The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist

The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (Italian: Il cinico, l'infame, il violento, lit. 'The Cynic, the Infamous, the Violent') is an Italian poliziotteschi film directed in 1977 by Umberto Lenzi and third entry into the Tanzi/Moretto/Monnezza shared universe[2] as well as serving as a direct sequel to The Tough Ones. The film was described by Italian film critic and historian Roberto Curti as "a sequel of sorts" to Lenzi's 1976 The Tough Ones, with Maurizio Merli reprising the role of Inspector Leonardo Tanzi.[1][3]

The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist
Directed byUmberto Lenzi
Screenplay by
Story bySauro Scavolini[1]
Produced byLuciano Martino[1]
Starring
CinematographyFederico Zani[1]
Edited byEugenio Alabiso[1]
Music byFranco Micalizzi[1]
Production
companies
  • Dania Film
  • Medusa Distribuzione[1]
Distributed byMedusa
Release date
  • 3 February 1977 (1977-02-03) (Italy)
Running time
100 minutes[1]
CountryItaly[1]
Box office₤1.818 billion

The title of the movie inspired the book Cinici infami e violenti (2005), written by Daniele Magni and Silvio Giobbio, a book guide about "Poliziotteschi".[4]

Plot

Luigi "The Chinaman" Maietto escapes from prison. As soon as he is free he assigns immediately two henchman to murder the inspector whose testimonial once led to his prison sentence. Inspector Tanzi is left for dead but survives. The local newspapers cover up for him and pretend the assassination had succeeded. When Tanzi gets better, his superior wants him to hide in Switzerland. But Tanzi defies him because he intends to make sure himself that Maietto is put back in prison. He goes for it.

Cast

Production

Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi later spoke negatively on his work on the film "the story wasn't mine, and I just did supervising work on the finished script. Actually, I didn't even like the movie."[5] The film was shot at Elios film and on location in Rome.[1]

Release

The Cynic, the Rat, and the Fist was distributed theatrically in Italy by Medusa on February 3, 1977.[1] It grossed a total of 1,818,523,920 Italian lira on its domestic release in Italy, an amount Curti described as "very successful at the box office."[1][5]

Notes
  1. Curti 2013, p. 211.
  2. Mike Malloy Grindhouse Releasing Audio Commentary, 2019. Last accessed: February 2023.
  3. Bondanella 2009, p. 466.
  4. "ANCORA... PIù CINICI, INFAMI E VIOLENTI". Nocturno. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  5. Curti 2013, p. 212.

References
  • Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786469765.
  • Bondanella, Peter E. (2009). A History of Italian Cinema. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4411-6069-0.


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