''Killer Cop'' ( it, La polizia ha le mani legate, literally ''the police's hands are tied'') is a 1975 Italian

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'', ' ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed in 1975 by

Luciano Ercoli Luciano Ercoli (October 19, 1929 – March 15, 2015) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, producer and unit production manager. Ercoli's career spanned approximately two decades before his retirement in the late 1970s, and saw him direct ...

. The film's plot reprises the

Piazza Fontana bombing The Piazza Fontana bombing ( it, Strage di Piazza Fontana) was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana ...

which happened in Milan in 1969. The gun in the umbrella used in the movie is similar to a

Bulgarian umbrella A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing ricin. It has a hollowed stalk in which the pellet neatly sits. Such an umbrella was used in and named for the assassination ...

used in London in 1978 to kill Bulgarian dissident

Georgi Markov Georgi Ivanov Markov ( bg, Георги Иванов Марков ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Repub ...

Cast

Claudio Cassinelli Claudio Cassinelli (13 September 1938 – 13 July 1985) was an Italian film, stage and television actor. Life and career Born in Bologna to Giuseppina Tafani and Antonio Cassinelli, a well known opera singer, he had two sisters, Paola Cr ...

as Commissioner Matteo Rolandi *

Arthur Kennedy John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...

as Armando Di Federico *

Franco Fabrizi Franco Fabrizi (; 15 February 1916 – 18 October 1995) was an Italian actor. Life and career Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, Franco Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in fotoromanzi. Fabrizi also starred on several rev ...

as Luigi Balsamo *

Sara Sperati Sara Sperati (born October 7, 1956), born as Adele Sperati, was an Italian film actress. She was a minor starlet in 1970s Italian genre films. Selected filmography *'' The Devil Is a Woman'' (1974, as Adele Sperati) *''La nottata'' (1974) *'' I ...

as Papaya Girotti *

Bruno Zanin Bruno Zanin (born 9 April 1951 in Vigonovo, Veneto, Italy) is an Italian film, theatre and TV actor and writer. Life and career Child of farmers and the sixth of seven brothers, Zanin studied at a school run by priests up to the age of fourteen ...

as Franco Ludovisi *

Valeria D'Obici Valeria D'Obici (born 17 April 1952) is an Italian film and television actress. Born in Lerici, Valeria D'Obici debuted in 1974 in the "poliziottesco" ''La polizia ha le mani legate''. Her breakout role was the ugly Fosca in Ettore Scola's ''Pas ...

as Falena *

Enzo Fisichella Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America but ...

as Francalancia *

Paolo Poiret Paolo Poiret (29 September 1945 – 1 November 2015) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Poiret began working on stage in 1972 and entered a career of film, television and voice acting in 1975. He was mostly active as a voice dubber ...

as Rocco Altieri *

Giovanni Cianfriglia Giovanni Cianfriglia (born 5 April 1935) is an Italian film actor. He has appeared in more than 100 films since 1958. Born in Anzio, Cianfriglia debuted as the body double of Steve Reeves in ''Hercules'', then he started appearing, often unc ...

as Hitman *

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

as Narrator (voice, English version)

Production

''Killer Cop'' was shot in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. ''Killer Cops plot is influenced from the

s. The funerals seen in the film on a television screen are actual footage of the funerals of the victims of the bombings.

Release

''Killer Cop'' was released in Italy on 27 March 1975 where it was distributed by Prouzioni Atlas consorziate (P.A.C.). It grossed 854,798,250

Italian lire 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 f ...

. ''Killer Cop'' has been released on DVD in Italy by

Cecchi Gori Cecchi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alberto Cecchi (born 1943), Italian rower *Anna Maria Cecchi (or Cechi; born 1943), Italian former swimmer *Carlo Cecchi (born 1939), Italian actor * Claire C. Cecchi (born 196 ...

with a running time of 92 minutes and 58 seconds.

Footnotes

References

External links

* 1975 films Poliziotteschi films 1975 crime films Films directed by Luciano Ercoli Films scored by Stelvio Cipriani Films shot in Milan 1970s Italian films Years of Lead (Italy) films {{1970s-Italy-film-stub