The 1978 Italian Double Feature: Damned In Venice and Blazing Bullets

Hey folks. It's the beginning of the week, and that means another dose of Italian cinema. This week I've got a pair of features for you that both made their way to the screen 31 years ago in 1978. First up, Dammned in Venice manages to rip off The Omen and still come out on top. Then all the fast and furious Fiats you could want in Blazing Bullets. So comb your mustaches, pour a double shot of J&B Whiskey, and enjoy this pair of films brought to you by The Bugg and Once Upon a Time in Italy.

Damned in Venice (1978) [Italian: Nero veneziano] starring Renato Cestie, Rena Niehaus, and Yorgo Voyagis. Directed by Ugo Liberatore.

A young blind boy, Mark (Renato Cestie) begins to have visions of death and tragedy as he and his sister Christine (Rena Niehaus) go to live in a boarding house in Venice. His sister ignores his warning of a dark force that seeks to invade their lives even as people around them start to die. After Dan (Yorgo Voyagis), who Mark has seen in his visions, takes a room in the house, Christine soon becomes pregnant with what Mark believes is the child of Satan. Unable to find any help, and perhaps even being a pawn in the game, Mark is helpless to prevent the birth of the Antichrist and the coming Apocalypse.

Damned in Venice was not the first, or the last, of the Omen/Rosemary’s Baby clones released in Italy in the late seventies, but for my money, it may well be nearly the best. Other than the plot revolving around the birth of the Antichrist, there is little to the that seems unoriginal. While the pacing of the movie is a bit slow, the twists and turns of the plot will leave even the most studious of watchers guessing right up until the very last scenes. I’m no fan of remakes, but I would love to see this forgotten film get a retelling.

I even have to give it up for young Ronato Cestie for a pretty fine performance as Mark. Child actors in low budget features are usually not very adept at their roles, but Cestie gets high marks from me. He not only does a good job selling his blindness, but he also gives a fine performance as he helplessly watches his sister overwhelmed by the powers of darkness. Cestie was no stranger to the screen by this point having had roles in Fulci’s The Return of White Fang, Martino’s Torso, and Mario Bava’s classic Twitch of a Death Nerve.

The other performances that ground the film are quite good as well. Rena Niehaus transitions Christine quite well from innocent young girl to the “Mary” of Satan’s evil plot. Yorgo Voyagis (Pavlo in the classic Zorba the Greek) provides the necessary amount of menace as the carrier of Satan’s seed, and Fabio Gamma, playing the man who weds Christine even though she is already with child, is fabulous. His performance as the tortured husband, and the only one who accepts Mark’s visions, is the emotional linchpin of the piece. Also watch out for a brief appearance by Greek actress Olga Karlatos who would go on to star in Fulci’s Murder Rock and play Prince’s mom in the film Purple Rain.

For anyone who is a fan of films like Beyond the Door or Carpi’s Ring of Darkness, you’ll find a lot to like here. The supernatural elements are kept pretty low key, and mostly they are relegated to within Mark’s eerie visions. This gives the film a tone that almost combines the supernatural with a giallo. It is difficult to see where the film is headed, but by the time you get to the destination it is a conclusion that will leave you with chills running down your spine.

Bugg Rating

Blazing Bullets (a.k.a Blazing Flowers) starring Marc Porel, George Hilton, Al Cliver, and Mario Novelli. Directed by Gianni Martucci.

Pino (Porel) is a nice young man who just happens to be getting out of jail after a 6 year stint for armed robbery. Pino Scalise is also a heck of a driver, but those days are behind him. As he leaves the jail in Sicily, he heads out for a new life with his uncle in Milan. He even gets a job driving, but just loads of flowers this time. Pino begins to settle in to his new life, and his uncle sends him out for a night on the town. Running into an old underworld friend, Pino spends a night in a high class brothel with a beautiful woman. It’s not until later he discovers the woman, Firoella, is actually his cousin Mariana. Furious that his cousin is being kept as a prostitute, he makes connections to get her freedom with the head of the local mafia, Don Chicco. A deal is struck, and Pino must take the wheel for one last job.

The original Italian title to this film, Milano... difendersi o moiré, is roughly translated to mean “Milan to defend themselves or to die”. I think this gives a better picture to what the movie is than the American or UK re-titles. This is the age old tale of a criminal trying to stay on the straight and narrow, and being forced back into crime for noble reasons. Some would say I left a giant hole in my synopsis when I failed to bring in George Hilton’s hard edged cop, Inspector Morani. While I enjoyed Hilton’s performance, the film really takes its cues and center from the story of Pino Scalise.

Writer/Director Gianni Martucci has only five credits in his directing career with the last being 1988’s The Red Monk produced by Lucio Fulci. I bring this up because there is a strong Fulci connection throughout this film. Lead actor Marc Porel appeared in The Psychic and Don’t Torture a Duckling, George Hilton in Massacre Time, Al Cliver of Zombi 2 shows up here as a smooth criminal, and The New Gladiators’ Mario Novelli rounds it out as the hood who gets Pino back in the life. Even cinematographer Gianni Ferrio has a Fulci connection as he was the shooter for the Fulci/Lenzi mess of a film Zombi 3, but don’t hold that against him. Here he provides some amazing shots which showcase the actors and the beauty of Milan perfectly.

This is the kind of Euro-Crime flick that I like. There’s a good main story, and lots of nice subplots. There are beautiful women and the screen oozes with style from both of the sexes. It’s got fistfights, shootouts, and car crashes a plenty. It’s got criminals with cool names like Nosey and Domino. Then there’s the evocative soundtrack of Gianni Ferrio which comes across more like the soundtrack to a film noir, and gives Blazing Bullets a sense of grandness. This feeling juxtaposes the mundane life Pino craves with the criminal life he must bear. I would be remiss if I did not mention this. There’s the most amazing cigarette dispenser I’ve ever seen about thirty minutes into the film. So if you like action, Euro-crime, or Poliziotteschi flicks, check this one out.

Bugg Rating

Unfortunately, neither of these gems have any trailers of clips I can offer you. But you can pick up both of these through Cinema de Bizarre. So head on over, pick them up, and make sure you tell them T.L. sent ya.

Enzo Castellari's The Heroin Busters (1977)

It’s Monday folks and as usual I’m diggin’ in The Grab Bag once again. Seeing as Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds release is getting closer, I thought I’d sit down and take a look at the film Castellari put out directly before his original film Inglorious Bastards. If it was made today, people would say Enzo was ripping off Quentin, but all he did was merely make a film that fans of genre film like me, and you, and Quentin Tarantino can get our Politzia fix from. And that’s the strongest thing we should touch too, because you learn quite well that you don’t want to cross…

The Heroin Busters [Italian: Vie della droga, La] (1977) starring Fabio Testi, David Hemmings, Wolfangle Soldati, Sherry Buchanan, Directed by Enzo Castellari. 

The drug trade has spread all over the world, and Mike Hamilton of INTERPOL is determined to put a stop to it.  He's working with an undercover cop played by Fabio Testi whose name we never learn. The back of his jacket is emblazoned with the name 'Matt', but he is never called by that name, and in the credits to the film he is listed as playing Fabio. So, Testi himself has gone into deep cover in the drug trade, and he gets pulled into Hamilton's investigation when zealous customs officials bust Fabio but let a big time dealer through. When the cops do manage to get on the right target, the drug runner outsmarts them and gets away with the goods. 

After setting all of this kick ass action premise up, Castellari took a moment to include a little after school special into the film. We see some young teens try to buy some junk from Wolfgangle Soldati's character Gilo. Right in front of the impressionable duo, Gilo gets jumped and savagely beaten.  That's taking Scared Straight to the extreme! Well, of course, Gilo gets carted off to jail and ends up in a cell with our buddy Testi. It seems Testi is so serious about his cover that he's just going to stay in jail. So they make friends, and what do friends do but bust out of jail together. Fabio is looking to use Gilo as another way to the inside of the drug racket. 

It turns out that Gilo's girlfriend is some kind of dancer, and her choreographer, Mossimo,  is the big middleman in the operation. Testi strikes a deal with them. This is all going on while we also take in scenes of a junkie being "taken care of" by her mother, pot pushers depressed that "no one is into grass anymore", and shots of lesbian sex which may or may not have been a junkie's drug addled fantasy. Each of these separate story lines weave their way though the others. Some of them end up being quite short, and in the case of Gilo, much shorter than I would have liked. At a bit over the hour mark, Gilo in his desperation agrees to go on an armed robbery, and he gets killed for his trouble.

Gilo's dancer girlfriend gets put down by a hot shot before she can go to the cops. Mossimo and his boys watch over her as she overdoses. Upon seeing the what is going on, Leonardo Scavino's hashish dealer admonishes the killers and declaims, "You must believe me because I am one of them. We are all sons of bitches." The gang, naturally doesn't really care, and it's back to business as usual. Soon Testi is at the point where he is going to get found out, and makes his move. He puts a kink in their operation, but now, with his identity revealed, he becomes a hunted man. With both the police and the cops on his tale, Fabio races against time to stop the head of the drug ring from escaping, even if it means chasing on foot, on a motorcycle, or with a plane. 

The Heroin Busters was the perfect mix of actors, action, and acumen. Testi, the  legend, turns in another credible role as a badass, and coupled with the rumpled suit charisma of David Hemmings, the two make a pretty good team. The first third of the film is slow, but once Gilo's story gets going things pick up a bit. Then when the poor boy meets his fate, you are basically at the start of the last third of the film, the chase. I have rarely been more entertained by this lengthy an action sequence, but Castellari managed to keep you guessing with some interesting scenarios. All of the action is propelled by the styling of Goblin who turned out one of their better non-horror scores I have heard from them. This is one that sticks in the mind, and I'll be wanting the main theme on my iPod as soon as I can find it. 

Castellari and cinematographer Giovalli Bergamini would work together four more times after this film, including on Inglorious Bastards. One thing The Heroin Busters shares with IB are the well staged action set pieces, and while the WWII film would be able to do much bigger explosions than Busters, all the action is intense and believable. The real problem is contained right there. While the action seems very real world, the story has plot holes that just can't be explained. Fabio should have been a dead man long ago. The Smack dealers would not let him get by on his charms alone. 

This is a minor gripe though. Much like other Italian fare that I love, if you deliver style, some substance, and entertainment, then you're OK in my book. Enzo is far more than OK. A director who never fails to disappoint, and who always leaves you excited for the next one of his films. Castellari is a master at making the audience hang in there for what might happen next, and sometimes, what happens is a movie like The Heroin Busters. 

Bug Rating

The Grab Bag: Violent Rome (1975)

Hello folks. It’s the last week of February all ready, but don’t fret. I still have lots of great stuff left this week, and tons more planned for March. Today I’m covering another movie that I bought from the great folks over at Cinema de Bizarre, and if you haven’t gone over there to check their stock out, you really owe it to yourself to do so. 

While you’re there sign up for their bi-monthly newsletter, and not only will you get the scoop on all their newest finds, you’ll also get exclusive content from the Bugg. That’s right! Starting with the March newsletter you’ll be able to find out what I think of some of the new titles from Cinema de Bizarre in my section “De Bizarre World of T.L. Bugg”. Sign up now to get in on the March newsletter, and when you order from those fine folks, make sure you let them know the Bugg sent you. 

Now on with the show, and I tackle my first Poliziotteschi title when we take a trip to….

Violent Rome (197 5) starring Maurizio Marli, Ray Lovelock, Richard Conte, and John Steiner. Directed by Marino Girolami.

Comissionario Betti (Marli) is the very definition of a loose cannon. He’s a cop with his own methods and his own morals, and they don’t parallel with the wishes of his superiors. After his brother was killed during the commission of a crime, Betti started to take every crime he gets involved in personally, and he will stop at nothing to catch the thugs involved. During a particularly bloody attempt to stop a bank robbery, Betti’s Special Branch friend Biondi (Lovelock) is shot and paralyzed. Consumed with anger, Betti chases down the perpetrator and shoots him down in cold blood. 

The shooting was deemed unjustified. Betti is let go from the force but, he soon finds another way to dispatch criminals and deal out his brand of justice. He is approached by Attorney Sartori (Conte) and many other members of the community who have banded together to form an extremely militant neighborhood watch. Once Betti joins their ranks, he brings the war against crime to the streets of violent Rome, and criminals have nowhere to run. 

Film Facts

--Maurizio Marli rose to fame in the movies because of similar appearance to Franco Nero. 

--Marli and Comissionario Betti returned in two sequels to this film, 1976’s Violent Naples (directed by Umberto Lenzi) and A Special Cop in Action again with Girolami.

--This was the last film for actor Richard Conte. He was probably best known as Don Barzini in The Godfather. 

The Bug Speaks

This being my very first Poliziotteschi, I want to say right off that I’m already tired of spelling that word. So from henceforth, I’ll go with Italo-crime since I won’t have to look up how to spell it each time. For an introduction to the genre this was a pretty good film, but I definitely had some issues with it as well. It was packed with action, car chases, and fistfights, but it was lacking in the kind of cohesive narrative I felt it needed.

I‘m going to start with my problem first since I like most of this film very much. The way the film was laid out, and the pacing of the flick made it feel positively episodic. In fact, so much so, I wondered if I was watching some kind of prehistoric crossbreed of The Shield and Dragnet. There were very defined segments to the film which basically break down to 1) Betti‘s a Badass, 2) Betti‘s In Trouble Now!, 3) Betti Meets Some New Friends, and 4) Betti‘s Final Showdown. With such clean breaks between each one, each has the flavor of a continuing story, but it feels like it has problems coming together as a film. This may be due to each segment being about 15 minutes of plot development and 15 minutes of chasing/ fighting/shooting/etc. 

With that gripe out of the way, I get to spend the rest of this review talking about what I really liked about this film, and there's a lot to say.  There’s no better place to start that than with the film’s star, Maurizio Marli. I really liked the character of Betti, and found the man very fascinating, although obviously cut from a similar cloth as “Dirty“Harry Callahan. Betti is multilayered and his justification for violating civil rights “in order to protect freedom”  conjures just the right set up for Betti's dogged, righteous insanity. I have this feeling that Betti and the Batman might have some common ground, but decidedly different tailors. 

Marli's wasn’t the only great performance in the film (although his mustache deserved its own mention in the credits). Ray Lovelock (recently seen on The Lair in Murder Rock) does a really fine job in a fairly small role. Lovelock only shows up a few times in the film as Betti's undercover pal. His scenes with Marli easily define the men’s relationship, and in the end, it does seem the men are extremely close. Richard Conte also brings it strong as the lawyer turned crime fighter. The scene where he is held captive and made to watch his daughter being raped is every bit as brutal as the similar scene in Clockwork Orange. 

Violent Rome also features a kick ass soundtrack by veteran composers The De Angelis Brothers. They have scored many films (including a Bugg favorite At the Mountain of the Cannibal God) and this time they made full use of funk and disco vibes in the composition. In fact there are so many seventies flourishes, the theme song manages to out flute even the mighty Jethro Tull. Cinematographer Fauto Zuccoli would lens the whole of the Betti trilogy, and he gave this film a very gritty look while maintaining a very real feeling. He doesn’t get much help from the foley sound men here though. The fight scenes are packed with irrationally loud smacks as fists fly. It’s really kind of too bad; while it adds to the cheese factor, it kind of detracts from the appearance of the dangerous city to be filled with cartoonish sounding violence. 

So with only a couple of detractions, I found this movie to be a great introduction into the Italio-crime genre. Yet I feel I haven't properly conveyed the flavor of this film. It also delivers a gang brawl in a rug warehouse that ranks as one of my favorite mass fight scenes, and then the the tale of an undercover cop dressed like a grandma to take down a gang of purse snatchers. However while these distractions are entertaining, they add to the episodic feeling. I will definitely be checking out the further adventures of Betti, and I really encourage you folks to do the same.After all, anywhere you go around the world there is crime, but only in Italy do their cops say ”Chow”, and dress so well, and act so suave. 

Bug Rating

No Trailer, but heres a clip that is appropriately titled, Slapping out Justice.