Almost Human Review

Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (aka Almost Human) (1974)

Starring Tomas Milian, Laura Belli, Henry Silva, Anita Strindberg, Ray Lovelock

Dir. Umberto Lenzi

Giulio Sacchi (Tomas Milian) is a petty criminal whose career isn’t going quite the way he’d planned it. After killing a cop during a robbery he gets the shit kicked out of him by the rest of the gang and he’s reduced to vandalising cigarette machines for loose change. Eager to get back at the world and doing a job that’ll set him up for life, he hatches a plan to kidnap a wealthy businessmans daughter but cop Walter Grandi (Henry Silva) isn’t about to let Giulio get away with the ransom.
Directed by Umberto Lenzi with a script by master scriptwriter Ernesto Gastaldi and a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, credits like that alone will make any genre fan excited about this film. Add Thomas Milian, Henry Silva, Ray Lovelock, Laura Belli and Swedish bombshell Anita Strindberg to the mix and you just know you’ve got a quintessential poliziotteschi on your hands.
This nasty and mean spirited film is one of Lenzi’s best poliziotteschi, no small praise considering the man is one of the masters of the genre.

	For a long time my opinion of Lenzi was based on his horror and Cannibal output (which in truth I’m not that impressed with) but his crime films are great. It’s a visually impressive film with some great set-pieces and it funnily enough it features the same shot of a car going through a pile of burning boxes that showed up in 'Milano Trema' the year before and that would re-appear in 'Roma a Mano Armata' a few years later. It’s no great surprise that the best performance comes from Thomas Milian. His portrayal of sociopath Giulio, who’s disposing of any man, women or child getting in his way with unadulterated glee, is nothing short of outstanding. Henry Silva is great as the inspector willing to do anything to get his man but I wish he would have been given a bit more to do. Lovelock is good in a sizeable supporting role as one of the kidnappers. They don’t get much better than this. Highly recommended! Peter

For a long time my opinion of Lenzi was based on his horror and Cannibal output (which in truth I’m not that impressed with) but his crime films are great.
It’s a visually impressive film with some great set-pieces and it funnily enough it features the same shot of a car going through a pile of burning boxes that showed up in 'Milano Trema' the year before and that would re-appear in 'Roma a Mano Armata' a few years later.
It’s no great surprise that the best performance comes from Thomas Milian. His portrayal of sociopath Giulio, who’s disposing of any man, women or child getting in his way with unadulterated glee, is nothing short of outstanding. Henry Silva is great as the inspector willing to do anything to get his man but I wish he would have been given a bit more to do. Lovelock is good in a sizeable supporting role as one of the kidnappers. They don’t get much better than this. Highly recommended!

Peter

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