A Special Cop in Action

Maurizio Merli returns as Inspector Maurizio Merli in full ass-kicking mode, hell bent on capturing mob boss John Saxon, a crime boss so slippery people rub bread on him in an attempt to make some sort 'man oil' bruschetta. This time, Saxon's organised a mass-child kidnapping and a band robbery but can Merli link these jerks to the main, head jerk? Not without heaps of trouble.

First off, the kidnappers hide the kids in an empty grain silo and are supposed to be keeping a low profile, so of course one of the kids gets ill and dies, and one of the kidnappers attempts to rape a local girl and brings the cops right to the door of the place they're hiding in. This results in Merli himself being thrown from a moving car as he bravely substitutes himself for the kids that didn't die, and the kidnappers bravely killing and burning the jerk that messed up the kidnapping.

Luckily, Merli's got a man on the inside in the form of kick-ass stuntman/actor Massimo Vanni, who leads him to the kidnappers, but not before Vanni himself gets tied to the back of a car and dragged around a quarry until dead. Vanni also does a bit of disco dancing and wears a neat white disco suit for all you out there obsessed with diminutive Italian actor Massimo Vanni.

Not too give too much of the plot away (and there is a plot) this is a top notch Euro-crime film with all the usual car chases, gun fights, moustache action, police brutality, prison scenes, children being slapped about, women being threatened, fighting on roofs, whiskey drinking, and Massim Vanni that you need. What can you say about John Saxon other than 'his hair hasn't changed shape or length for three decades'? The man is Italian movie gold.

Mirella D'Angelo turns up as a grieving sister to the dead kid which blossoms into a romantic sub-plot with Merli. I was totally confused that Massimo Vanni got killed because I'm certain he turns up in later Euro Crime films as Maurizio Merli's sidekick.

Third mission for Commissario Betti - gangster hunt in Turin and Milan with Maurizio Merli and John Saxon

After stints in Rome (Roma violenta, 1975) and Naples (Napoli violenta, 1976), the not-so-squeamish inspector was transferred (criminally) to the industrial city of Turin. And things get tough there too. Hijacking of a school bus with the subsequent taking of the children hostage, bank robbery with a false hostage, attempted rape of a random victim, death of a captured child, Betti offers herself as a hostage in exchange for freeing the other children, is thrown out of the car while driving at speed. There's a lot going on in Turin and the surrounding area! As a viewer, you hardly get to think. Behind all of these perfidities there is probably a tough businessman named Albertelli (John Saxon (1936-2020)), who promptly knows everything. An exposed police informant from Milan, who works for Commissario Arpino (Raymond Pellegrin), is brutally dragged to death. Turin and Milan? You can see that crime in Italy doesn't stop at the city limits ;-) After all, the original film is called "Italia a mano armata" and no longer just "Roma violenta" or "Napoli violenta" like in the first two Split. So it's all about it! It's a good thing that Inspector Betti didn't fall on his head even after falling on the motorway. So the clever fox was able to smuggle in his own man (Toni Ucci) as a driver for the nasty Albertelli. He even manages to fake a serious accident with the villain, so that Albertelli can be persuaded that he has to stay injured in the hospital. The astonished mafia boss promptly tells his chauffeur the meeting point with his cronies. A lot of things are going in the right direction for Betti. Privately, there are even signs of a happy ending for the tough detective with the charming sister (Mirella D'Angelo) of the boy who died in the kidnapping. But will someone like him ever find peace?

With this trilogy, Maurizio Merli (1940-1989) played his way into the front row of the extremely successful poliziottesco genre. However, unlike the better actor and GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Franco Nero, he remained too attached to this role in the future. In any case, Maurizio Merli takes no prisoners in his role. The type he played corresponded to the spirit of the times in a decade that - not only in Italy - was characterized by many upheavals and violent upheavals. The film contains one of the best car chases you could see in the cinema. It's better not to know anything specific about the exact circumstances of the shooting.

The famous GOLDEN GLOBE winner John Saxon plays very solidly as usual. You take both sides off him. As in "Cross Shot", which was filmed in beautiful Bari, he could have played the tough detective.

This 1976 Italian movie, which casts a great Maurizio Merli and the veteran John Saxon, is the third(and the last one)film of Commissario Betti's series, after Roma Violenta(also directed by Girolami) and Napoli Violenta(directed by Umberto Lenzi). It's really a terrific movie! The story is great, the soundtrack and the acting are outstanding and the action scenes are probably among the best shot ever, with a style very similar to Enzo G. Castellari's one(who is always synonym of quality). If you're big fans of Italian 70's poliziottesco, you have to watch this movie, which is one of the most representative and amazing ever shot! I suggest it to anybody!

In director Franco Martinelli's highly regarded crime classic, 'Italia a mano armata' aka 'Special Cop in Action' (1976), the super-svelte, bullet-dodging pugilist, Maurizio Merli reprises his most incendiary role as the maverick,majestically moustachioed, skin-tight shirt wearin', all fists blazin', zero tolerance, Commisario Betti, for yet another gonzoid, thrillingly non-PC eruptions of hard-boiled, Italian Poliziotteschi action! The craven, ill-dressed thugs foolhardy attempt to kidnap a group of school children on Commisario Betti's watch, bloodily unleashes a delirious deluge of exhilarating retribution from the inimitable, golden-haired paragon of righteous vengeance, whose mesmerizingly macho modus operandi of brutally annihilating balaclava bovver boys with his jubilant, jaw-smashing roundhouses, proves more than adequate when Betti finally confronts his arch nemesis, Albertini, energetically played with obvious gusto by fellow Euro-crime icon, John Saxon!

Maestro Martinell's exciting 70s actioner 'Special Cop in Action' is demonstratively one of the most appealingly hotheaded Euro crime epics, galvanized by a scintillating squall of thrilling, adrenalized action set pieces, the Berretta blasting mayhem made all the more deliriously entertaining by bravura composer, Franco Micalizzi's gritty, funkier-than-thou, street-tough, heart-poundingly groovy score! This is dynamic crime funk par excellence, adding considerable elan to an already essential Italian cult classic! If for some wholly obscure reason you only watch one high octane, head-knockingly heroic Maurizio Merli poliziottesco, I have little doubt that witnessing the pulse-wreaking whirlwind of unbridled bellicosity fuelling 'Special Cop in Action' will make you a hardcore Merli maniac for life!

Maurizio Merli may have come to fame as a Franco Nero impersonator; but after that he really came into his own and if his name is on the cast list (particularly if it's at the top of the cast list), you're pretty much guaranteed a good film. This one was the final outing for Merli's Commissario Betti character, and he ensures the ace crime fighter goes out with a bang as Marino Girolami's film is packed to breaking point with car chases, shootouts and fist fights and certainly delivers on the promise of being an action packed thriller! The plot focuses on Commissario Betti. Once again, he's aggravated at the amount of crime going on in the city and his attention is focused mainly on two big crimes; a bank robbery and a kidnap plot. The Commissioner battles bravely to ensure the crooks are brought to justice but soon realises that there's no point in merely sorting out the henchmen and decides to go after the man he believes is heading the criminal operations; slimy businessman Albertelli, although bringing justice on the head criminal may not be so easy...

This film is very easy to watch and getting lost in the numerous action scenes is a lot of fun. The plot flows very smoothly and there really is very little time when something isn't happening, which is really exactly what you want from a film like this. The action scenes do take over the plot at times; but it's not really important because entertainment is the main thing. The plot itself is certainly interesting, however; with the main focus being on the police matching wits with a very sly and intelligent criminal. You can always count on Maurizio Merli for a great performance and he doesn't disappoint here. He does look just a little bit silly at times admittedly, but he actually does convince us that he is a man who would give everything to stop crime in the city (although by this point, he had a lot of practise!). The film is not exactly heavy and although certain scenes are quite nasty; the atmosphere is usually quite light. Franco Micalizzi's score is very good too, and Merli receives very good support from cult supremo John Saxon. The ending is a bit of downer, but I can't complain given how entertaining the rest of the film is. Highly recommended!