Customer Reviews

Emergency Squad

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emergency Squad aka Squadra Volante (the latter actually translating as `Flying Squad') is an okayish no-budget poliziotteschi that there's absolutely no reason to watch but which fills the time slightly better than expected if you do. The usual cop out to find his wife's killer plot suffers from having a lead who is barely present (the usually reliable Tomas Milian is a surprisingly dull turn in an almost non-existent role), but there are a few minor flourishes (such as Milian imagining crooks standing in front of the targets in a pistol range) and it fulfils every exploitation film's remit: always include an explosion for the trailer and book a helicopter for one day's shooting.

The best moment comes not in the film itself but on the DVD extras in a brief but rambling interview with the film's dying director, Stelvio Massi, when he tries to remember the name of some American director who wrote him a fan letter until his wife suddenly remembers: "Tarantino?" "Yes, I think that's it."

NoShame's DVD also includes a typically egocentric interview with Milian (not as good as his interview on the Companeros DVD, sadly), Italian trailer and English dubbed and subtitled Italian language options, with a good widescreen transfer that's surprisingly good quality.

This was a early cop thriller film of the type that would rival giallos in popularity during the 1970's , it is also the first one that Tomas Milian
was to star in. And it is in many ways a western tribute as the silent hero tracks down a killer gang. Milian underplays the detectives desire for revenge as if he's a numb shell of a man. And from the interview he gives that was his purpose. This is a low budget flick with decent performances and a straightforward plot. Tomas Milian is the type of actor whose presence seems to add a sense of depth to the most simple of stories and he accomplishes that here as usual. His best cop flicks were yet to come and in them he mostly played savage crooks like in "the cynic , the rat and the fist" . In those flicks he really cuts loose in his performances but this role while seeming muted was intentionally a salute to Clint Eastwood's silent vengeance killer. So it's a good little crime cop movie , it's not a great movie but it's still alot of fun.