Marc la gachette

Some guy I've never heard called Franco Gaspperri plays cocky young cop Mark Tenzi in this Eurocrime film that's very close in spirit to Dirty Harry. Mark's sent to Genoa to solve a couple of crimes - one being the kidnapping of crooked businessman Lee Cobb, and the other the gunning down of a bride right on the steps of a chapel by a serial killer called the Sphinx.

Tenzi quickly tracks down Lee Cobb and just like the title says, he guns down one of the kidnappers and the other escapes, leading to the requisite car chase (I'm not complaining). The other guy gets away and goes to his underworld links to get help, where the plot starts getting a bit complicated as it seems the the underworld, the kidnapping and the serial killer are all interlinked and it's down to Tenzi to sort everyone out with his 'shoot first, act later' attitude.

Stupid analogy time: These Italian genre films are like football matches. The rules are the same, the length of time they take roughly the same, but no two matches are the same and people go every week to watch the same thing hoping for something a little special. The difference is in the players (actors) involved and the managers (directors) shouting the orders. Plus I guess if the referees got their boobs out that would strengthen whatever brain-damaged comparison I was making, and if the actors in Eurocrime films run around dry humping each other every time they shot a bad guy that would help too. What I'm trying to say is that Edwige Fenech is Alex Ferguson.

Shoot outs! Chases on foot! Chases by car! Warehouse gun battles! Ely Galleani! Tom Felleghy as a businessman/policeman/doctor/scientist! Tenzi owns a St Bernard for some reason. The serial killer angle makes a bit of a difference to this one and Stelvio Massi is really good at filming action sequences, so you'll manage to stay awake to the end of this one no problem.

Franco Gasparri and his second appearance as police officer Mark Terzi

In the meantime, the handsome "Mark il poliziotto" (Franco Gasparri, 1948-1999) has ended up in beautiful Genoa. It is also used there when he saves arch criminal Benzi (Lee J. Cobb, 1911-1976, known from THE EXORCIST) from a kidnapping. While in Milan it was still a matter of apprehending this major villain, in Genoa he is already active again with his dark dealings. Of course, this opening sequence was completely incomprehensible to West German cinema viewers, as the first part never made it to German cinemas. But whatever! Things get even worse in Genoa. A crazy serial killer who calls himself the Sphinx is up to mischief and shoots a bride at her wedding. Now he wants old Benzi as a hostage so that he can voluntarily commit suicide. There are crazy people! Mark's new boss (Massimo Girotti, 1918-2003, who we already know from Visconti's "Ossessione" from 1943) can only shake his head.

The action really starts now, so that as a viewer you can hardly take a breath. Mark is also quicker with his weapons now and doesn't hesitate at all anymore. The magnificent Italian still has his St. Bernard, and the lovely Angela (Ely Galleani) can enjoy his shirts, which are open to his belly button.

In a subplot we also get to know other gangsters from Genoa. The most interesting of them is played by Olympic boxing champion (in Rome 1960) Nino Benvenuti (*1938). Since it is well known what a powerful effect his steel fists have, this Ghini only has to threaten briefly so that all of his opponents cower. Unfortunately, there is no mess with the blow-dried marrow. It would have been a shame about his cute face!

Even if Nino Benvenuti and his mega-hard fists don't get anything to do here, he handed out enough steam hammers and bells alongside Giuliano Gemma in "Friss oder stirb / Eat or Die" (1969) to make a lasting impression on the history of Italian spanking gear to leave behind.

You can tell that the plot in this second adventure from Mark Terzi is a bit overloaded, but the action is really good! There's another nice shootout in a cinema where "Killer Cop" with Claudio Cassinelli is being shown. Splendid!

At the box office everything was fine again. In Italy, the second film about Mark grossed more than one billion ITL, which was considered a phenomenal box office success in the 1970s. The third part of the trilogy about "Mark il poliziotto" could come. Then the dapper, radiant man would end up in Rome...

Well, the title certainly doesn't lie... There are at least 2 or 3 instances in the film where Commissioner Mark Terzi bluntly guns down a suspect rather than arresting or lightly wounding them, which easily could have been the other option. If he had made the arrests instead, the crime cases Mark was working on perhaps would have been solved much quicker. But hey, then it naturally wouldn't have been a genuine Italian Poliziotesschi!

Apart from this minor footnote, I actually regret admitting that I found "Mark Shoots First" a rather disappointing and thoroughly unmemorable sequel. The first film, "Mark il Poliziotto", was an unexpected but tremendously pleasant surprise. Although reasonably obscure and unknown today, it must have been successful at the Italian box office in 1975, because it spawned two sequels in a period of barely one year. Number two, however, isn't half as compelling or stylish as the original film. The plot comes across as chaotic, unstructured and utterly implausible, as the storyline of a serial sniper killer overlaps with that of corrupt businessmen and organized crime networks. Mark Terzi moves from Milan to Genova to solve two cases; - the bizarre murder of bride (fantastic opening sequence, by the way) and the kidnapping of a wealthy businessman. Mark finds the latter very quick, but he turns out to be his powerful enemy Benzi from the previous film. Apparently the serial killer, calling himself The Sphinx, is after Benzi too, but I never fully figured out why the poor bride had to die. "Mark Shoots First" contains a couple of exhilarating car chases and tense showdowns (including in a theater were "La Polizia ha le Mani Legate" is playing) but it's much less spectacular than what I'm used of seeing from Stelvio Massi. Also, I didn't see the added value of Terzi having a St Bernard dog and still can't believe that Elly Galleani kept her clothes on the entire time!

MARK SHOOTS FIRST is a superior follow-up to the first film that takes an interesting plot and runs away with the action and on-screen energy. Franco Gasparri's hot-shot cop is back, this time hunting a sniper called the Sphinx who enjoys taking down a string of victims (shades of DAY OF THE JACKAL here). It begins with a big shoot-out and a chase and loads in the car chases and mayhem from beginning to end, while retaining the grittiness that Italian crime films are prized for. Lee J. Cobb plays in support too. Bravo!