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AKA:
Almost Human (USA) (reissue title)
Berserker, Der (Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
Rançon de la peur, La (France) (video title)
The Kidnap of Mary Lou (USA)
"Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare" (aka "Almost human") is one of the milestones of the Italian Police movies. Shot by expert Umberto Lenzi in 1974, the movie slightly goes away from the genre, since the "hard cop" character typical for so many movies in those years, is not involved this time, while a dangerous criminal, performed by Tomas Milian, is the protagonist. Lenzi tells us the criminal actions of Giulio Sacchi, a merciless bandit. Through bloody robberies, cruel and cold-blooded killings and kidnappings he manages to confuse the investigations by the commissioner (played by Henry Silva) and to elude the arrest. The mad and sly mind of the character played by Milian is described with vivid realism. A good example is the scene where the criminal, after getting hold of the ransom money, kills both kidnapped woman (Laura Belli) and his two crimes companions. In "Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare" Tomas Milian gives again the proof of his fine acting talent. In the splendid final scene full of pathos, Sacchi jeers at the commissioner, who has to deal out justice alone. When Sacchi finally realizes he has no escape, his final words "the police are not capable of shooting" reflects faithfully the squalid reality of the Italian "years of lead", when the police were judged negatively both by superior bodies and by the public for their deficient actions. Digitmovies presents the fifth volume of the series dedicated to the original soundtracks for the Italian Police movies genre: "Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare" with the music composed by Ennio Morricone and conducted by Bruno Nicolai. In 1975 only one track was issued on the compilation "I film della violenza" (Double LP - Rca TPL2 1174 with a 12 pages booklet) and in 1995 the same track was re-issued on the CD "Action Thrillers" (BMG RCA 74321 29873 2). In 1994 Rca released a Cd containing the two Ost from "Il giustiziere" (aka "The human factor") and from "Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare" (Rca OST 123). The tracks "Rapimento" (15:24), "Raptus omicida" (8:17) and "I conti ora tornano" (3:11) included on the 1994 Cd were really prepared in 1974 for the A & B sides of an album in the RCA SP series that those days was mysteriously cancelled. The same material from the 1994 CD opens our CD, but we have also added interesting inedit material (Tr.5, Tr.6, Tr.7, Tr.8, Tr.9, Tr.10, Tr.12) discovered recently on the stereophonic master tapes of the 1974 recording session. Morricone has created a symphonic score that alternates between dramatic, percussive moments and other romantic ones. The music is at the same time nostalgic and mysterious given by the frequent use of the sax. These tracks were edited by the composer in two long suites (Tr.1,Tr.2) where the semi–pop rhythmic main theme dominates (Tr.4) strongly in contrast with the pastorale and sad "I conti ora tornano" (Tr.3), another fine example of the strong and recognizable style of the composer. Our Cd encloses also a long (unused) version of the Main Titles M 1 (Tr.11).
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