Violent Naples

Umberto Lenzi transplants the tough-cop formula to Naples, with Maurizio Merli as a hard-line detective waging war on the city's protection rackets and street crime with little regard for procedure. It delivers exactly what the cycle promised: chases, beatings and a hero whose methods the film both condemns and clearly relishes.

Merli is the definitive poliziottesco enforcer, moustache and all, and the Naples locations give it real texture. The politics are as muddled as ever. A representative, energetic entry from one of the cycle's most reliable directors.