The Big Racket

Italy, 1976

Director: Enzo G. Castellari

Screenplay: Arduino Maiuri, Massimo De Rita, Enzo G. Castellari

Cast: Fabio Testi, Vincent Gardenia, Renzo Palmer, Orso Maria Guerrini, Glauco Onorato, Marcella Michelangeli

Plot

A gang of extortionists is dedicated to terrorize the businessmen (store owners, supermarkets, restaurants…) of a Roman neighborhood in order to charge them weekly “protection” taxes. They have absolutely no scruples and their methods are ruthless. The head of the organization is an elegant individual with a thin mustache known as the Marseillaise.

The maresciallo Nico Palmieri (Fabio Testi) tries to put an end to the gang, but this proves difficult, because the witnesses (the shopkeepers) are too intimidated to testify against the criminals, for they are soulless psychopaths who will not hesitate to commit the most abject monstrosities. Only the owner of a modest trattoria, father of a pre-adolescent daughter, dares to sign a statement incriminating the suspects. And he will pay the consequences: his daughter, about 12 years old, is kidnapped by the criminals, raped and murdered.

The next time members of the gang come to the poor man’s place, he, far from paying “the taxes”, will receive the criminals with bullets, doing what the police and “justice” have their hands tied to do.

Palmieri (who has been the victim of an attack by the gang, surviving a brutal aggression – the racketeers threw his car down a ravine… with him in it), looks for a way to dismantle the organization, but he encounters several obstacles within the police force itself, because his “methods are not liked”, for being too “expeditious” (or perhaps, for being too effective…). In addition, the members of the Marseillaise gang (who always keeps a low and distant profile, remaining in the background) have the constant help of a (corrupt) lawyer, and every time they are arrested, a few hours later they are back on the street.

Palmieri’s (individual) investigations (for whom the case becomes a personal matter), lead him to the conclusion that the gang’s extortion activities are only the “tip of the iceberg”, and that the Marseillaise is involved in drug trafficking and other international business.

In his inquiries, the tough maresciallo is assisted by a veteran criminal, “Tio Pepe”, who, despite committing illegal acts, is a kind-hearted character who repudiates the violence and terror used by the gang of racketeers, and is willing to inform Palmieri about the movements in the underworld.

When shortly afterwards the agent is dismissed from the police force on orders from the “higher-ups” (who cover up for the criminal group), Palmieri will form an alliance with several inmates, helping them escape from prison and organizing them for a ruthless confrontation against the Marseillaise’s subordinates. Among the freed prisoners are “Uncle Pepe”, and the owner of the trattoria, who was serving time for the murder of three of the criminals, in revenge for the rape and murder of his daughter. Also a rival of the Marseillaise, and an expert hunter with firearms, who wishes to make amends for the murder of his wife at the hands of the criminals.

Comment

Very good polizziesco by Enzo Castellari, full of huge doses of violence, great dialogues and shocking action scenes, among which the shootings stand out. The cruelty of a certain type of urban crime (which usually acts under the orders of other even more dangerous criminals, but with a “respectable” mask), as well as the impotence of the system to defeat it, is shown without ambiguity. The impunity of the real and worst criminals, who are protected by the sewers of the “rule of law”.

Among many other titles, Castellari is also the director of “La polizia incrimina, la legge assolve” (1973), another polizziesco with a similar theme (the title says it all); of “Keoma” (1976), an Italian Western seen from the perspective of a half-breed Indian (played by Franco Nero); or of the original “The Inglorious Bastards” (1978), which inspired Quentin Tarantino to make his Hollywood monstrosity.

“Il Grande Racket” recalls in its style Mario Bava’s ‘Cani arrabbiati’ (1974) (a.k.a. ‘Rabid Dogs’), Sam Peckinpah’s films like ‘Straw Dogs’ (1971), and also a lesser known (but no less excellent) film called ‘L’ultimo treno della notte’ (1975), by Aldo Lado.