Squadra antiscippo

After the spaghetti western genre died in Italy, Italian filmmakers moved to cop movies. Like with spaghetti westerns, there were good and not so good efforts, this movie belonging to the latter category. Tomas Milian, an actor who's made an impression in other movies, seems kind of helpless here, thanks to the costume department dressing him up like a homeless person, and a screenplay that gives him very few opportunities to show some kind of character. Jack Palance is pretty much wasted - he only makes two very brief appearances in the first hour, and not much more in the last half hour. But the main problem with the movie is that it feels oh so tired. There are chases, punch-ups, and guns fired, but it all feels so mechanical. Maybe that's why the musical score plays the same bars of music over and over ad nauseum. Even die hard fans of Eurocult movies would be better off skipping this one.

I'm so glad that I actually enjoyed this one, because it has TEN sequels, and I would have watched them regardless. This is Tomas Milian as quirky cop Inspector Giraldi, a strangely-dressed, dirty-looking freak who keeps a mouse called Serpico and likes to get the bad guys in less violent fashion than his contempories (even those played by Milian himself).

The film was a huge success in Italy, mainly due I guess to Milian's off the wall performance as Giraldi, a crook turned cop who is always trying to track down a bad guy called the Baron, plus some other guy who keeps leaving message consisting of nothing but 'Up Yours!' on Giraldi's answer machine. Things are played out lightly enough until the Baron accidentally steals five million dollars from a hard case gangster (Palance) and starts getting his mates killed while the Mafia try and get their money back.

This doesn't stop Milian getting it on with the strangely patient Maria Rosaria Ommagio (who looks like Kate Bush), a robbery victim who doesn't seem to mind going to bed with Milian even though he wears two pairs of socks, three jumpers and some nifty red budgie smugglers, because of course no Milian film is complete without him at least appearing once in his pants. He also takes her disco dancing which made me burst out laughing at Milian's moves, as well as his get-up and the hat he wears that has "Tomas Milian" written on it in red pen.

It has a mainly light tone this film, but don't think of it as some sort of Eurocrime 'Trinity' film. The film does mainly stick to the grim plots of before, just with a much better character up front than the usual stone-faced killing machines. And his mouse wears a little hat at the end!

Oh, and all Jack Palance did was chew cigarettes and scowl, as usual.

A criminal fiction with suspense , intrigue , frantic action , turns , a lot of twisted incidents , at the same time charged with tension and level staging enough which the viewer could really enjoy . Nico Giraldi (Tomas Milian) is a two-fisted undercover cop acting in the violent and rude manners of the Roman periphery and confronting the heaviest situations . Here Tomas Milian performs the likable and sui-generis role of commissary Nico Giraldi , formerly a robber who decided to join on the other side of the law by enlisting in the police , without loosing his slutty and dirty appearance ; however , when he's working proceeds with seriousness and effectivity enough , regarding crime and offenders . Along the way , the unkempt , wisecrack undercover cop pursues and detains a series of purse snatchers until he discovers an American at the top of an evil ring of robbers . As a ring of pickpockets and thieves plagues Geraldi's city , he attempts to find the hoodlums and the criminal mastermind behind the thieves . Eventually , he arrests Baronetto (Guido Mannari) ; later on , and from now on , Gerardi finds out the nasty Richard Russo (Jack Palance) is the true crime boss . The latter successfully dodges the police , while he leads his criminal empire with cunning and ruthlessness . Only a cop in blue jeans can bring justice to a city gone mad. He's clever . Sadistic. Ruthless . Jack Palance is the master criminal too twisted for even the toughest cops on the force . But he's about to meet a cop who's even crazier... The Cop in Blue Jeans...is dressed to kill.

Nice first entry in cop Nico Gerardi series with noisy action , thrills , shooutous , motorcycle chases , car pursuits and brief doses of humor in charge of the main character . Formula thriller with plenty of action , crisply edition , tension , intrigue , suspenseful , skin bared and lots of violence in exploitation style . It belongs to Italian Poliziesco sub-genre , essentially developed in the Seventies and including ordinary trappings .The film is interesting enough , though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . This film results to be one of the best among the whole saga of the Tomas Milian/Nico , adding usual seasonings about the particular role Girardi. In the end , Nico must deal with Russo in a thrilling chase , causing a real pandemonium and including a surprising confrontation at an Embassy . Stars Tomas Milian , a sympathetic actor , well known for his several Spaghetti Westerns . After the tremendous success of Sergio Leone's A Fistful of dollars (1964) starring Clint Eastwood, Milian grubbed up his own image and propelled himself to stardom in similar fashion in such classic "spaghetti westerns" as The Bounty Killer (1966) , A fistful of Dollars (1966) with Lee Van Cleef , Face to Face (1967) , Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967) and ¡Corre, Cuchillo... corre ! (1968). He later turned to comedy , playing the recurrent characters of petty thief Monnezza and Serpico-like police officer Nico Giraldi a peculiar top undercover cop who often uses unofficial means to track down delinquents without avoiding his attitude of rude man, this is an attractive role who he performed in a variety of crime-comedy pictures playing in the manner of Serpico . He's well accompanied by a good cast , such as : Jack Palance during his Italian period and overacting in his regular style , Guido Mannari , Roberto Messina , Benito Stefanelli and the gorgeous Maria Rosario Omaggio as his girlfriend .

The motion picture Squadra antiscippo or Cop in Blue Jeans or Brigada Todo Terreno (1976) was professionally directed by Bruno Corbucci, Sergio Corbucci's brother . Bruno wrote and directed various Hill-Spencer films as ¨Banana Joe¨ , ¨Miami Supercops¨ , ¨Par-Impar¨ , ¨Cat and Dog¨ and ¨Aladdin¨ . He was a prolific writer and director , writing the famous cult Spaghetti : ¨Django¨ and many others . If you love the Tomas Milian's other movies, go for it , and if you've never seen one this is an acceptable start ; but being especially appointed for Milian fans .This is an acceptable entertaining juvenile that will appeal to Italian thrillers buffs .

Released in 1976, "The Cop in Blue Jeans" is a loner-cop thriller in the mold of "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "Serpico" (1973). The titular protagonist even looks like Serpico. The difference is that this is an Italian production directed & co-written by Bruno Corbucci. The plot revolves around an undercover cop named Nico Giraldi (Tomas Milian) who arrests several thugs of the purse snatching variety and zeroes-in on the mastermind of the ring (Jack Palance).

The Italian title is "Squadra Antiscippo," which means "Swindle Squad" and I assume refers to the theft ring. Anyway, the movie's an interesting way to observe the more obscure parts of Rome in the mid-70s. The story's relatively compelling and there's a lot of undercover cop type of action (naturally). Maria Rosaria Omaggio is easy on the eyes, but not enough is done with her. Nico's pet mouse, named Serpico, is a nice addition.

While this is a decent Euro flick and worth catching for the highlights noted, don't expect the greatness of any of the Dirty Harry installments.

The film runs 1 hour, 31 minutes and was shot in Rome.

GRADE: B-/C+

Ah, Record Explosion in NYC has granted me the privilege of watching this incredible piece of cinematic forte. OK, maybe not, but it was only $4.

This entertaining yarn mostly lets Nico show what he does best: catching baddies with street finesse. Tomas Milian (credited on the box as Tunas Milian) portrays a hardcore street tough turned on the good side of the law pretty well. Laughs a plenty with his pimping scene in the disco club. I believe there are 9 total motorcycle jumps and most are unnecessary and where where the ramps?? See Nico mistreat a gal who ends up coming back for more; despite his insisting on not changing his socks. And his jeans are clearly black, not blue!!

On the cover of the box is Jack Palance visage surrounded by dollar bills and is credited as starring in this. I think it should have said "Showing up on camera when the booze ran out". Jack mostly scowls and doesn't do any of the dirty work (he didn't get paid enough for it). Like in his other classic Outlaw of Gor, Jack shows up early on, then goes from bar to bar then reappears one hour and 12 minutes into it to pick up his paycheck. He really deserves a quick knee to the nether region.