The Italian crime genre owes a lot of its trademarks to Don Siegel's landmark cop flick Dirty Harry, but Big Guns appears to be cashing in more on the success of Francis Ford Coppola's landmark mafia flick The Godfather. Considering this film is called 'Big Guns', there isn't a great deal of gunplay; and unfortunately, a lot of the film is taken up by talking, which didn't really go down very well with me. This type of film is famous for its entertaining set-pieces, which often include car chases, gunfights and fist fights. There are plenty of car chases in this film, and many of them are very well filmed. The plot is not exactly original or groundbreaking, and simply focuses on a hit-man named Tony Arzenta, a man who had had enough of his mob life and decides that he wants to leave their employ. However, as anyone who has seen a mob film will know; these guys don't like people walking out on them, and the mob takes it upon themselves to ensure that Tony doesn't leave their employ alive. Naturally, this leads to a cacophony of violence.
The film features a few faces that will be familiar to fans of Italian movies. Alain Delon is good in the lead role, and receives good support from the likes of Richard Conte (who starred in some of the best Italian crime films, including Martino's Violent Professionals), cult film veteran Anton Diffring, and one of my personal favourite actresses Rosalba Neri; who unfortunately doesn't appear for very long. The plot does feel a little tired, and while I mostly enjoyed this movie; it has to be said that there's better examples of the Italian crime film out there. I'm rather surprised that this film has received mostly positive reviews across the board as, generally speaking; the average vote for an Italian film is a few grades lower than mine! Still, while I can't say that I rate this film among the best of the Italian output - it's well directed and while I wasn't blown away; at least it isn't boring. Overall, Lenzi's crime films; as well as a choice few others such as Street Law, The Heroin Busters and The Violent Professionals, come recommended over this one; but Big Guns is at least worth watching.
