Watch Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man For Free

You won't be disappointed!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The plot has been explained well enough by the other reviewers. Porel and Lovelock are basically lower class James Bond homologues: pretty boy fashion plates who kill, screw and bully without regret, knowing they can do so because they're on the right side of the law. This leads to some entertaining sequences (the opening chase - in which they do not run over the guide dog, the villains do that, but they do zoom past the distraught blind man and just leave him to his fate, the quarry shootout, the prevention of the bank robbery, the hostage situation). But there's no real strength to the narrative, the heroes are astoundingly unlikeable and never taken wholly seriously. And they are incompetent at heart: the dud finale (which only works as a very ironic grace note) shows just how hopeless they really are at what they do. There's also the scene in which they interrogate the sister of the bad guy, and she voraciously forces them to have sex with her, leaving them totally exhausted. The violence is rough and cruel, yet the gore is lessened because the blood is of the thick red paint variety so beloved of early 1970's filmmakers. Also, one bad guy is shot through the head from behind and has a larger exit wound than usual (nothing too extreme though), but when he tumbles down there is no entry wound at the back of his head... Not a classic, not really enjoyable, but a movie with a few effective/cool scenes which would work well in a best of- compilation.

This is an interesting Italian crime thriller from notorious "Cannibal Holocaust" director Ruggiero Deodato in that it takes the usual fascist and sexist tendencies of the genre and exaggerates them to the point of ironic parody.Ray Lovelock and Mark Porel play two rogue motorcycle cops who are more like criminals with badges. They endanger the public, they beat, torture, and shoot suspects, and the avail themselves of any woman they come across. But there is also a definite homosexual subtext between the two characters. Both are played by pretty-boy actors. They ride around on the same motorbike. At and one point, they have what is pretty close to three-way sex with the slutty sister of a gangster they are pursuing. The sister is played by "Fabiana Flavia", who is actually Sofia Dionisio, the younger, bustier sister of Silvia Dionisio, who was Deodato's wife at the time (So, yes, Deodato films a fairly graphic double sex scene with his own sister-in-law!). Silvia Dionisio also has a smaller part as a secretary, but it's a plum part for an actress in one of these macho films, first because she gets to keep her clothes on, and second, because she gets to banter with these two sexist pigs as they shamelessly hit on her (and her "liberated" character definitely gives as good as she gets).There are some very disturbing moments of violence in this film, equaled only in the genre by Lucio Fulci's notorious "Contraband', Andrea Bianchi's "Cry of a Prostitute",and the grindhouse classic "Rico" (aka "Cauldron of Death"). These films generally vary greatly from intelligent noirish and morally ambiguous fare, where a lone cop or sympathetic criminal is forced to survive in an urban jungle, to trite, right-wing fantasies where a straight-arrow cop takes on mustache-twirling bad guys while his lilly-livered liberal superiors fume. This movie takes the latter path generally, but it exaggerates the vigilante cops so much it becomes a kind of reducto ad absurdum. It's not a great film perhaps, but it is certainly worth watching, especially if you are a fan of the genre.

I recently picked up the DVD which sure as heck looked a thousand times better than my cruddy old foreign videotape. While this film is not nearly as boring as I'd remembered, it's still one of the lesser crime films (despite 3 or 4 awesome moments like when they shoot a guy just minding his own business reading the paper).The total lack of suspense, immediacy, or likable characters ruins it... there is virtually no plot and not enough random crime to keep it interesting. The film relies too heavily on the nonexistent charisma of its two leads, who both look good but don't really say or do much except act cocky and shoot people.Usually I really like Ubaldo Continiello's work, but his music here is a real letdown and virtually missing-in-action except for the theme song (sung by Ray Lovelock)... which is one of the worst songs ever! It's almost comically bad! Pay attention during the opening credits of the shot where Lovelock is riding with Porel on a motorcycle - watch how Lovelock is trying to get his face on camera, but Porel keeps blocking the way - Lovelock gradually becomes visibly angrier and angrier. It's completely hilarious.Highlights of the film, typical of any Deodato movie, are the well-directed and inspired moments of violence and sleaze. Nothing near the level of his cannibal masterpieces, but still pretty heavy for the genre. Such scenes include a savage beating of a woman overly protective of her purse, a hit-man getting smushed between two cars, and an amusing bit where several bank robbers are killed one-by-one by the "heroes" before they even commit their crime. Also unique is the heroes' brazenly irresponsible attitude toward gun safety (such as when they target practice in the quarry) and totally politically incorrect womanizing. The ironic atmosphere and dark humor helps a little, but not enough.Within this genre, you're much better off with Castellari and Lenzi's numerous offerings. Fulci's CONTRABAND is similarly dull and unengaging but much more violent and mean-spirited, and an overall better way for fans of this stuff to spend their time and money.

LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN (Ruggero Deodato - Italy 1976).Despite its almost cartoonish violence, Ruggero Deodato really kept pushing boundaries for extreme violence and sadism with this piece of nihilistic mayhem. Alfredo (Marc Porel) and Antonio (Ray Lovelock) are two policemen belonging to a special anti-crime unit who are given carte-blanche in their actions against organized crime in Rome. Their working methods are of the "shoot first, ask questions later" kind, and their daily routines consists of killing just about everybody before they even committed the crime. The film kicks off with an exciting motorbike chase during rush hour through the streets of Rome, during which a blind man's guide dog is casually run over by our two heroes. At the end of the chase, one of the badly hurt criminals is put out of his misery when Antonio snaps his neck before the other police officers arrive. During an inquiring visit to a villa on the edge of Rome where apparently the top bosses have gathered, they knock out some bodyguards, and - instead of arresting them - set the whole car park on fire, before going home to their shared apartment and smoke another packet of cigarettes. All this violence is delivered in such a casual tone, I can imagine this will offset most viewers. Personally, I don't see that much trouble since no person in the film is anything more than a cardboard character and the film never rises above the level of comic-book theatrics. And hey, what else can you expect from Italian crime thrillers? Generally, our two cop buddies lead the life every testosterone-driven man dreams off, which is setting cars on fire, shoot their guns and, between crime-fighting, chase women all day.Alfredo and Antonio have a bit of an odd living situation. Apparently, they are such close buddies, they live together in the same apartment. They even share the same room and they also share the same motorcycle. In fact, they never seem to do anything on their own. The original story hinted at this hidden homosexual component between the two men, but in the film it's subdued, since Alfredo and Antonio's behaviour is all raging heterosexuality and they chase everything female that moves.Also, the first thing that springs to mind when watching this is the TV-show "Starsky and Hutch." Two cops, one blonde, one black-haired roaming the streets, but the show hadn't aired yet in Italy at the time the film was being made. Even if it was pure coincidence, the resemblance is obvious, although Alfredo and Antonio's methods are admittedly a little more extreme than their American counterparts. In an interview Ray Lovelock mentions the resemblance, but he can only speculate if the two main characters were influenced by "Starsky and Hutch." So far, Deodato keeps his mouth shut about the issue.And pay attention to the scenes where the men ride the motorcycle together. Marc Porel is driving while Ray Lovelock is sitting behind him and constantly looks from left to right in ridiculous fashion (Deodato's instructed this because the camera was in front of the two men and it was the only way Lovelock could be caught on camera). The story goes that Porel blocked Lovelock from the camera on purpose and that this little incident was the main reason the two actors didn't get along and the much awaited sequel was never made.Camera Obscura --- 6/10