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When Marsigliese (Gastone Moschin) and his gang hold up a money
transport in the guise of a filmteam in broad daylight and get away with
it too, inspector Ravelli (Tomas Milian) has no doubts that these were the
very same gangsters who gunned down his wife 5 years ago - which is proven
only eventually. Still, Ravelli, an Interpol agent, starts to track down
the gangsters on his own, even though Interpol as such is not interested
in the case and the local police want him off the case - they even send
him a watchdog, Lavagni (Mario Carotenuto), to monitor his every step, but
since Lavagni is one of Ravelli's few good friends, he works for rather
than against him ...
Meanwhile, ruptures are beginning to show in Marsigliese's gang that
has gone into hiding since the heist. Now though they fight over how to
share the money, and Marsigliese even plans on pulling a fast one over the
others by making a getaway with the money and his girlfriend Marta
(Stefania Casini). Eventually, the situation culminates when the others
accidently murder their driver (Ray Lovelock) ... and suddenly they
realize they have to make another getaway since it's not so good to hide
out with a corpse - and since the police are controlling all the streets,
they make their getaway disguised as priests, and it actually works.
Ravelli though is on their trail very soon, much sooner than the local
police, and it isn't long before he manages to hunt them per helicopter
and shoot one of them in their car ... however, the gang use the next
tunnle - where the helicopter can't follow - to require another
car, take its driver as hostage and force him to take them to his home,
where they take his family hostage as well.
Ultimately though, tensions break out but real when the others learn
that Marsigliese wants to take off with the money and Marsigliese sees
hmself forced to shoot his accomplices before making a desperate getaway
to the rendez vous point with Marta, where he has to shoot it out with
another crook who tries to doublecross him ...
Finally, Marsigliese and Marta make it to their getaway yacht, but
Ravelli has long figured out where to find them and awaits them there ...
and ultimately shoots Marsigliese in cold blood.
In the wake of Dirty Harry, the Italians produced many a film
about cold and uncompromising cops who tended to bend the law a
little, but since most of these movies gave the formula some very Italian
colour, these films usually did not look so much like rip-offs but like
re-inventions of the genre.
Squadra Volante is one of above mentioned Italian cop films, a
violent, uncompromising and cynical film about a vengeance driven man
(Tomas Milian in maybe his most dramatic role) on one side, but a good
action piece on the other. Of course, the film delivers a reactionary
message that cannot be condoned ... but a tension-filled script, a fast
pace and plenty of action make up for it and turn it into an enjoyable
film. It might not be the peak of the genre, it might not even be
everyone's cup of tea - but it's an entertaining piece of cinema.
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