In this one, Joe Dallesandro manages to be an even bigger jerk than he was in both The Climber and The Savage Three. Once again, Joe is an arrogant criminal terrorizing people on the streets of Rome, with too much ambition, and a not very good way of treating the ladies.
Piero (Joe) leads a gang of thugs who love beating people up, driving like nutters, and raping. Piero also has an unwanted kid to a local prostitute who constantly berates him, as well as a priest who tries to serve as the voice of reason. Piero won't listen, however, as his father towed the line and ended up in a mental institution, and he wants to enjoy life now.
Busting Piero's balls however is burned-out cop Martin Balsam, who has tried everything to rid the streets of the gangs and has now resorted to treating everyone like low-life scum, playing people off against each other, and even setting the thugs up so that the citizens themselves can take shots at them. Unsurprisingly, this causes conflict between Balsam and the priest.
Piero also gets to break out his romantic skills on a naïve young girl he meets and soon enough they are in love...or at least that's what she thinks, even though every time she mentions marriage Piero goes completely mental. This leads the film down a very dark and tragic road which just adds to the never-grim atmosphere.
Well, apart from that upbeat part when Piero and his gang go to the beach for some beach antics! The guffaws! The funky soundtrack that rips-off "Here Comes The Sun" and "Stand By Me".
Hey Joe, where ya goin' with that gun in your hand?