Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why is often considered a part of the Giallo genre, although it mixes a Giallo formula with police procedure. The film is generally not seen as one of the best Giallo's - and I have to say that doesn't really surprise me as while it's not awful, the genre has a hell of a lot of better films than this in it and despite a good plot, this one is unfortunately rather routine. The plot certainly does provide the opportunity for an exciting thriller; and indeed there have been exciting films based on similar plots before and since the making of this film; but here it just doesn't work well. The film starts by showing a photographer taking photos of his girlfriend on a beach. It just so happens that he's doing that at the same time that a bunch of inept criminals are putting together a car crash scene to make it look like somebody died by accident. The photographer wastes no time in taking photos of the incident and with the help of his pornographer friend, aims to sell them. However, it's not long before various people start turning up dead...
Director Giuseppe Vari (who also directed the best of the Emanuelle series - Sister Emanuelle) clearly didn't have much of a budget to work with and unfortunately he isn't able to get over this fact as the film does look very cheap throughout. It would also seem that he couldn't afford to hire a decent scriptwriter either as the plot rarely gets out of first gear and there is little in the way of surprises, which really is a shame since this is a plot that didn't have to play out in a completely expected manner. The acting is not very good on the whole, with Lou Castel giving a lacklustre performance in the lead role and only memorable cult actor Adolfo Celi standing out. The film does feature genre staples in nudity and violence - although both are featured only mildly. There are a fair few death scenes in the film although most of the violence happens off screen and the nudity is clearly only there for the sake of it. I wasn't expecting a surprise from the ending and it's a good job because I wasn't surprised by the time the film finished. Overall, this is worth tracking down if you're a hardcore collector - but otherwise I'd recommend staying clear!
