- An action-packed thriller about a frustrated crime victim who takes the law into his own hands. Violence in the streets is the predictable result. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR Age: 827058104890 UPC: 827058104890 Manufacturer No: BU1048
Description
ROBBERY. ASSAULT. MURDER. ONE MAN HAS HAD ENOUGH!The legendary Franco Nero (of DJANGO and DIE HARD 2 fame) stars as Carlo Antonelli, an average citizen until the day he is brutally beaten during a violent robbery. But when the police drop the case and the suspects remain free, Carlo is pushed beyond his breaking point. Now one man will launch an all-out war against the criminal scum who plague our cities, where justice has its own rules, vengeance needs no badge and the onl… More >>
I’m really tired of the shoddy DVD manufacturing used by many studios and distributors.
This is a great film. I have it on tape. I was thrilled to see it’d been released on DVD. I love Italian knock-offs of American films (STREET LAW seems inspired by DEATH WISH), and I’m a Barbara Bach fan.
So I bought this STREET LAW DVD brand new, as soon as Amazon offered it, without waiting for the price to go down. I unwrap the pristine-looking DVDm pop it into the player, and after a few minutes it pauses.
Then it pauses again. It pauses constantly throughout the film. I mean at least once a minute, often several times a minute. Pause, pause, pause. Most of the pauses are brief, some last several seconds. I eventually took out the DVD, cleaned it, but it didn’t help. I suffered through 50 minutes of this film, then gave up.
VHS was a decent format. Tape had problems, but nowhere near as bad as DVD, with all the skipping and scratching. (And Google “DVD rot” — see what comes up.)
Still, changing formats is a great way for studios to resell us movies we’d already bought, so I guess it makes sense for them.
I don’t know whether I got a bad copy of STREET LAW, or if this DVD is part of a bad batch, or how widespread the problem is. But beware.
Rating: 1 / 5
Superb opening to this movie with some excellent and brutal action scenes / effects involving crime on the streets of Italy. One very memorable signature tune / song is the only other stand out in what amounts to a fairly average movie once the credits have rolled. There is some impressive stunt work by Franco Nero and his co-stars, but none of it tops the film’s opening and the final climax is an anti-climax. There is some fun to be had watching Franco Nero over-act especially when he takes a beating in a muddy puddle, but otherwise I found this film to be just average, Barbara Bach is wasted in this. Blue Underground have delivered their usual high standard DVD treatment, with only a few frames looking a bit rough. As a long term fan of this great DVD company I can’t help thinking they could be working their magic on more interesting and sought after genre fair than this movie, perhaps The Big Racket and Heroin Busters will make more of an impression on me.
Rating: 2 / 5
This motion picture was release in the USA in February 1976 starring the beautiful Barbara Bach as Barbara, Franco Nero as Carlo Antonelli, and Giancarlo Prete as Tommy. The picture opens showing these three thugs riding around in Europe robbing people, beating them up, killing them and anything else they wanted to do. In addition, no one could stop them. One day Carol Antonelli goes into his bank to deposit some money when out of nowhere the three thugs that the law is looking for comes in and robs the place. To add insult to injury the three thugs take Carlo as there hostage. As thug are driving and trying to get away from the cops who are chasing them, they beat the hell out of Carlo. The thugs abandon the car and get into another leaving the bloody and battered Carlo alone. Enters Barbara Bach. Who is sitting in the room as Carlo tries to explain his story of his beating and robbery to the local police. Carlo doesn’t like the treatment by the local authorities so he decides to take things into his own hands. Enters Giancarlo Prete. Tommy is a young man who tries to make a living by robbing nickel and dime places. Carlo takes pictures of Tommy robbing a store and frames him in to trying to find the three thugs that robbed him and beat him up. Now some of my own personal thoughts on this picture! I was really disappointed with this picture. I thought Franco Nero was a bad actor, because the role he played as the victim was horrendous. I thing that Pierce Bronson or Chuck Norris could have played this role a lot better. The reason that I bought this movie, Barbara Bach was in it. Her beautiful body and her acting was a total wasted in this picture. She had maybe four scenes and they were not very long either. Therefore based on the acting of Franco Nero, no leading woman and they wasted Barbara Bach beauty and talent I give this movie 2 weasel stars and that’s being gentle
Rating: 1 / 5
I am a huge fan of vigilante movies, and STREET LAW is a prime example of the genre.
The film opens promisingly with a series of violent crimes – some hooligans break into a flat and engage in vandalism, business men are gunned down or kidnapped, a pair of baddies forcefully take away a man’s briefcase and escape on a motorcycle, while the victim holds on to the speeding vehicle… Italy’s peaceful citizens are under attack from the criminal scum! We then are witness to another hold-up: three masked and heavily armed gangsters raid a post office, where Carlo ANTONELLI (the great FRANCO NERO of the DJANGO spaghetti westerns fame) makes the mistake to defy them and is taken hostage during the gangster’s escape. The baddies beat ANTONELLI up, but let him go. Fed up with the authorities, which do nothing to protect innocent citizens from the violent scum, ANTONELLI decides to take the law into his own hands and hunt down his captors…
Wow! A great Italian vigilante movie! Admittedly the story is not overly original (but then again how much variation can there be to a basic revenge plot?), but STREET LAW delivers. Franco NERO turns in a powerhouse performance. Also the other actors are convincing in their roles – I particularly liked Romano PUPPI as the boss of the gang. Barbara BACH, who would later marry Ringo STARR, plays NERO’s love interest. Admittedly she is not much of an actress, but nice to look at.
With the noteable exception of a great scene, where a baddie unsuccessfully tries to run NERO over with his car (great stuntwork on display here!), most of the action takes place at the beginning and the end of the film. The final confrontation between NERO’s character and the gang in an abandonded factory is violent and great action film making at its best. The film is helped immensly by a great soundtrack, delivered by the deANGELIS brothers, Guido and Maurizio, which will stay in your mind long after the film has ended. I also liked the twist at the end of the movie, which was clearly inspired by(or one could also say blatantly ripps off) DEATH WISH.
While the STREET LAW DVD does not have the plethora of extra features of other Blue Underground DVDs, there is nothing to complain about either. There is a 17 minute interview with both director Enzo G. CASTELLARI and star Franco NERO. CASTELLARI recalls working with NERO, how STREET LAW reflected the time of its making with skyrocketing crime rates and how the critics dismissed the movie as “right wing extremism.” NERO comments on his working relationship with CASTELLARI and on the soundtrack. All in all, a very informative interview feature! There is also the trailer for STREET LAW (which runs over 3 minutes and sells the film well without giving too much away) and a brief US TV spot. The cover artwork of the DVD is also excellent! Fans of violent 1970ies Italian crime flicks and vigilante movies in the DEATH WISH vein are well advised to check STREET LAW out!!
Rating: 5 / 5
Il Cittadino si ribella,or Street Law, by Enzo G. Castellari
filmed in 1974, will appeal above all to the director’s fanbase,
as well as those who have a modicum of fascination with the
sociological and historical aspects that are shown in the movie.
e.g. there are extensive high speed car chases despicting the core
of major cities in Italy. The FIAT model cars from the 70’s, are
comical, such as model 127, or 125, Morris Mini, Mercedes, Ford
compacts, Alfa Romeo, etc. There are other aspects that are also
interesting, such as the European aspects to the scenes, the
interiors to Italian homes that were typical of the time, somewhat
dated in terms of construction made today.
Giancarlo Prete is at his best, in this movie, as compared to his
other one New Barbarians, with the humor, optimistic aspects to
his dialogs, while Franco Nero, brings the more physical,
intellectual and deeper mood to the acting. Barbara Bach brings
feminine and much visual appeal, especially by constituting a
contrast to the other actors, and one-dimensional aspects to this
film’s story. She had not yet hit the bigtime, later as a Bond
girl, of course, when this film was shot.
There are a number of positive aspects to cover, not the least of
which is the amazing crystal clear digital transfer to DVD 30
years after the movie was made, coupled with the adrenalin pumping
action scenes, ranging from a stolen purse by a motorbiker, a
store heist, a bank robbery, a car jacking, molotov cocktails
setting building ablaze, etc.
The soundtrack is a mixed bag, some great elements inspired from
the Animals’s Eric Burdon, to Rolling Stones (Coming Down Again,
Goat’s Head Soup, or Black and Blue’s Memory Hotel), to Doors,
etc. combining superb lead and base guitar work, and also on keys.
The vocals are the sore spot, as the singer clearly was short on
experience, training and range from his dead-pan delivery,
something also sorely seen in Day of the Cobra.
The plot is about an innocent banking customer who loses his
deposit during a heist, is unable to get it back or win any
cooperative with police, and resolves training himself to become a
police detective, and to purse his agressors on his own time and
dime as a vigilante.
Nero admits having rushed Castellari in filming this movie, and
unfortunately, it shows, considering the leaps of logic and holes
in the story that the public will perceive, as well as the lack of
fully mulling over how realistic it was to have a double-agent in
the underworld team up with Nero, to bust up the bad guys, and
become his best pal, for reasons not fully explained in the
narrative. Those downsides surely could have been worked out, had
the director been allowed the 3 or 4 months he had anticipated vs.
the 2 weeks Nero allowed to start shooting.
Rating: 3 / 5