The Violent Professionals / Big Guns

THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS (MILANO TREMA – LA POLIZIA VUOLE GIUSTIZIA), 1973, Grindhouse Releasing, 104 min. Giallo master Sergio Martino helmed other genre pictures, too, including this ultra-violent and subversive poliziotteschi. Ferocious cop Luc Merenda swears revenge when his boss is murdered. He infiltrates a prostitution ring, but soon uncovers evidence of a major political conspiracy. Right-wing politicians are secretly manipulating radicals as pawns so they’ll have an excuse to step in and order a major clampdown.

BIG GUNS (TONY ARZENTA), 1973, 90 min. Dir. Duccio Tessari. Alain Delon stars in his only Italian crime film as Tony Arzenta, a Sicilian hit man hoping to retire so he can concentrate on a peaceful life with his wife and son. His superior Richard Conte is not happy, and a coterie of bosses decides to eliminate him. But when his wife and son are the accidental victims, Delon goes on a clandestine rampage to destroy his former associates.