A Special Magnum for Tony Saitta (1976)

Director:

Alberto De Martino

Writers:

Vincenzo Mannino (screenplay) and
Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 June 1976 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Walk with her if you dare...for every step will bring you closer, closer, closer to the meaning of fear!

Plot:

An Ottawa police captain searches for the person who poisoned his sister, who was attending the university in Montreal...

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Police | Sister | Candle Stick | Magnum44

Cast

Stuart Whitman	...	Captain Tony Saitta
John Saxon	...	Sergeant Ned Matthews
Martin Landau	...	Dr. George Tracer
Tisa Farrow	...	Julie Foster
Carole Laure	...	Louise Saitta
Jean LeClerc	...	Robert Tracer (as Jean Leclerc)
Gayle Hunnicutt	...	Margie Cohn
Jean Marchand
Anthony Forrest		(as Antony Forest)
Andrée St-Laurent		(as Andree St. Laurent)
Peter MacNeill		(as Peter Mac Neil)
Julie Wildman
James Tapp
Jérôme Tiberghien		(as Jerome Thibergien)
Terence G. Ross		(as Terence Ross)

Also Known As:

.44 Special
Blazing Magnum (Philippines: English title)
Blazing Magnums
Shadows in an Empty Room
Strange Shadows in an Empty Room
The 44 Specialist (Philippines: English title)
Tough Tony Saitta (Europe: English title)
Una magnum Special per Tony Saitta (Italy)

Runtime:

Canada:100 min | USA:99 min | France:100 min | West Germany:88 min

Country:

Italy | Canada | Panama

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Cinévision, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Fida Cinematografica

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The driver of a car passing by can be seen watching filming as cop walks into sex shop.

As over the top as an Italian rip-off can be!

Italian filmmakers are famous for ripping off successful American films; but with this film director Alberto De Martino has taken it to a whole new level; as he's collected just about everything that made films such as Dirty Harry successful and mashed it all together in this action packed and over the top cop flick. Most of the Italian Polizi flicks have things that were clearly taken from American films; but usually they retain a sense of the Italian style. This is not the case here; the film is Italian, but you can actually believe that it's an American film, and it was clearly made to appeal to American audience. As the title suggests, the film focuses on Tony Saitta; the type of hard nosed cop that will punch you in the face and smash your car up before even thinking about asking any questions. The plot kicks off properly when Saitta's sister (who is a good twenty years his junior) dies in mysterious circumstances. The cop then sets out to find out who did it; by forsaking the usual police methods. After following the clues...he eventually gets close to the killer.

Despite taking influence from such great films, this one is a long way from being brilliant itself; but it is at least great fun. The way that the central characters jumps in with both feet at every opportunity is great, and seeing him brutalise suspects at the drop of a hat does ensures that the film doesn't become boring on many occasions. Alberto De Martino is backed up by a good cast; with Stuart Whitman in the lead role and receiving good support from cult star John Saxon as well as the A-lister Martin Landau. This film is not very seen; but anyone who does see it will undoubtedly remember the car chase, which is peppered with clichés but is at least really well done; not least for the fact that it all comes off as the result of a minor piece of plot development! The film also borrows from other genres; with the Giallo genre creeping in during some scenes. It soon becomes clear that the film is not going to deliver anything meaningful by the ending but the climax does at least wrap things up nicely and while this is not a great film on the whole; it is lots of fun and well worth a look.