Syndicate Sadists

Having become pretty acquainted with the films of Italian auteur, Umberto Lenzi over the past year or so, I have quickly learned that I really like the films I have watched of the director quite a bit. Lenzi’s 1975 Italian crime thriller, Syndicate Sadists (aka Il giustiziere sfida la città) is based slightly off the John Rambo character (mostly in name) from the First Blood novel, and described by Lenzi himself as a modern crime version of Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars.

Before I go over the films premise, I need to mention that as Syndicate Sadists opening credits began to roll, I became extremely excited to see the name Tomas Milian roll by. I am mostly familiar with Milian from another Lenzi directed flick known as Almost Human, a film that I really enjoyed, and a good part of that enjoyment came from Milian’s performance as it clearly left an impact on me.

Okay, now that’s out of the way, Syndicate Sadists is a pretty basic story of crime, revenge, and selfless heroism. Our main character goes by the name of Rambo (played by Tomas Milian); a loner who returns to what would seem to be his old stomping grounds of Milan Italy. Rambo visits with his old friend, and police officer, Pino Scalia (Mario Piave) who informs his good pal of the gang problems the city has been having since Rambo was last in town. After a failed attempt to convince Rambo to join up with the police force, Pino attempts to make a solo bust, but ends up getting himself murdered by a couple of hooligans who are working for a notorious mob boss known as, Conti (Luciano Catenacci). As this all happens, a young boy is kidnapped by Conti’s gang for a hefty ransom resulting in Rambo trying to help bring the boy back to safety, while seeking revenge for his fallen friend. Rambo takes the law into his own hands and makes use of another unsuspecting (and naive to Rambo’s intentions) crime syndicate boss known as Paterno (Joseph Cotton), and his son, Ciccio (Adolfo Lastrettihis). Paterno has some sort of a past with Rambo, though it’s never made clear as to what that past consists of, but it is obvious that Ciccio is not the biggest Rambo fan on the face of the planet. Rambo spends the rest of the film playing the two crime organizations against one another, while trying to avenge his friend’s death, and saving the young kidnapped boy. Of course, this results in some action and also some serious ass kicking thanks to Milian as, Rambo.

Unoriginal story to a point, but I don’t think many great films always have the most original of stories to begin with. Not saying that Syndicate Sadists is a great film, but it is certainly a pretty darn good one, and the Vincenzo Mannino penned story is well executed for the most part, albeit a little confusing at times. Then again, I always seem to get confused with movies that have two crime type families the first time I watch them, it’s just a bit confusing as to who works for whom…and that may only be a problem for me.

Syndicate Sadists plot is more than serviceable to the film, and I would have to say that the movie is mostly well made with Lenzi at the helm, and also factoring in what I would assume would be a very low budget. All of the action scenes are well shot, albeit a little staged looking at times with the fight choreography. Still, the fights are quite good, and one that was a ton of fun is when Rambo lumps up a couple of baddies with a pool stick, where he then proceeds to finish one guy off by using his head as a human cue ball! 8 ball corner pocket, son! Another of many stand out action scenes is when a couple of syndicate heavies toss a Molotov cocktail at a huge truck that the police are using for a big mob sting. Thanks to the fiery distraction, the goons take off and head to safety from the police sting they just sabotaged…or so they think. As the back of the truck immediately goes up in flames, Rambo comes flying out of the flaming trucks back doors, on his motorcycle, in seriously badass fashion! This actually leads to one of the many great chase scenes that are to be found in Syndicate Sadists. Most of these scenes include Rambo on his bike, and the way they are shot, and the sense of speed is very well executed and a huge plus for the movie.

One factor that makes all of the great action, and the well-done chase scenes even greater is the presence that Milian has on screen. Everything he does looks ten times cooler, because he is doing it. Syndicate Sadists is a good film, made extremely better by Milian as Rambo, and as I said in the beginning of this post, he was a big part of what I liked about Almost Human, and is an even bigger part of what I like about this film that I am typing about here.

Tomas Milian has a screen presence unlike few I have witnessed before; the way he carries himself is so nonchalant and cool, without trying to be cool. Milian’s acting style is so interesting to watch as he is constantly moving his face around and it often seems that he is chewing on food, and many times, he is. His physiognomy is that of a bad guy, with his dark hair, beard, and worn out rough around the edge features, but he is able to show genuinely noble and morale intentions with just a few subtle facial movements. His mannerisms are great when he interacts with other characters, he almost seems like he could not be bothered with what is going on around him if it doesn’t interest him, and it comes off as very realistic as he is just so natural on screen. He rather reminds me of De Niro before De Niro became a caricature of himself. Even when he is riding his motorcycle, Milian’s demeanor is so cool in the way he rides, as he has this slouching, kick-backed appearance to him. He commands the screen and the viewer’s attention with out overacting or chewing up all the scenery, and it is a great joy to watch this man act.

*Removes Milian’s penis from mouth*

Rambo as a character is one that I enjoyed. Even with him being a guy that plays by his own rules and looks as bad (if not badder) as any bad guy to be found in Syndicate Sadists, he never comes off as a bad person. Rambo is a good guy that is trying to help the right people with no regard for his own safety and well being…he has the look of an anti hero, with out the anti hero characteristics and pitfalls. With Syndicate Sadists plot (and the close-ups!) taking from A Fistful of Dollars, the look of the Rambo character seems to have been slightly inspired by another Sergio Leone film from a few years earlier, Duck, You Sucker! Much like John H. Mallory (played masterfully by one James Coburn), when you first meet Rambo, his face is completely covered like a ninja (both characters wearing some type of a red bandana), with a pair of dark, wide eyed, bike goggles protecting his eyes from the wind. Both characters kinda look like bugs and each have to almost unravel their faces to reveal who they are to the audience. In addition, like Mallory, Rambo’s vehicle of choice is a motorbike.

One last great thing that I loved about Rambo is some of the great lines of dialogue written for the character. They’re almost along the lines of one-liners, but actually witty, very tough sounding, and so wonderfully delivered by a dubbed (?!) Milian. In one scene, Rambo is trying to find out who killed his friend Pino, by repeatedly smashing a mobsters head into the ground. When the gangster says it wasn’t him that did it, Rambo replies with “I don‘t wanna know that shit man…It‘s my script and I know all the lines. You want me to start killing off characters, or you gotta give me the dialogue as read!” One other great little scene that shows how badass Rambo is, is when he’s fighting two thugs, one of them says to the other “He‘s all mine!” Wherein Rambo replies with “Yeah, stay outta the way…I‘m all his.” Now that is a bad motherfucking ass line if I have ever heard one.

As I may have enjoyed Syndicate Sadists for it‘s solid action scenes and some of the great dialogue, it is very obvious that I really liked this film for Milian, Rambo, and how Milian portrayed Rambo. I am also happy that I have found an actor that I will from now on be on the look out for in other films of the Italian influence. Chances are you have seen Milian (who is surprisingly [to me] a U.S. citizen) in his more recent movies as he has done some American film work since the early 90’s. I personally find him to be an impressive lead actor and all of you out there reading this need to try to check out either Syndicate Sadists or Almost Human. Both are very good films in the Euro-crime genre, and both have a performance from Milian well worth seeking out.