Sergio Martino's 1973 poliziotteschi The Violent Professionals aka Milano Trema – La Polizia Vuole Giustizia doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but it's one of the better examples of an overpopulated genre, with Luc Merenda playing the typical shoot-first-so-you-don't-have-to-ask-questions-later maverick cop after the gang that killed his boss and several innocent bystanders. Like I said, it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does make sure it keeps turning fairly efficiently for 104 minutes. It's not as good as its enthusiastic cult reputation implies, not least because the big twist about the motive behind a series of gratuitously violent bank robberies isn't exactly surprising (like the Red Brigades of the day, the robbers are more interested in spreading chaos than getting rich), but it does get extra points for being one of the few films where, when a car crashes over a hill, it doesn't explode in a ball of fire on the way down. There's also a great spin on the omnipresent car-driving-through-stacks-of-empty-crates shot in one chase scene by having Merenda's car drive through stacks of burning crates that was so popular the footage was reused in at least two other movies (Milano Odia: La Polizia Non Può Sparare and Roma a Mano Armata). Richard Conte is the contractually obligatory American co-star, acquitting himself well despite some hilariously obvious doubling in a fight scene, Tinto Brass regular Martine Brochard makes an attractive junkie and there's a catchy De Angelis brothers score.
