The .44 Specialist

Stelvio Massi's "Mark the Narc" trilogy is by far the most underrated Poliziotesschi film-franchise in history. Perhaps they were a big success in cinemas around their times of release, I wouldn't know, but here on the website all three films have only a limited number of votes and user-comments, and I barely ever hear them mentioned in dedicated forums. I honestly can't fathom why, since their production values are way above average, there are several acclaimed actors appearing, and - most of all - they are really cool flicks!

The middle one ("Mark Shoots First") is the least of the bunch, but still very worthwhile, while the first ("Mark the Narc") and this third entry "Mark Strikes Again" (a.k.a "The .44 Specialist") are solid Poliziotesschi classics as far as I'm concerned.

Rebellious cop Mark Patti goes undercover and joins a young couple of terrorists, hoping to eventually unclutter the much larger network of terrorism that is active all over Europe. He must report his findings directly to Interpol agent Altman, but it's not certain everyone can be trusted.

Many in highlights in this one, ingenious story aspects as well as adrenalin-rushing action footage. There is an extremely violent shootout in a secret service headquarters, a hotel massacre, a number of brutal terrorist attacks, and the tense hijacking of a passenger train. On the lighter side of things, Marc has a steamy night with a lewd girl whose bedroom is full of mannequin dolls, a corpse originally gets transported through the city during rush hour, and two thugs on a motorcycle gets a lot more than they bargained for when they snatch the wrong bag during a drive-by robbery. The always reliable Stelvio Cipriani delivers another dazzling score, and the supportive cast contains a couple of respectable names and faces, like John Saxon, John Steiner, and Paul Muller.

Narky Mark is back a third time as the skinny cop with a white guy 'fro, this time infiltrating a German terrorist organisation who are causing havoc across Europe.

He wasn't supposed to be doing that, mind you. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Y'see, he's just a cop but now he's in there with there terrorists (led by a skeletal John Steiner), he the connection Interpol and various organisations need. This is where agent John Saxon steps in, becoming Mark's contact with the outside world, but then again - things are never as straight forward as they seem in these films right?

It's good that this film takes a different angle from the usual Eurocrime films, as Mark ends up getting deeper and deeper into the terrorist's activities, beginning with getting a doctor to a wounded terrorist, all the way helping hijack a train full of people. Stelvio Massi seems to crank everything up to ten for the duration of the film too, with an amazing amount of brutal gun violence involved ending with people drenched in blood, and plenty of scenes of tension, from the comical driving a corpse through heavy traffic to the tense massacre of businessmen in a tower blocl that Mark accidentally avoids being caught up in.

The guy that plays Mark isn't going to win any Oscars any time soon, but does fine here as the charming cop trying to find the person responsible for all the chaos that's being caused (as well as bedding the ladies, including Melissa Longo in a scene that gives Massi a chance to show off his skill with weird camera angles). The best bit of the film is when two bag-snatchers on a moped steal a bag from one of the terrorists, only to have it contain a bomb and explode about a minute later. Whoops!

All in all this might be the best of the Mark trilogy, and you don't have to watch the other two first either, what with your busy lifestyle and that.