Mark il poliziotto

This is the first 'Mark' film involving Franco Gasperri as the tall, cold narcotics detective out to bring down a drug smuggling operation in Milan. Mark is a kindly detective, I think, as he tries to dissuade a young rookie from joining the narcotics division and takes a poor young junky girl under his wing to help her recover.

What Mark is really all about is the taking down of dodgy businessman Benzi (Lee Cobb, who thankfully provides a nice performance to contract with Gasperri's robotic acting style). Mark knows Benzi is pushing heroin in Milan but doesn't quite know how he's doing it, while Mark's stupid boss continues to insist that Benzi is as clean as a gay guy's flat. With his bumbling sidekick in tow, Mark sets off to get to the bottom of the case.

Of course, the plot has to go round the houses a bit so there's some recently released German guy who is employed as muscle for Benzi, a sinister businessman-type who follows everyone around, and a getaway driver/drug courier that Mark keeps bumping into. On their third encounter Mark is giving this guy the beatdown when a priest beats Mark, causing Mark to shout "I'm a cop! You should have checked first you stupid prick! F**k off!"

There's a few standout scenes before the film turns dark in the last third and we get to the usual warhouse shootout- You've got Mark jumping out of a car and chasing an ambulance on foot, and you've also got Mark casually stepping out of the way of a car travelling along the street on its roof. Stelvio Massi once again stands out with his cinematography, which just suits this stuff like a...suit.

The movie is a guaranteed nice time if you are looking for this sort of "eurocrime" stuff. But personally I thought it was a bit dramatic.

The heroin addicted girl and her mom stood out for me. Much more than the whole "training the younger cop thing". Also, for an one hour and a half lenght movie, which we already knew who the bad guy was and what he was doing, the time should have been filled with more people being subjected to a beating.

However, I may say that, when it came down to shootings and car chases, the movie delivered the goods. Perhaps they should have worked more on the bad guys characters, so they could've looked more... "exotic", let's point this way.

It was not the best italian cop tale, but I would watch more of the "Mark, the narc" series.

Successful Poliziottesco from Italy with Franco Gasparri and Lee J. Cobb

This film from 1975 was the start of the very successful trilogy about police officer Mark Terzi. This role was the breakthrough of the young actor Franco Gasparri (1948-1999). It's about a young police inspector in Milan who is motivated and committed to his job. His goal is to uncover those behind a drug ring. He also unconventionally helps a young drug addict (Sara Sperati, who is also known from "Salon Kitty" and "La nottata") to go cold turkey. Of course, this also offends his superiors (Giorgio Albertazzi). This young generation police officer doesn't need fast cars either. Then he sprints after the bad guys. This gives director Stelvio Massi the opportunity to shoot great action scenes on foot. During the persecution of a very bad contemporary (the Argentinian one-time actor Carlo Duran as a "German"! Henchman who has just been released from prison), the bizarre situation arises in which Terzi is attacked badly by a priest who thinks he is a rogue becomes.

In Italy, this less macho police officer who acted without concern for casualties was extremely well received. The film brought 1.6 billion lire into the box office in Italy alone. A triumph! So the Italians themselves liked Gasparri more than Merli. Merli was more likely to be marketed in German-speaking countries.

With his partner Bonetti (Giampiero Albertini, also seen in "The Viper" and "Gunman"), a brother in spirit, he manages to get the respected businessman Benzi (Lee J. Cobb, the legendary Lt. Kinderman from the horror classic "The Exorcist", 1973) as the head of the drug ring becomes more and more on the trail. Will Terzi manage to arrest the villain?

Two more parts with Franco Gasparri were to follow. As a child star he appeared in three peplum films with Brad Harris: "Goliath contro i giganti" (1961), "Sansone" (1961), "La furia di Ercole" (1962). Then things became quieter around him again, school took priority. As a young man, the very attractive Franco Gasparri became the star of the fotoromanzi, which was extremely popular in Italy, which in turn led to his rediscovery as a film star. Unfortunately, that didn't bring him lasting happiness. In a serious motorcycle accident, Franco Gasparri was injured so badly that he was paralyzed from then on. He fought his way back to life, worked as an editor for the fotoromanzi that had made him famous, and died in 1999 from the long-term effects of his accident. What remains are the three films from the trilogy around "Mark il poliziotto", which paint a different picture of the notorious police and gangster films from Italy in the 1970s. Life is always more complex than you think.

Bit of a disappointment this and its a shame because it looks so good and with such a good score by Stelvio Cipriani it sounds good too. Franco Gasparri is charismatic and effective in the lead role and the dialogue is good and snappy. Its just that there could have been a bit more going on, a bit more action or involving background. The bad guys led by Lee J Cobb are a mixed bunch and do not really convince and Sara Sperati as the non love interest is a waste of space. I think all the emphasis upon her drug addiction is because we are supposed to get involved here and feel sorry for the girl, unfortunately we don't. So all left to Gasparri and its asking far too much. With so many bad guys about the place we could have had a bit more action, rather than chat and visits to the race track.

The very first incendiary instalment in hard-driving action master, Stelvio Massi's gloriously rumbustious 'Mark Trilogy' arguably Marks one of the high points of the once hugely popular cycle of durably hard-nosed, politically incorrect Poliziottesco actioners, that many avidly thrill-seeking reprobates of the sinful 70s favoured so highly!

The svelte, strikingly handsome, Franco Gasparri makes for an engaging, pistol-packing lead; while he lacks the bullish masculinity of, Maurizio Merli, the whippet-lean pistolero cuts a beguilingly dishy dash as the relentlessly crusading maverick copper with a penchant for dapper outfits, groovy wayfarer sunglasses, and a deadly facility with high caliber weaponry, which he utilizes most expertly against a multifarious gallery of murderous criminality! Burly, Lee J. Cobb does his Stentorian, mongoose mean ol' guy routine, and soundtrack genius, Stelvio Cipriani unleashes one of his most memorably funky themes! 'The Narc' (aka) 'Mark il Poliziotto' is a pulse-pounding Euro-crime exemplar, unequivocally proving that sublimely gifted action director, Stelvio Massi was one of the more reliable Italian practitioners of this most exhilarating cinematic art.