LIBERI ARMATI PERICOLOSI aka. YOUNG VIOLENT DANGEROUS of 1976 seemed promising to me for a variety of reasons. Being a hardcore fan of Italian cult-cinema I am always looking forward to watching gritty Poliziotteschi from the 70s, in particular when the script was written by master filmmaker Fernando Di Leo (MILANO CALIBRO 9, LA MALA ORDINA, IL BOSS,...) and the credited star is the great Tomas Milian, whose impressive career covers the leads in all sorts of Italian cult movies, and Poliziotteschi in particular (most notably Umberto Lenzi's films such as the brutal 1974 masterpiece MILANO ODIA: LA POLIZIA NON PUÒ SPARARE).
While YOUNG, VIOLENT, DANGEROUS (which is a wrong translation as the original Italian title translates "Free, Armed, Dangerous") is an entertaining and worthwhile film, I cannot deny that I was slightly disappointed in director Romolo Guerriri's movie. My two main complaints are the fact that Tomas Milian had far too little screen time, and that the musical score was crap (by the high genre standards). The Italian Poliziottesco is a politically incorrect, brutal, gritty and testosterone-driven genre, and a large part of the greatness of its violent and sleazy masterpieces consisted in the greatness of its scores which accentuated the grit and action. The score to this movie is the constant repetition a boring and wussy-sounding hippie-song which seems terribly out of place.
My second complaint about the movie is Tomas Milian's role. Milian is cool as always, but his role is far too small. Also, Poliziotteschi-cops are meant to be unorthodox ruffians who hate criminals and take the law in their own hands, as opposed to sensitive social workers who blame society for the evil-doings of criminals. The movie is about a bunch of spoiled kids from good families who start robbing and killing people just for the heck of it. Their trigger-happy leader is played by Stefano Patrici, who is best known for being offed by tough-cop Maurizio Merli in Umberto Lenzi's ROMA A MANO ARMATA (1976). The youths are violent all right, but they are also quite annoying, especially one idiot with a stupid grin who constantly cracks painful jokes. The 'good' female lead is played by the beautiful Elonora Giorgi, who is best known for her role in Dario Argento's INFERNO (1980).
In 1974, Tomas Milian had played one of the all-time greatest villains as the diabolical Giulio Sacchi in Lenzi's masterpiece MILANO ODIA. Also a murderous psychopath on the loose, Giulio Sacchi was sadistic and purely evil, and believable in just that. The baby-faced killers in this film tend to annoy. Nonetheless, the film has its qualities. It is gritty and sometimes quite suspenseful, and it has several outbursts of sleaze and bloody violence. The cinematography is great, especially the car-chases are very well-filmed.
Overall, LIBERI ARMATI PERICOLOSI is a decent-enough film that should entertain my fellow Eurocrime fans. However, the genre has brought forth many films that are far better; people who are not yet too familiar with Poliziotteschi are well-advised to check out anything by Umberto Lenzi, Fernando Di Leo or Enzo Castellari before this.
While YOUNG, VIOLENT, DANGEROUS (which is a wrong translation as the original Italian title translates "Free, Armed, Dangerous") is an entertaining and worthwhile film, I cannot deny that I was slightly disappointed in director Romolo Guerriri's movie. My two main complaints are the fact that Tomas Milian had far too little screen time, and that the musical score was crap (by the high genre standards). The Italian Poliziottesco is a politically incorrect, brutal, gritty and testosterone-driven genre, and a large part of the greatness of its violent and sleazy masterpieces consisted in the greatness of its scores which accentuated the grit and action. The score to this movie is the constant repetition a boring and wussy-sounding hippie-song which seems terribly out of place.
My second complaint about the movie is Tomas Milian's role. Milian is cool as always, but his role is far too small. Also, Poliziotteschi-cops are meant to be unorthodox ruffians who hate criminals and take the law in their own hands, as opposed to sensitive social workers who blame society for the evil-doings of criminals. The movie is about a bunch of spoiled kids from good families who start robbing and killing people just for the heck of it. Their trigger-happy leader is played by Stefano Patrici, who is best known for being offed by tough-cop Maurizio Merli in Umberto Lenzi's ROMA A MANO ARMATA (1976). The youths are violent all right, but they are also quite annoying, especially one idiot with a stupid grin who constantly cracks painful jokes. The 'good' female lead is played by the beautiful Elonora Giorgi, who is best known for her role in Dario Argento's INFERNO (1980).
In 1974, Tomas Milian had played one of the all-time greatest villains as the diabolical Giulio Sacchi in Lenzi's masterpiece MILANO ODIA. Also a murderous psychopath on the loose, Giulio Sacchi was sadistic and purely evil, and believable in just that. The baby-faced killers in this film tend to annoy. Nonetheless, the film has its qualities. It is gritty and sometimes quite suspenseful, and it has several outbursts of sleaze and bloody violence. The cinematography is great, especially the car-chases are very well-filmed.
Overall, LIBERI ARMATI PERICOLOSI is a decent-enough film that should entertain my fellow Eurocrime fans. However, the genre has brought forth many films that are far better; people who are not yet too familiar with Poliziotteschi are well-advised to check out anything by Umberto Lenzi, Fernando Di Leo or Enzo Castellari before this.