Shoot First, Die Later

Shoot First, Die Later (Il Poliziotto E Marcio) (1974) 

Runtime: 94 minutes

Directed by: Fernando Di Leo

Starring: Luc Merenda, Richard Conte, Delia Boccardo, Raymond Pellegrin, Gianni Santuccio

From: Cinemaster S.R.L.

Here is a movie I wasn't planning on watching until I found out early yesterday evening that it would be airing late in the night on TCM Underground. Yes, it's still around and it moved from Friday to Saturday night awhile ago. As it happened to be a poliziotteschi movie I hadn't seen before, of course I had to check it out that night. To steal the plot description from a random person on Letterboxd:

“Luc Merenda gives the performance of his career as a highly regarded police detective who is taking syndicate money in exchange for departmental favors. His father, a simple man, also works for the department but on a lower rung; he isn't jealous of his son, but rather proud of him, little knowing that he's a crooked cop. A series of events leads the young detective to ask his father for a favor (he wants a certain police report that is desired by the syndicate) and it doesn't take long for the detective's father to realize his son is on the take... which leads to numerous complications.” Yes, this is all accurate.

This isn't the wildest craziest or sleaziest movie I've seen in this genre. Di Leo's other contributions to the genre more fit that mark. On the other hand, there ARE sleazy moments, such as a woman being brutally beaten up, a flaming gay transvestite who looked a lot like Bruno Mars, no kidding. There's also some great ass-kicking and otherwise badass moments, including a great knee to the face and an awesome pimp slap literally delivered to a pimp.

However, this is still something I enjoyed. There's some nice violence, some quality car chases, and some shocking moments. One in particular would make PETA and their followers REALLY angry; or really, any pet lover would not be happy by the ruthlessness of it.

The main thing: this a serious story about a corrupt cop and what happens when his straight-arrow policeman dad discovers his son followed his footsteps but in the wrong way. That moment when the dad puts it all together... a powerful and quality scene and all their scenes together are done real well. This is yet another successful poliziotteschi motion picture. I love all those movies but this is right in the middle of the pack in the quality sub-genre, in my eyes. It does stand out as it's different and yet still ticks enough boxes to qualify for what fans want to see.

I'll be back Wednesday afternoon.