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Fango Bollente
Savage Three
Italy 1975
produced by Comma 9
directed by Vittorio Salerno
starring Joe Dallesandro, Martine Brochard, Enrico Maria Salerno, Gianfranco De Grassi, Guido De Carli, Carmen Scarpitta, Sal Borgese, Luigi Casellato, Umberto Ceriani, Enzo Garinei, Enrico Marciani, Claudio Nicastro, Ada Pometti, Gualtiero Rispoli, Renzo Ozzano, Gengher Gatti, Francesca Lionti, Sivillo Clara Fascietto
story by Ernesto Gastaldi, treatment by Ernesto Gastaldi, Vittorio Salerno, screenplay by Giancarlo Balestrini, Ernesto Gastaldi, Lucile Laks, Vittorio Salerno, music by Franco Campanino
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Best friends Olivio (Joe Dallesandro), Giacomo (Gianfranco De Grassi)
and Peppe (Guido De Carli) all have nice jobs at the same computer
analysis company, are well-educated yet young enough to have a bright
future ahead of them, all are in stable relationships, ... and every now
and again, they meet up just to go completely unhinged and play pranks
that aren't within the confines of the law anymore, like stealing cars or
motorbikes for joyrides. And during one such "joyride", they
start an altercation with a truckdriver, who taken by road rage threatens
to kill them, upon which Ovidio stabs him to death with a screwdriver. At
first, all three of them are in shock of course, but that's replaced with
surprise that the police isn't at all on their trail - inspector
Tamaraglio (Umberto Ceriani) actually suspects a political motive behind
the murder -, and it gives them a natural high, so they decide to keep
killing. And at first nobody's really interested, as they keep themselves
to low-lives like pimps and prostitutes, and the more of a spectacle they
make out of the murders, the less the police seems to catch any clues they
leave - all but past-his-prime disgraced inspector Santaga (Enrico Maria
Salerno), with whom the theories about political murders don't really fly
... Olivio, Giacomo and Peppe only start to get into trouble when they
rape and kill two women (Carmen Scarpitta, Ada Pometti), one of whom later
turns out to be the wife of a politician, and Peppe has been seen at the
scene of the crime, as now the police finally see cause to really
investigate - but of course, as long as Peppe doesn't do anything stupid,
the police isn't likely to get on his trail. But how long will it take
until Peppe to messes up under pressure ... Now this is not a
film that's going to leave you cold. Now on the surface, it's just a very
cynical thriller, with its three "protagonists" being just very
despicable human beings - but what really makes this film quite so
unnerving is that it isn't just a piece of exploitation that is created to
titilate the viewer with shocking images but it's a film filled with
social commentary, some specific to the era and area, but other more
universal and thus hitting home to this day. On top of this, the film
works quite so well because it doesn't present the viewer with a clear
good-and-evil dichotomy but makes its murderous protagonists somewhat
relatable while most of the policemen look like buffoons. In all, a film
that will get you thinking and will stay with you for a few days, and not
only for that well worth a watch.
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