When you see the movie title 'Killer Cop', you might have an idea of what to expect. It could be a vigilante cop out for blood, killing all the bad guys, or it could be a serial killer, murdering innocent people who happens to be an officer of the law. None of these are the case in the 1975 Italian film 'Killer Cop' by Luciano Ercoli, which happened to be his second-to-last film.
I'm not quite sure why this is called 'Killer Cop', because it doesn't really feature one. In other countries, this movie is titled 'The Police Can't Move' and 'Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man'. With odd titles like those, I can see why the studio wanted a title like 'Killer Cop'. Much like the other 70's Italian films that feature the Italian crime scene, this relies more on talking things through instead of showing any sort of action. 'Killer Cop' takes its cues from the real 1969 Piazza Fontana Bombing that took place in Milan and killed 17 people and injured many others.
The terrorism and suspense here is done very well and the film goes to a dark place from time to time, however through most of the film, we only get debate after debate about what to do and how to handle the situation in taking out these criminal masterminds. 'Killer Cop' follows Matteo (Claudio Cassinelli), who is a cop who witnessed the bombing and the prime suspect who carried out this attack.
Now Matteo must figure out who else exactly is behind this bombing, which might go higher up the political chain than he expected. There are a couple of short lived action scenes that involve explosions and gun blasts, but the bulk of the film is full of dialogue as Matteo uses his street smarts to talk with people on and off the street. Ercoli does use a unique realness in directing this film, focusing more on character development and the dialogue, rather than big expensive action sequences.
It slows down the film to a crawl at times, but the emphasis on the political and social climate in Italy at the time is paid strict attention to. Cassinelli turns a great performance as well here, as he struggles with the death of a friend and trying to weave in and out of the political police force in solving this crime. 'Killer Cop' has some strong moments for sure and is a rare find these days where most action crime movies rely on the chase and violent sequences over actual story telling. That being said, this movie has to slow a pace for my liking, despite the rather fantastic ending.
I'm not quite sure why this is called 'Killer Cop', because it doesn't really feature one. In other countries, this movie is titled 'The Police Can't Move' and 'Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man'. With odd titles like those, I can see why the studio wanted a title like 'Killer Cop'. Much like the other 70's Italian films that feature the Italian crime scene, this relies more on talking things through instead of showing any sort of action. 'Killer Cop' takes its cues from the real 1969 Piazza Fontana Bombing that took place in Milan and killed 17 people and injured many others.
The terrorism and suspense here is done very well and the film goes to a dark place from time to time, however through most of the film, we only get debate after debate about what to do and how to handle the situation in taking out these criminal masterminds. 'Killer Cop' follows Matteo (Claudio Cassinelli), who is a cop who witnessed the bombing and the prime suspect who carried out this attack.
Now Matteo must figure out who else exactly is behind this bombing, which might go higher up the political chain than he expected. There are a couple of short lived action scenes that involve explosions and gun blasts, but the bulk of the film is full of dialogue as Matteo uses his street smarts to talk with people on and off the street. Ercoli does use a unique realness in directing this film, focusing more on character development and the dialogue, rather than big expensive action sequences.
It slows down the film to a crawl at times, but the emphasis on the political and social climate in Italy at the time is paid strict attention to. Cassinelli turns a great performance as well here, as he struggles with the death of a friend and trying to weave in and out of the political police force in solving this crime. 'Killer Cop' has some strong moments for sure and is a rare find these days where most action crime movies rely on the chase and violent sequences over actual story telling. That being said, this movie has to slow a pace for my liking, despite the rather fantastic ending.