Act of Violence (1979)
Similar movies
In this drama, undercover investigators are recruited from the streets to prevent arms smugglers from getting their weapons to street gangs.
An ex-con moves to L.A. to find work and creates a disturbance by fighting for a position. More importantly he touches the lives of many of his neighbors including an older man dying of cancer, a young married couple whose husband is too proud to accept a lesser position which causes strife with his wife, and a young boy on the verge of getting in trouble with street gangs.
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
An exploration of masculinity and violence. A story of obsession and revenge, as a man tries to come to terms with a brutal, random attack and it's consequences.
In a farmhouse in southern Italy, an old woman dies. Her husband summons their sons: from Rome, Raffaele, a judge facing a political case for which he risks assassination; from Naples, the religious and ideological Rocco, a counselor at a correctional institute for boys; from Turin, Nicola, a factory worker involved in labor disputes. Once home, each encounters the past and engages in reveries of what may come: Raffaele imagines his death, Rocco dreams of lifting the youth of Naples out of violence, drugs, and corruption, Nicola pictures embracing his estranged wife. Meanwhile, the old man and his young granddaughter explore the rhythms of the farm and grieve together.
The head of a gang of toughs, in an insensitive futuristic society, is conditioned to become physically ill at sex and violence during a prison sentence. When he is released, he's brutally beaten by all of his old adversaries.
Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.
Based on the life of Fr. Charles Clark, a minister to street gangs.
A man named Flyn (Il Lim) is on a mission on killing the men who raped his wife Olivia (Leelee Sobieski). He finds himself living a double life as a killer and a husband. He finds an unexpected friend, a priest (Ron Perlman), as he deals with the gravity of his acts. The story comes to a climactic end when Flyn finds out he is in a battle he has already lost....
A story about love deception, the return of the past, a tragedy, or even the violence contained in an everyday detail, appear themselves to push them towards the abyss, into the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
A gritty, dark action thriller about a family that initially becomes the target of an attack by a group of masked madmen
Gang-cheol is a legendary street fighter in Busan, who cleaned up his act to care for his sick mother. Things are going well for him, and he's happy in a budding relationship with Su-ji, vacationing in the seaside town. As their relationship grows, Gang-cheol is dragged into the criminal underworld when he sees Busan gangsters Sang-gon and Hwi-gon re-staging the accidental death of a Yakuza mobster as an accident and an old friend, Jong-su, gives him up to the Busan gang. Knowing he's desperate for money for his mother's operation, Sang-gon proposes that Gang-cheol works for him. Gang-cheol refuses, but when Jong-su gives the deed to Gang-cheol's how to Sang-gon as collateral for a private loan, Gang-cheol is left with no choice, but to bite the bullet.
A teenage Quebecer in the 1960s evolves from pro-independence activist to radical terrorist, in this gripping chronicle of the origins of the FLQ in the decade preceding the 1970 October Crisis.
The streets of the Bronx are owned by 60âs youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang âThe Wanderers.â
Benjamin Garcia, Benny is deported from the United States. Back home and against a bleak picture, Benny gets involved in the drug business, in which he has for the first time in his life, a spectacular rise surrounded by money, women, violence and fun. But very soon he will discover that criminal life does not always keep its promises.
A Muslim fundamentalist in New York kidnaps a liberal Muslim scholar with intent to kill. A closeted lesbian in New Delhi kidnaps her activist bisexual lover with intent to marry. The resulting torture and violence evokes a brutal struggle of identities against unfreedom.
The events that culminated with the Passion of Christ seen from the perspective of Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of Judea who unwillingly condemned Christ to death. Based on the biblical Gospel of John.
Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.
Mike Max is a Hollywood producer who became powerful and rich thanks to brutal and bloody action films. His ignored wife Paige is close to leaving him. Suddenly Mike is kidnapped by two bandits, but escapes and hides out with his Mexican gardener's family for a while. At the same time, surveillance expert Ray Bering is looking for what happens in the city, but it is not clear what he wants. The police investigation for Max's disappearance is led by detective Doc Block, who falls in love with actress Cat who is playing in ongoing Max's production.
The five days when Copenhagen was held in a panic grip by an intelligent activist and former elite shooter, who takes to arms when a woman journalist writes about the governmentâs broken promises in an environmental question.
The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly opposed to violence and war. It's not easy for them to meet the rules of their religion in everyday life but when Southern troops pass the area they are in real trouble. Should they fight, despite their peaceful attitude?
Tommy, 10 years old, is well known by Social Services. He is considered a danger to society. Gilles, his guardian at this halfway house, sees potential for redemption in this kid driven by violence.
Apprentice lawyer Robin Weathers turns a civil suit into a headline grabbing charade. He must reexamine his scruples after his shenanigans win him a promotion in his firm, and he must now defend a college professor who is appearantly guilty of murder.
Edward J. Olmos made his directorial bow with the powerhouse crime saga American Me. Olmos stars as street-gang leader Santana, who during his 18 years in Folsom Prison rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits. The
This is the hard and shocking story of life in a British Borstal for young offenders. The brutal regime made no attempt to reform or improve the inmates and actively encouraged a power struggle between the 'tough' new inmate and the 'old hands'. The film was originally made as a BBC play but it was banned before ever being shown.
Ronald, an eight year-old biracial boy, sees his life turning upside down after witnessing the brutal murder of his mother by his father. Often moved from one foster home to the next, Ronald is recruited by a street gang where he dwells in a life of crime and violence. As he waits for his father to be released to avenge his mother, he realizes that he doesn't have to follow his father's footsteps or the path chosen for him. Against all odds, he takes control of his own destiny. His awakening to new humane values enables him to change change course despite the obvious risk of losing the only family he has ever known.
Jean-Luc Godard's poetic meditation on war, violence and defeat. The film is structured in three parts. The three segments are "Hell", "Purgatory", and "Heaven". The first segment is a montage of war images from documentary and fictional sources. The second concerns two young Jewish women attending a European arts conference in Sarajevo. The final segment concerns the after life.
Stockholm, the fifties. Though academically bright, violent pupil Erik Ponti is expelled from his state school with the headmasterâs words âthereâs only one word for people like you â evil⦠what you need is a good thrashing, and moreâ. In fact already Erik frequently receives a âgoodâ thrashing at the hands of his sadistic stepfather â so he is packed off by his mother to boardingschool
In Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a wealthy family, one of whose sons is a prominent nightclub owner, is caught in the violent transition from the oppressive regime of Batista to the Marxist government of Fidel Castro. Castro's regime ultimately leads the nightclub owner to flee to New York.
It's 1947 and the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl bears witnesses to tragedy as her ayah is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.
The first Russian emo-movie, Closed Spaces is a story about the newest generation of Russians. Having grown up in Russia's crazy 1990s, an era filled with constant and drastic change, these teenagers have no solid ground beneath their feet. They are trapped in a strange world in which their money-obsessed parents lead senseless lives and even kill each other. Vika is twenty years old. She has black fingernail polish, wears pink dresses, and is constantly depressed. While working at a pizza place, she gets an order for a pizza delivery from Venya, a strange twenty year old boy who lives all alone in a deserted apartment in the middle of Moscow. Venya suffers from agarophobia, the fear of open space. When Vika arrives Venya lets her in and locks the door behind her.
A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.
Phil Karlson's docudrama based on the notorious Phenix City -- a city known for its gambling, crime and prostitution rackets.
A drama about a Maori family lving in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Hekeâs strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.
World-weary arthur Fernando has returned to his native Columbia to live out his days in peace. But Fernando's once-quiet hometown has become a hotbed of violence, drugs and corruption. On the brink of despair, Fernando meets Alexis, a beautiful but hardened street kid who lives by the rule of the gun. Together, they forge an unlikely relationship.
Thousands of activists arrive in Seattle, Washington in masses to protest the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 (World Trade Organization). Although it began as a peaceful protest with a goal of stopping the WTO talks, it escalated into a full-scale riot and eventually, a State of Emergency that pitted protesters against the Seattle Police Department and the National Guard.
To exact revenge, the Liar Game office is revived. The target is only one person - Shinichi Akiyama (Shota Matsuda). Because of new heroine Shinomiya (Mikako Tabe), Shinichi, who kept refusing to take part in the game, finds himself in the game. Along with Akiyama, there's 19 other players competing for the prize of 2 billion yen. Omega (Makiko Esumi), who revived the game, plays the game at the Liar Game office with Alice (Mana Ashida). Alice sets up the game, chooses the players and sets the traps.
Moon (Michael Latimer) is a mercenary who joins forces with two crooked cops in an attempt to steal 90 million dollars in gold from an Arab country decimated by political chaos. Sex, violence and mayhem accompany the group of double-crossing heavies who covet the purloined loot. A bevy of females willingly submit to seduction, and a sadistic homosexual murderer trails Moon and his malevolent gang for the gold in this compelling crime drama.
Bonnie and Hillary are two young lost souls who meet one day and discover that they get along. They talk about their lives and run around and and keep getting really excited. Their day escalates into an eruption of violence and rage that can only be understood by the two girls.
In the darker side of Manila-by-night, tribes of youthful gangsters roam the streets in search of quick fixes and precarious thrills. World-weary Tondo throbs to the beat of of hiphop and freestyle gangsta rap, and to the scents and sensations of drugs and sex and violence. We witness this crepus-cular underworld through the eyes of ten-year-old Ebet. We follow him as he witnesses the deadly lives of teen age gang members in Tondo and the events that lead to their explosive confrontation.
The Football Factory is more than just a study of the English obsession with football violence, it's about men looking for armies to join, wars to fight and places to belong. A forgotten culture of Anglo Saxon males fed up with being told they're not good enough and using their fists as a drug they describe as being more potent than sex and drugs put together.
City of God depicts the raw violence in the ghettos of Rio de Janeiro. In the 1970âs that kids are carrying guns and joining gangs when they should be playing hide-and-seek.
Young Indian man survives life of violence and crime in Trinidad and Tobago to become part of the political movement towards independence.
In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to "own" the neighborhood streets. Tensions are high between the gangs but two kids, one from each rival gang, fall in love leading to tragedy.
Cigarette smugglers in Naples run into problems with cocaine operations being set up by a rival smuggler. Full of violence, including a women's face being burned off with a blow torch and a graphic rape scene.
An elderly ex-serviceman and widower looks to avenge his best friend's murder by doling out his own form of justice.
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trial of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.
In 1829, Claire, a 21-year-old Irish convict, chases a British soldier through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. She enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
Two gangbangers-turned-cops try and cover up a scandal within the LAPD.
In the 17th century, a Bulgarian Christian region is selected by the Ottoman rulers to serve as an example of conversion to Islam. A Janissary who was kidnapped from the village as a boy is sent to force the reluctant inhabitants to convert. The Turkish governor seeks a peaceful solution, but ultimately torture, violence, and rebellion break out.
In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. The simmering tension between them is about to boil over into all-out war.
An ex-convict (Tyrese) gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.
The young Tore seeks a new life in Hamburg among the religious group called The Jesus Freaks. When he by accident meets a family and helps them to repair their car, he believes that a heavenly wonder has helped him. He starts a friendship with the father of the family, Benno, and soon he moves in with them at their garden plot, not knowing the cruelty there is to come. True to his religious belief Tore stays with them although the increasing violence by Benno is torturing him...
"Os Imortais" is without a doubt one of the best, or probably, the best Portuguese film ever made. It certainly is a landmark on the Portuguese cinema's scene; this movie his worth every minute. Every year, four ex-soldiers that call themselves "Os Imortais" (translated "The Immortals"), get together with four women to celebrate war deeds and to remember the old days, back in the war. On the summer of 1985, tired of their monotonous lives they decide to rob a bank. Joaquim Malarranha, a chief inspector from the local police about to retire, crosses their path and will spend his last days of duty trying to solve the robbery. But has he carries on with his investigation, he discovers more than he could ever think of.
Teenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together.
On the day of her birthday, eleven-year-old Angeliki jumps off the balcony and falls to her death with a smile on her face. While the police and Social Services try to discover the reason for this apparent suicide, Angeliki's family keep insisting that it was an accident. What is the secret that young Angeliki took with her? Why does her family persist in trying to "forget" her and to move on with its life?
Many years ago Mr. Six was a notorious gangster. That was back when there was still such a thing as honour among thieves, when criminals earned respect and maintained principles. These days Mr. Six is all but forgotten, a living relic residing in a narrow alley. One day Six's son, Xiaobo, is abducted by some spoiled punks after he scratches their precious Ferrari. Mr. Six realizes that he must do whatever it takes to get his son back â even if that means returning to the life he thought he had left behind.
A modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, set against the backdrop of gang violence in Chicago.
In the turbulence of Auckland, Ska (Hunter) is a streetwise 19 year old, whose father is a drunkard and whose older sister works at a high-class massage parlour. When he decide to ârescueâ her, he is thrown out. With some friends, he take revenge by trashing the place, but the reply results in Ska's best friend being killed. The massage parlour boss is also a crooked concert promoter, so Ska, and his gang, âhijackâ a concert which incites the audience to riot.
© Valossa 2015–2024
