Along with Umberto Lenzi, the great late Fernando Di Leo is doubtlessly the greatest filmmaker of the gritty and violent Eurocrime/Poliziotteschi genre that became popular in Italy in the 1970s. Especially the masterpieces of his milieu-trilogy (MILANO CALIBRO 9 of 1972, LA MALA ORDINA of 1972 and IL BOSS of 1973) rank among the greatest gangster/crime flicks ever brought to screen. While Di Leo's last movie, KILLER CONTRO KILLERS aka. DEATH COMMANDO of 1985 comes nowhere near the quality of his 70s films (few movies do), it is yet a highly entertaining Action/Crime effort.
The great Henry Silva, who had previously played the most bad-ass mafia hit-man Lanzetta in Di Leo's 1973 masterpiece IL BOSS, is once again playing a stone-faced and cold-blooded hit-man, Mr. Sterling. A bunch of professionals including Sterling, a hot woman, a fat guy, an annoying jokester with a mustache and a sleazy old guy who pays young women to dance around naked in his apartment, are hired in Monte Carlo and assigned to steal a new synthetic fuel from a high-security facility. After a successful mission, they are to be given a million Dollars each. However, their powerful employer decides to kill them in order to conceal his involvement. Of course, Sterling won't go so easily...
The most convincing reason to watch this is, of course, Henry Silva, who is once again great and supremely bad-ass in his role of the rocket-launcher-wielding Sterling, who owns a private zoo full of blood-thirsty beasts. As opposed to the brilliant soundtracks to Di Leo's 70s films, the score to this film consists of almost stereotypical 80s music. One (very 80s) song performed by leading actress Dalia Di Larazzo in thick Italian accent is unintentionally hilarious. The beautiful Miss Larazzo will look familiar to Eurocult fans due to her roles in masterpieces like Paul Morrisey's FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (aka. ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN) of 1973 and Dario Argento's PHENOMENA of 1985. The action sequences are very cool, Henry Silva constantly blasts people to shreds with a rocket-launcher, etc. Overall, this comes nowhere near the brilliance of Di Leo's 70s films, but it is nonetheless an entertaining film that is worth the while for my fellow Eurocult-fans. Just make sure to see Di Leo's masterpieces before this one.
The great Henry Silva, who had previously played the most bad-ass mafia hit-man Lanzetta in Di Leo's 1973 masterpiece IL BOSS, is once again playing a stone-faced and cold-blooded hit-man, Mr. Sterling. A bunch of professionals including Sterling, a hot woman, a fat guy, an annoying jokester with a mustache and a sleazy old guy who pays young women to dance around naked in his apartment, are hired in Monte Carlo and assigned to steal a new synthetic fuel from a high-security facility. After a successful mission, they are to be given a million Dollars each. However, their powerful employer decides to kill them in order to conceal his involvement. Of course, Sterling won't go so easily...
The most convincing reason to watch this is, of course, Henry Silva, who is once again great and supremely bad-ass in his role of the rocket-launcher-wielding Sterling, who owns a private zoo full of blood-thirsty beasts. As opposed to the brilliant soundtracks to Di Leo's 70s films, the score to this film consists of almost stereotypical 80s music. One (very 80s) song performed by leading actress Dalia Di Larazzo in thick Italian accent is unintentionally hilarious. The beautiful Miss Larazzo will look familiar to Eurocult fans due to her roles in masterpieces like Paul Morrisey's FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (aka. ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN) of 1973 and Dario Argento's PHENOMENA of 1985. The action sequences are very cool, Henry Silva constantly blasts people to shreds with a rocket-launcher, etc. Overall, this comes nowhere near the brilliance of Di Leo's 70s films, but it is nonetheless an entertaining film that is worth the while for my fellow Eurocult-fans. Just make sure to see Di Leo's masterpieces before this one.