Free Hand for a Tough Cop (Umberto Lenzi, 1977)
Managed to catch this film just recently and I thought this would be a worthy follow-up to my previous appreciation post for Bruno Canfora's heavenly slice of soundtrack funk, Dirty Gang.
Truth be told, any film that reunites Umberto Lenzi with both Tomas Milian and Henry Silva again after the insanity of Almost Human (1974), is going to make it on my must see list. That film still packs a punch, even to this day. Here, Free Hand for a Tough Cop doesn't reach the sadistic highs as the aforementioned, although, it is a Lenzi film, so it's still going to deliver something hilariously problematic, regardless.
Lenzi is way more playful with this one in comparison to some of his other filmography. We're greeted by a spaghetti western style intro, replete with a desert setting during the opening credits, which had me thinking I was perhaps watching the wrong movie; until the camera pans back and it's a movie being watched in a prison. There's also a scene later on in the film which features an old school cinema with film posters of Le Cercle Rouge (1970) and Salon Kitty (1976), which had me buggin' out and wishing for my local cinema to be as cool as that.
Silva's role reversal as a villain comes in a particularly memorable fashion when he yells at a sobbing and severely sick little girl he's kidnapped with the line, "shut up, bitch", which is cold-bloodedly brutal to hear being uttered to someone so young and innocent. I only wish he was featured more in the film, since he's hardly in it, until he is turns up in the inevitable finale. Milian owns the film as the antihero Monezza, AKA 'Garbage Can', with his Kevin Keegan wig and black eyeliner. Been on a Milian binge lately and I definitely appreciate his unique caricatures; the most striking looking being hunchback psycho in A.C. Milan colours, Moretto. Not a fan of the hero cop in Free Hand for a Tough Cop, however. Just find Claudio Cassinelli a flat actor in general. Seen him in a bunch of Italian genre movies and I barely remember him in anything. His performance felt flat, considering the plot had him in a temporary alliance with a group of villains raping and murdering their way to get to another group of villains; you would expect more anger and revolsion from his character.
Think I know why only a 7" single was released as the only soundtrack for this film, since it's on repeat for much of the film's running time, or at least a variation of the theme. I can appreciate that.
Biggest gripe was Nicoletta Machiavelli. First laid eyes on her many years ago in Sergio Corbucci's Navajo Joe (1966), the one with Burt Reynolds as a Native American in a spaghetti western. The real highlight for me was Machiavelli looking absolutely beautiful. She looks a bit older in this film, but still stunning, as Silva's gangster moll. Not sure if Lenzi was still playing games with the audience, but pulling the wig off Machiavelli, revealing an ultra short hairdo which reminded me of Kenneth William's Julius Caesar hairdo from Carry on Cleo (1964) pissed me right off; to the extent the film lost put a dampener in my interest for the film. Sure, that sounds terribly superficial, but in the same week a mate of mine shared a recent pic on WhatsApp of Bridget Fonda, I've been offguard since then and this felt like a punch in the gut. Really hoping one of the boutique labels pick up Machiavelli's film lead in Gian Andrea's western, Garter Colt (1968); that's the one I really want to watch. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find, but you can watch a blurry YouTube ripped video with terrible English captions. I refuse to watch it, however.
Other than all that, Free Hand for a Tough Cop is a fairly decent film, overall. Not one of Lenzi's best, nor is it his worst. Just a shame everything felt overshadowed by Machiavelli's terrible barnet. Should have paid more attention to the reveal disclosed in the film's Italian only trailer:
The Great Dame.
ReplyDeleteNoticed a few old YouTube videos which had been deleted reappearing recently. Not reuploaded but actually reappearing as their original upload from years ago. Very weird.
Yeah, not sure what's going on at YouTube. Found myself mysteriously unsubbed from The Horror Geek the other day. Sort it out, Susan!
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