You can always rely on Enzo Castellari to knock things up a notch, and even though he had me worried (and a little confused) at the pacing of this one, it all leads up to major kick ass ending.

After the film seemingly randomly shifts between Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Colombia and New York, the film finally settles in Rome, as we see Fabio Testi getting busted for carrying drugs into the country. At the same time and in the same place, another guy who's just arrived from Amsterdam is tailed by cop David Hemmings, who gets duped by the dealers as big old Romano Puppo gets away with the goods.

Yep, Hemmings is hot headed, potty-mouthed cop out to take down a huge drug cartel, and he's the only guy who knows that Fabio Testi is an undercover cop. Things get pretty difficult for Testi as he works his way into the dealer's trust via a junky guy with his own sub plot, and nothing ends up going to plan as everything results in a huge chase at the end that uses feet, motorbikes, and finally, planes. I think there's a deep meaning to all this, and that is "If you deal drugs, Fabio Testi will shoot you."

You've got the usual Enzo back up crew here: Massimo Vanni (who does his 'riding a bike downstairs' bit),Joshua Sinclair as a suave dealer, Romano Puppo as another dealer, and even Enzo himself turns up to mug for the camera. Sherry Buchanan turns up as the junky guy's girlfriend, but she really just turns up to be naked for a minute or two.

I found it strange that there's an obvious stunt double doing even the most routine of stunts for Fabio, but then it's Fabio himself doing all that crazy crap with the planes later. I did burst out laughing when a guy pulled a particularly strange face when getting shot in slow motion.

It does seem however that Enzo is kind of making some sort of comment about the hippy life being dead and leading to horrible addiction, because the drug taking here is shown in all its glory and when you see a guy licking spilled heroin from a toilet seat, it doesn't exactly entice you to go take the stuff. Well done Enzo!

The always studly and the always charismatic Fabio Testi plays a character named Fabio here, a police detective working deep undercover in order to get the goods on the top dogs in a drug syndicate. He makes life a little weary for Hamilton (David Hemmings),an Interpol agent working on the same case. But he's still the kind of guy who *will* get the job done, taking on as many baddies as he can along the way.

Don't look for much more story than that in this topical Eurocrime action picture from Enzo G. Castellari ("The Inglorious Bastards"),although the pitiful state of an addict / pusher named Gilo (Wolfango Soldati) forms a subplot. The ladies are lovely (including Sherry Buchanan as Vera) and there's a bit of sex and nudity, but mostly what Castellari serves up is action, and it's executed with skill. The chases are particularly effective; the big finale with the planes is likewise impressive; Testi is in real life an accomplished pilot and did his own aerial stunts.

Hemmings offers a truly fun supporting performance as the exasperated Hamilton; Soldati earns a fair bit of sympathy as the pathetic Gilo. Other familiar faces to fans of Italian exploitation include Massimo Vanni ("Rats: Night of Terror"),Romano Puppo ("2019: After the Fall of New York"),and Joshua Sinclair ("1990: The Bronx Warriors"). Helping to make it all go down easily is a groovy, kick ass music score by the great progressive rock band Goblin. That theme that opens the movie is terrific!

There's no deep thinking required with this simplistic enough tale. It's just good old fashioned entertainment.

Seven out of 10.

Drug trafficking is not my favorite theme in Italian Crime flicks (I personally prefer Unorthodox Cops vs. Sadistic killers such as in Lenzi's "Almost Human", or hard-boiled Mafia stories such as in Fernando Di Leo's Milieu trilogy). Yet I must say that "La Via Della Droga" (aka. "The Heroin Busters" of 1977 is a more than worthwhile Poliziottesco that no genre-lover should consider missing. The multi-talented Exploitation mastermind Enzo G. Castellari in the director's chair, a cast including Fabio Testi and David Hemmings, loads of violent shootouts and a score by Goblin - what else could a fan of Italian genre cinema ask for?

Fabio Testi plays drug smuggler Fabio who is arrested when trying to get a considerable amount of heroin into Rome. After escaping from jail and obtaining the trust of a local drug-lord (Joshua Sinclair),Fabio turns out to be in fact an undercover cop, who works together with international drug squad officer Mike Hamilton (David Hemmings). Determined to rid Rome of Heroin, Fabio and Mike are also willing to use unorthodox methods... While "La Via Della Droga" is certainly no Poliziotteschi highlight en par with "Almost Human" or "Rome Armed To The Teeth", this is a film that should not be missed by a genre fan. Whereas the storyline is not the best ever, the film is full of violent shootouts, car-chases, occasional sleaze and stylish brutality. I've personally been a great fan of Enzo G. Castellari for years, sadly enough I still haven't seen his supposedly best Poliziotteschi, "La Polizia Incrimina La Legge Assolve" (aka. "High Crime", 1973),and "Il Cittadino Si Ribella" ("Street Law"/"The Citizen Rebels", 1974). "La Via Della Droga", however, is more than a bit entertaining, and if the two aforementioned films are even better I can't wait to see them. I am also a great fan of both leading men, both of whom have starred in personal Giallo-favorites of mine (David Hemmings in Dario Argento's "Profondo Rosso", Fabio Testi in Massimo Dallamano's "What Have You Done To Solange"),and both are once again excellent in their roles. Especially Testi does a great job as the hero here, while Hemmings' role could have been bigger. Joshua Sinclair ("Keoma") also makes a good villain. My only real complaint is that I would have wished for David Hemmings to have more screen time. The score by Progressive Rock band Goblin is great as always, even though it comes nowhere near the brilliance of the scores they did for Dario Argento's masterpieces. All in all, "La Via Della Droga" is a more than recommendable Poliziottesco that my fellow fans of Italian Crime cinema should enjoy.