The Heroin Busters

Last updated
The Heroin Busters
La via della droga.jpg
Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Screenplay by
  • Massimo de Rita
  • Enzo G. Castellari [1]
Story by
  • Galliano Juso
  • Massimo de Rita [1]
Produced byGalliano Juso [1]
Starring
CinematographyGiovanni Bergamini [1]
Edited byGianfranco Amicucci [1]
Music by Goblin
Production
company
Cinemaster [1]
Distributed by Titanus
Release date
  • August 13, 1977 (1977-08-13)(Italy)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryItaly [1]
Box office 1,308 billion

The Heroin Busters (Italian : La via della droga) is a 1977 Italian crime film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Fabio Testi, David Hemmings and Sherry Buchanan.

Contents

Production

The Heroin Busters was director Enzo G. Castellari's last crime film of the 1970s. [2] The film was shot in Rome, Genoa, Cartagena, Amsterdam and New York. [1]

The score of the film was provided by the Italian progressive rock group Goblin who had just written their score for Dario Argento's film Suspiria . [1] [3] [4] The score is composed of funk, psychedelia, and rock music. [3]

Cast

Release

The Heroin Busters was released in Italy on August 13, 1977. [1] It was distributed by Titanus and grossed 1,308,550,110 Italian lira. [1] Roberto Curti, author of Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980 described the box office gross as performing "moderately well", but not as well as expected. [3]

It was released on DVD by Blue Underground on April 25, 2006. [1] [5]

Reception

Among modern reviews, AllMovie gave the film three stars out of five, referring to it as "a stylish and fast-paced entry into the Italian crime genre that hits all the right marks for genre fans." as well as noting "The one real defect of La Via Della Droga is that it lacks a human story element to get the viewer emotionally involved but Castellari makes up for that oversight by keeping the story taut and fast-paced." [2] Roberto Curti, author of Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980, compared the film Casterllari's The Big Racket , stating that unlike that film "the result is a cold, technically impeccable yet overindulgent formalist exercise in style" that contained a "comic book-style script, populated by dull characters" [3]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Curti, 2013. p. 220
  2. 1 2 Guarisco, Donald. "La Via Della Droga". AllMovie . Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Curti, 2013. p. 221
  4. Huey, Steve. "Goblin". AllMusic . Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  5. "La Via Della Droga (1977) - Releases". AllMovie. Retrieved March 17, 2015.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goblin (band)</span> Italian progressive rock band

Goblin is an Italian progressive rock band known for their film scores. They frequently collaborate with Dario Argento, most notably creating the scores for Profondo Rosso in 1975 and Suspiria in 1977. Because their collaborator Dario Argento specializes in creating horror, suspense and slasher/giallo genre movies, scores made by Goblin in these movies often had eerie and ominous tones. CD re-releases of their scores have performed well, especially in Germany and Japan. Goblin returned with a series of live concerts in Europe in 2009 and in North America in 2013.

Poliziotteschi constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as polizieschi all'italiana, Euro-crime, Italo-crime, spaghetti crime films, or simply Italian crime films. Influenced by both 1970s French crime films and gritty 1960s and 1970s American cop films and vigilante films, poliziotteschi films were made amidst an atmosphere of socio-political turmoil in Italy and increasing Italian crime rates. The films generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels. The protagonists were generally tough working class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enzo G. Castellari</span> Italian director, screenwriter and actor

Enzo Girolami Castellari is an Italian director, screenwriter and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fabio Testi</span> Italian actor (born 1941)

Fabio Testi is an Italian actor. After growing up witnessing film work done around Lake Garda, Testi entered the sets of the film and began work as a stuntman and a double on set, where he worked as a stuntman on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Testi continued stunt work and getting roles in low budget genre films until he was cast in Vittorio De Sica's film The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Following this film, Testi became a star in Italy, appearing in some artistic films by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and Claude Chabrol. Testi also continued to work in poliziotteschi genre films in the 1970s as well as a few gialli, and gained infamy for his publicised relationships with actresses Ursula Andress and Charlotte Rampling.

<i>High Crime</i> 1973 film

High Crime is a 1973 Italian-Spanish poliziottesco film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. The film stars Franco Nero, James Whitmore, Delia Boccardo and Fernando Rey. High Crime was a big success at the time of its release, and helped popularize the Italian cop thriller genre.

Sergio Salvati is an Italian cinematographer who was born in Trastevere, a working-class neighborhood of Rome, Italy. His father, Aldofo Salvati, was already a key grip in the early days of Italian cinema, and through his father's contacts Sergio began his career developing negatives in a small photographic laboratory in Rome, the SPES directed by Di Ettore Catalucci.

<i>Revolver</i> (1973 film) 1973 film

Revolver is a poliziottesco film directed by Sergio Sollima and released in 1973. It stars Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi. The film's theme, "Un Amico", was scored by Ennio Morricone and was also featured in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds.

<i>The Big Racket</i> 1976 film

The Big Racket is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. Fabio Testi stars as a police inspector who takes on a gang of hoodlums who terrorise an Italian city by extorting cash from local shop and bar owners.

<i>Day of the Cobra</i> 1980 film

Day of the Cobra is a 1980 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Enzo G. Castellari.

<i>Cold Eyes of Fear</i> 1971 film

Cold Eyes of Fear is a 1971 Italian-Spanish thriller film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, starring Fernando Rey.

<i>A Few Dollars for Django</i> 1966 film

A Few Dollars for Django is a 1966 Spaghetti Western film directed by León Klimovsky and Enzo G. Castellari and starring Anthony Steffen. Although credited only to León Klimovsky, A Few Dollars for Django was predominantly directed by an uncredited Enzo G. Castellari.

<i>Violent Rome</i> 1975 film

Violent Rome is an Italian 1975 poliziottesco film directed by Marino Girolami It obtained a great commercial success and launched the career of Maurizio Merli. The film has two sequels, Violent Naples and A Special Cop in Action.

<i>The Gang That Sold America</i> 1979 Italian crime comedy film

The Gang That Sold America is a 1979 Italian "poliziottesco"-comedy film directed by Bruno Corbucci. It is the fifth chapter in the Nico Giraldi film series starred by Tomas Milian. The Italian progressive rock band Goblin created the soundtrack for the film.

<i>Stateline Motel</i> 1973 Italian film

Stateline Motel is a 1973 Italian crime film directed by Maurizio Lucidi.

<i>Gang War in Naples</i> 1972 film

Gang War in Naples is a 1972 crime film written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri.

<i>Go Gorilla Go</i> 1975 film

Go Gorilla Go is a 1975 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Tonino Valerii.

<i>Manhunt in the City</i> 1975 film

Manhunt in the City, also known as The Manhunt, is a 1975 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Umberto Lenzi. It was co-written by Dardano Sacchetti and has a score by Bruno Nicolai.

<i>Sexycop</i> 1976 film

Sexycop 1976 Italian crime comedy film directed by Duccio Tessari. It is based on the novel with the same name written by Massimo Felisatti and Fabio Pittorru.

<i>Order to Kill</i> 1975 film by José Gutiérrez Maesso

Order to Kill is a 1974 Spanish-Italian crime-action film written and directed by José Gutiérrez Maesso. In the movie the police inspector offers passports to a hit man and his girlfriend if the hit man kills a mob boss.

<i>Roma, laltra faccia della violenza</i> 1976 film

Roma, l'altra faccia della violenza is a 1976 "poliziottesco" film directed by Marino Girolami and starring Marcel Bozzuffi.

References