Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely brilliant

The first must-see film of the year.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The comments largely have it right, though not always the right conclusion. Many said, "not the usual revenge flick", and a few of the less sentient commentators dissed Franco Nero's performance. Put it all together and that's precisely why this gets 8/10 from me. MUCH better than anything Charles Bronson did, and I think better than a lot of the Spaghetti Western "revenge" movies. Nero's character isn't invincible. He's not even very good at it. But that gives it a realism that owes more to Italian horror films than to the westerns. Perhaps that's why Barbara Bach is in it. Could have changed her name...Very much a period piece, if it seems a bit much at times, you need to read up on what Italian society was like when this was filmed. A strike every other day, a bombing on the off days, petty crime rampant, sex drugs and rock 'n roll everywhere, police on the take, mafia shakedowns about anywhere, kidnappings, extortion... If you're not going to make a primo revenge flick in that milieu, I guess you never will. The Italian title is more descriptive. "A Citizen who Rebels".

I'm really starting to develop a love for these Italian cop flicks - and Street Law is hands down one of the best that I've seen! This entire genre owes itself to Don Siegel's classic Dirty Harry, but Street Law apparently takes most of it's influence from Michael Winner's "classic" Death Wish (I say apparently because I haven't seen Death Wish all the way through). The film focuses on crime in Italy, but unlike many Italian cop films; this one doesn't put crime in a 'cool' light, or focus on a police investigation; as our main character here is an engineer named Carlo Antonelli, a man who is beaten by a band of robbers one day while at the post office. The humiliation is too much for him, and he can't get these four men off his mind - and so revenge becomes his main priority. However, he quickly finds that finding out information in the criminal underbelly isn't easy as most people don't want to talk; so, via blackmail, he recruits a young criminal named Tommy to help him find the men who humiliated him and get his revenge - Italian crime flick style! Street Law was directed by Enzo G. Castellari, a man who also directed the big hits 'The Big Racket' and 'The Heroin Busters', so it's obvious that he knows his way around a crime thriller! This one features all the staples of the genre - car chases right from the off, as well as fistfights and shootouts and it's hardly dull for a second. This film also sets itself apart from similar films due to its atmosphere; which gritty, tense and has a very downtrodden sort of feel. The film features a starring role for seventies Italy's top hard man, Franco Nero. It's not your usual Nero performance, however. I'm more used to seeing him calm, cool and collected in Spaghetti westerns and Giallo - but here he gives a frenzied, frightened performance; yet he still fits it well, as you can really believe that this man has been dragged into a bad situation against his will. Giancarlo Prete is his co-star and does well, while the film also features Barbara Bach - but the former Bond girl hardly has any screen time at all! Apparently, the ending borrows heavily from Death Wish, but I don't care as it's highly entertaining and provides the perfect climax for a tale like this. Street Law is HIGHLY recommended to all fans of Italian cinema!

Cagey, hard-working, obstinate no-nonsense scientist Franco Nero gets kidnapped during a brutal bank heist by a trio of vicious, nasty crooks. The hoods severely pummel Nero, take him along for a wild, harrowing car chase, and leave Nero forever scarred psychologically by the distressful experience. When the police prove to be ineffectual, Nero decides to go the Charles Bronson "Death Wish"-like enforce the law on your own self-proclaimed keeper of the peace vigilante route, teaming up with genial, helpful illegal arms dealer Giancarlo Prete in order to exact harsh revenge on the vile, untouchable low-life criminals who regularly get away with preying on decent, law-abiding folks.An unexpectedly potent little crime/action potboiler, "Street Law" manages to be both utterly arresting and extremely hard-hitting thanks to its bang-up execution and accomplished technical polish. Under Italian B-film ace Enzo G. Castellari's typically strong, punchy, expert direction the compelling, convoluted and twist-ridden narrative unfolds in a most suspenseful, exhilarating and wickedly dead-on manner. Moreover, the gritty, smoky, squalid and threatening big city urban cesspool environment seems authentically grim and grimy, the cool, driving, harmonica-tinged rock score really hits the socko sonic spot, the brisk, starkly lit, sinuous cinematography gives the movie an excellent slick look, and the ferocious, rousing, often quite jolting action sequences -- Castellari's use of strenuous, gut-wrenching slow motion is incredibly effective -- deliver one hell of a strong and lingering punch. Better still, Nero contributes his usual top-notch performance, Prete is surprisingly likable as a conscience-plagued miscreant who yearns to go straight, and beauteous brunette Barbara Bach registers well as Nero's concerned, caring girlfriend. Why, "Street Law" even comes complete with a provocative, gruffly unsentimental, yet profound moral: Revenge is anything but sweet -- and it almost always comes with a highly serious and painful price to pay. Resolutely tough-minded and unusually complicated, with a suitably bleak tone and a pungently brooding atmosphere, this coarse, crackling, thoroughly gripping and exciting hard-edged vengeance crime thriller sizes up overall as an absolute powerhouse.

The best part of this film is definitely the scene where a filthy and beaten-up Franco Nero has to outrun a '66 Mustang in a junkyard, complete with a really good long lens slow motion shot of Nero running toward the camera with a car right behind him.The plot details Nero's quest to bring three bank robbers (Romano Puppo, Nazzareno Zamperla, and Massimo Vanni) who took him hostage and beat him up to justice. To do this, he blackmails a local street thug (Giancarlo Prete in a good role) and forces him to show him around the underworld and eventually find them to exact vigilante justice on them. What sets this mundane tale apart are the frequent changes-of-alliance and doublecrosses, as the action sequences are relatively weak (considering it's a Castellari movie). STREET LAW is not really that violent either when compared with most other Italian crime films. (Compare Romano Puppo's final scene here with a similar scene in Lucio Fulci's CONTRABAND.)Guido and Maurizio De Angelis's score is certainly similar to their work for the many Bud Spencer / Terence Hill films (though not under their usual Oliver Onions pseudonym), but to me sounds a lot better. While the songs are weird and use seemingly every possible instrument and sound in the book, the "Good Bye My Friend" song is a great song even though the lyrics in most of it make no sense. The same can be said of "Driving All Around". Nero once again plays the same character he plays in every movie, but his character is not totally developed (though that may have been hurt severely by the confusing re-editing of the US version that I saw) and his relationship with his girlfriend Barbara Bach is barely touched on. While the plot is simple, it often becomes uninteresting, and certainly doesn't have the more epic feeling of Castellari/Nero's previous film High Crime. Castellari's next film (the goofy but surreal CRY ONION) tried to capitalize off this one, with Nero once again up against the same trio of thugs along with another over-the-top De Angelis score, though any similarity with this film ends there.Watch for an amusing cameo by charismatic American actor Mickey Knox (who made a career as a dubbing voice in many Italian movies and Japanese Anime cartoons) as a gangster who runs a gaming parlor.Not a great film, but colorful and different enough to make it entertaining to most casual viewers.