LA CITTA SCONVOLTA: CACCIA SPIETATA AI RAPITORI (DIRTY DEAL)

Italy, 1975, 97 minutes, Colour.
James Mason, Luc Merenda.
Directed by Ferdinand di Leo.

Dirty Deal is quite an interesting Italian urban thriller. However, it is of interest to see the Italians imitating American film forms (as they do so often as with westerns, possession films, horror films etc.). This time they are influenced by the police and vigilante thriller, best known in Charles Bronson's Death Wish (1974).

This film shows criminals kidnapping a wealthy man's son and, when he is assisted by his friend, the son of a mechanic, the kidnappers take him as well. There is a ransom situation with the death of one of the children. In fact, it is the son of the mechanic. The film shows in detail the kidnappers and their treatment of the boys.

However, interest lies in the portrait of the two fathers. James Mason (well-dubbed into Italian with a voice similar to his own) is the rich industrialist. Luc Merenda is the mechanic. They meet. There are comparisons made between classes and walks of life in Italy.. The industrialist is hesitant in paying the ransom. The mechanic is resentful at the death of his child. The film also shows the police at work.

However, the final section of the film is the portrait of the mechanic seeking out the kidnappers throughout the Italian countryside, terrorising various families (in danger of doing himself what he is against) and eventually wreaking vengeance on motor bike against the kidnappers.

The film raises the usual issues of crime, the administration of justice and the law, the adequacy and inadequacy of police forces, the attitudes of the wealthy, the oppression of those not so well off, the taking of law into one's own hands. Quite a good example of its kind.