Like Rabid Dogs / Come cani arrabbiati (1976)

3.0 out of 5

Throughout the brief history of Eurocrime a number of strands were conspicuous. Firstly the nihilistic nature of contemporary criminals for example in Bandits In Milan, occasionally contrasted with the traditional criminals of old who were sometimes even presented in a favourable light as in Contraband. Secondly the division between contemporary and traditional criminal was to manifest itself in film as a division between generations with the suggestions that values were somehow not being sustained in a rapidly changing world. While occasionally this conservative outlook would be one expressed in films of wayward youth such as Fernando Di Leo's The Boys Who Slaughter from 1969 this would also find expression as a general mocking or criticism of the individualistic and hedonistic elements of the counterculture. Thirdly the issue of class, visited time and again, with a parade of wealthy mafia bigwigs and cold heartless industrialists as again explored by DiLeo in Kidnap Syndicate but permeated the entire genre.

Occasionally all three themes would intersect, for example in DiLeo's excellent Liberi armati pericolosi from 1976 and also from the same year Come cani arrabbiati, it's ultra sleazy cousin, that makes the film under consideration a cross between Young Violent and Dangerous and the nasty Giallo a Venezia. Grim stuff.

For a movie that deals with the contempt shown by bourgeois youth for the lives of working people the conclusion is a fitting one that entails a mob of angry militant, and less youthful, industrial workers involved in a trade dispute. Worth a look, especially for those who like their crime films with an extra slice of sleaze.

Maurizio Merli header graphic courtesy of Paddy O'Neill of Foxyfide Graphics