The Italians are genuine masters in deconstruction their own successful cult/exploitation cinema streams! As soon as the popularity or ticket sales were slightly diminishing, the writers and directors began throwing in aspects of other genres and bucket-loads of dumb humor; - slapstick even. It happened to the legendary Spaghetti Westerns at the end of the sixties, and it happened to the Poliziotesschi flicks a decade later. It's almost saddening to see how, in a span of barely 5-6 years, the films that were initially brutal, relentless and non-stop violent are slowly becoming light-headed parodies. "Poliziotto Senza Paura" still offers a reasonably well-balanced mix between action, thrills and chuckles, but the sub-genre would rapidly deteriorate further, notably with the "Delitto" franchise starring Tomas Milian. For most contemporary Italian actors and directors, the slow disappearance of the Poliziotesschi wasn't a big tragedy, as they sought out new and different horizons. For Maurizio Merli, however, the Poliziotesschi movies were literally all he had, so he kept playing his familiar roles, even if it meant acting like a clown or depicting supportive characters (like in "Convert Action").
In good old Italian tradition, "Poliziotto Senza Paura" has a lot of alternate titles. I watched it as "Fearless Fuzz", but it's also known as "Magnum Cop", "Fearless", "Fatal Charm", "The Private Detective" and "A Matter of Honour". Despite several bad omens, like the comedy elements and recycled poster images, it is still an entertaining film that benefices from a solid plot and the presence of Joan Collins! To my knowledge, it's Diva Collins' only appearance in an Italian exploitation movie ever, but she does a terrific job and still looks astonishing as the 44-year-old stripper. Walter "Wally" Spada is a former cop now working as a financially struggling private detective. Austrian colleague Gaston Moschin subcontracts Wally to trace the runaway daughter of his wealthy businessman client, but the child is brutally kidnapped in front of him. Wally then travels to Austria himself, and via the related case of a murdered schoolgirl, he slowly uncovers a filthy network of teenage prostitution led by the owners of a sleazy nightclub. The first 10 minutes, as well as the final 15, are extremely compelling and chock-full of hard-boiled Poliziotesschi action. A few of the death sequences are unexpected and quite shocking and there are some clever plot twists. Unfortunately, the entire middle-section is too talkative and dull, and the non-stop, supposedly humorous gasconading between Merli and Moschin becomes irritating quite fast. Nevertheless, the more than decent score by the reliable Stelvio Cipriani and the above-average directing competences of Stelvio Massi contribute to making "Poliziotto Senza Paura" a recommendable viewing experience for fans of Italian 70s cult.
