Atire Primeiro, Morra Depois

This one stars Luc Merenda as a hard-nosed cop famed for taking down the bad guys in Milan, as we see during a pretty good shoot-out/car chase at the beginning of the film. Luc's also got a good thing going with his girlfriend, but we soon get to find out why he can afford to buy her such expensive things...

Luc's a corrupt cop and is working for two mobsters who are paying Luc to turn a blind eye to all the tobacco and booze smuggling in the city. He kind of loses the rag a bit when their latest venture turns out to be gun running, but an increase in the old bribes softens that blow a little. There's a tiny bit of a problem, however. A nosy neighbour type has reported the registrations of two cars in his area that the mob would rather the police forget about, but to Luc this means going to that particular police station, which, unfortunately for him, is run by his own father. At the same time a body turns up in a steel drum and Luc now has to sort all this out before the mafia lose their already thin patience.

What makes this one a bit different from the rough cop socking people in the jaw is that Luc is basically struggling to cover up his initial mistake of having trusted the mob in the first place, and becomes a victim of his own over-confidence. There's a greater emotional depth here too as Luc's relationships with his girlfriend and father become strained as his shady dealings rise to the fore. Those looking for the brutal violence of De Leo's other films won't be disappointed either, as many characters here are outright violently murdered rather than having shootouts with each other. These films usually work better with the brutality turned up to ten anyway, although the bit with the kitten wasn't called for. As usual. This trend would get much, much worse!

I can't decide if Luc Merenda is a good actor or not because he just kind of glares at everything.

This film is ultimately very downbeat. It seems to be a sort of slow motion lesson on how crime does not pay , more specifically how if you dabble in or turn a blind eye to crime , you and a lot of other people can get hurt. And it delivers that message without pulling any punches. Some of the scenes of violence are hard to watch because of how cruel and ruthless they are.

The movie starts with a bang with a spectacular , nerve wracking car chase. After that it's mostly pretty slow , although the story does keep getting propelled forward and there is some action and also humor peppered here and there. In the last third things start picking up a lot more with yet another car chase and a whole slew of plot twists. The ending is a huge , ironic surprise. Overall, a very entertaining and satisfying movie, much better than I had anticipated.

Luc Merenda reads from the diary of a corrupt police officer

In terms of action, things get off to a good start when the wiry Inspector Domenico Malacarne (Luc Merenda) hunts down bad guys in Milan. He is a true hero, this police officer that successful director Fernando Di Leo presents to us in this film. Pretty girlfriend (Delia Boccardo as Sandra) from the gallery scene, good relationship with his dad, the upright Maresciallo Malacarne (Salvo Randone). But then we, astonished viewers, slowly have to realize that this boyish, sporty Malacarne (bad meat, nomen est omen) has become too involved with the mafia. Richard Conte (1910-1975) as a cunning mafia lawyer and Raymond Pellegrin (1925-2007) as the very evil boss Pascal bear witness to this. Well! Screenwriter Sergio Donati skillfully shows us the abysses that we would rather not have seen...

Action-heavy, always in the middle, we are presented with a protagonist who is likeable and corrupt. Car chases, fights and the bitter realization that even such a bright man is susceptible to the corruption of everyday life. Fernando Di Leo repeatedly opens his audience's eyes to the dirty secrets of a police officer's life. It also worked at the box office: ITL 676 million was grossed.

Worth seeing contribution from the almost inexhaustible Poliziotteschi genre!

(1976) Il Poliziotto è marcio/ Shoot First, Die Later (In Italian with English subtitles) CRIME DRAMA/ ACTION

Interesting familiar premise but with expected results starring Luc Merenda as Domenico Malacarne a young corrupt police lieutenant who always had no problems working with a particular don for illegal booze and cigarettes, until some elder bystander files a complaint regarding being blocked from the inside from getting out. For cautionary reasons the mob is pressing Domenco to go to the police station where the file is located and then retrieve it for the mob so that he can have it destroyed since it contains the license plate number that can connect a particular person with a current murder that happened nearby. Written and directed by Fernando Di Leo has some interesting things to say regarding the problems that can exist regarding corruption that involves the law of authority, which can be used as a scare tactic not to do business with the mob under any circumstances, that I have no doubt in my mind some of it is based on fact. I just wished there was a better result I guess would've made the film unrealistic.

Umberto Lenzi was the Italian director responsible for delivering the – hands down – most exhilarating, gratuitously violent and smuttiest Poliziotesschi thrillers of the 1970s, but his colleague Fernando Di Leo was the genius who arguably made the ones with the best screenplays, most unsettling atmospheres and most intriguingly profound character drawings. Evidence for this opinion/statement can be found in his vastly superior crime trilogy (containing the masterworks "Milano Calibro 9", "La Mala Ordina" and "Il Boss") but further proof also comes from this truly overpowering "Il Poliziotto è Marcio" aka "Shoot First, Die Later". Di Leo's films are slightly more qualitative and memorable because he thinks outside of the box and continuously adds new elements to the successful Poliziotesschi formula that he co-created himself. Lenzi's films, for example, are mostly straightforward thrillers in which one unbreakable super-cop (usually Maurizio Merli) battles against entire crime networks but also against the corrupt political system. Domenico Malacarne, the protagonist here, is an utterly corrupt detective himself! The original Italian title is therefore a lot more meaningful as the popular international title; as it literally translates as "The Cop is Rotten" and even the anti- hero's last name (meaning "bad meat") gives a good indication of the story content.

Malacarna is the most successful lieutenant of his Milanese precinct and often gets applauded by his superiors as well as in the local press for uncovering minor drug-trafficking rings and arresting small time crooks. His dark secret, however, is that he simultaneously works as informant for the local mafia boss Pascal and his nefarious attorney Mazzanti. When the mafia starts demanding favors that are even for Malacarna too immoral, his whole empire falls apart and his loved ones become endangered. It may sound unusual, perhaps, but the strongest moments in "Shoot First, Die Later" are the dramatic and emotional scenes rather than the violent ones. Notably the sequences where Malacarne's proud and deep-honest father discovers the truth and gets confronted with the true nature of his beloved son are intense and genuinely painful to observe. Of course, Di Leo never forgets that he's busy making an unhinged Poliziotesschi and thus the film is luckily also full action and brutality, including two virulent car chases, shocking annihilations and senseless cruelty (poor kitten!). Luc Merenda ("The Violent Professionals", "Kidnap Syndicate") is sublime as the simultaneously loathsome and charming anti-hero, and he receives good support from the entire ensemble cast. The intelligent script, in combination with Di Leo's craftsmanship and the smooth soundtrack (Luis Bacalov) make this a top-10/must-see Poliziotesschi.