Verdict
Summary
The first of eleven (!) entries in a long-running series starring Milian as Nico (he is sometimes even referred to as Serpico), The Cop in Blue Jeans is a pretty standard poliziotteschi Italian thriller, and it has a slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to the genre, which would become even more jokey and spoofy as the series would progress. It’s got plenty of fisticuffs, motorcycle chases, explosions, shoot-outs, and a hero that tosses guys around like they’re sacks of potatoes. It’s fun.
Plot:
An ex-thug turned renegade cop stops a ring of thieves using very unconventional methods.
Review:
Nico (Tomas Milian) knows exactly the type of cop he is, having modeled himself after Al Pacino in the movie Serpico, with posters of Pacino’s face plastered all over his humble apartment and he even named his pet mouse after Pacino’s character. Nico looks like a thief and a hoodlum with an unshaven beard, unwashed clothes, and a sock hat that looks like it belongs to a drug pusher. But one thing he’s good at and nobody argues about is that he catches lots of crooks on the street. He’s tough, resourceful, and his superiors don’t give him too much trouble about the fact that he uses excessive force … regularly. His specialty is petty theft and purse snatchers, likely because he used to be a thug not that long ago before turning his back on a life of crime to fight it. When he helps save a young woman from being raped and robbed, she thanks him by becoming his girlfriend, which accidentally becomes a fortuitous union when she tries to recover a valuable Russian manuscript that is stolen. Happy to oblige, Nico helps steal it back for her, but on the periphery of this side case is when he nabs a thief who robbed a briefcase full of money from a big time crook and crime lord (played by sneering Jack Palance in a few scenes). With the big crooks looking to reclaim their cash from the smaller crooks, Nico finds a way to “cash in” on the whole thing and catch them all.
The first of eleven (!) entries in a long-running series starring Milian as Nico (he is sometimes even referred to as Serpico), The Cop in Blue Jeans is a pretty standard poliziotteschi Italian thriller, and it has a slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to the genre, which would become even more jokey and spoofy as the series would progress. It’s got plenty of fisticuffs, motorcycle chases, explosions, shoot-outs, and a hero that tosses guys around like they’re sacks of potatoes. It’s fun. Director Bruno Corbucci (brother to Sergio) directed it, and would direct all entries in the series.
Raro Video’s Blu-ray edition of The Cop in Blue Jeans looks and sounds perfectly satisfactory in high definition, and they’ve added a commentary by a film historian to the disc, plus and English language track, as well as the original Italian. Here’s hoping Raro puts more of these films on Blu-ray.