Thursday, May 26, 2016

Super Fuzz

Poliziotto superpiu; comedy, Italy / Spain / USA 1980; D: Sergio Corbucci, S: Terence Hill, Ernest Borgnine, Joanne Dru, Julie Gordon

Dave Speed in an ordinary police officer, up until a rocket explodes over him, and contaminates the area with strange radiation. However, much to the surprise of his superior, Sergeant Dunlop, Dave returns unharmed - and with super powers: he is invincible, has superhuman strength and telekinesis. He uses these powers to solve some crimes cases, but quickly figures out that he loses those powers as soon as something red is near him. When a mafia boss figures Dave is too dangerous, and that he might expose his plan for smuggling of forged money in fish, he frames Dave with murder of Dunlop. Dave is sentenced to death, but escapes due to his powers, saves Dunlop and proves his innocence when he apprehends the bad guys.

Following the success of his heavy films, such as "Django" and "The Great Silence", director Sergio Corbucci decided to relax a bit and direct a few care-free comedies, among them two Spencer-Hill films, "A Friend is a Treasure" and "Odds and Evens". However, just like in these aforementioned films, and in kids-comedy "Super Fuzz" (somewhere also translated as "Super Cop"), where Terence Hill stars 'solo', Corbucci seems to have relaxed a tad too much, forgetting to insert any effort or wit into them, and just delivering a standard, conventional, albeit easily watchable flicks. The potential of a super-cop was wasted too much only on silly and lame jokes, such as Dave catching a speeding bullet with his teeth or Dunlop falling so hard on Dave that the ground beneath them collapses and they land on the other side of Earth, in Asia, or on too much empty walk, since the story (and jokes) are very thin. Still, veteran comedian Hill manages to squeeze a few charming moments, nonetheless, thanks to at least a few good jokes (one of the best is when he uses his telekinesis to control the billiard balls and win a bet against a thug in a pool billiard game or the unusual sequence where he is running as fast as a car and talking to the driver), which are welcomed, whereas one can at least admire the audacity of the Italian cinema for at least trying to create something different for the viewers than the usual.

Grade;+

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