A Man Called Magnum (1977)

- Napoli si ribella
Fairly standard stuff, 1 January 2006

A drug deal goes bad and the heroin is stolen. One mob boss doesn't have his drugs and the other doesn't get his money. People are going to die until they discover who double-crossed them. Into this backdrop, Inspector Dario Mauri (Luc Merenda) arrives from Milan to help clean-up Naples. His mission – find the drugs and stop the killing.

Even though I knew this was a first time viewing, throughout A Man Called Magnum, I had an odd feeling that I had seen the movie before. Then, it dawned on me – change the locations, take out the nudity and blood, and put in a few American actors and, voilà, what you've got is essentially the same as any number of American cop television shows from the 1970s. It's not that A Man Called Magnum is bad, there's just nothing spectacular about it. We've all seen it before. The gun battles, car chases, and fistfights are strictly by the numbers and lack originality. I also had problems relating to the main character, Inspector Dario Mauri. The movie gives less detail about him than even the most minor of characters. Not to mention that what we do know makes Dario seem pretty dull. And it's difficult for me to invest any real emotion in such a lifeless character.

There are a few highlights such as the camera work, the score, the locations, and the idea of the little girl drawing pictures to send to the police as clues. The movie presents a lot of images from unique angles. The camera work rises above the rest of this ordinary film. The score is full of those funky 70s sounds that I always enjoy. The locations are fascinating. You can't find places like that in America. It's distinctly Italian. Finally, the girl and her crayon are an interesting twist. It's too bad that A Man Called Magnum never takes full advantage of this plot point the way it could have.

5/10