The Big Racket
The Big Racket is a 1976 film from Italy, directed by Enzo G. Castellari, running 110 minutes. reelscum files it under poliziotteschi.
- Year
- 1976 · 1970s films
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 110 min
- Director
- Enzo G. Castellari
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (44/100)
- Also known as
- The Big Racket
Defined in the glossary: Poliziotteschi
Castellari's best. The car-rolling-down-the-hill shot is famous for a reason.
Enzo Castellari's best crime film, and the one with the shot everyone remembers: a cop trapped in his car as thugs roll it down a hillside, the camera bolted inside with him. A protection racket terrorises small shopkeepers until the victims and one disgraced cop take matters into their own hands.
It edges into vigilante territory and stages its action with more visual ambition than the genre usually managed. Castellari clearly studied Peckinpah and the results show in the slow-motion carnage.
One of the best-directed films in the cycle.
Trailer
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Written about
- Poliziotteschi: the Italian cop film, 1973 to 1980
A moustache, a Magnum, and total contempt for the courts.
On these lists
- Poliziotteschi starter pack
Italian cops who close cases by ignoring the courts and the paperwork. Start at the top, before the moustaches blur together.
Filed alongside
Street Law
Castellari's Death Wish. An ordinary engineer, brutalised and ignored, arms himself.
Almost Human
Tomas Milian as a repellent psychopath. Deeply unpleasant, very good.
High Crime
Castellari's breakout in the genre, and Franco Nero furious for ninety minutes.
The Italian Connection
Mario Adorf on foot versus a car. Best chase in Italian cinema.
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
Two cops who are clearly the villains. Ruggero Deodato, before the jungle.
The Boss
Di Leo's most cynical crime film. A mob enforcer navigates a Mafia war where everyone is corrupt.
Shoot First, Die Later
Di Leo's dirty-cop picture, and the rot goes all the way home.
Rome Armed to the Teeth
Maurizio Merli punches Rome for 100 minutes. Politics: incoherent.
Revolver
Di Leo's saddest. Oliver Reed, and a Morricone theme that hurts.
The Violent Professionals
Martino sends Luc Merenda undercover and off the leash. Prime cop-on-a-rampage stuff.
Violent Naples
Merli takes his no-mercy cop routine to Naples. Fast, brutal, and politically incoherent as ever.
Free Hand for a Tough Cop
Tomas Milian debuts Er Monnezza, the filthiest man in Italian crime cinema, and steals his own movie.