''Flatfoot'' ( it, Piedone lo sbirro) is a 1973 ''

poliziottesco 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'', ...

''-

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Steno. The film starring

Bud Spencer Carlo Pedersoli (31 October 1929 – 27 June 2016), known professionally as Bud Spencer, was an Italian actor, professional swimmer and water polo player. He was known for action-comedy and Spaghetti Western roles with his long-time film partn ...

obtained a great commercial success, generated three sequels. It is followed by

Flatfoot in Hong Kong ''Flatfoot in Hong Kong'' (original title: ''Piedone a Hong Kong'' and also known as ''Flatfoot Goes East'' and ''Le Cogneur'') is a 1975 crime comedy film directed by Steno and starring Bud Spencer. It is the second film of the "Flatfoot" film s ...

Flatfoot in Africa ''Piedone l'africano'' (internationally released as ''Flatfoot in Africa'', ''Knock-Out Cop'' and ''The K.O. Cop'') is a 1978 Italian " poliziottesco"-comedy film directed by Steno and starring Bud Spencer. It is the third and penultimate chapte ...

and Flatfoot in Egypt. The title song is performed by

Santo & Johnny Santo & Johnny were an American rock and roll instrumental duo of Italian descent from Brooklyn, New York, composed of brothers Santo Farina (born October 24, 1937) and Johnny Farina (born April 30, 1941). They are known best for their instrum ...

Plot summary

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

the Inspector Rizzo, nicknamed "Flatfoot", defeats a gang of drug traffickers. The criminals, from

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, were peddling drugs using frozen fish, but Flatfoot has managed to arrest them, with the help of a boss of the Neapolitan underworld, called Manomozza (snipped hand). After the arrest however, Flatfoot discovers that Manomozza did the double game and now intends to forge an alliance with the traffickers "Marseilles". Flatfoot, thanks to the tip from a friend, finds the place and time of the meeting between drug dealers, subdues them and sends everyone to jail.

Cast

: Inspector "Flatfoot" Rizzo *

Adalberto Maria Merli Adalberto Maria Merli (born 14 January 1938) is an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Rome, Merli is active on film and television and he has appeared in over 27 films since 1965. He had his breakout role in the 1968 RAI televis ...

: Police Commissioner Tabassi *

Raymond Pellegrin Raymond Pellegrin (1 January 1925 – 14 October 2007) was a French actor. Born in Nice, Pellegrin made his screen debut in the 1945 French feature '' Naïs''. He was also famous in France for dubbing Jean Marais for the voice of Fantômas ...

: Lawyer De Ribbis * Juliette Mayniel: Maria * Mario Pilar: Manomozza *

Angelo Infanti Angelo Infanti (; 16 February 1939 – 12 October 2010) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1961 and 2010. He was born on 16 February 1939 in Zagarolo, Italy. He died on 12 October 2010 in Tivoli, Italy due ...

: Ferdinando Scarano, "'O Barone" *

Enzo Cannavale Vincenzo "Enzo" Cannavale (5 April 1928 – 18 March 2011) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films since 1949, including ''Cinema Paradiso'', which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academ ...

: Deputy Inspector Caputo * Nino Vingelli: Old Man of Camorra

Production

Steno stated that "For better or worse, ''Flatfoot'' was a crime flick, and I think that hadn't I directed '' Execution Squad'', producers wouldn't have allowed me to do it." ''Flatfoot'' was shot at Elios Film and Incir - De Paolis in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and on location in Naples.

Release

''Flatfoot'' was released theatrically in Italy on 25 October 1973 where it was distributed by

Titanus Titanus is an Italian film production company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Via Tiburtina, 13 km from the centre of Rome. Lom ...

. The film grossed a total of 2.972 billion

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 ...

on its release making ''Flatfoot'' the first and most commercially successful attempt at mixing the crime genre with comedy.

Footnotes

References

External links

* 1973 films 1970s crime comedy films Italian crime comedy films Films directed by Stefano Vanzina Films scored by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis Films with screenplays by Luciano Vincenzoni Poliziotteschi films 1970s police comedy films Films set in Naples 1973 comedy films 1970s Italian films {{comedy-crime-film-stub