''Detective Belli'' ( it, Un Detective) is a 1969 Italian ''
poliziotteschi
Poliziotteschi (; singular ''poliziottesco'') constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as ''polizieschi all'italiana'', ' ...
Franco Nero
Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...
. It is based on the novel ''Macchie di belletto'' by Ludovico Dentice.
Plot
The rude Commissioner Belli (Franco Nero) is entrusted with the investigation into the death of a record producer, this Mr. Romanis (Marino Masé). The man, shot dead in his apartment, not far from the centre of Rome, is found a few hours after his death. The gunshots shattered the window of the apartment, but no one seems to have noticed anything. In a whirlwind of events, the commissioner comes into contact with a series of characters: from the model Sandy (Delia Boccardo) to the pop singer Emanuelle (Susanna Martinková), from the lawyer Fontana (Adolfo Celi) to his beautiful wife, Mrs. Vera ( Florinda Bolkan). These characters revolve around the story, revealing uncomfortable details of Roma well. After the death of Mino (Maurizio Bonuglia) (son of the lawyer Fontana) and Sandy, Commissioner Belli will find himself faced with the truth, unmasking the unsuspected murderess.
Cast
*
Franco Nero
Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...
as Detective Stefano Belli
* Florinda Bolkan as Vera Fontana
*
Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi (; 27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director. Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, specialising in international villains. Although a prominent actor in Italian ...
as Lawyer Fontana
*
Delia Boccardo
Delia Boccardo (born 29 January 1948) is an Italian film, television and stage actress.
Life and career
Born in Genoa, Boccardo spent her childhood and adolescence in Nervi, then studied at a Swiss college, at the Poggio Imperiale girls' sch ...
Renzo Palmer
Renzo Palmer (20 December 1929 – 4 June 1988) was an Italian film, television and stage actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1957 and 1988.
Life and career
Born in Milan as Lorenzo Bigatti, Palmer was the adopted son of the ...
Laura Antonelli
Laura Antonelli ( Antonaz; 28 November 1941 – 22 June 2015) was an Italian film actress who appeared in 45 films between 1964 and 1991.
Early years
Antonelli was born Laura Antonaz in Pola, Kingdom of Italy (in Croatian, Pula), former cap ...
Marino Masé
Marino Masè (21 March 1939 – 28 May 2022) was an Italian actor who appeared in more than 70 films.
Life
Masè was born in Trieste on 21 March 1939. While still a teenager, he joined the laboratory for young actors of the production company ...
as Romanis
Background and style
Film critic and historian Roberto Curti identifies ''Detective Belli'' and '' Days of Fire'' as examples of Italian crime films influenced by the themes of film noir. In a similar manner to his earlier ''
giallo
In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...
''Detective Belli'' was released in Italy by Interfilm on September 6, 1969, where it grossed 616.63 million
Italian lira
The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually ...
. At the height of the popularity of the 1970s ''poliziotteschi'' cycle, the film was re-released under the title ''Tracce di rossetto e di droga per un detective'' ("Traces of lipstick and drugs for a detective"). Nero would later play another character with the surname Belli in 1973's ''
High Crime
''High Crime'' ( it, La polizia incrimina la legge assolve, es, La policía detiene, la ley juzga) is a 1973 Italian-Spanish ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. The film stars Franco Nero, James Whitmore, Delia Boccardo and ...
''; the character in that film differs from the corrupt protagonist of Guerrieri's film.
Reception
Critic Giovanni Buttafava praised the film's ending, describing it as "nocturnal, stylized, à la
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville (; born Jean-Pierre Grumbach; 20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973) was a French filmmaker and actor. Among his films are ''Le Silence de la mer'' (1949), '' Bob le flambeur'' (1956), ''Le Doulos'' (1962), '' Le Samouraï'' (19 ...
, with the cold yet emotionally charged confrontation between the half-rotten-half-clean cop Franco Nero and Florinda Bolkan, with stylistic traits of film noir mythologizing which were rare in Italy, and rather remarkable as well". Curti praised Guerrieri's work on the film, stating that it "amply shows that he's an accomplished director in his own right".