MAGNUM COP - BLU-RAY REVIEW

By this point in his career, Maurizio Merli’s succession of militant police inspectors had virtually exterminated all the available criminal lowlife in Rome, Milan and Naples combined, but in Stelvio Massi’s MAGNUM COP (1978) we witness the Italocrime experience effortlessly transliterated to the mean streets of Vienna, Austria. Although released on tape during the VHS era as FEARLESS, New World Video’s U.S. videocassette version was promoted along the lines of a FATAL ATTRACTION (1987)-type erotic thriller (“A story of intrigue, deception and fatal seduction.”), which was re-edited and even re-scored, but thanks to Raro Video’s new Blu-ray, it’s great to finally have this enjoyable slice of Italian action back in circulation, which is a must-see, simply because it stars the great Maurizio Merli.

 

Massi wastes no time getting down to the nitty-gritty, and even before the opening credits roll, ex-cop-turned-private-eye Walter “Wally” Speda (Merli) thwarts a kidnapping of the French consulate’s daughter by masked bandits with his usual brand of shoot-first-ask-questions-later brand of law enforcement. In light of this brazen shoot-’em-up, Speda faces the possibility of jail time for “spraying bullets at people as if they there were targets”, but thanks to his quick-thinking actions, Speda informs the press that it was his former boss Inspector Nardelli (Andrea Scotti) that foiled the kidnappers. 

 

Soon after, Speda is hired by Austrian banking tycoon Von Straban (Alexander Trojan), to try and find his daughter Annelise (Annarita Grapputo), who may be held against her will by a Roman Hare Krishna cult. Even though he quickly locates her, Annelise soon makes her escape from Speda’s flat after getting naked and faking an epileptic seizure, only to be subsequently abducted by a group of unknown men. No sooner than Speda arrives in Vienna, Annelise’s father quickly drops the search for his daughter and dismisses Speda from the case, which even causes concern for Austrian police chief Karl Korper (Gastone Moschin). However, when a young girl named Gina (Claudia Messner) turns up dead and sexually molested, Speda correctly deduces that an underage prostitution ring is probably tied-in with Annelise’s disappearance as well. When not obsessing over his case, Speda makes the acquaintance of Brigitte (Joan Collins), an exclusive burlesque dancer who becomes increasingly smitten with Merli’s down-on-his-luck dick, but as his investigation progresses, Brigitte is just one more character hiding behind a phony façade…

 

Alias “The Fox” and described in advance press materials as “An ex-policeman, an adventurous, bragging and over-bearing type…”, Merli’s character jokingly refers to himself as “The greatest private eye in the world!” and whose apartment is decorated with numerous crime and detective film memorabilia (which includes Italian posters for John Huston’s THE MACKINTOSH MAN [1973] and Sam Peckinpah’s THE KILLER ELITE [1975] to name a few). In a nice change of pace, Merli’s role herein is filtered through some lightweight comedy, an attempt by the typecast actor to distance himself of his humourless vigilante cop mould, which is best characterized by his back-and-forth banter with Benny (Massimo Vanni), his PI agency partner, who does little except play scopa (one of three prominent card games in Italy) or imitates Robert De Niro’s “You talkin’ ta me?” schtick from Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER (1976).  

 

While endeavouring along with the help of detective Karl (Moschin drives a showy green Porsche Carrera and also wears a customary Tyrolean hat, just to make sure we know he’s Austrian), Speda must also resist the temptations of the enigmatic Brigitte, whom he first meets at a swanky nightclub called the Queen Anne performing a chaste burlesque routine. Later in the film, the ever-lurking henchman Strauss (Werner Pochath) and owner of the Queen Anne roughs-up Speda for “getting too close” to Brigitte, but she and Speda strike up an unlikely relationship just the same. However, dramatic tension soon escalates when Speda realizes that Brigitte is nothing more than a procurer for the prostitution racket luring underage girls into this sordid world with the promise of extravagant clothes and a glamorous life. When Renata (Jasmine Maimone), one of Speda’s underage informants, attempts to solicit him (“Do you wanna make love?”), she ends up the victim of a timely ‘hit-and-run’, which eventually leads to one of the more bizarre, revenge-driven denouements of any Merli film.

 

Co-produced by Austrian nudie specialist Franz Antel (best known for his ’70s “Sexy Susan” films with Terry Torday), the film offers noticeably more titillation than your average Italocrime film including plentiful topless scenes from imminent TV star Joan Collins and Annarita Grupputo, who also shed her clothes in Mario Imperoli’s far nastier polizieschi LIKE RABID DOGS (1976). Although lacking many of the genre’s traditional trappings, director Stelvio Massi still manages to stage a brief car chase on the outskirts of Rome, and an energetic foot chase through the Viennese metro, all of which is set to Stelvio Cipriani’s driving flute-and-guitars score.

 

Continuing to champion some of the lesser-seen Eurocrime films Italy had to offer, Raro Video’s new Blu-ray (distributed by Kino Lorber) includes a fine-looking transfer of this engrossing, albeit largely forgotten Merli film. Here retaining the film’s original export title FEARLESS FUZZ, this HD presentation is quite pleasing with plenty of depth and a nicely balanced colour scheme; overall this is an impressive transfer. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks feature English and Italian (the latter with optional English subtitles) audio, which sound clean and without any faults, especially in view of the film’s original production limitations and Italy’s dubbing practices. For the record, prominent voice talent artist Ted Rusoff does a great job as the voice of Merli, and who is quite obviously having a blast doing so, while Robert Sommer adds a humourous Austrian accent to Karl’s character and the ubiquitous Pat Starke dubs Jasmine Maimone, the jailbait informant. Incidentally, Maimone would go on to star in Luigi Cozzi’s much later PAGANINI HORROR (1989), where she was again voiced by Starke in the English version. 

 

The one big – and very welcome - extra is an audio commentary with Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson, and authors Troy Howarth and Eugenio Ercolani who fill the entire running time very pleasantly. They casually discuss plenty of relevant points of interest about the cast and crew along with references to other polizieschi films, the era in which it was made, Cipriani’s terrific score, and plenty more besides; it’s the usual high standard you’ve come to expect from each of these very knowledgeable gentlemen, and well worth your time.

 

While it may lack the gritty gusto found in the best of Lenzi, Di Leo or Girolami, MAGNUM COP still amounts to an engaging and satisfying film which generally places dramatics over pyrotechnics, but is further boosted by Joan Collins’ presence and Stelvio Cipriani’s sturdy score. Order your copy from Kino Lorber or DiabolikDVD.

SEAGULLS FLY LOW - BLU-RAY REVIEW

One of the more elusive entries in Maurizio Merli’s extensive Italocrime filmography, Giorgio Cristallini’s SEAGULLS FLY LOW (1978) unfolds at a decidedly leisurely pace, and has more in common with film noirs than the more traditional vigilante cop shoot-’em-ups Merli usually inhabits. A long-time victim of shoddy VHS releases, Cineploit Records & Discs’ new “worldwide 2K Blu-ray premiere” is yet another first-rate disc in their ever-growing catalogue of Euro Cult releases. 

Looking disheveled, and sporting a thick handlebar moustache under a mop of matted hair, Merli stars as Jeff Jacobson, a Vietnam deserter who occasionally resorts to murder due to economic circumstance. Often referred to as “The Mechanic”, Jeff arrives in Rome after he is blackmailed to do a “job” for corrupt industrialist Roberto Micheli (Mel Ferrer, in a part originally envisioned for Ray Milland), by killing Mauro Martini, one of his business associates who “wanted to testify before the commission”. Following a long, suspense-filled drive from the airport wherein two of Micheli’s associates (including the always charismatic Franco Garofalo) keep a close eye on him, Jeff fulfills his contract quickly and efficiently, but a sudden ’Nam flashback (cheaply executed through stock footage of war atrocities tinged with a blood-red filter) exposes his vulnerability. Later that day at the airport, his jittery disposition comes to fruition when he is spooked during a routine passport check and flees. He promptly returns to Roberto who begrudgingly helps him create a new identity (he basically cuts his hair and shaves his mustache) and arranges yet another passport for him, this time under the name Albert Morgan.

 

But then Micheli’s other business partner, Giorgio Calvi (Andrea Esterhazy) becomes increasingly paranoid, and as a protective measure, orders a hit on both Jeff and Micheli. While eluding his killers, Jeff must also try and track down his new passport, which not only leads him to Umparo (Dagmar Lassander), one of of Micheli’s many influential friends, but also Isabelle Michereau (Nathalie Delon), a shopkeeper who agrees to help him… 

 

Obviously taking a cue from Jean Pierre Melville’s masterpiece LE SAMOURAÏ (1967), and even sharing that film’s co-star, much of  SEAGULLS FLY LOW mid-section concerns itself with the lead character’s psychological stress and mounting paranoia, with Merli giving a highly credible performance as the nervous hitman; a nice change of pace for the usually typecast actor. The rest of the cast also give fine performances including the always gorgeous Nathalie Delon, but as predicted in this quickie, name-brand co-stars Mel Ferrer (who at least dubs his own voice on English prints) and Eurotrash sex kitten Dagmar Lassander are rationed out rather frugally. As the self-proclaimed real brains behind the operation, the former hides behind the trappings of respectability, but makes no moral distinctions when it comes to his interests, especially in this world that seems to be constantly moving in cagey circles. 

 

Overall, everything is handled convincingly enough, but it does spend a little too much time on Merli’s and Delon’s burgeoning romance. At one point, our smitten couple observe the title scavenging shithawks (“They’re always looking for something more to eat, and this sea of garbage is their only happiness”), which is subsequently followed by one of the film’s low points: a bout of tender lovemaking in a cheap motel, which is mercifully short and hilariously intercut alongside Isabelle’s panting dog! Shrewder pacing would have been a plus, but the film’s gritty tone aptly conveys the dog-eat-dog existence of the criminal world, adding plenty of authenticity.

 

A real obscurity, SEAGULLS FLY LOW did appear on Italian and German VHS videocassettes in the eighties but for English speaking viewers, the Greek videotape from Video Alsen was the only worthwhile edition, that is, if you could find it. Like most Greek tapes, it was annoyingly cropped and the picture quality was average at best, but it was in English, and that was all that really mattered. Never issued on DVD, Cineploit’s new Region B Blu-ray is a very welcome release of this once-difficult-to-see film, which looks fantastic. Film textures look authentic with lots of shadowy detail, realistic colours and some nice depth, although a few interior scenes appear a little less crisp, which may be true of Gino Santini’s original photography. The DTS-HD 2.0 audio includes tracks in German, Italian and English, with the Italian and German ones sounding the strongest (which also includes accurately translated subtitles). The very welcome English audio is occasionally hissy and not quite as robust, but honestly, this isn’t much of a distraction at all. 

 

Given the film’s rarity, Cineploit have included several very worthwhile extras beginning with Maurizio Merli: A Lethal Hunter of Subtle Variation (29m), a terrific look at Merli’s less-talked about Eurocrime roles with tough-guy film expert Mike Malloy. He discusses Merli’s numerous attempts to “branch out” beginning with Stelvio Massi’s HIGHWAY RACER (1977) right on through to Gianni Siragusa’s VULTURES OVER THE CITY (1980), and freely admits that many of these roles are “only minor variations of the same tough-guy mold.” It’s a wonderfully produced featurette with a keen eye for detail, which not only showcases some terrific promotional material, but is a perfect primer for anyone looking to broaden their appreciation into some of the more obscure Eurocrime films that are beginning to surface on disc. Other extras include alternate German and English opening credit sequences (2m22s) sourced from VHS, a brief poster and vidart gallery (25s) and the film’s exceptional soundtrack (57m01s) as composed by Roberto Pregadio and Carlo Cristallini. As with all of Cineploit’s releases, it’s beautifully packaged in a slick mediabook (available in four different cover variations at the following links: cover A, cover B, cover C, and cover D), which also includes a nicely illustrated liner notes booklet with writing by Udo Rotenberg, and with English translations by Matt Thompson.

 

Even if the film lacks the true visceral punch and driving tabloid dynamism of Maurizio Merli’s other, more infamous Eurocrime films such as Umberto Lenzi’s THE TOUGH ONES (1976), SEAGULLS FLY LOW remains engaging nonetheless, especially via Cineploit’s superb new Blu-ray.