This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

If you consider the fact that the Italians, back in the seventies, were champions in the eurocrime exploitation genre (poliziotto), than it's no wonder they would have a go at it in other countries as well. Cineproduzione Daunia 70 (from Caliber 9) tried it in Germany with actor/director Rolf Olsen. He made the crime film Wenn es nacht wird auf der Reeperbahn in 1967, and the prostitution drama Der Pfarrer von St. Pauli in 1970, which are both quite good, so you understand why he wrote and directed it.Bloody Friday is a more German version of the stylistic Italian poliziotto. It is tougher, more direct and also more over the top, I mean, it is sometimes TOO SILLY. The escape of Heinz Klett (great acting by Raimund Harmstorf by the way) on itself might be believable, but why would Heidi incriminate herself suddenly for her boyfriend Luigi, or would her brother do just the same for her? Just robbing a bank with a maniac, what can go wrong? The heart of the film is this violent character Heinz. He is the cause of everything. How he bluntly accepts these amateurs for nothing less than a bank robbery, that's typical Heinz. He is like a caricature of a man, aggressive, sexist, opportunist and over confident. People who die just deserve it because they are weak, in his opinion.Bloody Friday might look terrible at some point, but this film isn't as bad as it looks. It actually brings some surprising social undertones to the genre, which are usually lacking in poliziotteschi. The desperation from the other robbers give the film an humanistic context. Heidi and Luigi want to escape from their shitty jobs, while the brother is a deserter. It is also (very loosely) based on a real story, as Germany had to endure a lot of violence in this period – terrorism from extreme left wing organizations and violent bank robberies, not only by professionals, but also by amateurs, like in this film. I rate it 7/10.

'Blutiger Freitag (1972) (aka) 'Bloody Friday is an atypically brutal euro crime exploitation produced in Germany in the early 70's that easily ranks alongside the bruising likes of 'Violent Naples', 'Almost Human', and Michael Apted 's legendary crime epic 'The Squeeze'. With a ballsy, genuinely frightening performance from the muscular and enigmatic actor Raimund Harmsdorf; who's bellicose, and hugely misogynist character allows him to indulge in plentiful bouts of splenetic, bone- breaking violence; all the while looking resplendent in grungy 1970's leather-jacketed chic. Throw in a sinuous crime-funk score from the estimable Francesco 'new york ripper' De Masi, and you have an all-time Goliath of grindhouse madness that delivers bravura, hardboiled 70's thuggery unlike any other German film from then or now.

There are a couple of good reviews on this board within the context of German and Italian crime films of the Seventies. I have no expertise in the matter, so can only offer a gut level response to my viewing of "Bloody Friday" a little while ago. Almost equal parts brutal and surreal, the best comparison I can make is to the American film "Dog Day Afternoon", but without the takeout pizza. About forty five minutes into the picture it started to resemble a car wreck that's just too fascinating not to see through to conclusion. Yet there were so many credibility defying scenes that I just had to shake my head. Like the bicycle rider that went through the windshield, and the bright red hoods worn by the bank robbers. When was the last thriller you saw where the gangsters put each of their hostages on the phone to identify themselves? And how poor a marksman would you have to be to fire a gun pointed at your own chest the way Luigi did at the finale? And how did the doctor get away after he treated Luigi in the first place? All of this was going through my mind when the police inspector, about to lead his men on the chase, turned and exclaimed to one of them - "They're dangerous and they know what they're doing". He was half right.

"Whatever they can do in Italy, we can do better" they must have thought in Germany. Extremely violent crime thrillers were very popular in Italy during the early 70's and at least a dozen of awesome ones got released every year. "Bloody Friday" is more or less Germany's response to this successful trend and a damn perplexing one, I may add! When the heavy criminal Heinz Klett escapes police custody during his transport to court, he promptly executes his plans to commit the biggest bank robbery ever in the history of the country. He, his regular partner and his girlfriend's brother storm into the bank heavily armed and take 10 people hostage. While the police attempts to gather the $1.000.000 ransom, and entire media circus unfolds outside on the streets. You usually know pretty much exactly how this kind of movie develops. Things don't go according to plan, there's the Stockholm Syndrome and a couple of unplanned deaths along the way. Apparently the film is inspired by similar real-life events as they occurred in Germany. I don't know which parts of the film were fictionalized, but I seriously wonder if the real events ended in such a nauseating and shocking bloodbath as well. I hope not. Probably the greatest accomplishment here is the biting social satire. While the hostage is going on inside, the public outside shouts for the re-implementation of the death penalty and there are even are some sly businessmen that unscrupulously want to make money out of the gathered crowd. It's certainly also not a film for people with an easily upset stomach or tangled nerves. Heinz' escape is bloody already and there's massively shocking sequence involving a hand grenade at the beginning of the hold-up. "Bloody Friday" is well-directed (by the guy who did "Shocking Asia"), the acting performances are pretty great and everything else (music, editing, photography, atmosphere) is simply in-your-face brutal and confronting.