HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARROLL BAKER

    

    Happy Birthday Giallo Goddess Carroll Baker !! Sure she made bunches of stuff in Hollywood, but Carroll went over to Italy in the late 60's to make a series of Giallo films (in which she proudly shed her clothes) with the best of them being directed by Umberto Lenzi. She was one of the first American stars to make that journey. I got to meet her at a Chiller Con back in the 90's and she was beyond sweet as she patiently answered all my Giallo-geek questions. She starred in THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH 1968, ORGASMO 1969, SO SWEET...SO PREVERSE 1969, PARANOIA 1970, KNIFE OF ICE 1972 & BABY YAGA 1973 among others.

THE TOUGH ONES aka ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH on Blu-Ray

    Grindhouse Releasing have released the final specs and a street date for the long awaited THE TOUGH ONES (ROME ARMED TO TEETH) Blu-Ray. Directed by Umberto Lenzi and released in 1976, this is an outstanding example of 70's Italian Polliziotteschi with slam-bang action, shootouts and best of all an amazing performance by the great Tomas Milian as a psychotic hunchback.

    Also starring Franco Nero look-alike and Italian crime movie mainstay Maurizio Merli as a Dirty Harry style policeman, Ivan Rassimov (EATEN ALIVE), Maria Rosaria Omaggio (NIGHTMARE CITY) and token American Arthur Kennedy (LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE). 

   The 4K package which contains a whole batch of extras including a commentary by Eurocrime documentary director Mike Malloy, interviews, a CD with Franco Micalizzi's score and much more can be pre-ordered from the good folks over at Diabolik DVD for a July 9 release date. 

THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS 1973 On Blu-Ray

   Coming May 1st from Code Red via Kino Lorber Studio Classics is Sergio Martino's (TORSO and 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK) hyper violent Poliziotteschi LA POLIZIA VUOLE GIUSTZIA (THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS) from 1973.
   Luc Merenda plays a disgraced policeman who upon swearing vengeance for his murdered superior begins a bloody vendetta against the Mafia - including Richard Conte. A solid entry in the genre it contains more political undertones than usual, but this doesn't slow down the barrage of bloody shoot-outs & car chases.