Violent City is an Italian crime film starring Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas. It was directed by Sergio Sollima who made the notable spaghetti western, The Big Gundown. It's about a hit-man from New Orleans who is framed for a crime by a Mafia boss who has also stolen his girlfriend.
This is a pretty middling poliziotteschi with some good moments. It begins very well indeed though, with an energetic Ennio Morricone theme playing over stylish credits, followed immediately with a very dramatic car chase topped off with a by bloody gun battle. There's almost no dialogue at all for the opening ten minutes that encompasses this action – it's all very cinematic and exciting. It would only be fair to say that this section is the best part of the movie as a whole. Once the narrative kicks in, it gets a little melodramatic with a plot-line that is quite messily told and not especially inspired. Bronson is solid enough in the lead role – he certainly looks the part. Savalas is very good as the crime boss and his screen charisma certainly counts for quite a lot, it's a pity he didn't have a more expansive role. The overall dynamics between all the characters isn't as interesting as it might have been though, meaning the story is not always as engaging as it could be.
There is a limited supply of action scenes but they are sometimes quite memorable, such as the racing car smashing through a brick wall. While the lift scene at the end was very well staged with dramatic use of sound - or lack of it rather. Another moment that had me more baffled was the whole sequence involving the large spider in the jail cell; it was played out in a decidedly surreal manner that felt like was from another movie entirely, it seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever and felt suspiciously like Sollima had got hold of the – extremely creepy – mechanical spider thing and just wanted to use it in his film, so wrote it in utterly randomly! All-in-all, one for fans of Italian crime flicks, although it's certainly not one of the best examples of this genre. There is, however, some well shot action, a couple of B-movie legends and a muscular Morricone soundtrack – so there is definitely enough reasons to check it out if you like this kind of stuff.
This is a pretty middling poliziotteschi with some good moments. It begins very well indeed though, with an energetic Ennio Morricone theme playing over stylish credits, followed immediately with a very dramatic car chase topped off with a by bloody gun battle. There's almost no dialogue at all for the opening ten minutes that encompasses this action – it's all very cinematic and exciting. It would only be fair to say that this section is the best part of the movie as a whole. Once the narrative kicks in, it gets a little melodramatic with a plot-line that is quite messily told and not especially inspired. Bronson is solid enough in the lead role – he certainly looks the part. Savalas is very good as the crime boss and his screen charisma certainly counts for quite a lot, it's a pity he didn't have a more expansive role. The overall dynamics between all the characters isn't as interesting as it might have been though, meaning the story is not always as engaging as it could be.
There is a limited supply of action scenes but they are sometimes quite memorable, such as the racing car smashing through a brick wall. While the lift scene at the end was very well staged with dramatic use of sound - or lack of it rather. Another moment that had me more baffled was the whole sequence involving the large spider in the jail cell; it was played out in a decidedly surreal manner that felt like was from another movie entirely, it seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever and felt suspiciously like Sollima had got hold of the – extremely creepy – mechanical spider thing and just wanted to use it in his film, so wrote it in utterly randomly! All-in-all, one for fans of Italian crime flicks, although it's certainly not one of the best examples of this genre. There is, however, some well shot action, a couple of B-movie legends and a muscular Morricone soundtrack – so there is definitely enough reasons to check it out if you like this kind of stuff.