Customer Reviews

Syndicate Sadists

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Syndicate Sadists" turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. Having purchased it because of directer Umberto Lenzi, who is better known for his gross out cannibal flicks, I was thinking it would be a rather bland mob/cop actioner. What I got was an amusing revision of "A Fistfull of Dollars" blended with the feel of early seventies cop shows like "Swat" and "Starsky and Hutch". The film follows the exploits of motorcycle riding renegade Rambo and his attempts to play off two mob families against one another in order to rescue a kidnapped child. From the very opening, showing this bad ass riding into town while a seventies synthesizer soundtrack blazes away, I was hooked. The movie moves along at a brisk pace and the main character is likeable and the dialouge in some scenes is hilarious. Yes, this is a throwaway film but on an otherwise boring day, you will hopefully find yourself as entertained as I was. The print itself shows some wear but is generally of good quality. There is an excellent interview with director Lenzi who also speaks about the connections to "A Fistfull of Dollars" and "First Blood". He also provides commentary throughout the film. Check out this film if you get a chance.

Umberto Lenzi is a underrated director. At least for his seventies output all of which is as the top end of each genre he attempted. These are not high budget movies so they would seen as b movies in the U.S.
This isn't among his greats of that period but
it is alot of fun and the truly great actor Tomas Milian makes the most of this 'fistful of dollars' inspired crime movie. Both movies can trace there roots back to the great novelist Dashiell Hammett's book Red Harvest. (he also wrote the novel the Maltese falcon). Another literary influence is that Millian had read the book 'first blood" and decided to use the name 'Rambo' for his characters name. This was 6 years before the 'First Blood' movie was shot. The only reason I wouldn't give this one 4 stars is because like many shriek show videos the master print has not been cleaned up. In spite of this the specks are defects are not present all the time and they don't get in the way of this movie which is a great little action flick. Milian had created some truly classic criminal characters in the previous years. This one doesn't have that level of acting but it doesn't need it either. Milian plays the hero here with a full depth of range and he is only reluctantly drawn into the struggle against the evil criminal gangs. For fans of crime movies this one will be a fun treat that even has the excellent Joseph Cotton as a top crime boss. This isn't a dark seventies crime movie though for all of it's violence there is a element of pure cinema that makes it a movie that is a traditional western in a crime setting. It's fast moving and
a good movie for it's genre. I don't know why they used the pulp type cover for the boxart because the movie does not have such a scene in it. Don't worry about that thougjh; instead just enjoy this fun flick.