terrible... so disappointed.

Absolutely Fantastic

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Another feather in the cap for director Umberto Lenzi and star Tomas Milian, this ultra-slick crime flick is a fine example of the "polizia" genre at its paciest and most fun: what starts off looking like a silly comedy-action film like THE COP IN BLUE JEANS soon takes a darker turn and becomes more serious, ending up as a tough thriller with a high body count and lots of cheesy stunts. The hero role of Rambo is taken by Tomas Milian this time around (usually playing a crippled or sadistic villain in Lenzi films from the period) and it's a great part: Rambo (no relation to the Sly Stallone character - this one came first) is an unshaven, masked motorbike-riding outlaw who has a thing about justice prevailing and murdering bad guys. As he's not part of the law he instead works around it, taking on the criminal gangs himself and turning them against each other. What's funniest about this film is the almost total lack of police presence! Gangs tear up the city and kill each other and they're nowhere in sight. Rambo's motorbike is gazed at lovingly by Lenzi's camera and he takes every opportunity to show off the sleek chrome bodywork, especially in lots of cheesy bike-jumping stunts that punctuate the action.Rambo also knows his own unique brand of karate, meaning we get lots of demonstrations as he effortlessly beats up thugs in a pool hall and takes on a room of practising karate students! The film begins as Rambo visits the home of an old pal, who has joined a police group and insists that Rambo does the same. Being a good-natured chap he helps to capture a few saboteurs and minor criminals. After the characters have been introduced, Rambo's buddy ends up getting violently murdered when he's close to cracking a kidnapping case - hardly surprising, seeing as he is set up for murder ever since his first appearance. Rambo decides to follow in his pal's footsteps and finds himself involved with two criminal gangs, led by ageing crime boss Paterno and slimy villain Conti. At first he successfully turns the two gangs against each other, causing much bloodshed, but then they wise up and turn against him. A tide of retribution and revenge follows with casualties on all sides.Nearly every technical element of the film is perfect. Cinematography, stunts, pacing, action, chases and dialogue all slot in nicely to the story. The only thing lacking is the music, which is a little sub-par for a Lenzi flick and not snazzy enough. Once again Lenzi has assembled an accomplished team of actors (most of whom were working in films back-to-back for the director) for his cast. Supporting the ever-excellent Milian are the exquisitely slimy Luciano Catenacci as the villain Conti and good old Luciano Pigozzi as a thug. The experienced Ida Galli and Shirley Corrigan play minor female roles whilst the retired Mafia don Paterno is played by American import actor Joseph Cotten. All in all a nice mix who fit their roles perfectly.As well as the many pacy car and bike chases that speed through the film, there are a couple of shoot-outs which deserve note. The first is the attack on Conti's warehouse operation by Paterno's guys dressed as police. Lots of bloody machine-gun shootings and spraying bullet action ensues. For the film's under siege set-piece finale, there's a shoot-out in the grounds of a deserted house played out in the middle of the night to the light of a flare - a clever and original touch. Although not as sadistic as previous or later Lenzi films the film does have a few gruesome asides, like an innocent woman being beaten to death and a guy (regular scumbag Bruno Corazzari) literally overdosing on cocaine! These factors and more combine to make RAMBO'S REVENGE yet another quality genre contribution from Lenzi and a film to track down.

Incestuous bedfellows, Umbeto Lenzi and Tomas Milian team up again for the bellicose Cops an' Robbers mash up ' Sydicate Sadists', while this isn't on par with the legendary sleaze-fest 'Almost Human' it still manages to deliver the requisite amount of gonzoid thrills an' spills that fills chat rooms far an wide with gibbering fan boy praise. Plot adheres rigidly to formula; with Milian playing ex-cop biker, Rambo! whose penchant for revenge is most apropos since he is given ample opportunity for bullet spattered, jaw-cracking retribution after he discovers his brother has been killed; which engenders some relentlessly gritty crime funk grooves by veteran Franco Micalizzi, nutbag bike chases, and all manner of ubiquitous Italian crime overkill. All in all 'Syndicate Sadists' is an entertaining, exploitative riff on, Dashiel Hammet's Red Harvest, and Lenzi/Milian heads are unlikely to be disappointed, although it doesn't quite live up to its blood an' thunder moniker.

Syndicate Sadists is yet another film based on Dashiel Hammett's novel Red Harvest which was adapted more famously by Akira Kurosawa inYojimbo and Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars, amongst many others, but it also has some other intriguing origins. Its star Tomas Milian while filming in the US, picked up a cheap novel at the airport by David Morrell entitled First Blood a tale of a special forces soldier by the name of John Rambo, Milian was intrigued by the character but wanted to stay away from violent sadistic roles he had become famous for in films like Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974). So together with Lenzi and Luciano Martino they agreed to blend both stories together in a modern crime drama. While the film has some resemblances to both films its different enough to stand alone as an interesting film. Milian is excellent as the odd, scruffy biker with a heart, that turns to violence to avenge the murder of his brother by one of a group of rival crime gangs, he was investigating. Milian decides to play both sides against each other, his unkempt image, floppy red hat and large goggles, perhaps luring the criminals into a false sense of security that costs them dearly in some increasingly violent confrontations. Not Milian or Lenzi's best but still very watchable. Joseph Cotten also puts in a turn as one of the crime bosses, in what surely must be THE most wooden performance by the man ever, at one point he actually looked like a Gerry Anderson puppet…no really! For once the Italian didn't steal an idea, they had Rambo first. Oh and watch out for an homage to Steve McQueen.[

Tomas Milian is Rambo - a biker who arrives in Milan right in the middle of a war between two crime families. When his brother, a member of a kidnap investigation team, is killed, Rambo seeks revenge. He pits the two families against each other in hopes that they will destroy themselves so he can free the young boy being held for ransom.Syndicate Sadists was a blind purchase for me and I couldn't be more thrilled. This marks one of my first forays into the Italian sub-genre known as Polizia (or whatever the correct word is). And, I must say that I'm thrilled to have discovered these movies. If some of the others that I have on order (Contraband and Revolver) are half as good, I'll be delighted.I always have a good time watching Tomas Milian. He may come across as a conceited jerk in some of his interviews, but he has good reason. He never fails to entertain. His character, Rambo (please note that this movie was made long before First Blood), is one of my favorites. He's tough, compassionate, and mysterious.The action and gunplay are great. Between the gun fights and chase scenes, there is plenty of action to go around. One of my favorite scenes in the movie was the relatively calm showdown at the end between Rambo and the head of one of the families. Any movie that puts Milian and the scene-chewing Joseph Cotton together is a Euro-film lover's wet dream.If the brief description of the plot sounds familiar, don't be surprised. Once the movie got rolling, I said to myself on a number of occasions that it reminded me of A Fistful of Dollars. Imagine my surprise when my notion was confirmed while watching the interview with Lenzi on the DVD. He freely admitted that the story was inspired by Leone's film.