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"Confessione Di Un Commissario Polizia Al Procuratore Della Repubblica" , Italian original title , or "Confessions of a Police Captain" , USA title , results to be a nice cop/political thriller , being professionally filmed and rightly made . It's a hard boiled movie that packs a noir story , police procedural , intrigue , detective inquiries , and a final twist in the plot. It deals with a pair of proverbial honest men , a stiff ,idealistic judge (Franco Nero) and an upright cop (Martin Balsam) who contend dangerous enemies , but determined in their will to fight crime and corruption . Both of whom on the edge while investigate ties between the mob , the Mayor , councillors and Justice department . But ambition , blackmail , vendetta , kidnapping and decay reach everything and everybody .

This exciting and thought-provoking Italian cop thriller turns out to be one of the first and best films about the mafia . This heavy-going tale has an interesting and politically incorrect writing by the same director Damiano Damiani & Fulvio Gicca Palli and especially dealing with corruption interwoven between town councillors and Mafia . The picture displays action , thrills , disturbing issues , suspenseful , great visual style and is pretty entertaining , though sometimes is hard to follow . Excellent main cast as Martin Balsam as a rough-and-ready police inspector and Franco Nero as a deputy public prosecutor who attempts to prove that the architect in the city is in the mafia and holding a firm belief in the law and justice system . Both of them face on Mafia which the fight is hopeless . However Martin Balsam steals the show as a dedicated police captain what tries to wipe out the bureaucratic corruption that is infecting his city . Supporting cast is frankly magnificent such as Claudio Gora , Arturo Dominici , Giancarlo Priete or Timothy Brent , gorgeous Marilu Tolo and a brief intervention by Nello Pazzafini as a Prisoner . Colorful and appropriate cinematography by Claudio Ragona . Sensitive as well as thrilling musical score by Riz Ortolani who composed an enjoyable soundtrack in Ennio Morricone style .

The motion picture was well directed by Damiano Damiani . He's an expert on all kind of genres as Drama (¨Arthur's island¨ , ¨The Most Beautiful Wife" , ¨The witch¨ , and ¨Empty canvas¨ based on the Alberto Moravia novel) , Terror (Amytiville 2 : the possession) , Historical (¨The Inquiry¨) , Spaghetti Western (¨Trinity is back again¨and the prestigious ¨A bullet for the General¨) . Damiani was specialized on crime-thriller-Subgenre or Italian cop thriller ( ¨How to kill a judge¨, ¨The case is closed , forget it¨, "Goodbye e amen" , ¨Mafia¨, "I Am Afraid" and ¨Warning¨ also starred by Martin Balsam) . ¨Confessions of a Police captain¨ seems to be a ¨must see¨ for the Poliziesco fans . This is one of the crowns of the Italian Poliziotteschi (police thrillers) of the 1970s , along with other films directed by Enzo G . Castellari , Ferdinando Baldi or Umberto Lenzi . Rating : Better than average . Essential and indispensable watching , this highly recommended film is the same for the Italian "mafia-film" of that period.

As was the case with L'ISTRUTTORIA E' CHIUSA: DIMENTICHI (1971), this too proved different to what I had been anticipating - as Martin Balsam is the nominal police-officer hero, while lead Franco Nero is merely an investigating magistrate! When Balsam is bumped off, the film follows Nero's actions but ends on an ambiguous open-ended note. However, Balsam is excellent as the unorthodox and determined Commissioner; Nero, on the other hand, occasionally overacts as the flustered State representative. Marilu' Tolo has a small but pivotal role, and her death sequence is particularly mean.

Despite the poliziottesco ambiance, it's far less action-oriented than usual but all the more classy and compelling for this reason; still, when action is required by the narrative, the film rises to the occasion. The complex plot (involving Balsam's backstory told in intermittent flashbacks) takes some effort to follow, but the rewards are reaped eventually. As usual for this sort of film, Riz Ortolani's score is a notable asset. By the way, not only is the surname of Nero's superior, a judge, Malta but other surnames here - such as Bonavia (Balsam's character) and Rizzo - are also typically Maltese!

A very weird movie about the Italian mob. Even if nothing really happens and it feels like this script is turning around in circles it still has a certain charm. Martin Balsam is perfect and even if Franco Nero has the charisma of a refrigerator this movie still works. I guess only the Italians can do it. Was it a good movie? Hell no. Did it entertain me? Hell yeah.

"Confessions of a Police Captain" is a Poliziotteschi movie with the original Django himself, Franco Nero. This subgenre of Italian film is generally boring and incomprehensible. "Confessions" is powerfully directed in scenes, keeping your attention, so it is not really boring, though it is still hard to follow in places.

At least I got the central premise, which is more than I can say for most Poliziotteschi. The titular "police captain" lets a madman out of jail so that he can kill some guy the captain wants dead. Nero investigates.

In a shocking scene, a child is murdered, thrown to his death off the side of the cliff.

"Confessions of a Police Captain" has two characters who actually make an impression on the viewer: Nero's straight arrow investigator, and the crooked captain. I have often found that you don't need to understand every detail in a movie to appreciate it, so long as you understand the characters' basic motivations. "Confessions of a Police Captain" is a good example of that. It's a superior Poliziotteschi film.

A man in a police uniform kills four people at a construction site. The construction boss gets away... and both are wanted by the police, as the construction guy is known to be a killer who buries bodies inside the cement walls of his work. How do the police captain and district attorney play into this? The film was written and directed by Damiano Damiani, who would go on to make "Amityville 2". It hardly captures his full directing talents. But it is what it is: a police exploitation film.

Of course, as far as exploitation films go, this one is pretty tame. No torture to animals, no assaulted women (almost no women at all). This is actually no more subversive than "Dirty Harry" or other police thrillers.

There is some strange recurring theme about homosexuality in this film. A district attorney is accused of being gay and corrupting minors (it is implied he touches boys). There are two guys dressed very flamboyantly chased down by state police. I am not sure what Italy's take on homosexuality was, but it plays an interesting part in this film that would not be able to work if redone today.

This movie is actually pretty good, and one of the better films available in the Grindhouse Experience box set. I would recommend it, and hope that some day it gets a decent cleanup job. Its only real failing is that it ends rather abruptly.