Fango Bollente (aka Savage Three) (1975)

Set in Italy, a seemingly quiet clerk (Joe Dallesandro) in a large computer corporation is bored with both his job and his marriage. So he and his two friends (Gianfranco De Grassi, Guido De Carli) begin engaging in petty violence which soon escalates to rape and murder. Directed by Vittorio Salerno (NO, THE CASE IS HAPPILY RESOLVED), this is an exploitation movie with a social conscience but make no mistake, the key word here is exploitation. While the film examines the breakdown of a bankrupt society where crimes are committed without motive but for the sheer thrill of maliciousness, it also seeks to get its audience high on the violence and the titillation of sexual acts. Why a detailed close up of a rape victim's nipple if not for sheer titillation? For what it is, it's very well done but it has all the sincerity of a DEATH WISH movie. Clucking its cinematic tongue at the breakdown of a morally corrupt society while licking its lips over the sex and violence served up for our delectation. With Enrico Maria Salerno and Martine Brochard.