Young, Violent, Dangerous Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Young, Violent, Dangerous Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 26, 2025

Romolo Guerrieri's "Young, Violent, Dangerous" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video. The supplemental features on the release include archival program with Romolo Guerrieri; audio commentary by podcasters Adrian Smith and Rod Barnett; and trailers. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

On the run

Romolo Guerrieri’s film Young, Violent, Dangerous is a genuine Italian punk torpedo. It is loaded with raw destructive energy of the kind that a decade later will transform Penelope Spheeris’ film The Boys Next Door into an even bigger punk torpedo.

In the beautiful city of Milan, three troublemakers, inspired by the legendary gangsters who made Chicago famous decades before they were born, decide to go on a rampage and acquire a reputation for themselves. Blondie (Stefano Patrizzi) is the leader of the group, and the one whose desire to leave a trail of death and destruction is the most intense. He has a gun. Luis (Max Delys) is the most rational of the three, but he craves the rush that being a famous criminal brings. Joe (Benjamin Lev) is the youngest and most impulsive of the three. It has never occurred to him that participating in the game that real criminals engage in is like playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun.

Before the rampage begins, the three troublemakers are betrayed by Lea (Eleonora Georgi), Luis’s girlfriend, who visits the local police department and, after providing accurate descriptions of the three and their intentions, begs a veteran detective (Tomas Milian) to stop them before they crash and burn. However, Lea is late, and the detective and his men are unable to prevent an improvised bank robbery in downtown Milan. Emboldened by their success, the troublemakers then move to their next job, with the police tracking them down and placing checkpoints on all major roads and highways that they could use to leave Milan.

In the 1970s, Italian directors produced numerous genre films that were essentially boundary-pushers, testing the limits of local censorship. Some were poliziotteschi, some were exotic cannibal films, and some were atmospheric gialli with explicit sexual content. The best of these films are all poliziotteschi for two simple reasons. First, they were shot on location in large urban areas, often guerrilla style, with professional and non-professional actors who frequently risked their lives. Some of these films also engaged real criminal elements, either as advisors or performers. Second, the better poliziotteschi attempted to legitimize their extreme content with politics, which, combined with the authentic urban footage, made them curious time capsules.

Young, Violent, Dangerous is a product of this trend from the 1970s. It combines plenty of authentic footage from busy areas of Milan and adds a few crumbs of dreadful politics to give its mayhem some legitimacy. This makes it a pretty unique, colorful punk torpedo, whose historical value is identical to that of The Boys Next Door. (The version of Milan that is preserved in it no longer exists, just as the version of Los Angeles that is preserved in The Boys Next Door is gone for good).

Guerrieri worked with an original screenplay penned by Fernando Di Leo and Nico Ducci, which undoubtedly was only a catalyst for the unscripted mayhem that becomes the narrative. In the second and third acts, there are several important character transformations, but, for obvious reasons, they are essentially unavoidable.

While not bad, the action footage is not as memorable as the one that the great French stuntman Remy Julienne oversaw and shot for various, now considered cult films, poliziotteschi from the same period.

*In an archival program, Guerrieri reveals that, with production underway, Lev was arrested by the Carabinieri (the Italian police) for being a drug pusher and user. For this reason, Guerrieri shot a large portion of Young, Violent, Dangerous with an impersonator.

Young, Violent, Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encode with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Young, Violent, Dangerous arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video.

The film looks awful. Apparently, it was restored in 4K, but now it has a foreign appearance that years ago some of the worst of the worst VHS release produced. The visuals looked badly dated, anemic, and routinely very, very flat. The entire color scheme has been collapsed as well. On top of this, the destruction of the color scheme has introduced gamma anomalies that typically very bad filtering corrections produce. All of this is extremely disappointing because the 4K scan appears to have been done correctly, and the ungraded 4K is definitely excellent. Sadly, the end result is another disaster, identical to the recent 4K 'restorations' of Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man and The Boss. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Young, Violent, Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the English track, which should be considered the original track for Young, Violent, Dangerous. In a couple of areas, the dialogue is difficult to follow, and not because of the usually tricky overdubbing that was done on these tracks by Italian producers. Some management work has been done on it to tone down or remove hiss from the upper register. Or, at least, I assume this to be the case, and there could have been a different excuse. Dynamic intensity is fine.

Young, Violent, Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Ragazzi Fuori - in this archival program, Romolo Guerrieri discusses the period in which Young, Violent, Dangerous was conceived and shot, with some interesting observations about Fernando Di Leo's writing style, and the film's personality and style. Guerrieri also comments on the attacks he had faced from some critics, who accused him of shooting films that featured fascist overtones. The program was produced in 2004. In Italian, with English subtitles. (17 min).

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by critics and hosts of Wild, Wild Podcast Adrian Smith and Rod Barnett.

Young, Violent, Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Romolo Guerrieri directed one of the sexiest films Carroll Baker made after relocating to Italy, which is also one of the twistiest gialli you will ever see, The Sweet Body of Deborah. Guerrieri's Young, Violent, Dangerous offers completely different thrills, and is worth seeing for the same reason you would book a date with Penelope Spheeris' film The Boys Next Door. It is a colorful punk torpedo, which has preserved the image of a city that no longer exists. Unfortunately, after undergoing a 4K makeover, Young, Violent, Dangerous looks awful on this release.