Bezenby When hard cop Luc Merenda discovers that the old cop he was just talking to that morning has been blown away by some escaped convicts, in addition to several other cops and an child, Luc dispenses justice the only way he knows how - by gunning the bad guys down in cold blood in front of all his colleagues. His superior tells Luc to cool it, then goes off to blow the lid on something he's discovered, getting himself murdered in the process. Now Luc's mad as hell and suspended from the force to boot, so he does the only thing he can - poses as a pimp to get access to a local gang as a getaway driver. That's a plan so daft that you'd have to bitch slap an awful lot of people to get there...and it works.Sure, Luc got a couple of women killed by accident when he called the cops on that robbery (plus the boyfriend of a junky girl who helps him out, plus I guess he gets her cooled too when I think about it), but it does get him noticed by local legitimate businessman Richard Conte, who might employ him, but wants him to demonstrate some mad GTA San Andreas type skills behind the wheel of a car. Does Luc feel guilty about those two women? I don't think he had the time. Of course, this is no straightforward film where Luc just gets his revenge on the bad guys, there's also some politics involved, as it seems the gang are more interested in causing as much havoc as possible than grabbing money, and someone may even be pulling Richard Conte's strings too.Although not up there with the best of the crime films, Violent Professionals is still a good film if you like these kind of things. You know, car chases, people firing guns at each other, Richard Conte's terrible stunt double, Luc Merenda violently assaulting everyone, funky music, smoking. Luc Merenda by the way looks like a really skinny Arnie and is very good at staring at things. Luciano Rossi turns up at the beginning to get himself shot too.

Michael A. Martinez MILANO TREMA boasts some nice Milan location work and some very well-handled action sequences by Sergio Martino. The proceedings however get a little bogged down with a few too many subplots, unlikable characters, and lots and lots of talking about politics. Ernesto Gastaldi was one of the best of Italy's genre movie screenwriters, always able to inject some realism and dimensionality even into the small bit players. There's even some successful intentional humor, particularly during Luc Merenda's successful infiltration of a bank heist racket even though he's (a former?) chief of police.The car chases in this film really take the cake though as some of the best of the genre, and quite early in the cycle too. Footage from the chases popped up in numerous other crime films, particularly Umberto Lenzi's. Also, a lot of the same henchmen would pop up in film to film from here on out. While at first I was irked that the two bumbling goons (Claudio Ruffini and Sergio Smacchi) who get tasked with tailing Merenda around just disappear without any resolution, I was delighted to see teamed again (possibly as the same characters?) in such films as THE CYNIC THE RAT AND THE FIST.Granted, the success of this film, along with HIGH CRIME led to an explosion of Italian crime movies over the rest of the decade. The two films share much in common including featuring a fisticuffs- loving inspector using extreme methods to rid his city of crime to the tune of Guido and Maurizio De Angelis music. Oh yes, and Silvano Tranquilli appears in both, though his character here much less intimidating.

Witchfinder General 666 The great Sergio Martino is doubtlessly best known for his Giallo masterpieces such as the elegant LO STANO VIZIO DELLA SIGNORA WARDH (THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS WARDH, 1971), the convoluted IL CODA DELLO SCORPIONE (THE SCORPION'S TAIL, 1971), the insanely brilliant IL TUO VIZIO È UNA STANZA CHIUSA E SOLO NE HO LA CHIAVE (YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, 1972, maybe my choice for my all-time favorite Giallo), the dark and obscure TUTTI I COLORI DEL BUIO (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, 1972) or the delightfully nasty I CORPI PRESENTANO TRACCE DI VIOLENZIA CARNALE (TORSO, 1973). A true master of the Giallo-genre Martino has also delivered great films in many other (sub-)genres of Italian cult-cinema, be it Western (MANNAJA, 1977), Cannibal-flick (LA MONTAGNA DEL DIO CANNIBALE, 1978), Post-Nuke Action (219 - DOPO LA CADUTA DI NEW YORK, 1983) or weird monster movie (L'ISOLA DEGLI UOMINI PESCE, 1979). The gritty and violent MILANO TREMA - LA POLIZIA VUOLE GIUSTIZIA aka. THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS of 1973 is another great example for Martino's versatility as a filmmaker.Many of the greatest Poliziotteschi of the 70s were set in Milan, and while MILANO TREMA can not quite compete with the two greatest genre-masterpieces that carry the Northern Italian city's name in their title (Fernando Di Leo's MILANO CALIBRO 9 of 1972 and Umberto Lenzi's MILANO ODIA: LA POLIZIA NON PUÒ SPARARE of 1974) it is a wonderfully gritty, violent and uncompromising example for the genre that my fellow Eurocult fans should not miss.Regular leading man Luc Merenda plays Commisario Giorgio Caneparo, a rough Milan cop whose unorthodox methods and willingness to take the law in his own hands are under-appreciated by his superiors. The film already begins brutally promising, when two violent criminals escape from a con-train, killing a bunch of innocent people and soon thereafter meed their fate at the hands of the Commissario. When the tough cop's more mild-natured superior and friend is murdered, he decides to go undercover for vengeance...The Italian Poliziottesco is a violent and gritty genre that defies political correctness, and MILANO TREMA is a great example for that. While the level of sleaze and sexual violence is relatively low (in comparison e.g. to Lenzi's movies), the movie is brutal as hell, and uncompromising in its brutality. The (anti-)hero cop played by Luc Merenda does not scant to bend the law and execute evildoers on the spot, the victims of violent crimes in the movie include innocent children and pregnant women. The rest of the cast includes the great Richard Conte, Italian cult-movie regular Silvano Tranquilli and Martine Brochard in the female lead. The movie is full of the genre-typical car-chases and violent shoot-outs, all of which are very-well made. The score by the De Angelis brothers is very good and the camera-work is amazing, especially during action-sequences. Overall MILANO TREMA is a violent and highly rewarding Poliziottesco. It does rank slightly below the ultimate genre-masterpieces like Lenzi's MILANO ODIA, but it is definitely a must-see for any fan of the genre. Highly recommended!

Blaise_B So far I've seen five of these 70's Italian crime thrillers, 3 of them being straight up, Don Siegel and William Friedkin-influenced "cop on the edge with an axe to grind" Dirty Harry rip-offs. Out of those three, all of which are great, this has got to be the one with the coolest story-line (the other two being "High Crime" and "Violent Naples," to give you an idea of the standard here). While it is neither perfect nor entirely realistic, it is action-packed, bloody and riveting, a cocktail of elements common to the genre. And this particular "cop-on-the-edge," played by Luc Merenda, is so on-the-edge that he "poses" as a pimp muscling in on prostitution rackets with the facility of an old pro, gets innocent bystanders killed without hardly batting an eye, and cold-bloodedly executes surrendering criminals in front of the entire police department!While he lacks quite the level of charisma and intensity delivered by Franco Nero or Maurizio Merli, Merenda holds his own. The primary reason he is able to do so here (the two secondary are Sergio Martino's competence in directing pulse-pounding action and the fact that the extremity I've come to expect from these films is as present here as anywhere) is the sucker-punch, no, make that downright subversive plot-line. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that what appears to be shaping up into a slanted portrayal of fanatical domestic terrorists (not that groups like the Red Brigade need any slanting to look bad, just that dishonesty bugs me even if it's on the right side) proves later to be something entirely different. The ending of this film, while it would be typical in another context, blew me away.To top it off, you've got a killer score by the mad De Angelis brothers (if you've seen "Keoma," note that it helps that the only song with words isn't translated into English), and the only fatal car crash I've ever seen in an action movie where the car doesn't inexplicably burst into flames. Three cheers for this gleefully brutal mayhem-fest with the added plus of an intelligent plot!