Euro Cops - From social to exploitation
"We needed Tarantino to tell us that polizzioteschi were the best films in its genre" - Filippo De Masi in an interview with Mario Caiano
Derived from the successful American films as The French Connection or Dirty Harry, the European school of police films was quite succeeded on its median ambitions. French and especially Italian production, did very good movies in the 70s. French films experienced the noir style since the 60s, and never hid his fascination for the American culture. Godard in A Boute Souffle and Detective makes this clear. The upbeat big band sound of Martial Solal's score for A Boute Souffle makes a clear and passionate connection to American cinema. In the adventure Melodie en Sous Sol (1963) Michel Magne´s music, also in big band mood, repeats the admiration. Director Jean Pierre Melville also mentions the appreciation of American culture declaring that thrillers are a sort of westerns adapted to the urban setting. The personal matches, money buried and shootouts in Le Doulos (1962) are illustrative of this view. Le Doulous have very subtle and refined jazzy soundtrack by Paul Misraki, with piano by Jacques Loussier.
"You have to understand that this town is small for both of us" - Tomas Milian for John Saxon in Il Cinico, L'Infame, Il Violent
The influence of American police action movies was apparent in Italian films in his intentional popular appeal. Italy has already experienced the police genre in the 60s, in the political and social films as Bandits Milano (1966), Ciascuno Il Suo (1966), Il Ragazzi Del Massacro (1969). The difference to the American production was the use of more diverse musical influences. In Confessioni di un Comissario di Polizia (1970) to music by Riz Ortolani employs popular models (pop, rock) to dramatic commentary on one of the most creative and efficient results of the genre, rivaling the experiences of Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin.
On the threshold between the social cinema and the subsequent production places honorably La Polizia Ringrazia (1972), a true classic of the genre. Starting point to a new era of police thrillers in Italian cinema and a link between the action movie and the political movies that was so important on that time. The same team of La Polizia Ringrazia return on the following year with La Polizia Sta a Guardare on the same good level of the previous film. Then came La Polizia Incrimina La Legge Assolve (1973), a landmark between the aspirations of social cinema and the box office appeal of the action movie. Its sequel Roma Violenta (1975) with Maurizio Merli in the role of Detective Betti (Franco Nero in the previous) already fits in the generic model of so many other films of the period. The music of the brothers Guido and Maurizio de Angelis (on both films) also served as a model for Italian polizzioteschi. And the music was an inseparable element of the genre as much as Henry Silva and bottles of J & B.
The number of films produced and the variety of proposals was such that naturally gave room for alternative soundtracks. From jazz tradition to mergers with rock, the period was a very rich time for musical experiments. Certainly if it was not for poliziotteschi, we would not have the "soul big band" of Riz Ortolani for Rings of Fear (1978) or the surreal pop by Giampaolo Chiti in Paura in Citta (1976).
Several composers were prominent in the Euro-police. The prolific Stelvio Cipriani composed for some of the most important cop movies of the period. Squadra Volante (1974) Mark il Poliziotto (1975) and La Polizia Ha Le Mani Legate (1975) are among Cipriani´s best works. Often dramatic and built on pop language – drums, guitar and bass.
Franco Micalizzi was one of the busiest professionals of the genre. Wrote conventional soundtracks and all alike (variations in blues pentatonic) but incisive and functional as in Il Giustiziero Sfida La Citta (1975), Napoli Violenta (1976), Italia a Mano Armata (1976), Rome a Mano Armata (1976), La Banda Del Gobbo (1977), Il Cinico, L'Infame, Il Violento (1977) and others.
Armando Trovaioli produced a major work with the heavy music for La Mala Ordina (1972), one of the best scores of the cop movies in all times, or the jazzy elegance of Blazing Magnum (1973).
Ennio Morricone started an interesting production for cop movies with Le Clan Des Sicilien (1969), Le Casse (1971) or Peur Sur La Ville (1975) - all directed by Henry Verneuil. The striking use of harmonica and percussive piano, especially in Peur Sur La Ville, would be repeated in many subsequent Morricone soundtracks until Untouchables (1987).
More receptive to alternatives than the US production, soundtracks on euro-cop movies included interesting experiments as the progressive rock influence in Milano Calibre 9 (1972) by Luis Bacalov performed by group Osanna, Il Grande Racket (1975 ) of the brothers De Angelis or Milano Violenta (1976) with the jazz-rock by group Pulsar.
Other really cool highlights: Un Homme Est Mort (1972), with Michel Legrand venturing on the soul music, L'Alpagueur (1976) by Michel Colombier, Fatevi Vivi (1974) by Piero Piccioni, L'Uomo Della Strada Fa Giustizia by Bruno Nicolai and Tony Arzenta / Big Guns (1973) by Gianni Ferrio.
As occurred with the westerns, the European cop movies ran out for repetition of formulas and excess of movies. The most interesting period for the genre would be from 1972 to 1977 and what had started as a variant of political cinema became "more of the same" in a series of fantasy action productions. In the search for popular appeal (exploitation) the genre discovered cult directors as Enzo Castellari, Stelvio Massi, Mario Caiano and Umberto Lenzi especially with the heavyweight Roma a Mano Armata (almost an epic with its internal episodes) and Milano Odia (Tomas Milian as one of the most hideous delinquents in cinema). Movies like Lenzi´s Il Giustiziero Sfida La Citta (1975) or Castellari´s La Via Della Droga (1978) anticipated in fifteen years or more the police adventures that the American cinema would specialize in from 80s onwards.
The genre would give signs of exhaustion in clumsy productions as Giallo a Venezia (1979) or the excesses of Luca Il Contrabandiere (1980) or simply disoriented before new aesthetic values as in The Day of the Cobra (1980), all great movies while exploitation, grade B, but displaced from originals.
With the revision to the production of the 70´s via DVDs and especially the easy access by net, the poliziotteschi become a cult phenomenon. Recognized for its narrative virtues and technical aspects. The chase on La Mala Ordina is among the great in cinema. As good as in Bullit or Robbery. Fabio Testi performed action scenes without stunt in Il Grande Rackett and Vai Gorilla as well as Jean-Paul Belmondo or Clint Eastwood. The cinematography of Marcello Gatti in La Polizia Ha Le Mani Legate or Sergio Rubini in Squadra Volante, with its naturalistic light (in the tradition of neo-realism) amounted the realism of films as The French Connection. And the soundtracks are so good that Quentin Tarantino, declared fan of the genre, recycles many of them in his films.
