A Cop in Blue Jeans - The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.


	A Cop In Blue Jeans Italy 1976. Director: Bruno Corbucci Cast: Tomas Milian, Jack Palance, Guido Mannari, Raf Luca Aka: Squadra Antiscippo Undercover cop Nico Giraldi is the shabby Italian answer to Al Pacino's Frank Serpico. Scruffy beard, wool cap, multiple layers of colorful clothing and all. And to make damn sure we get it, Giraldi has his apartment walls covered with Serpico posters and has his pet mouse named after the Pacino character and his canary named after Harry Callahan. Okey, but there's also a big difference between Giraldi and Serpico. While the latter is as straight as they come, believing in honesty above all, Giraldi uses slightly different methods to get the criminals behind bars. He's an ex-thief who got a second chance as an undercover cop, now using all his knowledge about the underworld. In this first film in a series of eleven, Giraldi is tracking down a gang of smalltime crooks and robbers led by a devious guy named The Baron (Guido Mannari). When The Baron does the mistake of stealing a briefcase from slimy Jack Palance, a crooked American diplomat specializing in kidnapping and murder, Giraldi sees the opportunity to nail them all. Having not seen all films in this series I can't say much how this part stand up against later entries. It's competently directed by Bruno Corbucci (the brother of Sergio, but you knew that), although not exactly slick. The general tone is light rather than hardboiled and Giraldi as played by Tomas Milian is quite a character in his own right. The film has also a couple of extremely cool action sequences and stunts, like when Giraldi chases on his motorcycle a couple of bad guys inside of a building or when he chases Palance at the end. Giraldi also has a love affair with Maria Rosaria Omaggi, he goes to bed with his clothes on ("I'm affraid that when I go to sleep at night they gonna turn off the heating") and walks around with his mouse in his inner pocket ("Damn, Serpico's been pissing on my shirt"). Frequently he cruises down to the discotheque dressed as a pimp to collect information from his favorite gay informant. The follow-up Hit Squad emphasized even more upon comedy but this first part is still a gritty, trashy and fun crime flick with Tomas Milian in great form. © The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.