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Released by: Raro Video
Released on: September 30th, 2014.
Director: Domenico Paolella
Cast: Marcel Bozzuffi, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Riccardo Salvino
Year: 1977
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The Movie:
Domenico Paolella's 1977 film Stunt Squad (released on VHS domestically at one point under the alternate title of Elimination Force) doesn't reinvent the genre wheel but it does offer up plenty of action and suspense… and yet somehow comes up short on actual stunts.
When the film begins, crooks are everywhere in Bologna! Main bad dude Valli (Vittorio Mezzogiorno) is at the top of a protection racket that will stop at nothing to exploit the locals. As such, the cops want him stopped but he's not just sneaky, he's also the violent and dangerous type. When he starts blowing up the shops that won't pay up by way of his clever phone bombs, Police Commissioner Grifi (Marcel Bozzuffi) decides that enough is enough. To take care of Valli and his ilk, Grifi and his cohort Brogi (Riccardo Salvino) decide to put together a group of supercops to work more like military commandos than regular police officers. He knows he's going to have to take things to the next level if he wants to take Valli down and these cops on motorbikes are just what he needs to do it!
And that's more or less all there is to this one. It's a pretty entertaining picture with some good action scenes but the actual guys in the Stunt Squad are more prone to riding around on their superbikes (admittedly, they do this at fairly high speeds) than really doing a lot of stunt-like stuff. They do engage in some awesome training regiments where they have to shoot things while riding really fast, so there's that, and they also do a lot of 'pop-a-wheelie' moves, but no one is really jumping out of planes or off of tall buildings. The motorcycle stuff is great though and technically it is stunt riding so we'll let it slide (but Elimination Force seems to be a more accurate title). The chase scenes are also really well done here and arguably the best parts of the movie. The scenes with the guys from the Stunt Squad are all actually pretty great, making it a bit of a shame that they aren't used as much as you might like.
Set to a fantastic score from Stelvio Cipriani the movie is pretty deliberate with its pacing. Paolella will take his time building a certain scene and then once he gets to that point, ACTION! As such, the movie is a bit of a rollercoaster in how it plays out. It's slow, then it's fast, then it's slow, then it's fast. Some might complain that this is inconsistent but it does help to build tension pretty effectively and keep us guessing as to what might happen next and when.
The cast are pretty solid here. Marcel Bozzuffi, who had a pretty good run in seventies Poliziotteschi films likely because he appeared in The French Connection, makes a fine choice for the man behind the Stunt Squad. Bozzuffi also appeared in Massimo Dallamano's Colt .38 Special Squad made a year earlier, which is very similar to this movie in its plot. His anger is a righteous one and we completely understand why he'd want to throw regular police tactics out the window and leave the law and order business to specially trained motorcycle riders with top notch shooting skills and cool helmets. The real star of the show, however, is Vittorio Mezzogiorno - he's fantastic as the scenery chewing heavy, a real bad dude who just seems to love roughing slapping people around and blowing stuff up.
The movie is nicely shot and makes good use of its Bolognese location. It also works some interesting politics into its storyline, making us question the merits of Grifi's methods and intentions of bending the law in order to enforce it. This all builds up to a fantastic and remarkably bloody ending - it's a good stuff, a movie that pulls no punches.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Stunt Squad arrives on Blu-ray from Raro Video framed at 1.85.1 widescreen (and slightly windowboxed as you can see from the screen caps) in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. This transfer is a mixed bag to say the least and in many ways it mirrors the issues seen on other recent Raro releases like Meet Him And Die (though it's not as insanely waxy looking as that disac). Colors generally look very nice and the image is, with some exceptions, pretty clean. Minor print damage shows up in the form of some small white specks here and there but it's nothing too serious. Overall though, the elements used appear to have been in pretty good shape. Unfortunately there is some obvious haloing in spots though, and detail is pretty soft. It looks like some seriously overzealous noise reduction has been applied here alongside some edge enhancement and a whole lot of weird noise shows up throughout. Black levels look okay and there aren't any major compression issues to note on the 25GB disc, but this has been processed to the point where it isn't as film-like as some are going to have hoped for.
Audio options are provided in Italian and English language LPCM Mono tracks with optional subtitles provided in English only. The audio is fine here. Range is limited in spots but the levels are generally balanced well and there aren't any problems with any serious hiss or distortion. The score sounds good and has some good weight behind it. The subtitles are clean, clear and easy to read.
The only extra on the disc, aside from menus and chapter selection, is a six minute long interview with Mike Malloy, the man who directed the Eurocrime! documentary. He discusses this thoughts on the film and what makes it work and provides some details about the cast and crew who worked on the picture. Malloy also contributes an essay to an insert booklet that touches on many of the same points and elaborates on a few others, noting some similarities to Friedkin's The French Connection and discussing the effectiveness of the chase scenes and locations used in Stunt Squad, as well as an unusual lack of actual stunts in the film.
The Final Word:
Stunt Squad is a rock solid touch-as-nails Eurocrime picture that delivers pretty much everything you'd want from a good Italian cop film made in seventies. Raro have made it available to domestic audiences on Blu-ray, which is obviously a good thing in and of itself, but that transfer… your mileage may vary.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
