La mano spietata della legge

Mario Gariazzo's twin-fisted,'La mano Spietata della legge' (1973) aka 'The Bloody Hands of The Law' is, sadly, a little-known, and somewhat poorly documented, enjoyably mean-spirited poliziottesco treat that certainly merits a higher standing amongst the cult movie cognoscenti. In its great favour, any high-octane, murderously mob handed Mafioso actioner from the early 70s, sensually scintillated with a perceptibly phat-sounding, gloriously grooved-out score from maestro, Stelvio Cipriani, additionally enlivened with a no less muscular performance from sterling, steel-thewed Thespian, Philippe Leroy as the Stoic Gangland-busting, High Noon heroic, il commissario Gianni De Carmine is going to be anything but a tawdry time waster!

The brutal murder of a hospitalized mobster provides a suitably incendiary opening to, Gariazzo's engagingly gritty Poliziottesco that ticks a multitude of boisterous B-movie boxes, not least being the luminous presences of, Pia Giancaro, and serial screen-gobbler, Klaus Kinski, who, uncharacteristically, delivers an intriguingly restrained performance as the gimlet-eyed, blow torch-wielding hit-man, Vito Quattroni; the inimitable, flaxen-haired, Kinski looking dangerously dishy in his hep-cat sunspex! 'The Bloody Hands of The Law' inspired me to seek out a number of similarly neglected Euro-titles starring that most swarthy of enigmatic actors, Philippe Leroy, who dynamically cuts a strident swathe through these bullet-blasted proceedings with great aplomb! Methinks it is LONG overdue for a comprehensive, Leroy retrospective!