The viper

Movie
German title	The viper
Original title	Roma a mano armata
Country of production	Italy
original language	Italian
Publishing year	1975
length	90 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Umberto Lenzi
script	Dardano Sacchetti
production	Luciano Martino
music	Franco Micalizzi
camera	Frederico Zanni
cut	Daniele Alabisio Dardano Sacchetti
occupation
Maurizio Merli : Commissario Ferro, aka the Viper Tomás Milián : Vincenzo Moretto, aka the Hunchback (Il Gobbo) Maria Rosaria Omaggio : Anna Ivan Rassimov : Tony Parenzo Arthur Kennedy : Ruini Giampiero Albertini : Commissario Caputo Biagio Pelligra : Savelli Aldo Barberito : Fogliana Stefano Patrizi : Stefano Luciano Catenacci : Ferdinando Gerace Carlo Alighiero : Avvocato di Savelli Carlo Gaddi : ambulance driver Claudio Nicastro : Gioielliere Valentino Macchi : Franco Alessandra Cardini : Sandra Savelli Gabriella Lepori : Marta Assante Maria Rosaria Riuzzi : Paola Corrado Solari : Albino Mara Mariani : Vedova di Assante Fulvio Mingozzi : Colantoni Filippo De Gara : Police spies Orso Maria Guerrini : Ferrender Claudio Ruffini

The Viper (original title: Roma amano armata ) is a Poliziottesco published in 1975 with Maurizio Merli and Tomás Milián in the leading roles by the director Umberto Lenzi . The film is considered to be one of the most important films in the genre.

action

Crime is rampant in Rome . The French mafia from Marseille has the illegal gambling business firmly in their hands. The gangster Ferrender runs the syndicate. But the police's hands are tied. The superiors do not support the police work, the media only report the errors and the laws unilaterally favor the criminals. As soon as a criminal is caught, resourceful lawyers find a trick and the criminals are released. Inspector Ferro and his colleagues have had enough of it, they want to find the gangsters and neutralize them. In order to arrest Vincenzo Moretto, the hunchback, they hide drugs in his Porsche Targa . Moretto is arrested for possession of cocaine. During the interrogation, Ferro freaks out and beats Moretto up. Moretto cuts his wrists in the toilet and lets himself be taken to the hospital. The incidents prompt senior public prosecutor Ruini to transfer Ferro to the office. Moretto wants to teach Ferro a lesson and has Anna, Ferro's friend, kidnapped. Anna is locked in a vehicle and thrown into a scrap press with the vehicle. Anna survives the incident traumatized. Ferro finds a cartridge in her hand. The gangsters had left this cartridge as a warning to Ferro. Ferro sets out and finds Moretto with his sister. Ferro forces Moretto to swallow the cartridge.

In the meantime, a group of young people from a good family have raped a woman. The woman's husband can flee and inform Ferro, who happens to be passing by. Ferro can provide the youngsters. When they try to run over Ferro, he inevitably shoots the leader of the group. In the processing of the case at the police headquarters, Ferro is exonerated by Caputo. Ferro, for his part, is massively critical of the police leadership. The state institutions have no interest in taking targeted action against the crime. Ruini denies the allegations. Ruini would like to announce the release of Ferro from the police force in public. However, due to the lack of evidence, he cannot remove him from the police force.

A friend asks Ferro to look for her daughter Martha. This is in the hands of the dealer Tony Parenzo. When Parenzo learns that Ferro is looking for him, he kills Martha with a golden shot . After Parenzo was caught, Moretto killed him with a shot in the head.

In the meantime, Caputo finds a mutilated corpse. She has burned hands. This is seen as a sign of the Mafia. Only gamblers would have their hands burned additionally.

Ruini is preparing to release Ferro from the police force. But after a bank robbery, Caputo and Ruini ask Ferro to intervene. Ferro manages to storm the bank with snipers and eliminate the criminals. Moretto manages to escape in an ambulance.

Caputo and Ferro examine Gerace's warehouses. This is where they come across Moretto and his gang. Caputo wants to kill Moretto immediately when he is arrested. Ferro prevents him. At this very moment, Moretto succeeds in seizing a gun and shooting Caputo. After a shootout, Ferro Moretto manages to kill. It turns out that Moretto killed and maimed his competitor Ferrender.

useful information

• The chase in Rome was filmed in the EUR district .
• The figure of the hunchbacked gangster Moretto is an allusion to the resistance fighter Giuseppe Albano .
• Tomás Milián was a supporter of leftist ideas and is said to have deliberately hit right-wing Merli several times in a beatings scene.
• Due to the great success of the film, films with similar titles have been made by various directors.
• The film was continued in "The Toad".

criticism

• "The film is carefully and excitingly staged."
• The lexicon of international films found: "Gruff crime film by the relevant genre director Umberto Lenzi .."

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "The Terror is Directing - The Italian Gangster and Police Film" by Michael Cholewa and Karsten Thurau, p. 209, 2nd edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-931608-91-0
2. ↑ The Viper. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .  

Web links

• The Viper in the Internet Movie Database (English)