Esquadrão Relâmpago

In the wonderful world of Italian Poliziotteschi (a cult/exploitation sub-genre) movies from the 1970s, Stelvio Massi was a director/cinematographer whose name and reputation were rather insignificant compared to some of his more talented and infamous colleagues, most notably Umberto Lenzi or Enzo G. Castellari or Fernando Di Leo, but he did deliver a handful of undemanding & fun films. This "Emergency Squad" is arguably his best work; a rudimentary and derivative but nevertheless blood-soaked (literally) story about an unorthodox copper on a personal quest for raw vengeance against the bastard criminals that killed his wife during their escape from a bank robbery. During his prolific in these euro- crime movies, cult actor Tomas Milian alternately played borderline coppers and psychotic criminals, and this time he depicts the cop. Inspector Ravelli from Interpol is called to the holdup scene where a quintet of criminals inventively pretended to be a film crew and gunned down an unfortunate policeman. Ravelli immediately spots that the bullet shelves on the ground come from the same weapon that killed his wife five years earlier and begins his obsessive hunt. Meanwhile, there's severe distrust and hostility between the crooks. Particularly their leader Marsigliese clearly doesn't intend to share the loot and prefers to get away with his mistress Martha. "Emergency Squad" is memorable to me for three main reasons: the performances of the two lead actors, the extremely violent nature of the gunfights and the fact that approximately 1/3 of the DVD that I own is spoken in its original Italian language without English dubbing subtitles. The latter point is rather bizarre, since the DVD is an official release (yellow box with a drawn picture of Tomas Milian's character in front of a bullseye) and actually quite expensive! Milian's opponent in the film is none other than Gastone Mochin (immortal thanks to the brilliant "Milano Calibro 9) and he portrays a marvelously complex and atypical gangster. Marsigliese is a ruthless thug, but also struggling with his health due to chain- smoking. Last but not least, "Emergency Squad" contains numerous of vile gunfights and executions for which I honestly wonder whether the human blood spillage is anatomically correct or not… Whenever someone is shot, admittedly always with heavy artillery and at extremely close range, his/her clothes are immediately drenched in blood. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen bigger bullet wounds or more massive bloodshed in any other movie in my life. Of course I never witnessed an execution in real life, but I do suspect that director Stelvio Massi exaggerated a tad bit with the blood spillage in order to make his film more sensational and more appealing to fans of the Poliziotteschi genre … And it worked, too!

Interpol agent Ravelli (Tomas Milian) gets a new clue after five years of investigating a robbery where his wife got killed accidentally from a stray bullet. It leads him to a master criminal called Marseilles, who is trying to keep away from the police after his latest robbery partially failed. Revenge is in the air...

Pleasurable crime film. Milian, as usual, gives a good performance as a policeman whose only goal in life is to avenge his wife's death. Good locations, OK casting and a great sense of street credible grit not forgetting good pacing. Slightly more original script wouldn't have hurt, either.

Released on video in Finland in the eighties.

This time round we've got Milian playing a cigar chomping, revenge obsessed cop out to catch (and kill) the men who machine gunned his wife by accident. I could have sworn that this film was part of a series of films starring Milian in the same role, but I see no mention of it here.

The marked men in question have just pulled off another heist, and we spend probably more time with them than we do with Milian. You've got Ray Lovelock as a left-wing militant, Gaston Black Thumb as the leader with the gorgeous chick lady woman, that guy who was a cop in The Bird With The Crystal plumage and two other guys. Gaston's character is a lot more interesting that Milian's as he's a smart bad guy who's got his own agenda.

This film isn't a fun as some of Enzo Castellari or Umberto Lenzi's gangster films, but Stelvio Massi is no fool. His camera work is very inventive and the films looks great. Plenty of violence, car chases, sexism, you know the drill. It's good!

"Squadra Volante" (aka. "Emergency Squad") of 1974 is an underrated Poliziottesco which gets less attention than it deserves. Sure, this is no notorious Italian Cop highlight en par with "Almost Human", but it is nonetheless a raw, action-packed, and highly entertaining film starring two of the Italian crime cinema's greatest, Tomas Milian, one of my personal all-time favorite actors, and Gastone Moschin, who is immortal for his role in the arguably greatest of all Italian Crime flicks, Fernando Di Leo's masterpiece "Milano Calibro 9". The main reason why some people seem to dislike "Squadra Volante" is due to the fact that they compare it to Umberto Lenzi's notorious Poliziotteschi-highlights "Almost Human" (1974) and "Rome Armed To The Teeth" (1976) that were made around the same time. Tomas Milian was outstanding in the role of the sadistic criminal Psycho he played in Lenzi's films, but, as far as I am considered, he is also the perfect choice to play the rough-and-ready copper he plays here.

A violent holdup in the city in broad daylight leaves a cop dead. Inspettore Tomas Ravelli of Interpol is immediately convinced that the assault was the work of the same criminals responsible for the death of his wife, who was killed in Marseille some years ago... Milian is once again outstanding in his role of the mustached, cigar-smoking tough-guy copper he plays. Gastone Moschin is equally great in the role of the bad guy the ruthless criminal Marseiliese, who is troubled by his chain-smoking habit. The supporting cast includes Italian Genre-cinema regulars Ray Lovelock ("Almost Human", "Macchie Solari", "Roma Violenta",...) and Giuseppe Castellano ("Milano Calibro 9", "Manhunt", Almost Human",...). Stefania Casini is sexy, but almost annoyingly dimwitted as Marsiglese'S bimbo girlfriend Marta. While "Squadra Volante" is not nearly as (brilliantly) gruesome as Umberto Lenzi's Poliziotteschi from the time, it is nonetheless a rough and violent film in which a lot of blood flows. The action is raw and well-made and enthralling, and while the story may not be the most original, it is definitely more than well-executed. Director Stelvio Massi was mainly a very good cinematographer, and this is also visible here as the camera work is very good. The score by Stelvio Capriani is also great. Overall, "Squadra Volante" is no Poliziottesco masterpiece, but it is definitely a very good, action-packed film with an excellent cast that I highly recommend to all my fellow fans of Italian Crime cinema.

Nice outing with Tomas Milian as a two-fisted cop , being well accompanied by a good cast with special mention for Gastone Moschin . Enjoyable Italian Poliziotteschi packed with noisy action , thrills , shooutous , car pursuits and lots of violence . It deals with cop (Tomas Milian), who's usually clashing with his superior (Mario Carenuto), he's consumed with the desire to get revenge on the gangster (Gastone Moschin) who shot his wife to death during a hold-up . The crook in question is nicknamed the Marseilles who is attempting to join his gang (Raymond Lovelock, Leontini , Guerrini , Ilaria Guerrini) to commit another robbery so that he assembles funds for his own retirement along with his girlfriend (Stefania Casini) .

Formula thriller with plenty of action , crisply edition , tension , intrigue , suspenseful , and loads of violence in exploitation style with reminiscent to "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 Stelvio Massi at his best . Here he delivers frenetic action , thriller and violence enough along the nail-biting flick . There is a good stuntwork with car chases and grisly killings , many of them hardly shot . It belongs to the Italian Poliziesco theme , a cult/exploitation sub-genre , essentially developed in the Seventies and including ordinary trappings such as lasting car chases sequences , virulent fights and a lot of murders executed in cold blood . The film is interesting enough , though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . This Squadra Volante 1974 results to be one of the best among the whole saga of the cops played by Tomas Milian , adding usual seasonings about this particular role . In the end , Ravelli must deal with Marsigliese in a thrilling chase , causing a real pandemonium and including a surprising confrontation at a pier . Stars Tomas Milian dressed in Hippie style and performing on a personal quest for raw revenge against the murderers that killed his wife during their getaway from a bank robbery. Here he plays Ravelli , a tough cop similar to his classic role Nico Gerardi , but Ravelli results to be less humorous than Nico . Milan was a sympathetic actor , well known for his several Spaghetti Westerns . After the tremendous success of Sergio Leone's A Fistful of dollars (1964) starring Clint Eastwood, Milian grubbed up his own image and propelled himself to stardom in similar fashion in such classic "spaghetti westerns" as The Bounty Killer (1966) , A fistful of Dollars (1966) with Lee Van Cleef , Face to Face (1967) , Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967) and ¡Corre, Cuchillo... corre ! (1968). He later turned to comedy , playing the recurrent characters of petty thief Monnezza and Serpico-like police officer Nico Giraldi a peculiar top undercover cop who often uses unofficial means to track down delinquents without avoiding his attitude of rude man, this is an attractive role who he performed in a variety of crime-comedy pictures playing in the manner of Serpico . Main and support cast are pretty good as Tomas Milian is terrific as the tough police inspector who comes closer to the top of the criminal organization by using expeditive means against delinquents , then his odds of survival decrease . Along with an attractive support cast in which stands out Gastone Moschin as a ruthles mobster , Mario Carotenuto as superior inspector Lavagni , Ray Lovelock , Enzo Andronico, Giuseppe Castellano and gorgeous Stefania Casini playing a blonde and silly bombshell .

It contains atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Sergio Rubini . As well as thrilling and moving musical score by Stelvio Cipriani . The motion picture was well written by notorious specialist Dardano Sacchetti and professionally directed by Stelvio Massi in his peculiar style . Stelvio is considered to be one of the best Italian cameramen , then he moved to directiong , making a nice career, shooting all kinds of genres , such as Thriller : Taxi Killer , Ready to Kill , Balkan Runner , Black Angel . Wartime : Hell's Heroes , War Dogs . And specially Poliziesco : Poliziotto solitudine e rabbia , Dirty Gang, Fearless Fuzz , Commissario di Ferro, Speed driver , Poliziotto va e uccidi , Hunted City , Speed Cross, among othrs . Rating : 6/10 . Decent talian Poliziotteschi/ thriller .