SATURDAY 25TH AUGUST – UK PREMIERE – EUROCRIME! THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILMS THAT RULED THE ‘70S
Directed by Mike Malloy. Starring Franco Nero, Enzo G. Castellari, Henry Silva, Richard Harrison and John Saxon. USA 2012, 127 mins.
ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH, MILAN CALIBRE 9, CRY OF A PROSTITUTE, HOW TO KILL A JUDGE… just four of the hundreds of ‘poliziotteschi’ movies the Italian Film Industry churned out during the turbulent 1970s once the Spaghetti Western and Giallo trends subsided. First they aped the American crime hits of the day DIRTY HARRY and THE GODFATHER. But soon they addressed typically Italian issues like the Mafia, Camorra, Red Brigade and even ‘scippo’ – Vespa bag-snatching. And rushed production methods meant ‘poliziotteschi’ superstars Franco Nero, Richard Harrison, Luc Merenda and Maurizio Merli performing their own stunts, directors stealing shots, no live sound recording and a rapid bleed-over between real crime torn from newspaper headlines and violent movie action. Here those once involved in the genre paint a brilliant picture of all that madness and mayhem in this lucidly explained visually dynamic documentary packed with fabulous clips and poster artwork.
The film is finished, the dead weight lies trampled on the editing room floor… all that is left is the Screener. The producers anxiously await the response of the audience. Success or failure relies on the last year and a half of work. Obscurity or success is discovered only in this one moment.
Today, films with character and charm are vanishing. Quirky films are being forgotten. Some films never even had a chance to vanish, they just never arrived. How can we save these precious, ocassionaly unpolished or rough, gems from being ignored?
Welcome to the Dorado Films Screeners project. We have access to hundreds of such films. We do not have the funding to release all of these great films in the pristine, original quality they deserve (if even available). These are our marketting test. These Screeners help us put the funding toward the right films, films that will be appreciated by the largest amount of fans. These Screeners are what we can give back to the fans of these rare films without spending money that will not be recovered. We can experiment, be different, throw these films into the spotlight one more time and see if they can live up to the success the producers, directors, actors, and crew once thought was possible.
What can you do to help?
Watch the films. If you like it keep watching it.
Comment on actors. Comment on the plot. Comment on locations. Comment on film techniques. Comment on what you disliked about the film. COMMENT. Your comments will shape which films we try next. Help us by offering your opinion. You have an opinion. We need to hear it.
Tell others. If you really like a movie, talk about it to your friends. If you think a scene is particularly fantastic, get a link to it (How To) and send it to others. If you love a film, share the love. The more response you get for a film, the more likely you will see something more done with it.
A word about quality
Many of these films are going to be transfered from 1″ broadcast tapes. The quality will not be great, but it was once deemed worthy enough to be shown on television. Other than meeting the format requirement for YouTube, these tapes are shown as is with no altering or primping. This is the quickest, cheapest, simplest way for us to deliver these films to you. We are striving for quantity not quality with these screeners. This is a test after all. Commenting on quality of the transfer is not constructive. To protect our film from piracy, we have added a slight watermark.
