The Big Racket

Enzo G. Castellari's film is one of the harder examples of the seventies Italian police cycle. An inspector tries to stop a gang extorting local shopkeepers, but the witnesses are frightened, the law is too slow, and his own institution abandons him. Its most famous shot sends his car down a slope with the camera fixed inside it, so the roll happens to the audience as well. Castellari eventually pushes the hero outside the law and assembles a revenge crew from the victims, which is exactly what this genre is loved and criticised for. Fabio Testi leads. It comes straight out of the real fear of crime in Italy at the time. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies poliziotteschi and hard action set pieces. Who it is not for: anyone uneasy with stories that argue for justice outside the law.