Review of The Violent Four

A hard boiled thriller that shoots itself in the foot by being far too hyperactive to be either cohesive or very satisfying. For the film's first quarter or so, director Carlo Lizzani pulls together what is essentially a docudrama on the crime wave hitting Milan in the mid to late 1960s. By the time the bandits (led by Gian Maria Volonté) appear, the viewer has already been assaulted by a blitz of sordid images ranging from riots to shootings to prostitution stings. Edited in such a high pitched staccato way, the film leaves one exhausted and, frankly, bored BEFORE the film proper even begins. Nevertheless, the acting is very good with Volonté giving an excellent performance as a degenerate crook passing himself off as morally high and mighty (the type of role Volonté mastered during his career...see INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION or SLAP THE MONSTER ON PAGE ONE). Tomas Milian is the police commissioner and Carla Gravina, María Rosa Sclauzero (as Volonté secretary) and Ray Lovelock are in it too.