Page 103 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

the regulatory/law enforcement system has to protect those who acquire and disseminate
knowledge about crime and public corruption. There are few conditions more frightening
than the fear that police or [law] officials will retaliate against whistle blowers through fear and
psychological intimidation. This fear can even stimulate further corruption. 13
Law enforcement in Revolver breaks Cipriani down psychologically by making him think that by
going to the lawyer for advice, his moral dilemma - save Ruiz or save his wife - will be solved.
As the film indicates, the law justifies using a citizen for its dirty work to assassinate Collas, a
capitalist whose political line went against the interests of the government. Toying psychologically
with an innocent man, the police essentially force Cipriani to take Collas - a traitor to the people he
worked for, to appease his own self interests' - out. This 'bureaucratic adjustment' is easily justified
by the lawyer: 'Is [eliminating] the elements that create a disturbance against the interests and welfare
of the community anything more than a bureaucratic operation?' Ultimately, the only way Cipriani
can save his wife is through death, through violence and by way of the gun. 'Society has many ways
of defending itself - with ted tape, prison bars and ... the revolver,' explains the lawyer as he places a
gun in Cipriani's hand.

CONCLUSION

Bullitt, The French Connection, Dirty Harry and its sequels may have answered domestic American
audience frustrations but, between 1971-79, Italian filmmakers liberally borrowed the American
rogue-cop icon and made it their own. They provided psychological twists and sociological turns
with even higher stakes alluding to and incorporating real political events occurring in Italy at the
time. These films also questioned the idea of law enforcement as capable protectors of the country's
citizens - where justice was only efficiently shelled out by the angry hand of one individual against a

FIGURES 19 & 20 The private citizen as Italian enforcer: Revolver (1973)

But, confronted by worldwide uncertainty, cops like Giorgio Caneparo and Commissario Berti
and even private citizens like Vito Cipriani, who is forced into corruption, provide a sort of comfort
- as cold as it may be. These men provide a strong arm to protect us from something they grappled
with everyday - government corruption and politically-sponsored terrorism.

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