Franco Gasparri and his second appearance as police officer Mark Terzi
In the meantime, the handsome "Mark il poliziotto" (Franco Gasparri, 1948-1999) has ended up in beautiful Genoa. It is also used there when he saves arch criminal Benzi (Lee J. Cobb, 1911-1976, known from THE EXORCIST) from a kidnapping. While in Milan it was still a matter of apprehending this major villain, in Genoa he is already active again with his dark dealings. Of course, this opening sequence was completely incomprehensible to West German cinema viewers, as the first part never made it to German cinemas. But whatever! Things get even worse in Genoa. A crazy serial killer who calls himself the Sphinx is up to mischief and shoots a bride at her wedding. Now he wants old Benzi as a hostage so that he can voluntarily commit suicide. There are crazy people! Mark's new boss (Massimo Girotti, 1918-2003, who we already know from Visconti's "Ossessione" from 1943) can only shake his head.
The action really starts now, so that as a viewer you can hardly take a breath. Mark is also quicker with his weapons now and doesn't hesitate at all anymore. The magnificent Italian still has his St. Bernard, and the lovely Angela (Ely Galleani) can enjoy his shirts, which are open to his belly button.
In a subplot we also get to know other gangsters from Genoa. The most interesting of them is played by Olympic boxing champion (in Rome 1960) Nino Benvenuti (*1938). Since it is well known what a powerful effect his steel fists have, this Ghini only has to threaten briefly so that all of his opponents cower. Unfortunately, there is no mess with the blow-dried marrow. It would have been a shame about his cute face!
Even if Nino Benvenuti and his mega-hard fists don't get anything to do here, he handed out enough steam hammers and bells alongside Giuliano Gemma in "Friss oder stirb / Eat or Die" (1969) to make a lasting impression on the history of Italian spanking gear to leave behind.
You can tell that the plot in this second adventure from Mark Terzi is a bit overloaded, but the action is really good! There's another nice shootout in a cinema where "Killer Cop" with Claudio Cassinelli is being shown. Splendid!
At the box office everything was fine again. In Italy, the second film about Mark grossed more than one billion ITL, which was considered a phenomenal box office success in the 1970s. The third part of the trilogy about "Mark il poliziotto" could come. Then the dapper, radiant man would end up in Rome...
