Synopsis
In a city set to explode, one man has just lit the fuse
A hitman is double-crossed by his girlfriend and barely escapes a murder attempt. He then sets out to take his revenge on the woman and the gang boss who put her up to it.
Violent City
1970 ‘Città violenta’ Directed by Sergio Sollima
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Alternative Titles
Den brutala staden, The Family, Cidade Violenta, Cité de la violence, Den brutale by
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Crime, drugs and gangsters High speed and special ops Westerns Thrillers and murder mysteries gangster, crime, criminal, violence or ruthless robbery, criminal, crime, heist or cops car, action, cars, adrenaline or driving violence, action, guns, cops or killing western, outlaw, cowboy, shootout or gunfight Show All…
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Action! - Spaghetti alla Sergio: Le grandi avventure di Sollima
Sollima's two worlds collide in his new picture, a quasi-spy thriller with an approach that plays like a Western transposed into the modern world, where outlaws are replaced with capos and corrupt officials.
Most of this is captured very effectively not only by the direction, but also by Ennio Morricone's score, which blends in many ways the best of both worlds, especially in the theme song, which sounds like something out of a thriller of the era or a James Bond film, with slight touches of his work in Westerns thrown in here and there.
Acting-wise, Charles Bronson does a great job of channeling the essence that made him a…
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It is bookended by two near silent scenes of "pure cinema" that rank among the glories of action film and the opera of betrayal in between is pretty good as well (even if I always start to lose the plot midway through the Savallas section). Sollima uses of space as representation of Bronson's mental state is top notch, I particular admire how the brokedown geography of the opening chase just doesn't add immediate thrills, but serve to set up all the double crosses that will follow. He also works wonders with Bronson, the whole film perfect attuned to its star brute silent stare (needless to say Violent City's long dialogueless scenes are less an affection than an extension of Bronson's…
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"Why is it that when I am with you I always end up in the middle of blood and violence!?"
Jeff Heston is an accomplished hitman with a stellar track record of dealing death. After narrowly escaping an attempted hit on his life he learns that his lover was part of the setup and his former business partner is the boss. Now he is on a mission for revenge.
After watching a "Robert Bronzi" film I figured it's time to watch one from his inspiration, the legend himself, Charles Bronson. Within the first two minutes I noticed that this is an Italian film and it even comes with the legendary composer Ennio Morricone, so my expectations shot up immediately. After…
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Open on high-speed car chase, assailants unknown, whoever they are they want Charles Bronson dead. And they get what they want — or so it seems. After taking three bullets, Bronson wakes up in the hospital, so the cops arrest him. You can't just take three bullets and survive! That's against the law! So off to jail with him, where one inmate complains about how real mobsters come and go while he's stuck on his ass; professional criminals have the resources to get out of jail whenever they want, while young kids like him serve ten years for a $400 burglary. Meanwhile, the other inmate talks about how society is going to shit, people are going…
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Bronson toyed with by Jill Ireland, Telly Savalas, and Umberto Orsini is kind of perfect because you never really see him blow his top, but it turns out there's only so much double crossing even Charles Bronson can take. This is a pretty gritty European crime film by Sergio Sollima that takes place mostly in New Orleans, which is also kind of perfect since it's 1970 and the city combines its charm with its waterfront grit and urban sleaze. Non-stop imaginative use of action that never strays from the double-cross theme so even the quieter parts have their momentum. Great part for Michael Constantin as Bronson's heroin addict pal who scores from a blind man. You really feel the ambience.
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Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas dominate an international cast in this crime thriller from Sergio Sollima. It's a brooding and slow-paced suspenser established on a double-cross which is unnecessarily contorted and accounts Jeff Heston, a hitman betrayed by his girlfriend and his subsequent retaliation.
The story by Dino Maiuri and Massimo De Rita incorporates several timeframes and bookended by some solidly directed action set pieces, including an opening car chase sequence which inevitably recalls Peter Yates’ Bullitt. However, it mostly fails to maintain the momentum it establishes, and the editing throughout is not entirely unwrinkled. The screenplay could also have significantly benefitted from some additional work. Still, it features a typically great Ennio Morricone soundtrack which is allowed room to…
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Very much an informal Parker/Point Blank take from Sergio Sollima, this crime/revenge flick brings his European style to beautiful location shoots in Saint Thomas and New Orleans. Bronson plays a hit man betrayed, Jill Ireland is his faithless lover, and Telly Savalas is the big time boss. The film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s put over the top by a terrific piano and fuzz guitar score from Morricone, and a top notch finale with clever sound design. And Lina Wertmuller of all people did script doctoring!
Love that Savalas keeps calling Bronson young even though in real life they are the same age and Bronson looks as old as the fucking hills here.
Bronson vehicles ranked here.
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Panopticon action cinema. One long deterministic suicide run rendered by the relationship between a Langian camera that sees everything and Bronson's body that is always being observed and is allowed no freedom outside following his self-destruction path. The movie has multiple chase scenes that are predicted in the same sense of characters getting lost in a fracture but engulfing geography. Jill Ireland's femme fatale is in the top tier of 70s mysoginist roles (which says something), but she is also the closest the movie has to a Sollima's stand-in at least in so far as Violent City punishing nature. All three main set pieces (a major chase in the opening, a hit in the middle and the elevator execution in…
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"Please don’t make me suffer".
A haunting line that’s especially apparent given who says it and what happened in her real life. Jill Ireland passed from breast cancer at the age of 54.
Leading man Charles Bronson plays a hit man hopelessly in love with Vanessa (Ireland). Their scenes together have an electricity that likely sparks from their Bronson and Ireland’s real life relationship that began just a couple years before making Violent City.
Director Sergio Sellima has made a cinematic film with several sequences free of dialogue. There’s an adrenaline pumping car chase through the narrow streets of St Thomas. Speaking of location we also get New Orleans (always a plus). Ennio Morricone adds his welcome talents to the…
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Not QUITE the Mechanic, but remarkably bleak in its own right, this grim Euro-tale of a Hitman (He says 'I'm a professional' multiple times before killing people) who decides to avoid the usual cliche problem of a double life by bringing his new girlfriend along into the globetrotting, murdering life once he meets her and falls for her, only to run into other....unforseen complications kind of sags in the middle where everyone kind of spends time talking circles around a remarkably stoic Bronson rather than just letting him get on with his revenge, but the beginning and the end really push it up - It's a full nine minutes and fifty seconds of film before we get our first line…
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A Sergio Sollima eurocrime joint starring Charles Bronson should not be this boring. Though this does have some really awesome exciting moments, it was altogether very underwhelming. Some fantastic high speed chases and sniper scenes. The ending helps out a bit too. Still only mildly entertaining. Will definitely need a rewatch.
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Stellar bookends, an awesome racetrack hit, a proto-Mechanic Bronson, a leathery appearance from Michel Constantin, striking New Orleans locales, but everything between all that only amounts to a twist-heavy and decidedly average Eurocrime from Sollima
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