Poliziotteschi

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Caliber 9 by Fernando Di Leo (1972)

Poliziotteschi (Italian:

cop films and vigilante films,[2] poliziotteschi films were made amidst an atmosphere of socio-political turmoil in Italy known as Years of Lead and increasing Italian crime rates. The films generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels. The protagonists were generally tough working class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system.[3]

Etymology of the noun

In Italian, poliziesco is the grammatically correct Italian adjective (resulting from the fusion of the noun polizia, "police", and the

Ed McBain's police procedural novels to forensic science investigations. Poliziesco is used generally to indicate every detective fiction
production where police forces (Italian or foreign) are the main protagonists.

Instead the term poliziottesco, a fusion of the words poliziotto ("policeman") and the same -esco desinence, has prevailed (over the more syntactically correct poliziesco all'italiana) to indicate 1970s-era Italian-produced "tough cop" and crime movies. The prevalence of poliziottesco over poliziesco all'italiana closely follows the success of the term spaghetti Western over western all'italiana, being shorter and more vivid – though in both instances the term that has come to be used more frequently by English-speaking fans of the genre (poliziotteschi, spaghetti Westerns) was originally used pejoratively by critics, to denigrate the films themselves and their makers.

History

Bandits in Milan by Carlo Lizzani (1968)

Although the subgenre has its roots in Italian

exploitation films in the late 1960s and 1970s. More generally, the genre was also heavily influenced by real-life crime and unrest in 1970s Italy during the period known as the anni di piombo (political violence, kidnappings, assassinations, bank robberies, political militant terrorism, impending oil crisis, political corruption, organized crime-related violence, and recession).[2]

Just as American police films, American crime thrillers, and American vigilante films of the time focused on the crime waves and urban decline in the United States of the 1960s and 1970s, poliziotteschi were set in the context of, or directly addressed, the sociopolitical tumult and violence of Italy's

mafiosi and gangster criminal elements found in Italian crime films.[3][4][5][6][7]

The Big Racket by Enzo G. Castellari (1976)

Due in part to the genre's often ostensibly negative portrayal of political activists and militants, especially leftist militants, and its seeming endorsement of

Fascist ideological elements in their overarching message. These critiques were similar to those levelled at the 1970s American "vigilante films" of the same period, such as 1974's Death Wish, films by which the poliziotteschi genre was considerably influenced.[3][4][6][8][9]

In retrospect, despite contemporaneous claims in the 1970s of overly conservative or reactionary themes within the genre, film historians such as Louis Bayman and Peter Bondarella contend that, in fact, poliziotteschi films generally presented a more multi-faceted, complex outlook on the political turmoil and crime waves of the time, as well as violence in general, with Bayman and author Roberto Curti in particular arguing that the genre generally used political conflicts and violence for largely

apolitical tension-building and cathartic or emotional purposes rather than to promote any particular political agendas.[3][10] Curti notes that the genre's protagonists often simultaneously displayed both right-wing and left-wing views, and protagonists were often working class while villains were often wealthy right-wing conservatives.[3] The film Caliber 9 (1972), for instance, features protagonists of both right-wing and leftist ideologies and offers differing views on the causes of crime and the true antagonists of law-abiding Italian society, while Execution Squad reveals the actual antagonists of the film to be right-wing reactionary, "tough-on-crime" ex-police officers and vigilantes rather than the initially suspected leftist militants.[4][6] Rather than explicitly supporting violence or vigilantism, the genre just as often displayed a morally ambiguous or aloof position on these themes, or even presented vigilantism and violence as a no-win situation. Though poliziotteschi films have been viewed by some critics as condemning a "liberal" or "weak" judiciary system as ineffectual in its treatment of criminals, the genre also suggests a more general distrust of authority, whether left-wing or right-wing, by portraying right-wing law enforcement, politicians and businessmen as hopelessly corrupt and manipulative.[3][4] According to Bondarella, the "classic" poliziotteschi film reveals "almost universal suspicion of the very social institutions charged with protecting Italian society from criminal violence".[6]

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? by Massimo Dallamano (1974)

With directors such as

Eurospy genres. The subgenre lost its mainstream popularity in the late 1970s as Italian erotic comedy
and horror films started topping the Italian box office.

Although based around crime and detective work, poliziotteschi should not be confused with the other popular Italian crime genre of the 1970s, the giallo, which, to English-speaking and non-Italian audiences, refers to a genre of violent Italian murder-mystery thriller-horror films. Directors and stars often moved between both forms, and some films could be considered under either banner, such as Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974).

The poliziottesco subgenre gradually declined in popularity during the late 1970s. Screenwriter

comedy pictures, which gradually evolved towards pure comedy.[11]

Directors include

Actors include

[12]

Selected films

[12][1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b The Best Cop Movies You’ve Never Heard Of: ‘Poliziotteschi’ Films Get Their Due|IndieWire
  2. ^ a b Violent Italy: A Poliziotteschi Primer|Birth.Movies.Death.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9781476612089
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 9781137305657
    . Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  5. ISBN 9788862921084
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 9781441160690
    .
  7. ISBN 9781841504001
    .
  8. ^ Canby, Vincent (1974-08-04). "Screen: 'Death Wish' Exploits Fear Irresponsibly; 'Death Wish' Exploits Our Fear". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  9. ^ Canby, Vincent (1974-07-25). "Screen: 'Death Wish' Hunts Muggers:The Cast Story of Gunman Takes Dim View of City". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  10. ISBN 9788888375663
    .
  11. ^ Christian Uva, Michele Picchi, Destra e sinistra nel cinema italiano. film e immaginario politico dagli anni '60 al nuovo millennio, Edizioni interculturali, 2006, p. 90
  12. ^ a b The Best Poliziotteschi Movies of All Time - Flickchart

Further reading

External links
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