''Violent Naples'' ( it, Napoli violenta) is a 1976 ''

poliziottesco Poliziotteschi (; singular ''poliziottesco'') constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as ''polizieschi all'italiana'', ...

'' film directed by

Umberto Lenzi Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist. A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unr ...

. It starred

Maurizio Merli Maurizio Merli (February 8, 1940 – March 10, 1989) was an Italian film actor and a star of many Italian police thrillers. Career After a decade of minor film roles, 1974 saw a breakthrough for Merli with his first starring role in a rema ...

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

and Barry Sullivan, and was the first sequel to ''

Violent Rome ''Violent Rome'' ( it, Roma violenta) is an Italian 1975 ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Marino Girolami It obtained a great commercial success and launched the career of Maurizio Merli. The film has two sequels, '' Violent Naples'' and '' A Spe ...

''. Saxon appeared in several such movies.

Plot

Commissioner Betti (

) is transferred to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, receiving on his arrival a warm welcome from The Commandante ( Barry Sullivan), the city's crime lord. Betti goes on a personal mission against corruption and organized crime, trying to force the syndicate out of town by any means necessary.

Cast

: Commissioner Betti *

: Francesco Capuano * Barry Sullivan: camorra boss 'O Generale *

Elio Zamuto Elio Zamuto (born 1 May 1941 in Syracuse) is an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in Syracuse as Elio Mazzamuto, Zamuto started his career in the mid-1960s, and had a prolific career between television and cinema, especially ...

: Franco Casagrande *

Silvano Tranquilli Silvano Tranquilli (23 August 1925 – 10 May 1997) was an Italian stage, television and film actor. Life and career Born in Rome, Silvano Tranquilli attended theatre lessons at the Sharoff Academy, and started his stage activity with the th ...

: Paolo Gervasi *

Maria Grazia Spina Maria Grazia Spina (born 3 June 1936) is an Italian television, film and stage actress. Life and career Born Maria Grazia Spinazzi in Venice, Spina debuted as an actress with the theatrical company Stabile di Trieste, then worked with the comp ...

: Gervasi's wife *

Guido Alberti Guido Alberti (20 April 1909 Birth name: Guido Renato Vittorio Alberti. – 3 August 1996) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1963 and 1993. Selected filmography * ''Wild Love'' (1956) - Sor Alberto (uncredited) * ...

: Superintendent *

Tom Felleghy Tom Felleghy (born Tamás Fellegi; 26 November 1921) is a Hungarian-born Italian actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films since 1958. Filmography References External links * 1921 births Possibly living people Hungarian ma ...

: Commissioner in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Release

''Violent Naples'' was released in Italy on 7 August 1976, where it was distributed by Fida Cinematografica. It had a domestic gross of 2,046,936,220

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

. In the United Kingdom the film was released as ''Sudden Justice''. The film was followed by ''

Special Cop in Action ''Special Cop in Action'' ( it, Italia a mano armata, lit=Italy at gunpoint) is a 1976 Italian ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Marino Girolami, here credited as Franco Martinelli. The film is the final chapter in the Girolami's Commissioner Bet ...

'', the final film in the Commissioner Betti trilogy.

Reception

The ''

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with ...

'' described the film as a "nasty, brutish and over-long escapade" that was plagiarizing ''

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...

''. The review found the film to be "lacklustre in style, without a trace of tension to its slam-bang action".

Notes

References

External links

* 1976 films 1970s Italian-language films 1970s crime films Poliziotteschi films Films about the Camorra Films set in Naples Films directed by Umberto Lenzi Films scored by Franco Micalizzi 1970s Italian films {{1970s-Italy-film-stub