By the mid 1970s the Italian crime film became the dominant genre film over the giallo and the spaghetti western before it. Sergio Martino makes a perfect blend of the giallo and poliziotessco here with some comedy to provide some levity to a serious subject matter. There are three great chases in this movie, with some occasional silly comedy moments in the car chase. It also has a roller coaster shootout! The kill scenes though are pure horror and not as comedic which provides consistent tone. This movie is funny at times when it feels appropriate, and scary and suspenseful during the kill scenes. Along with the change in the blending of genres as the giallo was becoming stale to many viewers, also comes changes with the score. Luciano Michelini's score has more percussion instruments along with organs and keyboards which has more a Goblin feel than Ennio Morricone. This is a film I'd recommend to first time giallo viewers as it blends action with horror elements with an understandable mystery.
Synopsis: An undercover police officer who works in a kidnapping task force investigates the death of a minor tied to an underage prostitution racket.
The film starts with a prostitute named Marisa (Patrizia Castaldi) receiving a note at an outdoor party saying someone isn't coming to meet her. Another man, Paolo Germi (Claudio Cassinelli) dances with her and helps her get away from a man wearing reflective sunglasses in pursuit. The man in sunglasses tries to strangle her and later slashes her throat in a decently bloody kill in her apartment. This is where the amped up organ and percussion music starts playing which plays throughout many of the kill scenes. The instrumentation reminds me of Goblin's work in movies like Deep Red and Tenebrae.
Sunglasses killer in this movie
Germi finds out the woman has been killed when he spies on some cops near a pinball machine. At the same time a thief, Giannino (Adolfo Caruso) steals one of the cops briefcases. Germi goes to interrogate the landlady and she has something to do with the woman's death. Germi later asks the thief for help and they go steal several prostitutes' purses. Funnily enough the next day Germi goes back to the area where the prostitutes work and picks up one (Lia Tanzi) to get more information about where he can find underage prostitutes. He later goes to a bank connected to a company that he believes has something to do with it but can't prove anything. There are some funny moments throughout this sequence. Lia Tanzi as the prostitute says that someone came and took her purse and Germi pretends to be surprised. He sits on his all ready broken glasses when they are in bed. Numerous times throughout the movie his car doors are falling off which leads to some fun things in the chase later.
Spoiler Section
Germi gets set up with a.young prostitute, Floriana (Barbara Magnolfi, Suspiria). Also if you had any interest in seeing Barbara Magnolfi topless when you watched Suspiria you can see that here. Germi pries her for more info and eventually follows her. She goes to give the money he gave her to her boss and he is not happy because the check wasn't signed. Giannino also shows up and the pimp shoots Floriana. In a tense fight where it seems any second Germi could get shot or lose the fight he manages to shoot him. From his ID and money he finds out he is Il Manga one of the villains he is looking for. Germi waits in that house because of a hunch and two men deliver a big amount of kidnapping money tied to another crime. He has a scuffle with the two men who get away.
Giannino is followed by the police and this is when the chase starts. Giannino starts throwing different doors from the cop car as they are followed. This chase changes from the inner parts of the city and the traffic lights to tunnels and more urban areas which I always enjoy. I like it when chase scenes can switch locales. What is funny during this chase scene is seeing other people's perspective to provide some levity. One guy is crossing the street and he is nearly ran over lands on his hat while doing this hilarious spinning thing in the air before he gets up and runs into a telephone pole because he is dizzy. One guy has his bicycle hit and it turns into a unicycle. He tries to balance until he falls. One man hits another woman's car from behind and they argue while Germi and then the cops hit each of their cars. I like most of this because it is my style of comedy. Meanwhile Germi leads them to the police station where he actually reveals he is an undercover cop and gets Giannino off the hook.
His bosses and the other cops investigating are not happy with some of his decisions and how he waited to report things. This is typical Eurocrime fare where the cop always wants to things his own way and those who are by the book are against it. Germi with Giannino and his little brother go to an amusement park and one of the two people who went to the house with the money tries to shoot him on the roller coaster. After they get off the roller coaster they chase into a subway where the man is killed by a train. While investigating Marisa's death they find a picture of another young girl connected to the prostitution racket named Gloria who was at the amusement park. Gloria eventually gives them information about a banker named Gaudinzio Pesce (Massimo Girotti) Marisa's uncle. Pesce's bank is a front for the racket and Germi eventually confirms this by going to the bank threatening everyone with a gun until they talk about knowing Marisa.
One of the cops in charge goes with him to meet Pesce. Giannino and Germi meet with Gloria (Jenny Tamburi) in a movie theater, where Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is showing. The sunglasses killer meanwhile has been making the rounds killing every loose end. He kills the landlady and then he kills Lia Tanzi's prostitute character, though she puts up a good fight and burns his face with some boiling water. Next time we see him he has some terrific burn makeup effects. He shows up at the theater to kill Gloria and him and Germi have a chase onto the theater's roof. This is a tense scene as the sunglasses guy presses the lever to the domed roof and Germi holds on before he falls. Right before he is about to be killed Giannino comes and shoots the guy in the sunglasses.
Germi then goes to threaten Pesce more. In a fun moment Pesce tells him to get new glasses and he says I have a knew pair perhaps you've seen them, and pulls out the killer's reflective sunglasses. Germi resigns from the police after they determine he doesn't have enough proof to get Pesce. This is even after Gloria tells about the drugs and Pesce having sex with Marisa when she was 13. In a very surprising scene Gloria is given a present which turns out to be a bomb that kills her and Giannino. Because of this Germi decides to take matters into his own hands. He gets drugs and plants them along with pictures at Pesce's estate. Pesce meanwhile is leaving and on a train of sorts with his car on it, Germi shows up and tells him of how he has framed him and then kills him when he shoots at him.
As I said in my thesis this is one of the best giallo movies as an introduction to the genre. Like Martino's other movies it is never boring. The action scenes are great and in particular the car chase scene has some funny moments. Martino brings some funny moments to a subject matter at appropriate times that was done much more seriously in Massimo Dallamano's Schoolgirls in Peril Trilogy as a comparison. Considering this was made around the same time as Deep Red they do have similarities. Similar scores, and a kill where someone gets killed when someone sees them through a broken glass window. I find all of the intricacies of the plot between the racket, and all the players, leading to Pesce to be easier to understand every time I watch it.
Rating: 9/10
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