Enzo G. Castellari's first police procedural crime thriller "High Crime" a.k.a. "La polizia incrimina la legge assolve" (1973) qualifies as violent, tragic, but memorable. The auto chases are fast and furious. The villains are thoroughgoing dastards who are prepared to kill anybody, including children. They run down our hero's daughter without a qualm in one scene. Not only do they smash into her, but they also drive over her body. Of course, obvious dummies were used in this scene as well as in the explosion scenes, but the violence is emphatic. This is like dummies pitched off a building that hit the street several floors below. A policeman on foot fires into a car barreling toward him and the criminals smash into his body. Again, the filmmakers use a dummy, but everything is done with a visceral sense of urgency that makes it exciting if not horrific. Castellari and company stage some beautiful fireball explosions that hold your attention. Spaghetti western star Franco Nero plays the energetic but frustrated Italian Vice-Commissioner Belli who will never be the same after this war with the mob. "High Crime" comes with a double-digit body count, and the significant shootings are presented in slow-motion. A high-ranking police official takes three bullets in his body when his back is turned to a heavy. You'll hate the bad guys and savor their deaths by fade-out. Although this 100-minute melodrama features a happy ending, the toll that Belli's crusade against crime takes leaves a bitter after-taste. One anonymous commentator at a download site has written that "High Crime" "was largely responsible for setting off the entire Italian crime film movement of the 70's."
"High Crime" opens with our heroic police officer arresting an elusive Lebanese drug dealer in Genoa after a careening auto chase through the city. Unfortunately, Belli doesn't keep the Lebanese in custody long before the wily criminals blow up the police car transporting his prisoner. Miraculously, Belli wasn't seated in the vehicle when it blew up and killed the Lebanese and four cops, along with a young girl playing nearby in the street. Meantime, Belli's superior, Commissioner Aldo Scavino (JamesWhitmore), wants to get adequate evidence on everybody from the bottom to the top and he is prepared to exercise patience in his battle with organized crime. Assiduously, he has compiled a dossier on mafia connections, but Belli lacks Scaviono's patience. Belli is a man of action. He consults with a former crime boss, Cafiero (Fernando Rey of "The French Connection"), who spends most of his time in his rose garden. Cafiero warns our hot-headed hero that if the mob cannot put him on ice, they will go after the people that he loves. Meanwhile, the mob ambushes Scavino as he is getting into his car in an exciting shoot-out sequence that continues when a street cop opens fire on the two killers as they flee from the scene of the crime.
"High Crime" is unforgettable.
"High Crime" opens with our heroic police officer arresting an elusive Lebanese drug dealer in Genoa after a careening auto chase through the city. Unfortunately, Belli doesn't keep the Lebanese in custody long before the wily criminals blow up the police car transporting his prisoner. Miraculously, Belli wasn't seated in the vehicle when it blew up and killed the Lebanese and four cops, along with a young girl playing nearby in the street. Meantime, Belli's superior, Commissioner Aldo Scavino (JamesWhitmore), wants to get adequate evidence on everybody from the bottom to the top and he is prepared to exercise patience in his battle with organized crime. Assiduously, he has compiled a dossier on mafia connections, but Belli lacks Scaviono's patience. Belli is a man of action. He consults with a former crime boss, Cafiero (Fernando Rey of "The French Connection"), who spends most of his time in his rose garden. Cafiero warns our hot-headed hero that if the mob cannot put him on ice, they will go after the people that he loves. Meanwhile, the mob ambushes Scavino as he is getting into his car in an exciting shoot-out sequence that continues when a street cop opens fire on the two killers as they flee from the scene of the crime.
"High Crime" is unforgettable.