Stelvio Massi's "Mark the Narc" trilogy is by far the most underrated Poliziotesschi film-franchise in history. Perhaps they were a big success in cinemas around their times of release, I wouldn't know, but here on the website all three films have only a limited number of votes and user-comments, and I barely ever hear them mentioned in dedicated forums. I honestly can't fathom why, since their production values are way above average, there are several acclaimed actors appearing, and - most of all - they are really cool flicks!
The middle one ("Mark Shoots First") is the least of the bunch, but still very worthwhile, while the first ("Mark the Narc") and this third entry "Mark Strikes Again" (a.k.a "The .44 Specialist") are solid Poliziotesschi classics as far as I'm concerned.
Rebellious cop Mark Patti goes undercover and joins a young couple of terrorists, hoping to eventually unclutter the much larger network of terrorism that is active all over Europe. He must report his findings directly to Interpol agent Altman, but it's not certain everyone can be trusted.
Many in highlights in this one, ingenious story aspects as well as adrenalin-rushing action footage. There is an extremely violent shootout in a secret service headquarters, a hotel massacre, a number of brutal terrorist attacks, and the tense hijacking of a passenger train. On the lighter side of things, Marc has a steamy night with a lewd girl whose bedroom is full of mannequin dolls, a corpse originally gets transported through the city during rush hour, and two thugs on a motorcycle gets a lot more than they bargained for when they snatch the wrong bag during a drive-by robbery. The always reliable Stelvio Cipriani delivers another dazzling score, and the supportive cast contains a couple of respectable names and faces, like John Saxon, John Steiner, and Paul Muller.
