Violent City (1970)

- Città violenta
Somebody buy Telly some clothes, 27 May 2005

Violent City is a real mixed bag. I'll start with the good. The ending is fabulous. The way our hero, hit-man Jeff Heston (Charles Bronson), gets his ultimate revenge is nothing short of sweet. His revenge comes out of nowhere and is startling when you realize what's happening. Bronson is another real bonus in the movie. Without too much dialogue, he's more than capable of portraying a variety of emotions. It's a refreshing change to see Bronson smiling and running on the beach as he does in one scene. You don't see that too often. Another highlight is the car chase at the beginning of the movie. Sollima lets the movie go on for a good 15 minutes during the car chase without a single line of dialogue being spoken. The chase is the key thing. Finally, Ennio Morricone's score nicely fits the action on screen. It's not his best, but any Morricone score is a winner.

As for the bad, there are stretches of the movie where nothing happens. I was fighting to keep my eyes open during some of the middle of the movie. Another bad, and I hate to say this, is Jill Ireland. She's surely got to be one of the worst actresses to ever appear in film. Finally, the show down between Bronson and Telly Savalas. It's over way too quick. I would have liked to see it drawn out to build the tension.

Finally, the ugly. If a half naked Telly Savalas doesn't classify as ugly, I don't know what does.

Overall, the good outweighs the bad in Violent City, but just barely. Without the "killer" ending, I would have rated the movie a point or two lower.

6/10