Il giorno del Cobra

Like other Enzo Castellari - Franco Nero teamings, this is a case of a routine script directed with flair. Castellari stages plenty of energetic fistfights and chases, and Franco Nero brings some of the qualities that made him a cult favorite - his humor, his athleticism, and of course his accent (IMDB lists the language as Italian, but I think it was filmed, not dubbed, in English). The script, however, is strictly formula stuff; some of the twists I guessed (seriously, is there anyone who has watched even one Italian film before who couldn't guess the fate of Nero's innocent son?), some I did not (Sybil Danning's role turns out to be more important than it appears at first), but generally there is nothing here that you have not seen before. Except maybe for the scene where Nero fights a karate-chopping transvestite, but even something similar to this has happened at least once before - in the beginning of "Thunderball". (**)

The glory years of the Italian Poliziottesco (cop/crime thriller) were actually already over in 1980, but we gladly make an exception in case director Enzo G. Castellari and actor Franco Nero team up for another cult effort together. The luscious as always Sybil Danning addresses to Franco's character as Humphrey Bogart at one point, and a more accurate description I couldn't possibly give! At the start of the film, Larry Staziani is a sleazy San Franciscan private eye occupied with stalking unfaithful housewives and locating rich women's lost dogs, but he's called back to his home country of Italy to help arrest a homosexual super-criminal by the name of Kadrinksy (or something). It quickly becomes obvious that Larry also has a personal score to settle with this obscure individual, as his corruptness caused Larry's career downfall and even an imprisonment. Oh well, at least by traveling voluntarily to Italy to settle the vendetta, Larry re-earns his trademark nickname of "The Cobra". This primarily is a film to please Franco's many avid fans, and undeniably he's cooler than cool as the Cobra. He continuously bounces a little toy ball against the heads of his opponents, deliberately ruins millions worth of cocaine right in front of the dealers' eyes, sticks him gum on people's foreheads, slaps women in the face and yet still they throw themselves at his feet not even a mere two minutes later! Nero's vivid performance makes you forget that the plot is actually just mediocre and nothing you haven't seen a dozen times before. There are some occasional flashes of sheer eccentric brilliance, like the Cobra's Kung-Fu battle with a transvestite for example! The dialogs are fluently written and Nero receives excellent support from Danning, veteran actor William Berger and Ennio Girolami (the director's brother) as a sinister killer. There's a fair amount of action, though sadly nothing really sadistic, and the film comes the obligatory catchy theme song entitled "Don't Give a Damn, I am the Cobra". Hell yeah you are, Franco!

A criminal fiction with suspense , intrigue , frantic action , turns , a lot of twisted incidents , at the same time charged with tension and high level staging which the viewer could really enjoy . An American narcotics agent is murdered in Italy. The head of the department (William Berger) decides to contract Larry Stanziani, 'The Cobra'. Larry, a former agent and now a third-rate private eye goes to Genoa , Italy , where he uses the opportunity to get even with an old enemy, but soon he finds out he's facing a merciless criminal organization with mafia connections. As Larry looks for the main enemy , Leo Kandinsky (ordinary director Michele Soavi) , while he falls in love for a suspect disco music public relations called Brenda (striking Sybil Danning) . The ex-Italian agent is a man of action who'll stop at nothing to get his purports and at whatever cost , as he takes on a powerful European drug ring resulting in fateful consequences.

Formula thriller with plenty of action , crisply edition , intrigue , suspenseful , skin bared , twists , turns and lots of violence in exploitation style with reminiscent to "The French Connection" , "Dirty Harry" and ¨Charles Bronson¨films . A cop movie set in the Seventies , being realized in Italian style , and made by the prolific and cult director Enzo G Castellari . Here he delivers frenetic action , thriller and violence enough along the nail-biting flick . There is a good stuntwork with car races , spectacular action scenes , shootouts and grisly killings , many of them shot in slow-moving . Passable entry in Poliziesco sub-genre with noisy action , thrills , shootouts , betrayals , car chases , explosions and large doses of violence . It belongs to Italian Poliziesco sub-genre , essentially developed in the Seventies and including ordinary trappings such as lasting car pursuits sequences , virulent blowing up and a lot of murders executed in cold blood . The film is interesting enough , though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . This film results to be one of the best among the whole saga of Poliziottesco that had its splendor in the Seventies and early Eighties . Main and support cast are pretty good , as Franco Nero is terrific as the tough private detective who comes closer to the top of the underworld organization by using expeditive means against delinquents , then his odds of survival decrease , as he battles hardly against organized crime. Being an Italian production , here appears several familiar faces at the time , as the Italian secondaries as Mickey Knox , Massimo Vanni , Romano Puppo and William Berger. Furthermore , gorgeous Sybil Danning who provides some attractive scenes if brief nudity .

It contains atmospheric cinematography by Giovanni Bergamini. As well as thrilling and moving musical score by Paolo Vasile. The motion picture was well written by ordinary Tito Carpi , Fabio Carpi and Aldo Lado , produced in medium budget by Fabrizio De Angelis and professionally directed by Enzo G Castellari in his peculiar style. Enzo is considered to be one of the best Italian artisans, who has made a nice career, shooting all kinds such as Wartime : Counterfeit Commandos , Eagles over London. Adventures : Scaramouche, Shark hunter, Tuareg , Shark 3 . Sci-fi : Bronx warriors, Escape Bronx, Warriors of wasteland. Thrillers : Light blast, Il grand racket ,The day of Cobra, La via della droga , Forajidos 77. Terror : Diabla. Westerns : Keoma, Tedeum, 7 Winchester for a massacre, Matalos y vuelve, Johnny Hamlet, Any gun can play . Rating 5.5/10. Decent and acceptable Poliziesco that will appeal to Italian exploitation fans. Worthwhile watching for thriller crime enthusiasts but neither notable , nor extraordinary , but passable .

My review was written in February 1985 after watching the film on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

"The Day of the Cobra" is a pleasant surprise: an effective Italian action film, shot in 1980 and imported as a video cassette, bypassing U. S. theatrical release.

Picture harks back to a very fine decade-earlier opus, "Detective Belli", with star Franco Nero comfortably essaying another Bogart-styled police detective on a big narcotics case. Both features include solid acting and action sequence plus serviceable storylines.

Working as a private eye in San Francisco, Larry Stanciani (Nero) is summoned by Goldsmith (Wiliam Berger) of the narcotics bureau to go on a mission to his hometown of Genoa in search of drug kingpin Kandinsky. Unofficial assignment holds the promise of getting Stanciani his police job back -he lost it and was sent to jail years back in a frameup engineered by Kandinsky.

Amidst a series of doublecrosses, solid fight scenes and chases, Stanciani has a run-in with glamorous disco deejay Brenda (Sybil Danning) and disco owner Lola, who turns out to be a transvestite in an effective plot twist, the clue for which is that Lola is the tallest thesp in the cast.

Nero is very good in this role, his hard boiled personality balanced by sentimental scenes with his cute young son. Both Nero and Danning so their own English dialog in a generally well-dubbed (articulation is in English) soundtrack. Pic is a welcome change of pace from director Enzo G. Castellari, who has been making numerous imitative fantasy and science fiction films lately.

The Poliziottesco AKA Eurocrime was in last breath period, even so the Italian producers team up Franco Nero and the iconic director Enzo G. Castellari in this weirdo offering entitled Il Giorno del Cobra, unfortunately the screenwriters draw up a far-fetched plot on sugary American oriented when the hero meets his young son at Genoa in Italy playing baseball together in a lovely homecoming with the right to a kiss on the mouth, well the audience has to stand such foolish moment.

The plot broke the boundaries of sanity when a former cop Cobra (Nero) was in jail framed by his superior has to survives as cheap detective in San Francisco, out of the blue the poker face Chief is back offering to Cobra his old position at Police department if Cobra accepts a hard assignment in Italy to struggle with a strong organization of drug dealers and smuggling trying get a double key of safe-box whereby holds the money of the criminals, thus Cobra has to fight with skilled woman-men or whatever they calling it at early eighties, to relief such suffering entering the gorgeous Sybill Danning daintily in sexy outfits on the story, aftermaths it became better.

Certainly Franco Nero wouldn't proud for this weak flick, let's say bearable just for Nero, Danning and Castellari memory at all, the music score is another low point, the outcome is rather beyond of unsatisfying upon any point of view whatsoever.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 1997 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 6.