The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

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

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Two-fisted police detective Nico Palmieri (an excellent and charismatic performance by Fabio Testi) goes out of his way to take down a nefarious protection racket in Rome, Italy. When the ruthless scum who run the racket resort to such foul tactics as rape and murder, Nico throws the rulebook away and organizes a motley crew of fed-up victims to deal with the criminals on their own ferocious terms.Director Enzo G. Castellari, who also co-wrote the bitter script with Massimo De Rita and Arduino Maiuri, keeps the hard-hitting story moving along at a constant brisk pace, does a sturdy job of creating and sustaining a harsh, gritty, and utterly cynical tone, and stages the bracing'n'bravura action set pieces with his trademark rip-snorting skill and verve (the climax in a sprawling warehouse in particular delivers the rousing goods like nobody's tear 'em up business!). Vincent Gardenia excels as loyal and helpful informant Pepe. Orso Maria Guerrini likewise registers well as champion skeet shooter Rossetti. Moreover, this picture further benefits from a truly hateful rogues' gallery of cruel and despicable villains: Marcella Michelangeli as wicked bitch Marcy, Antonio Marsini as crooked lawyer Giuni, and the ever-slimy Joshua Sinclair as sleazy head honcho Rudy. The explosive moments of savage violence pack an extra potent and nasty punch, with oodles of super bloody quality squib work. Marcello Masciocchi's slick cinematography provides an impressive glossy look and makes exciting use of a hand-held camera. The funky-pulsating score by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis hits the get-down groovy spot. A real bang-up stirring and satisfying winner.

When a powerful gang of extortionists forces the businessmen of an Italian city to pay for their protection, the tough Inspector Nico Palmieri (Fabio Testi) investigates the case; however he is surprised by the racketeers and ends seriously injured. When he is discharged from the hospital, he joins the victims of extortion trying to find a witness to testify in court since the mobsters are always released by the Attorney Giovanni Giuni (Antonio Marsina). Only the restaurant owner Luigi Giulti (Renzo Palmer) accepts the burden; but his daughter is brutally raped by the gangsters and commits suicide later. Nico is pressed by his superiors to drop the case but he invites his friend Pepe (Vincent Gardenia) to help him using illegal methods believing that the end justifies the means. There is a war between the criminals and the police with tragic consequences, and Nico is fired from the police department. Nico decides to join Luigi; Pepe; a marksman that saw his wife being raped and burned alive; the owner of a nightclub that should use brace for the rest of his life; and a felon that wants a passport and destroy the gang in a battle that becomes bloodshed between vigilantes and criminals."Il Grande Racket" is a great non-stop action movie, with a violent story of racket and revenge à la Charles Bronson and conclusion à la Spaghetti Western. Of course there are clichés and exaggeration in the situations and shootouts, but in the context they work perfectly well for fans of this genre. The dubbing in English is awful, as usual, and I do not understand why not keep the original language with English subtitles. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not Available

they don't make em like this anymore. i total recommend it to anyone who enjoys guns, car crashes, cheesy dialogue and 70's hairstyles. Fabio testi is better in this than in contraband. also blue undergrounds DVD picture quality is a vast improvement over the UK version. much better than Bronx warriors or the heroin busters, enzo casstellerie other efforts. story moves along at a cracking pace. music is what you would expect from this type of film in this era. the stunts are what make this film. the camera puts you right in the middle of the action, literally! you'll know what i mean when you see it. overall then, go for the blue underground DVD its a quality purchase.

A script doesn't necessarily have to be realistic to be good. In my opinion, all it needs its to make sense, to be credible within itself. This movie has it all and its very fast paced. It is a very good attempt to expand the perspective of the action movies back then, and I consider it, along with "Perros Callejeros 1 and 2" the best european action movies of the 70s, the background for much of the filmmaking that we see today as "new", and a great spectacle. The enchant of these movies is that, even though some special effects are not credible at all (some of the shot wounds don't bleed at all), those that do required cars to be burnt and some stunts to expose themselves are better than those the new computarized hollywood movies have.It doesnt make you feel like you are watching cartoons. I admit that the beauty of movies is fantasy. But when i compare this movie to any action movie from hollywood, I come to the conclusion that fantasy doesn't necessarily have to please anybodies wishes nor to be custom made for a certain public, but to show different prespectives than those that public has.the only problem...Real hard to find