Highly Overrated But Still Good

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

An Exercise In Nonsense

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Euro-Crime can be an acquired taste at the best of times - bad dubbing; senseless killings; one-dimensional plot lines, just some of the gripes levelled against this genre of film. However, if you are looking to watch a film that is rather sparing on subtlety, pathos and seriously lacks any kind of pacing(choppy editing issues), but excels with well-choreographed action sequences; ultra- violence; over-the- top silliness and an easy-to-follow storyline, then this is another Polizio film worth casting a keen eye over.Maurizio Merli plays a cop forced into retirement by his superiors due to a fondness in the past, of taking matters into his own hands and meting out his own brand of justice to any wrongdoers who have the temerity to commit a crime in his neck of the woods. This exile doesn't last too long however, as he suddenly finds himself recalled to duty by the very same superiors, who believe utilising his brutish methods is just about the only option they have of putting a stop to a gang of nefarious criminals who have just escaped from the clink, and mean BUSINESS! Cue exploding cars; a spectacular motorcycle chase; a one-sided dust-up where Merli teaches four(middle-aged)hooligans some manners on a public bus and plenty of gratuitous shoot- outs(endless bullets entering endless baddies chests).All in all, an enjoyable 89mins, that's not going to tax the mind and will entertain you from start to finish. Oh, and watch for an unusual turn out for James Mason, playing an Italian Police Commissioner with a clipped Yorkshire accent. Fascinating!

Beatings, car chases, shoot-outs, tarts with hearts - yep, it's another Italian crime movie.This one stars Maurizio Merli, a kind of brawnier Franco Nero, who, like most guys in these films, plays a cop with a brutal approach to criminals. After our usual ultra violent beginning Merli is recalled back into duty to track down a gang of criminals who have escaped from jail, taking with them an old convict who only had 40 days of his sentence to serve - but why? Merli and his two companions hone in on the gang through the old man's niece (who also provides the love interest). On the way, they foil bank robberies, waste criminals, and do a little investigation around high class brothels (dig that prozzy catalogue!).On the other hand - the gang get fed up with Merli's interference and try to have him killed. This leads to a particularly good shoot out in a graveyard, and eventually on to a showdown in a roma railyard.There's not much of a story here but things are pretty streamlined and it's great to watch this guy in action. Check out the scene where a girl strips for him as he sits non-chalantly smoking a fag and drinking whisky, fully clothed.Fear in the City, as usual for these movies, is a good yarn. Plenty of action, nudity, daftness (Nick Alexander's dubbing is almost nonsensical), plus the most blatant product placement ever in a movie. If you can't figure out that Fernet Branca sponsor this film from all the posters, bottles, ashtrays and stickers, then you're crazy or maybe even don't really care about such things.23rd Century's DVD is pretty clean for a change, although it is not widescreen. Love those liner notes where they repeat the same sentence twice. Get it for a pound.

If you are a fan of the Euro-crime type films then this a typical violent outing that delivers a lot in 90ish minutes running time. Merli plays the usual tough cop Dirty Harry type role, and gets a decent motorbike chase that is a highlight. I certainly disagree with comments that the film is dull as there's plenty of great action sequences. There is less plot than say 'The Marseille Connection' (High Crimes) or other similar films though. Merli is good in this film, though naturally dubbed. He's great in the action scenes especially the fights! It's more than can be said for an clearly ill at ease James Mason, who acts like he'd rather be somewhere else.Its a shame this genre of films is difficult to come by (certainly in the UK) and the copy i've watched is the grainy '23rd Century' release which i gather is missing footage at the start. Even so it's definitely worth a watch if you can track it down.Recommended.

I'm a big fan of the Italian Polizi flicks, and for me; having made some of the most entertaining films in the genre, Maurizio Merli is much more than just a Franco Nero clone...but despite the title similarity to the great French-Italian co-production Fear Over the City, Fear in the City is unfortunately a lesser example of the genre. The entire genre owes itself to Don Siegel's masterpiece Dirty Harry; although some of the films in it have taken some creative licence and made something a bit different out of it; that is not the case with this film. The film focuses on Murri; the token maverick cop. He is called in (reluctantly) after a bunch of criminals pull off a successful prison break and spend the night picking off various informers and people they don't like. Murri investigates; hooking up with one of the criminal's nieces along the way. He uses his own methods; which mostly involve breaking all the rules, and thus comes under a lot of scrutiny from his superiors who don't take too kindly to the cop's way of working.The main problem with this film is undoubtedly the pacing; as we skip from one action scene to the next without much substance in between. Of course, it's the action scenes that make this genre what it is; but the more successful films in it generally have something else to like, and this one doesn't. Maurizio Merli makes a likable lead as ever and it's not hard to see why he so often gets cast in these films as the roles suit him like a glove; but even he doesn't have enough to make Fear in the City a success. Anyone who has seen more than a handful of these films will have seen everything in this one before and not even the action scenes are anything to write home about; although there is an amusing motorcycle chase midway through the film which is well done. This is one the lesser known Polizi flicks outside of Italy and I'm not really surprised about that because there are so many better ones. Overall, I could perhaps recommend this film to hardcore fans of this sort of stuff; but everyone else would do well to not bother with this film.