

Storyline: CITY UNDER SIEGE is something of an atypical entry in the Italian polizia genre Sure, it has all of the required trappings present in these filthy little crime films there are rapes, violent robberies, shoot outs, hostage situations, suicides, drugs, orgies, prostitutes, and squad cars racing down the streets with their tyres squealing and their horns blaring These are all filmed perfectly well and give the film a classic 70s feel Yet, on top of that, theres a main story of how vice, sleaze and corruption are rife in the city of Turin, and which shows how a middle aged cop and his reporter friend attempt to clean up the rackets and get to the bottom of things Inevitably its a downbeat story, but there are nevertheless some highs, especially a uniquely original climax I havent seen the like anywhere else in this genre, and its a good one Enrico Maria Salerno THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE is well cast as the ageing hero, a cop with heart problems troubled by the lack of morals he sees everywhere around him He really gets us on side from the beginning so that we end up rooting for him His foil is sometime director Luciano Salce, who supplies a lot of cynical comic relief to the proceedings The lovely Francoise Fabian pops up in a supporting role, leaving the viewer entranced by her beauty every time she appears Weirdly, some of the film appears to have been played for laughs, and its not sure whether this was true of the original, or whether its the fault of the dubbing It makes for a sometimes unwieldy combination of drama and chuckles Director Romolo Guerrieri works hard, though, and in the end his efforts pay off CITY UNDER SIEGE is unusual enough to be distinguishable from the dozens of other cops and robbers flicks filling Italian cinemas in the 1970s
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