Last Updated on November 14, 2020 by rob
A cop named Mike (David Hemmings) and an undercover agent named Fabio (Fabio Testi) work together to infiltrate a vicious heroin smuggling ring so they can identify and arrest the mastermind behind it. But when Fabio’s attempt to ingratiate himself with the gang’s boss (Joshua Sinclair) – by walking into police headquarters and stealing back some valuable heroin the gang have lost – sparks a bloody shootout, both Mike and Fabio find themselves fighting for their lives.
David Hemmings is the last person I’d imagine as an action hero but here he is, this fey, boyish icon of swingin’ sixties London, swearing like a trooper, punching thugs out and in one glorious moment copping a feel of some bird’s tit as he hitches a ride on her motorbike while offering a not terribly convincing apology! He’s much more fun here than he was in Michael Apted’s half-assed Sweeney wannabee The Squeeze (1976), which got so carried away with the sordidness of its characters lives it forgot to include much in the way of actual genre thrills. Thankfully there are no such problems with this juicy slice of pulp. Hemmings, as it turns out, is actually pretty damn good as the hard driving copper determined to bust a heroin smuggling ring and co-star Fabio Testi is well matched with him as the smart arse hippy Hemmings busts and gives a rough time to early on but who is later revealed to be (surprise!) a fellow copper working with him undercover.
The pair have good chemistry, the plot – which revolves around a smuggling ring run out of a theatre company – has some effective twists (not the least of which is an audacious attempt by Testi to walk into police headquarters and nick back a stash of captured heroin, a plan that goes thrillingly awry), doesn’t paint the villains as stupid and is fairly unstinting in depicting the horror, sordidness and degradation of drug addiction in a sub-plot involving a cokehead and his girlfriend whose ghastly fates you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. There’s a satisfying variety of action and stunts too what with chases by car, foot and air plus a cracking setpiece in which Fabio is pursued by a thug on a motorbike right down into a subway.
The production values look really good too with location filming on the streets of Rome, Amsterdam and Hong Kong (I’m invariably surprised at how polished these mid-70’s low budget productions can look) and an aerial sequence at the end involving duelling planes is so superbly choreographed that I actually couldn’t tell if the shot of one flying under a bridge and then exploding was a model or not so convincing did it look. Goblin – who did such a memorable job on Dario Argento’s Deep Red – supply the rockin’ score and director Enzo G. Castellari handles it all very smoothly indeed. This is an excellent rough n’ tumble genre pic. Recommended.
