Viva como um Policial, Morra como um Homem

An absolutely gonzo Italian action film that's insane before it even starts. Just read that title. Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. So dumb and self-assured of its hamfisted-ness that you have to admire it.

Another tip-off that this is going to be wild is the fact it's directed by Ruggero Deodato, who's best known for making Cannibal Holocaust, which is one of the most controversial and violent movies of the 1980s (or arguably of all time). This one is similarly twisted and violent, though definitely not as extreme or horrific... even if it cruelly kills a blind man's guide dog on-screen five minutes into the movie (unlike the animal violence in Cannibal Holocaust, I'm pretty sure it's fake here). I guess it's done to show that the movie's not going to mess around. Unsurprisingly, it proceeds as such.

The film has a loose plot which pretty much boils down to two rogue cops taking on violent criminals in ways that are just as violent as the criminals. It's absurd enough that maybe it's intended to be darkly funny or even satirical, but I couldn't be 100% sure. Maybe the film was trying to be cool, but I'd like to think Deodato knew what he was doing here, to some extent (because I do think Cannibal Holocaust has a great deal more satire than some give it credit for).

I don't know, if you find the title funny and like crazy, over-the-top cop movies, this'll probably scratch an itch. But I don't know many people who I'd personally recommend it to, in all honesty, even if I got some enjoyment out of it.

Ruggero made every cops fantasy here.

Ray Lovelock and Marc Porel (RIP and WAY too young) play a couple of plods on an elite part of the squad. And you know what THAT means.

They cruise around on motorcycles basically clipping anyone who even gives them a fishy eye. Catch a guy trying to steal a purse? Beat him senseless. Then shoot him. The man to man violence was over OTT.

Then there's the sex. Of course they get to bed many loose women. The kind of loose women that seem to be all over Rome in these kind of flicks. Although that's the big city. Tokyo? The same.

And the chief is one of those "I see nothing" types. Until he has no choice.

Chase scenes, shootings, fistfights, 70's waka-waka guitar and haircuts, it's there ad infinitum.

Porel died too soon. He was good looking enough where he could have had a real career. Lovelock was doing his usual.

Hard to find, but if you do, it's worth a gander.

This is an interesting Italian crime thriller from notorious "Cannibal Holocaust" director Ruggiero Deodato in that it takes the usual fascist and sexist tendencies of the genre and exaggerates them to the point of ironic parody.

Ray Lovelock and Mark Porel play two rogue motorcycle cops who are more like criminals with badges. They endanger the public, they beat, torture, and shoot suspects, and the avail themselves of any woman they come across. But there is also a definite homosexual subtext between the two characters. Both are played by pretty-boy actors. They ride around on the same motorbike. At and one point, they have what is pretty close to three-way sex with the slutty sister of a gangster they are pursuing. The sister is played by "Fabiana Flavia", who is actually Sofia Dionisio, the younger, bustier sister of Silvia Dionisio, who was Deodato's wife at the time (So, yes, Deodato films a fairly graphic double sex scene with his own sister-in-law!). Silvia Dionisio also has a smaller part as a secretary, but it's a plum part for an actress in one of these macho films, first because she gets to keep her clothes on, and second, because she gets to banter with these two sexist pigs as they shamelessly hit on her (and her "liberated" character definitely gives as good as she gets).

There are some very disturbing moments of violence in this film, equaled only in the genre by Lucio Fulci's notorious "Contraband', Andrea Bianchi's "Cry of a Prostitute",and the grindhouse classic "Rico" (aka "Cauldron of Death"). These films generally vary greatly from intelligent noirish and morally ambiguous fare, where a lone cop or sympathetic criminal is forced to survive in an urban jungle, to trite, right-wing fantasies where a straight-arrow cop takes on mustache-twirling bad guys while his lilly-livered liberal superiors fume. This movie takes the latter path generally, but it exaggerates the vigilante cops so much it becomes a kind of reducto ad absurdum. It's not a great film perhaps, but it is certainly worth watching, especially if you are a fan of the genre.

Can best be summed up as the "Spaghetti Starsky & Hutch" but with better car chases, more sex (and sexism) and more violence. Prime 1970s Poliziotteschi up there with the best of Franco Nero, Fabio Testi or Mauricio Merli

'Nuff said, but apparently not enough for an imdb review, so I will continue...

Ray Lovelock looks like another refugee Americano actor following the path most famously trodden by Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Lee van Cleef and his friend Tomas Milian, but in fact he was born in Italy of an Italian mother and English father. He is blond and plays the "Hutch" role.

Marc Porel was born in Switzerland, but his parents were both French actors. He is dark and plays the "Starsky" role.

Adolfo Celi plays the "Captain Dobey" role, his face will be familiar from numerous character parts in post war Hollywood and across European cinema, most notably as supervillain "Emilio Largo" in the James Bond classic "Thunderball"

Silvia Dionisio plays the feisty modern woman who cheerfully puts up with the lads crude sexist banter and gives as good as she gets in the repartee department

Sofia Dionisio gets her kit off.

This is one of Deodato's earlier films. Deodato is best known as the director of the notorious film "Cannibal Holocaust". With a script by Di Leo and masterful direction by Deodato, you get a film that is violent, ruthless and exciting. One can easily see the influence on contemporary directors like Tarantino (a huge Di Leo fan). This film also has a lot in common with movies like Dirty Harry, where a cop uses extreme measures to deliver justice and always has his boss coming down on him for being too violent in doing so. Except in this film it is two guys who team up to clean the streets. The viewer will be surprised at the amount of violence in this film when considering the year it was made. If you can locate this film, its worth watching.