Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012) follows a cultural exploration of the brutal poliziotteschi crime films that surged in Italy during the 1970s, blending interviews, archival footage, and genre analysis. As the documentary traces the rise of these cop and gangster movies amid social turmoil, car chases, shootouts, and underworld narratives, it connects their stylistic bravado with the political and criminal realities of the era. This documentary blends historical context and cinematic passion in a reflective study of violence, genre, and Italian filmmaking history.

• As far as the ‘cycles’ of Italian cinema are concerned, [Poliziotteschi] was a big one. There are a lot more entries in the genre than more often talked about cannibal or zombie films and many of these films had bigger names attached to them too. That makes it a bit of a surprise that there hasn’t, until now at least, been a decent documentary made about the movement. Enter Mike Malloy and his two hour feature, Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s, a comprehensive piece made by a fan for the fans that rounds up about as many people who were involved in these pictures as is realistically possible forty years after the genre’s boom years. … The end result is such thorough and subsequently engaging that you don’t even necessarily need to be a fan of the genre to both enjoy and appreciate this picture.