Morte sospetta di una minorenne

I had never heard of this before its Sazuma "Special Edition" DVD came along (though I actually acquired it recently from ulterior sources); consequently, I took the film to be a very minor Martino effort – so that I went into it without much expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable it all turned out to be – more so, in fact, than some of the director's more popular titles…though I can see how anyone hoping for a typical giallo will be confused and disappointed by its overriding poliziottesco elements, and even more so the sometimes daft comedy touches (on which I'll elaborate later on). Thematically, SUSPECTED DEATH OF A MINOR is an unofficial companion to the Massimo Dallamano trilogy of gialli revolving around teenage prostitution rackets – WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? (1972), WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974) and RINGS OF FEAR (1978; completed by Alberto Negrin after the film-maker's tragic demise in a road accident); in that regard, it's hardly original, but Martino (whose last genre outing this proved to be) lends it his customary flair – aided a great deal by a splendid Goblinesque score courtesy of the obscure Luciano Michelini. Casting is another asset, led by Claudio Cassinelli – who would himself suffer an untimely death 10 years later in a helicopter crash while filming another Martino film! – as the unconventional hero (forever breaking his spectacles, he starts off as mystery-man and rogue but is eventually revealed to be a special undercover cop), Mel Ferrer as his long-suffering superior, and Massimo Girotti as the obligatory would-be respectable but all-powerful businessman pulling the strings. While there are obviously a number of female figures here (though, uncharacteristically, little nudity), none really emerges to take center-stage – including late starlet Jenny Tamburi who, despite a severely underwritten role, is still given an unwarranted cruel fate! The film comes to life principally in a handful of well-staged set-pieces, which take the form of chases rather than murders – an assassination attempt aboard a roller-coaster ride, a cliff-hanging sequence involving the opening roof of a cinema (which, according to an online review, is showing Martino's own YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY [1972]!), and the climactic across-the-water showdown between Cassinelli and Girotti. However, the most memorable (because it is so unexpected) certainly emerges the comical one in which the hero and his petty-thief pal take the Police on a wild ride – driving a rickety machine whose doors are constantly getting dislodged, Cassinelli asks his companion to throw them at their pursuers…but there's also a bit where a man riding a bike is left with a mere tricycle following a brush with the speeding vehicles and another which, hilariously, has a hit-and-run victim literally land and roll (repeatedly) on his head!

As many of my fellow Italian Horror fans probably do, I consider Sergio Martino one of my favorite directors. The man has delivered great films in a variety of genres, but he is doubtlessly (and rightly) most famous for his Gialli. Before seeing this film, I had already seen his five other contributions to the Giallo-genre, "The Strange Vice Of Mrs Wardh" (1971), "The Scorpion's Tail" (1971), "Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key" (1972), "All Colors Of The Dark" (1972), and "Torso" (1973), all of which are nothing short of brilliance. I've seen all these films multiple times, and while they all had the typical great Martino-style, each one of these films has something very particular. Especially the ingenious Poe-inspired "Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key" is a personal favorite of mine that easily ranks among the greatest Gialli ever brought to screen. This "La Morte Sospetta Di Una Minorenne" (aka. "Suspected Death Of A Minor") of 1975 is doubtlessly also a very memorable film, and while I did not quite like it as much as Martino's other five Gialli, one cannot deny that it has its very particular qualities. This is doubtlessly Martino's oddest Giallo, as it is not a typical specimen of the genre, but a weird and highly unconventional mixture of Giallo, Crime flick, and, in many parts, Comedy that even includes Slapstick-elements.

I do not want to give away too much of the plot, since it is, in many ways, unpredictable, and bears many unexpected twists. The mid 70s were already the end of the most successful heyday of the Italian Giallo, whilst the heyday of Italian Crime flicks was beginning around the time. Several Gialli from the time, therefore used elements that are mainly attributed to the Poliziottesco, such as drugs, underage prostitution, corruption etc. The most famous example for that may be Massimo Dallamano's "La Polizia Chiede Ajuto" (aka. "What Have They Done To Your Daughters?" of 1974, and it is also the case with this film. The overload of slapstick elements here is quite unique, though, which is not necessarily a good thing. True, even the most famous Giallo of all-time (and also one of the greatest), Dario Argento's masterpiece "Profondo Rosso" from the same year, has several comical moments. Not to the same extent, though, as these moments are just occasionally in "Profondo Rosso", where they actually greatly create more closeness to the characters. In "Suspected Death Of A Minor" these elements are not quite as funny, but therefore including more slapstick, omnipresent and used to a sometimes annoying extent. Even so, the idea of a Giallo with slapstick-elements is original, to say at least, and the film does not loose its compelling Mystery/Thriller parts. Leading man Claudio Casellini starred in a variety of Italian Exploitation and Horror productions, including "Flavia The Heretic", "Murder At The Etruscan Cemetery" and director Martino's very own "Mountain Of The Cannibal God". The role which Casellini is probably best known for is that of the investigating detective in "What Have They Done To Your Daughters", a film that bears many resemblances to this one (even though "What Have They Done To Your Daughters" is more serious, and a lot better). The film is superbly shot, and the score by Luciano Michelini is brilliant and contributes a lot to the atmosphere and suspense. Overall. "Suspected Death Of A Minor" is a highly recommendable film for all my fellow Giallo-enthusiasts and Sergio Martino fans. I would nonetheless recommend to see Martino's brilliant other Gialli first. Especially "Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key" (which, by the way, is funnily referenced to in this film) comes with my highest possible recommendations, and films like "Torso" and "The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh" are also essential for genre-fans. My opinion on "Suspected Death Of A Minor": 7/10

Nothing like the gialli of Sergio Martino, "The Suspicious Death Of A Minor" is really a poliziotteschi with giallo elements. There are some giallo-esque murders and the rest is a mystery involving prostitution. The main character does a fine job and the supporting cast is fine as well. The music is groovy prog-rock except for the chase scenes, which sound like the music from "Watch Out, Were Mad." The main character's car is like the car from "Deep Red," where you have to climb in through the roof. All-around fine film with a "Dirty Harry" type cop facing off with an evil banker and a hitman with sunglasses.

This quite rare movie by Sergio Martino is an odd thing. As the title presumes, it starts off like a typical giallo: A man with sunglasses stalks and slashes a young woman. But after the murder, the movie becomes a film in style of the "poliziescho", the Italian crime movie of the 1970s, as the audience follows an undercover cop searching for the killer and also for the kidnappers of a young boy (but the audience doesn't know for a long time either that the cop really is one and that the murder case and the kidnapping rely to each other). All this culminates (within the first half of the movie) in a car chase which offers enough gags to make the scene pure slapstick.

After that, the giallo style returns as the sunglassed killer goes on a killing spree. The crime movie is back as the plot unfolds to have its motive in mob-style drug dealing. And let's not forget: The killings have also to do with professional child prostitution and abuse. A really wild mix, even more so if one considers that the film sometimes boosts cheap (if mostly funny) humor.

The cool sound track is reminiscent of the early scores by "Goblin" for Dario Argento's films, and it seems that Ernesto Gastaldi, who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay with director Martino, was influenced by Massimo Dallamano's great "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" that was made one year earlier.

All in all, this surely is not Martino's best film (his "pure" gialli are more enjoyable), but if one gets used to the unusual concoction of such different topics and styles, it's an entertaining and sometimes hilariously funny, fast paced and thrilling movie that even boosts some harsh social comment.

As other reviewers have said this is a strange movie. It is kind of an "unofficial" sixth entry to the series of excellent gialli directed by Sergio Martino in the early 1970's (although, as such, it is definitely step down from his previous film "Torso"). It has a very familiar "giallo-esqe" starting point where the investigation of a murdered underage prostitute leads to a lot of equally nasty killings. It also functions as a "poliziani" with lots of action and chase sequences and a cynical plot involving high-level political intrigue. Claudio Cassinelli plays a cop who makes Dirty Harry look restrained and by-the-book. He sleeps with prostitutes, consorts with minor criminals, feels up underage girls, shoots at civilians, and even leads the regular police on a wreckless high-speed chase for no real reason. The people he is after though are even worse, involved in everything from kidnapping to drugs and teenage prostitution to money laundering.

But if all this isn't a little too much, the movie also tries to be a comedy. Cassanelli has a comical side-kick, and there is a running gag where he keeps breaking his glasses. Sometimes the comedy works, but other times it tends to sabotage the drama, like when he incorporates slapstick pratfalls into what is already a very over-long car chase (a bane of these type of movies ever since "The French Connection" was released in Italy). Fortunately, Cassinelli has charisma to spare in his first of many roles for director Martino (he didn't have the impressive breasts of Martino's other frequent collaborator Edwige Fenech, but he was no doubt a better actor). Jenny Tamburi, on the other hand, was pretty much wasted (both as an actress and pair of impressive breasts). But Mel Ferrer and most of the other obscure more actors acquit themselves pretty well. Not as good as Martino's earlier movies, but better than his later ones, and it has just been released in widescreen with English subtitles on (import) DVD. So check it out for yourself.