Violent Rome/Roma Violenta

Roma Violenta, 1975. Directed by Marino Girolami. With Maurizio Merli, Ray Lovelock, John Steiner, Richard Conte and Luciano Rossi.


The very first shot: a J&B sign.



Inspector Betti (Maurizio Merli) tries to find two criminals who killed a young man during a robbery. He gets help from a young undercover cop, Biondi (Ray Lovelock), to whom he is an example and mentor. Betti is also after another group of brutal murderous robbers, which leads to a major car chase, Biondi getting paralyzed and Betti’s resignation. Then Betti is contacted by Sartori (Richard Conte), a lawyer who wants to assemble a vigilante-group....




Betti and Biondi

This is the first poliziesco that stars Maurizio Merli. It made him a star and in the next five years he made about 12 more of these police films. Like most of these films there isn’t too much of a story, but that isn’t a bad thing per se. Betti’s ongoing fight with a whole bunch of brutal, ruthless criminals on one hand, and his superiors on the other hand, who’s main concern is with following the rules and avoiding bad press, is just what his films are all about.


Bystanders...




...and the victim getting her ass kicked like there's no tomorrow.

The action is plenty and pretty cool, both Merli’s one-on-one’s with various criminals, as well as the big car chase scene halfway through the movie. Maybe there isn’t too much depth in Merli’s performance, but as sort of an iconic cop-figure, whose main concern is with the victims and catching the criminals, he’s just right. He comes off as passionate and sympathetic. There are also quite a few familiar faces, like John Steiner, Luciano Rossi, Lovelock and Silvano Tranquilli, which really adds to the fun. This is a very enjoyable, well made film, with a great soundtrack by G & M De Angelis.





A mysterious, open ending suggests that Betti might die, but the following year Merli was back for two more Betti-films: A Special Cop In Action (Italia A Mano Armata), also directed by Marino Girolami, and Umberto Lenzi’s Violent Naples (Napoli Violenta), which is my all time favourite poliziesco.

Blog: Film Walrus

Check out this cool film blog: Film Walrus. Not only are there posts and reviews about Italian genre cinema, but also about many other films and genre’s...

Who's Pino Boller?

This is Pino Boller's one and only credit: for the story and screenplay of Umberto Lenzi's Spasmo. I couldn't find anything about him, and I was wondering if there's anyway who knows anything about him? (Maybe it's Lenzi's neighbour?)

Holocaust 2000

Holocaust 2000, 1977. Directed by Alberto De Martino. With Kirk Douglas, Simon Ward, Agostina Belli, Adolfo Celi, Massimo Foschi.



Robert Caine (Kirk Douglas) is an American Industrialist, whose company is about to build a huge nuclear plant in a Middle Eastern country. His son Angel (Simon Ward) works for him and is also determined to build this plant, but Robert’s wife Eva, who has a majority of the shares of their company, wants to cancel the entire deal. But she is accidentally killed by an Arab assassin (Massimo Foschi), whose target was supposed to be Robert.









But there’s more opposition. The new Prime Minister of the Middle Eastern country thinks that the nuclear plant isn’t safe enough and wants to cancel the order. Robert and Angel start extensive tests to prove everything’s safe, but the computer gives a strange error-code. But then Robert meets a priest who shines a different light on that particular code: it might be a first sign of the coming of the Anti-Christ.

Although Robert is fascinated by the priest’s stories, he just can’t believe it’s true. But after a series of gruesome accidents, involving one of his top researchers and the Prime Minister, and a strange, visionary nightmare, he starts to doubt. And when his new girlfriend Sara (Agostina Belli) tells him she’s pregnant, he really believes that that boy will be the Anti-Christ. And he will do anything to prevent it from being born....





This film is directed by Alberto De Martino, who made several films in whatever genre was popular at that time, but never managed to make much of an impression. This Italian/British co-production obviously tries to cash-in on the success of The Omen, made a year before, and it isn’t actually much better or worse then that film.

Kirk Douglas leads a cast of actors with different nationalities and the usual strange mix of accents. All three leads are pretty good actually, and there are also some familiar faces in supporting roles, like Adolfo Celi for instance. With an international star like Douglas attached, the producers obviously could spent some extra bucks and it shows for the most part. Production value is rather high, but there are still some “typical” Italian B movie sets, like the computer room, which looks awful.











The film moves at a good pace, with enough mystery and a few bloody deaths, most notably a beheading by a helicopter. Especially those parts of the film about Caine trying to end Sara’s pregnancy are atmospheric and convey a genuine sense of fear and paranoia. Just like the nightmare-scene, it’s a well shot and edited scene. But the most memorable and effective scenes are those set in the asylum where Foschi’s Arab assassin is locked up. With its plexiglas rooms it is disorienting and claustrophobic.

The inconclusive ending is maybe a bit of a let down, but there is enough to enjoy. Ennio Morricone’s clichéd score works well enough.

Random Contamination Screenshots

Contamination, 1980. Directed by Luigi Cozzi. With Ian McCullovh and Louise Marleau.

This is said by director Luigi Cozzi in a making off... Very charming, very sweet...








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Commander Ian Hubbard: "But...but...these are photographs of the eggs."


Colonel Stella Holmes: "Yes, that is correct."


Ian Hubbard: "When we were on Mars, there were millions of eggs..."


"...They were all green, just like the one in your photograph."

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"Help! Help me!"


"...There's an egg in here!"

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"What is it you want to know? How many times a week I screw?"


"It's quite obvious you couldn't get it up, even if you used a crane!"