The Syndicate: A Death In The Family (1970)

Stars:

Michael Reardon, Barbara Bouchet, Carmelo Bene

This film was released a couple of years before the Giallo boom in the early seventies, and the film is more like the American film noir movement than Italy's finest cinematic export. Indeed, the film is often called a 'psychedelic noir' and this atmosphere is achieved through some bizarre set design and the soundtrack. The film also features a voice-over, which serves in giving it that classic noir feel. It is set in New York, and unlike a lot of Italian films set in America; actually does a decent job of making New York the central location. The plot is more like the later Italian 'Polizi' films than a Giallo, and focuses on crime in New York. Frank is a police inspector that was on the case of MacBrown; the head of a pharmaceutical company, and suspected of dealing in drugs. However, Frank was pulled off the case and shortly thereafter; MacBrown is murdered in the middle of a group of people by an unseen assassin. Frank is called in to investigate the murder. But the dead bodies soon start to pile up...