Flatfoot in Egypt

Piedone d'Egitto; crime comedy, Italy, 1979; D: Steno, S: Bud Spencer, Enzo Cannavale, Baldwyn Dakile, Angelo Infanti, Cinizia Monreale, Karl-Otto Alberty, Adel Adham, Robert Loggia

Naples. Inspector Rizzo and his colleague, police officer Caputo, have trouble persuading Rizzo's Black adoptive little boy Bodo to go to school. When Rezzo does some police work, he discovers the kidnapped Connie, the 17-year old daughter of the oil millionaire Lee Barns, and brings her back home. Barns offers him to works for him because professor Cerullo, an eccentric bug scientist, was kidnapped in Cairo. Rizzo accepts and flies off to Cairo with Caputo and Bodo to investigate the case. After surviving a few assassination attempts, he discovers the professor was kidnapped by an evil sultan because he discovered a bug who can detect oil. Rizzo frees him and returns to Naples, where it seems the professor's bug isn't fool proof when he discovers an old pipeline.

The last sequel to the popular list of Italian crime comedy films involving Inspector Rizzo, from "Flatfoot", "Flatfoot in Hong Kong" and "Flatfoot in Africa", Steno's "Flatfoot in Egypt" is a moderately amusing, solid film shot at exotic locations that is easily forgettable but won't disappoint the lovers of childish humor of the legendary comedian Bud Spencer. As it is expected, it's a casually made investigation story revolving around some vague kidnapping of a professor, with not enough real laughs and too much shaky gags - for instance, the "fight" between the giant Rizzo and the dwarf rug salesman seems at moments like a clash between Austin Powers and Mini-Me - and his little adoptive kid Bodo is sometimes annoying, while the standard direction doesn't have much to offer in order to intrigue the audience. Still, one gag at the beginning is actually pretty clever: gangsters try to shot Rizzo in their hideout, but since he hides behind a bunch of firecrackers they miss him and hit them, accidentally starting a real firework in the building. Of course, everything is set up for the classic Spencer fist fight finale - when one looks at the large hero slapping and hitting the bad guys with his fists, one realizes why so many people couldn't but enjoy the trivial spectacle: it's a "guilty pleasure" that brings out the kid in the adult and enjoys in wild fun without any point.

Grade:+