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Original title: Astérix et les Vikings
France/Denmark: Stefan Fjeldmark/Jesper Møller, 2006

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Original title: Il Grande Racket
Italy: Enzo G. Castellari, 1976

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USA: Ralph Bakshi, 1972

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Original title: Quattro Mosche di Velluto Grigio
Italy/France: Dario Argento, 1971

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Original title: Il Cittadino si Ribella
Italy: Enzo G. Castellari, 1974

Last night - well, in the early hours of this morning, actually - I sat down and watched the first of Blue Underground's three Enzo G. Castellari poliziotteschi films, Street Law. Bearing in mind that this was my first ever encounter with this type of film, I'm going to watch it again before I sit down and write a full review, but for the time being, I was very impressed by what I saw.

Fanco Nero (he with the piercing eyes) stars as Carlo Antonelli, an everyday businessman until he becomes the victim of a brutal assault when he happens to get in the way of three bank robbers. Enraged by the police's lack of action (they spend more time telling him he shouldn't have got in their way than actually trying to catch them), he decides to take the law into his own hands, much to the distress of his girlfriend Barbara (Barbara Bach, she with the perpetually furrowed brow).

In many ways, this feels like a natural extension of the giallo format. Gialli, by the mid-1970s, were becoming increasingly gritty and downbeat, and Street Law takes these two descriptions and elevates them to an entirely new level. The film lacks the visual elegance of the early-70s gialli, but then again the gialli being produced by 1974, when Street Law was released, were also going down the "rough and ready" route. In any event, this look suits Street Law, with its staunchly realistic outlook and no-holds-barred attitude towards violence. The film's ultimate message is that the end justifies the means, as, in his quest to take revenge against his attackers, Antonelli becomes every bit as brutal and ruthless as them.

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USA: Ross McElwee, 2003

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Original title: L'Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo
Italy/West Germany: Dario Argento, 1970

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