This is definitely a kind of Italian MAGNUM FORCE or even STAR CHAMBER, the kind of film for which I would have more guessed a director such as Damiano Damiani or Pasquale Squieteri - though it's a bit too much action bloody packed for both of their styles. Anyway Steno was more used to Bud Spencer's comedy flicks, saturday evening cinema. Yes this is a so gloomy, downbeat story but that makes you really think about many politics matter in the Italian state of the mid and late seventies. and it is not necessarily question here of mafia of any kind. That's also a real surprise. But after all what's the difference?

"La Polizia Ringrazia" is, at first sight, a prototype of an Italian euro-crime/poliziotesschi thriller like there were dozens during the first half of the 1970s. They practically always featured the same recurring themes, like unorthodox coppers, the ever-failing Italian justice system, vigilante squads violently cleansing the streets, corrupt politicians and police superiors, media circuses and liberal newspapers influencing the public opinion. You'd think the audience eventually grew tired of these familiar and continuously recycled themes, but no. Quite the contrary, every Poliziotesschi is unique and, for avid genre fanatics like me, it's almost becoming an obsession to track them all down. "La Polizia Ringrazia" is a downright stellar example of the euro-crime's peak period, complete with a compelling & intelligent script, an intensely raw atmosphere of realism, a few shocking bits of violence, a great soundtrack (Stelvio Cipriani, of course) and brilliantly devoted performances by some of the finest contemporary stars (notably Enrico Maria Salerno, Mario Adorf, Cyril Cusack, ...)

Salerno is truly amazing as the clearly tormented Commissioner Bertone, caught between the frustration of seeing criminals getting released without a proper punishment and the accusations of the press about the police being too violent when making their arrests. Whilst on the case of finding two bank robbers who killed two people during their escape, Salerno is suddenly confronted with another major challenge. A secret group, existing of former policemen and even judges, are hunting down acquitted or fugitive criminals and brutally execute them in true mafia-style. Moral dilemmas aside, Commissioner Bertone must find now the bank robbers before the so-call "clean up squad" does. The material may be familiar, but writer/director Stefano Vanzina (better known as Steno) keeps the levels of suspense, plausibility and originality quite high and steady. I was particularly surprised by this, because Steno is mainly known for his light-headed comedies starring Bud Spencer!

The last thing you can say about "La Polizia Ringrazia" is that it is light-headed! There are a couple of sequences that initially seem very bizarre, but they actually work quite effectively. For example, Commissioner Bertone invites a whole bunch of journalists on a nightly tour bus drive through the city, just to demonstrate how disastrous the crime plague is. The role of Mario Adorf, as the unreliable district attorney, is also quite unusual for this type of film, but the role (and, of course, Adorf's performance) add a great deal of value to an already intelligent film. "La Polizia Ringrazia" is far from being the most explicitly violent Poliziotesschi, but several scenes are nevertheless immensely brutal and gritty. The clean-up squad's cold-blooded executions, for instance, and especially the horrendous fate of a poor woman who's taken hostage and eventually thrown off a driving vehicle. It's the second time in a short period that I've seen such a similarly shocking death, the other movie being "La Legge Violenta della Squadra Anticrimine", starring John Saxon and J. Lee Cob. And no, it's not recycled footage, as I know the Italians were infamous for that.

I really love those Poliziotteschi pictures from Italy, it's has an incredible sense of realism, a veteran Police Commissioner Bertone played by the great Enrico Maria Salerno has been pushed by press, society and several groups against policemen violence, meanwhile many assassins, drugs dealers, crooks are free for their smart defence lawyers, also by the prosecutor (Mario Adorf) that pressure him to best treatment of those human beings , so quickly enter the Dead Squad commanded by ex-cops and judges, a closed club, a crime picture who dared to touch in a true sensitive point, so rarely even in this specific genre, a criticism or a farce, actually this fact had occurred on the mostly major cities around the globe and still on action, except where the law has a fully control, valuable offering by Italian Poliziottesque's era!!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5