La poliziotta a New York (1981) Poster

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5/10
The final insult
Chip_douglas3 April 2005
This Polizziota series gets sillier with each installment. For starters, Renzo Montagnani is supposed to be an American FBI Special Inspector called Maccarone. He is on the trail of Big John (who's last name turns out to be Corleone, ha ha) played by that other fat big nose, Aldo Maccione. The plan is to find a couple of doubles to infiltrate the organization. By pure coincidence our heroes from the two previous Poliziotta flicks, Gianna and Alvaro are played by the same actors as Big's sexy girlfriend Pupa and ugly little bodyguard Dodiciomicidi (Twelve murders). After a few irritating imitation lessons, Edwige Fenech and Alvaro Vitali (for it is them doing double duty) board a plane to the states. Strangely enough, Gianna is already wearing the same dress as Pupa even thought they are planning the switch during Pupa's daily jog in Central Park (shame on you, continuity girl).

Pupa is the ultimate Italian fantasy: gorgeous and content to stay at home knitting. Don't expect any split screen lookalike mix ups either, as most of the budget went into shooting on location in NYC. After the impostors have taken their place, the moll and her ugly wart companion have little else to do in this picture. The undercover cops enter Mr Big's mansion, which in early eighties fashion is completely automated. Edwige constantly has to find ways to escape the big ones attention, and Alvaro has an unwanted love interest too. Good thing he has a knack for figuring out machines, so he's not completely useless after all. Soon they have taken pictures of the secret plans (when did this become an espionage movie?) but of course the roll of film gets lost in Gianna's cleavage.

Meanwhile Big John is meeting his rival the Turk at a pizzeria (where else). Renzo comes along dressed as a sheik (I was wondering where that eighties cliché was gonna fit in) while Edwige wears some kind of low cut stewardess outfit. This must be another continuity error, for the plane does not appear until the final act. When they start spraying laughing gas the movie turns into a cartoon. Alvaro has a smelly running gag featuring an inflatable stomach while Edwige is kidnapped by the Turks, only to escapes by practicing some unconvincing Kung Fu. Meanwhile Renzo and Alvaro crash their car in an alley and come out in black stained underwear. Just when you thought it could not get any more juvenile, the two of them dress up like Indians.

Gianna sets up a trap for both gang leaders aboard a plane. Renzo is on the scene in his big inconspicuous cowboy hat and takes along the real Pupa and Dodiciomicidi for no good reason. Obviously the writers were hoping to end the series with a spectacular 'Cannonball Run' finale, yet the most spectacular thing is Edwige's low cut Jessica Rabbit dress. After some ludicrous high jinx in the sky (mostly made up out of stock-shots and miniatures) we still have to sit through the usual fake car chase (the kind where the cars are obviously standing still during close ups). In the end even Edwige has to admit on camera that this is the end of the series.

5 out of 10
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5/10
Wow, that guy is really out of shape!
lastliberal9 October 2010
Not only is that guy out of shape, this movie is seriously out of shape.

Now, I love Edwige Fenech , and she certainly shows an increasing acting ability her - she plays two parts - but that is not enough to recommend a film that really goes over the edge with slapstick. I thought at times I was watching the Three Stooges. With the silly Texan, and the stuttering Turk, it was very painful.

Stereotypes of blacks and gays didn't make it any better.

I won't be looking for any more in the policewoman series. I may even skip the schoolteacher series. Just bring me more Giallo. That's where Fenech really shines.
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5/10
Edwige Fenech's best role(s) (probably)
gridoon15 April 2007
After years of playing the terrified target of deranged killers in gialli, or the sex-object nurse, teacher, wife, girlfriend (like her secondary role in this movie), etc., it's nice to see Edwige Fenech in a role that gives her the chance to throw punches and outsmart the villains (not that it's very hard though, since they are all idiots!). And don't worry, she still gets to show plenty of her 4-star cleavage. She is much more lively and animated here than she is in her serious films. The film has some really crude gags, but a couple of genuine laughs as well (a sniper, aiming for Fenech, shoots a jogger in Central Park, the jogger falls down and Alvaro Vitali comments: "Wow, that guy is really out of shape!"). The production values are higher than usual for an Italian sex comedy: they include location filming in New York, some fairly elaborate stunts, and even a car chase at the end. Now, if only I could track down Edwige's two other Policewoman films.....(**)
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Pretty goofy
lazarillo4 August 2010
I've seen all of Edwige Fenech's "schoolteacher" sex comedies (hanging head in shame), but this my first of her "policewoman" sex comedies. She and her diminutive partner (Alvaro Vitali) happen to be the spitting image of, respectively, the mistress and bodyguard of a New York mafioso (Alberto Lionello). So with the help of a Texan FBI agent played by Renzo Montagnini (I do hope the Italians know that Texas and New York City are very different places)they conspire to replace their respective dopplegangers and infiltrate the criminal organization, where they quickly find themselves in the middle of an inept gang war between the mafioso and his severely stuttering Turkish rival.

Fenech had been in a lot movies by this time, and although she had gotten much better as an actress (she deftly manges two distinct characters here) she also regrettably stopped taking off her clothes nearly as much, so it's kind of a double-edged sword. Vitali generally ranged from kinda funny to pretty irritating, and here he's somewhere in between. The idea of him being a vicious mafioso is funny in itself though. Even dubbed, the swarthy Montagnini does not make the most believable "Texan". The two rival gangsters are pretty good, however. And, of course, being Italian, the movie has the usual quota of offensive stereotypes, but they somehow here manage to actually combine the gay and black stereotypes as both Fenech and Vitali are pursued by Africa-American admirers of the same sex.

Director Michele Massimo Tarantini generally wasn't fit to carry the jockstrap of Sergio Martino, Fenech's regular collaborator. This might be one of his better films though. Strangely, soon after this Tarantini ended up in Brazil directing women-in-prison and cannibal films with Brazilian sex star/race car driver Susan Carvahlo. This isn't great, but you could do worse I suppose.
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3/10
Edwige forever
BandSAboutMovies12 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The third of the trilogy that includes La Polizia fa Carriera (Confessions of a Lady Cop) and La Poliziotta Della Squadra del Buon Costume (A Policewoman on the Porno Squad), this Michele Massimo Tarantini (The Sword of the Barbarians, Massacre in Dinosaur Valley) film has one major reason to watch it: the always wonderful Edwige Fenech as Gianna Amicucci.

With a story by Fenech's one-time husband Luciano Martino and Francesco Milizia along with a screenplay by Alberto Silvestri, this commedia sexy all'italiana beings Gianna and Alvaro (Alvaro Vitali) to America to aid FBI agent Maccarone (Renzo Montagnani) and his case against pizza shop owner and suspected crime boss Big John (Aldo Maccione). It turns out that Gianna looks just like his girlfriend and Alvaro looks like his bodyguard, which is the kind of coincidence that only happens in Italian sex comedies. However, Big John's rival Turk (Giacomo Rizzo) has declared a gang war and also falls for Gianna.

This movie is sexy in the way that Benny Hill used to make shows and is literally chaste by today's standards. It's also problematic in the way it deals with race and homosexuality, but if you expect 1981 Italian sexploitation movie to be totally woke, I have no idea how to explain what Italian sexploitation is to you.
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4/10
Bad movie at New York
stefanozucchelli14 November 2021
Absolutely the worst movie in the series. There are scenes more cartoonish than movie-worthy, and there are some of the most embarrassing jokes I've ever heard.
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3/10
Deeply unfunny Italian comedy
Leofwine_draca10 February 2023
A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK is the final instalment of the Edwige Fenech comedy trilogy, directed by Michele Massimo Tarantini and featuring stock location filming in the Big Apple. Here, Pupa and her comedy sidekick are assigned to a mission in America where they happen to be the exact doubles of a couple of figures in the Italian underworld, so they decide to masquerade as them. An extremely unfunny and grating comedy subsequently plays out, and to call many of the characters irritating would be an understatement. Fenech has visibly aged since her glory days although she still has a real glamour about her, although there's just one brief nude scene. The rest, from the stuttering Turk to the sassy black housemaid, is just plain bad.
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7/10
Amicucci On The Case
ferbs5411 June 2009
And you thought Angie Dickinson's "Pepper" Anderson was a good-looking policewoman? Check out what Eurobabe Edwige Fenech brings to the table, in 1981's sexy Italian farce "A Policewoman in New York"! Edwige's fans will be happy to learn that she plays not one but two luscious roles in this picture: Gianna Amicucci, a uniformed policewoman in Rome, AND her spitting image, Pupa, the mistress of a mobster in NYC. Gianna and her doofus sidekick are tasked by the F.B.I. to infiltrate this criminal gang and get the goods on them, so it's off to the Big Apple for the two, in this, the last of the "Policewoman" series. Anyway, this is the type of film that will do anything for a laff, even if it means trotting out fart and urination humor, and nothing seems to be sacred here. Thus, there are jokes at the expense of gays, blacks, Arabs, American Indians and stutterers, and much use of cartoon slapstick. (Indeed, I could almost feel the ghosts of Moe, Larry and Curly smiling down in complete approbation!) Fortunately, the picture IS often quite funny. And our Edwige? More than just a gorgeous face, as her fans know, the gal can really act, and in these farces often proves herself to be a wickedly funny comedienne. This film also gives her a chance to look great while engaging in fisticuffs in an out-of-control airplane, while driving in a high-speed car chase through a rock quarry, and, well, in just about every scene she's in. Edwige buffs may be disappointed to learn that she doesn't appear IN the buff in this film (there's only one brief topless moment), but her sexy, lively and amusing character nonetheless makes the film something truly special. And the sight of Ms. Fenech and a big black mammy type singlehandedly mopping the floor with a rival gang is one you won't soon forget! All in all, a silly movie, but still, sexy fun.
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7/10
Stupid but never boring
quridley24 October 2017
The Italians invented the theatrical lowbrow slapstick that became a staple of 20th century film. Their brand is more juvenile and extreme, but they also bring their advanced culture and customs to it. That makes a film like "Policewoman" a mixed bag. Its cheap and cynical as any grindhouse film you can find, but it has gorgeous art direction and solid filmmaking. The script is kinda weak, full of lame gags and Italian humor is probably lost in translation. There's a lot of racial humor that comes off mean and the physical humor never becomes sophisticated beyond fart jokes and falling down. But this is a watchable mess. Its a good education on 80s Italian film culture and it has its redeeming moments. Edwige Fenech is a bonafide star and she's enough of a draw for most men.

As bad as it is, you can do worse. And it fits in the genre with Troma and bad 80s Porky's ripoffs, so there's definitely an audience for this still.
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