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[IL COMMISSARIO]

IL GIUSTIZIERE SFIDA LA CITTA- SYNDICATE SADISTS (1975) aka RAMBO'S REVENGE

Rambo (Tomas Milian) a motor cycle riding tough guy comes to town to visit an old friend of his, a cop who is working on busting up mafia activity in the city. His friend tries to get him to become a cop because of his skills but Rambo refuses. When Rambo's friend and girlfriend is killed by the mob, Rambo takes matters into his own hands and goes about setting the two crime families against each other one of which is holding a rich man's son (who is rescued not once, but twice!) for ransom.

One of the mob leaders, Paterno, (Joseph Cotten) knows Rambo and warns him "You should not have come back." (The real reason for his statement isn't revealed until the finale).

Milian is really good here as the gruff and bearded Rambo who is kind to children, even supporting his friend's family after he is murdered and a one man army when dealing with the mob during many action scenes and chases. Milian got the idea for the character when he picked up a copy of the novel FIRST BLOOD, seven years before Stallone would play the character.

Joseph Cotten is also good as the tragic crime boss who fears for his son played by Adolfo Lastretti. Cotten plays the villain a bit differently then the usual crime boss found in these movies.

Director Lenzi again shows much flair in the action department and again, seems to possess a more professional and polished hand doing these kinds of movies as opposed to his more well known giallo's and cannibal adventures.

This US release features a brief interview with Lenzi (in which he states he wanted the name RAMBO in the original italian title but the producer did not like it) and an audio commentary by him as well.

[LANZETTA]

This is a real feelgood polizio where Milian once again demonstrates his versatility by playng the good guy for a change in this genre and he oozes charisma as (in my books the definitive  )Rambo,and i was impressed by the way he handles himself in the many fight scenes.

This movie reminded me very much of FISTFUL OF DOLLARS with Rambo initially playing off two rival gangs of crooks against each other(but here the gangs eventually team up against Rambo) and the movie would work equally well as a western.

Highly recommended.

[Paul]

This movie reminded me very much of FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

I never saw that, though it's not as blatant as Stelvio Massi's LAST ROUND, which is very similar to the Leone flick.

[IL COMMISSARIO]

It's way better than LAST ROUND, IMO. I never finished LR. It's pretty bad. I plan to come back to it though. Watched di Leo's LOADED GUNS last night. It's pretty bad, too. At least Ursula Andress is naked nearly the entire film, though.

[Paul]

It's way better than LAST ROUND, IMO. I never finished LR. It's pretty bad. I plan to come back to it though. Watched di Leo's LOADED GUNS last night. It's pretty bad, too. At least Ursula Andress is naked nearly the entire film, though.

you should give LAST ROUND another go, Commissario - I thought it was well above-average and Merenda play against type as a baddie, which I thought was a nice touch.

LOADED GUNS is pretty bad though, isn't it 

[IL COMMISSARIO]

I'll try and make myself do a write up tonight some time. That leaves me with NICK THE STING. Is the Raro got subs or a dub?

[Jonny]

That leaves me with NICK THE STING. Is the Raro got subs or a dub?

I'm pretty sure the Raro DVD has no English options at all.

[IL COMMISSARIO]

That's odd. Wonder why the first and third film would have them? I don't think it has any either now that I think about it.

[Jonny]

That's odd. Wonder why the first and third film would have them? I don't think it has any either now that I think about it.

Raro started out doing us English speaking fans proud but after a few months slowly started releasing films with no English options, maybe they just started running out of enthusiasm? Or foreign sales weren't as high as they expected and they couldn't justify the extra expense of adding the other language tracks or adding the subtitles... I know lately their Euro Cult releases are few and far between.

[IL COMMISSARIO]

I thought it was the earlier Raro releases that didn't have english options? So it's the other way around?

[Jonny]

I thought it was the earlier Raro releases that didn't have english options? So it's the other way around?

Yup, the first ones were titles like 'Live Like a Cop..' 'Calibre 9' 'Manhunt' 'To Be Twenty' etc

[IL COMMISSARIO]

I do know Bill Lustig took a bath on the crime films he released. He went the extra mile on TO KILL A JUDGE and included both english and italian versions and lost money on the title. Like the spaghetti westerns, they're a very small niche market.

[Mart85]

you should give LAST ROUND another go, Commissario - I thought it was well above-average and Merenda play against type as a baddie, which I thought was a nice touch.

I gotta agree, I was well impressed with THE LAST ROUND.  An excellent Italo crime flick and for me Massi's best.  SYNDICATE SADISTS I ain't so hot on, I thought it was a bit bland.  Think I'll have to watch it again, though.

[Paul]

That leaves me with NICK THE STING. Is the Raro got subs or a dub?

I'm pretty sure the Raro DVD has no English options at all.

It definitely doesn't - I emailed someone at Raro at the time and she said something about it getting a re-release with English options at a later date. Suffice to say, I didn't hold my breath.

[spannick]

sadly enough the US DVD is cut by about 2 Minutes. but a new German Company - no Company Name yet! - will release it with the uncut Italian Master hopefully this Year! will be from the same Guys who did the latest well-known NEW DVDs 

Options should be Audio in: German, English (complete), Turkish (!) and Italian.
No English subtitle Option though, sorry! More News when the Project goes its way...