SQUADRA VOLANTE

Italy, 1974, 100 minutes, Colour.
Tomas Milian, Gastone Moschin.
Directed by Stelvio Massi.

Squadra Volante is an Italian police action thriller. As with so many genres, the Italians imitated the Americans and game them their own particular flavour (most especially, the spaghetti westerns and the spaghetti
horror).

The film's basic murder, fraud and the investigation plot would be the popular ingredient of any police film or television drama. The parallels, however, with American police films are quite evident - with the Italians giving an authentic atmosphere of the city of Milan. a glimpse of police forces and their investigations as well as the ordinary trappings of Italian life and Italian criminals. The parallels with the Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood dramas are obvious.

Thomas Milian portrays the scruffy undercover detective. The parallels with Al Pacino's Serpico are also obvious. He is tough, seemingly ruthless, finally solving his problems - but not without betrayals. Conventional material but an interesting enough example of Italians imitating and giving their own particular style to American film styles.