Director: Stelvio Massi
Year: 1978
Country: Italy
Rating: 6.0
This late period Poliziotteschi comes
out of the gate as if the director is in a hurry to get home to his mistress
before it settles down to a slower paced thoughtful film. It is directed
by Stelvio Massi who had helmed a number of hard-edged police and Giallo
films prior to this. Initially, it looks like it might be a Giallo film but
quickly turns into your basic Dirty Harry styled police investigation. Meaning
a few people get shot and witnesses beaten up. The relentless cop Olmi is
played by Maurizio Merli who could play this character in his sleep, he has
done it so often before. An honest man in a corrupt system. His blonde hair
and thick moustache make him easily recognizable.
A young woman is found on the beach with
her throat cut and then her boyfriend is found burnt to death in a car. Olmi
wastes no time in tracking down the dead woman's friend and with a few slaps
she tells him who may have been responsible. A hard beating later in the
woods and this man admits that his father was probably behind it. The woman
overheard a conversation and had to be silenced. Her boyfriend too. The father
Degan (Massimo Serato) is a slick highly positioned part of the Customs Dept.
With friends. One being the judge in charge of the case who tips Degan off
that he better make a getaway. He does. And that weirdly is the end of Degan
and the judge in the film as Olmi is so disgusted and realizes he can't fight
City Hall. He also hears a sound behind him at night and turns and shoots
killing an innocent man. It is time to get out of town. All this happens
in no time. There is also a very cool scene unrelated to any of this in which
Olmi tracks down four killers in a car from a helicopter and shoots them
all dead from up high. A classic scene.
He transfers to a sleepy seaside town where
the cops spend much of the day reading newspapers. Apparently, there were
no repercussions for killing an innocent man. Sounds familiar. The first
thing he does is take out his gun, empty it of bullets and locks it in a
drawer. He is sick of killing. You have a feeling it won't stay in there.
He also meets a woman, an elementary school teacher when he beats up four
punks harassing her. Instant romance and the film slows down to a crawl as
they tour around and make love. What woman could resist a guy who beats the
crap out of a bunch of young toughs and doesn't even identify himself as
a cop. A fresh fish from the Atlantic sets off his cop radar and sets him
down the path to having to open that drawer and load up. Time to get back
to killing. About time. I didn't come here for no stinking romance.
