Uomini si nasce poliziotti si muore (1976)

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writers:

Fernando Di Leo (screenplay)
Fernando Di Leo (story)

Release Date:

11 March 1976 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Fred and Tony are members of an elite 'special squad' of police in Rome, Italy whom are licensed-to-kill, undercover cops whom thrive on living dangerously. |

Plot Keywords:

Rome Italy | Italy | Police | Murder | Street

Cast

Marc Porel	...	Fred
Ray Lovelock	...	Tony
Adolfo Celi	...	The Boss
Franco Citti	...	Rudy Ruginski
Silvia Dionisio	...	Norma
Marino Masé	...	Rick Conti
Renato Salvatori	...	Roberto Pasquini, a.k.a. Bibi
Sergio Ammirata	...	Sergeant
Bruno Corazzari	...	Morandi
Daniele Dublino	...	Corrupt police inspector
Sofia Dionisio	...	Lina Pasquini (as Flavia Fabiani)
Tom Felleghy	...	Major
Margherita Horowitz	...	Mona, a hostage woman
Gina Mascetti	...	Maricca
Marcello Monti	...	3rd kidnapper

Also Known As:

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (cut) | Sweden:15 (heavily cut) | Norway:16 (video rating) | Italy:VM18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Deodato's disappointing crime flick effort

Considering Italian directors' penchant for ripping off popular American films, it took Ruggero Deodato an age to cash in on Dirty Harry! But, he did eventually get round to it; and Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is the result. Ruggero Deodato would become famous for his pair of violent cannibal films, Jungle Holocaust and Cannibal Holocaust, and while this flick is nowhere near as shocking as those two, it's still bears Deodato's touch as it's a shade nastier than a lot of the cop films released in Italy circa 1971 (though still not as nasty as Umberto Lenzi's milestone, Almost Human). However, despite its nasty edge; Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man lacks a certain something, and I certainly won't be naming it as one of the best films of it's type. The plot focuses on a couple of maverick policemen; Fred and Tony, who are members of the 'special squad', a department of the police. They have a licence to kill and aren't afraid to use it, and most of the film basically follows our trigger happy cops around as they blow everyone away.

One thing I love about Italian films from the seventies is the titles! This one is particularly good, as it takes a swipe at coppers by stating that 'cops' and 'men' are different things... The central characters were obviously intended to be gritty scene-stealers along the same lines as Tomas Milian in a lot of Lenzi's crime films; but unfortunately, they both come off as rather ridiculous. They're barely cops at all (the story would have been better and made more sense if they were vigilantes), and they're both too young for this 'special squad' status - it never really washes. Furthermore, neither Marc Porel nor Ray Lovelock manages to put in a decent performance. The film isn't a complete loss mostly thanks to Ruggero Deodato's handling. The action scenes are brash and exciting, and Deodato does manage to implement a few standout scenes amongst a fair bit of tedium. Unfortunately, the film doesn't really end on a high either, and while there are a lot worse films than this out there in the Italian cop genre - there are a lot of better ones too. This film is not a dead loss, but it's not really recommended either.