Italia a mano armata (1976)

Director:

Marino Girolami

Writers:

Leila Buongiorno (screenplay), Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay),

Stars:

Maurizio Merli, Raymond Pellegrin, John Saxon

Cast

Credited cast:
Maurizio Merli	...	Commissario Betti
Raymond Pellegrin	...	Commissario Arpino
John Saxon	...	Albertelli
Mirella D'Angelo	...	Luisa
Toni Ucci	...	Raffaele Cacace
Daniele Dublino	...	Luzzi - kidnapper
Sergio Fiorentini	...	Salvatore Mancuso - kidnapper
Franco Borelli	...	Bertoli
Dino Mattielli	...	Attardi
Rocco Oppedisano
Carlo Valli	...	Rocchi - kidnapper
Marcello Monti	...	Torri - kidnapper
Massimo Vanni	...	Massimo Fabbri - Special Agent
Fortunato Arena	...	Carlo Morel
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Enzo Andronico	...	Antonio Boretti

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

brawl | violence | shot in the chest | police officer killed | cut arm | 

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Genres:

Thriller | Action | Crime

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

November 1987 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

A Special Cop in Action

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Film Production S.r.l.

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final part of police commissioner Betti's trilogy, also including Violent City and Violent Naples.

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Connections

Referenced in Death Proof (2007)

User Reviews

A SPECIAL COP IN ACTION (Marino Girolami, 1976) **

The Italians were second to none in virtually inventing new sub-genres by subverting to their own terms the conventions of classic Hollywood cinema; thus, after the Peplum (Epics), Gothic (Horror), Spaghetti (Westerns) and Giallo (Thriller), the 1970s ushered in the era of the Poliziotteschi which was basically an Italian version of DIRTY HARRY (1971) - although, to be fair to them, the seeds of the genre had been sown a few years earlier. Astonishingly there were practically innumerable similar movies made between 1966-80, a phenomenon which can easily be attributable to Italy's tumultuous political climate rife with corruption and kidnappings which marked the 1970s. Admittedly, I used to be very skeptical about the worthiness of these films (something which held true for the mainstream Italian film industry itself at the time) but having now gotten a fair share of them under my belt, I have to say that I've changed my stance somewhat.

This is the final entry - following VIOLENT ROME (1975) and VIOLENT NAPLES (1976) - in the "Commissario Betti" trilogy, with Maurizio Merli (the poor man's Franco Nero) gnashing his teeth throughout the film at untouchable "honest" businessman John Saxon; here, the hero even shares an unconvincing romance with the sister of a kidnapped child. While it certainly features plenty of action, ensuring an unrelenting pace and occasional excitement (though I would say that, ultimately, it provides one chase too many!), the film is nothing really special - the English title notwithstanding - and, worse, virtually interchangeable with any other of its ilk...apart from the unexpected downbeat ending which, apparently, was a deliberate act on the part of director Girolami (who here actually uses the pseudonym Franco Martinelli!) because he had been bypassed for the second installment; not having watched the first entry in the series, I can't comment on its quality but VIOLENT NAPLES

• directed by the more highly-profiled Umberto Lenzi - is certainly

superior to the third!!