I've got a new theory - Italy was actually relatively crime free during the seventies, but the sheer volume of Italian crime films being made gave the impression that Rome, Palermo, Milan and Genoa et al were hovels of violence, car chases and street executions. I cannot believe how many of these films there are, even in 1976 alone! Along with this film, Stelvio Massi directed another two Poliziotesschi films in 1976. Umberto Lenzi made three the same year. Fernando Di Leo got two under his belt in 1976 and wrote Live Like a Cop, Die Like A Man, directed by Ruggero Deodato in 1976. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
So, with this saturation in mind, let's cut The Last Round some slack for repeating the 'stranger plays two rival gangs off each other' plot of Fistful of Dollars. It's still a good film nonetheless, full of action, grimness, and Luc Merenda glaring at things, only this time he's the bad guy!
The good guy is a fella called Marco, who travels from the South to find a job, taking with him a small music box that contains pictures of two women (and yes, that's straight from For A Few Dollars More). Marco immediately clashes with some goons from the Manzetti clan, and even though he lays out about eight of them, he still ends up knocked out and left in a dump at the edge of town. Here, he makes friends with a blind girl and her surrogate father, then heads off back to the Manzetti's for round two.
By this time the Manzetti crime boss (Merenda) is more intruiged by Marco's fist action and hires him as a goon, just in time for Marco to realise that Merenda has a thing for teenage girls, as evidenced by him drooling over his step-daughter while wife Mariangela Giordano scowls at him. Time for Marco to get all Eastwood on this gig and go to the rival gang, led by Mario Brega.
So it's a mix of Fistful of Dollars, for a Few Dollars More, with a bit of Django thrown in there for good measure too, but who cares? It's full of action, double crosses, and a bit where the blind girl psychically senses that Marco is getting a kicking across town, something that isn't even remotely explained but is welcome anyway, as is Luc Merenda's ridiculous gun skills and the full on battle at the end of the film. Not sure about that blind girl rape bit though.
