Review of Blood and Bullets

Italian tough guy "Knell" (as in a funeral bell), played by George Eastman, comes back to New York City to avenge the death of his father. He gets in a shootout right in the airport with half a dozen armed goons in hockey masks, but amazingly the American police don't arrest him, but just tell him to watch his "p's" and "q's". After briefly reuniting with his childhood girlfriend (Jenny Tamburi), he proceeds to go after his enemies. In typical 70's Italian action movie fashion, his revenge is pretty cynical--he teams up with one vicious mob boss (Jack Palance) so he can go after another vicious mob boss and the corrupt cops that killed his father. His "avenging" really isn't all that "bloody", however--there's a couple high speed chases and shoot-outs, but really nothing that couldn't have played on network television as far as violence goes.

Eastman, who's probably most famous for appearing Joe D'Amato horror movies like "Anthrophagus", plays a rather interesting character. He's so monomaniacally focused on revenge he doesn't even avail himself of the various women he encounters, like Tamburi's virgin or the stripper sister of his father's former partner. Both women, of course, still have incredibly gratuitous full-frontal nude scenes (Tamburi gets tied-up at one point wearing only her birthday suit--commence drooling), but "Knell" himself is interested in nothing but vengeance.

This is far from the best Italian crime thriller I've ever seen, but it's not entirely unenjoyable either.