Director: Stelvio Massi
Year: 1977
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Poliziotto sprint
Genre: Action (Politziotteschi)
Plot:
After a series of accidents, a hot-shot rookie officer in the police force is assigned to a special division to curtail his reckless attitude. When his recklessness causes even more death among the police force, he initially decides to resign from the squad but is instead recruited to enhance his driving skills to go undercover into the criminal gang and stop them. With that complete, he manages to infiltrate their operations as a new getaway driver but is unexpectedly discovered and his cover blown, forcing a final duel to the death to make his training pay off and stop the criminal gang.
Review:
There was quite a lot to like here although it does have some issues. What gives this one a lot to like about it is the explosive, high-energy action scenes featuring some of the most impressive car-stunts and chases in the genre. That there are numerous scenes of cars speeding down the city streets, careening through intersections narrowly missing other cars and swerving out of the way to let pursuing vehicles overtake them in order to escape among other impressive tactics, this is handled impeccably well to generate a lot of exciting stunts and crashes throughout the film.
The second half of the film, featuring his recruitment into the gang and eventual takedown of the various figures involved, is all a bit rushed but carries some exciting elements. Filled with the usual scenes involving his slow recruitment and acceptance followed by the discovery of his identity and race to stop them, this contains enough action and stunt-work that leads into the explosive finale that feels like an afterthought with the resolution but focuses on a sense of respect between the characters which is an equal ploy to him and his superior officer for an unexpectedly intriguing subplot. These manage to provide this with a lot to like overall.
There are some problems with this one. The main problem here is the utterly laughable attitude taken by the film to try to conceal the identity of the main officer as a rookie. Constantly wearing far more of a five-o-clock shadow, tons of body hair, and more wrinkles than someone his age should generally sport, the implication here is that he’s more of a middle-aged man dressed down to be a rookie on the scene for no reason. The outbursts and recklessness he displays come off far more as comical than anything and highlights how miscast he is in the role.
As well, the film also manages to come off a rather clumsily created setup involving how the storyline takes place. Not only is this highly suspicious why the superiors would keep giving him chances despite a poor driving record, constant crashes, and disregard for how his boss doles out orders that to reward him with the opportunity to go undercover even with specialized training. This whole part of the film is highly suspect and tends to cause the film to run itself into the ground waiting for it to be over and back to the action at hand since this is quite dull and uninvolving. Otherwise, this was a pretty solid genre effort.
Overview: ***.5/5
Based solely on the use of the stunt-work and car chases spread throughout here, this is a fairly fun and exciting genre entry that stumbles when trying to put more thought into the storyline present which is where this one falters. Adrenaline-favored enthusiasts of the genre, those looking for a simplistic genre effort like this one, or fans of the creative crew will find a lot to like here while most others will want to heed caution before going into this one.
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