Convoy Busters (1978)

Massi and Merli team-up for a fun, action packed ride, 11 July 2006

If you're a fan of the Italian polizia thriller, the names Stelvio Massi and Maurizio Merli should be familiar. The pair, whether together or individually, are responsible for some of the best this genre has to offer. They teamed-up to make 1978's Convoy Busters and, for the most part, came up with a winner. The action is almost non-stop. It's a violent, sometimes bloody ride full of chase scenes and gun battles. And the pace rarely lets up. There are few directors who did action as well as Massi. He shows his mastery of action in several set-pieces in Convoy Busters with the chase scene involving the helicopter being among the best I've seen. The final slow-motion shoot out is a thing of beauty. As for Merli, when he's not busy posing for the camera (which he has a tendency to do too often), he was a good action star. He's big and physical enough to effectively and believably pull of the role. And, unless I'm terribly mistaken, he did a lot of his own stunts.

Watching Convoy Busters is like watching two movies in one. The plot is neatly split into halves with neither having much to do with the other. In the first half, Merli is a police officer stationed in Rome. He grows increasingly tired of the violence he faces on a daily basis. He's working on a case involving a well-connected smuggler. But because of bureaucracy and leaks within the police department, his quarry gets away. Frustrated with the experience, he asks for a transfer to a small sea side town where things are much quieter. Enter the second half of the movie. In his new environment, the most dangerous thing Merli faces is the boredom of a town where nothing seems to happen. That is until Merli uncovers a smuggling operation in his new quiet hometown. He's soon thrust back into the violence he sought to escape.

But it's this plot structure that I found to be the weakest element in Convoy Busters. The first half of the movie ends with the bad guy boarding a plane and heading off to Geneva. Unfortunately, he's never mentioned again. This plot thread is never satisfactorily resolved. I would have liked it had Merli met up with him again at some point in the movie. After making an emotional investment of time, I expected a payoff.

7/10