Emergency Squad

Emergency Squad (Squadra Volante) (1974)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Stelvio Massi

Starring: Tomas Milian, Gastone Moschin, Mario Carotenuto, Stefania Casini, Ray Lovelock

From: Rewind Film

The recent viewing habits of more than one Letterboxd follower finally inspired me to see another poliziotteschi; they have been watching some of those films. My most popular list here consists of the genre examples I've seen; regrettably not too many have been seen the past few years. The availability of those movies is a factor-it is usually not easy to find examples I haven't seen which are in English. One illegal streaming service (to be honest) that I saw a few of those on is long defunct and there are YouTube channels which are up for a bit but then are taken down for presumed copyright reasons... it's a hassle, in other words.

But I found this; while subdued compared to a typical example, it was still an interesting tale which covered a loose cannon cop (Tomas Milian) investigating a daring highway robbery; the robbers-led by Gastone Moschin-hide out after the heist. Various sleazy characters are seen throughout; speaking of sleaze, I was amused that the gratuitous nudity usually present in this genre was even more gratuitous than usual here. But anyhow, a few years prior Milian's wife was killed by gunfire; of course Moschin was responsible for that.

Even if it is not action-packed like some of these are, what action is present was good; in addition, I was never bored with the investigation or the in-fighting among the villain. There were other familiar faces (Ray Lovelock, Stefania Casini of Suspiria fame) and a solid score. One strange aspect of the viewing experience last night: on several occasions, the audio would switch over from dubbed English into the original Italian, before switching back. That's not the first time this has happened but it was never a few times in the same movie. What gave me the biggest laugh: there's no nice way to say it so I'll have to be blunt: one of the villains in one scene wears pants so tight, it looks like he has a camel toe!