Confessions of a Police Captain

This film starts with Palermo's Police Captain, Martin Balsam, arranging the release of a known criminal from an insane asylum and calmly watches on as the man purchases a machine gun, dresses up as a cop, and heads off to the office of a local crime boss/building merchant, resulting in a bloodbath with four dead bodies. The mafia boss however seemed to have got wind of this and wasn't around for the gunfight. Franco Nero then turns up as a new district attorney who is out to play by the rules and get to the bottom of what happened - Who alerted the mafia boss that the guy was out of the loony bin? Who arranged for the guy to be released in the first place? Franco the D.A doesn't trust Balsam the cop, and various interviews with the mafia boss and others suggests that Franco is on the mafia payroll or Balsam was paid to release the prisoner to kill the mafia boss by rival mafia gangs. The two form a very uneasy alliance where Balsam suggest that most of the municipal staff of Palermo are on the mafia payroll and explains his reason for using unorthodox methods is because the mafia boss and himself grew up in a village years ago and the mafia boss shot a guy protesting about the terrible wages the mafia were paying quarry workers (played by Giancarlo Prete in a very good cameo). Nero retorts by saying he knows Balsam withdrew two million lira from an account at the same time, but will he believe that he used that to find Prete's mafia murdered body? Although this film is long and low on action, it's easy to get drawn in by the acting of the two leads. It's rarer still to see Franco Nero get acted off the screen, but that's what happens here. You might know Martin Balsam as the cop from Psycho or Alan Arkin's superior officer in Catch 22, but here we get the full spectrum of acting. He's hard skinned and efficient as a cop, but prone to showing mercy to folk who have acted stupidly, and is kind to his colleagues, even those on the mafia payroll. Wherever he goes in this film he's pushed to the absolute limit, so the bitter sweet smile on his face as a full room of mafia staff are laughing at him is priceless. And he one-ups that scene later on. Beautiful. Only negatives are Franco Nero doesn't dub his own voice (even though he speaks fluent English) and Popflix present this in full screen, but I'll say what I always say - best to see the film in any form rather than not at all!

Honest, dedicated Commissioner Bonavia (superbly played by Martin Balsam) risks both his life and career in order to arrest wily, powerful and evasive mobster Ferdinando D'Ambrosio (a marvelously slimy portrayal by Luciano Catenacci). Bonavia clashes with shrewd, smooth and by-the-book young district attorney Traini (the always fine Franco Nero) over the questionable methods he uses to nab D'Ambrosio. Director Damiano Damiani, who also co-wrote the sharp, complex and intriguing script with Salvatore Laurani, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace and does an expert job of maintaining a serious and gritty tone throughout. The uniformly sound acting from a tip-top cast rates as another substantial plus: Balsam and Nero both excel in their meaty roles, with fine support from Marilu Tolo as D'Ambrosio's frightened old flame Serena LiPuma, Giancarlo Prete as gutsy union organizer Rizzo, Claudio Gora as crooked attorney general Judge Malta, Arturo Dominici as shifty mafia shyster lawyer Canistraro, and Adolfo Lastretti as dangerous, unhinged hoodlum LiPuma. Both Riz Ortolani's moody, melodic score and Claudio Ragona's polished cinematography are up to speed. The potent central message about pervasive corruption and travesties of justice packs one hell of a strong punch. Moreover, the film's tough, no-nonsense sensibility stays grimly true to itself to the literal bitter end. Those expecting your usual nasty and sleazy shoot 'em up action picture will be disappointed, but fans of more demanding and complicated fare should appreciate this admirably ambitious and intelligent character study of two radically contrasting law enforcers. Well worth a look.

Want a film that is character driven, gritty, offers a bleak but realistic view of how society really works, watch this great little gem of a film. It's a well done euro crime drama and in most cases better than Hollywood efforts. Balsam is excellent as the glass half empty captain who does what ever it takes to nab a mafia boss he has spent his career trying to nail for crimes. Nero is also good as a by the book nieve new DA. It builds the suspense and tension between the two characters, and keeps the viewer engaged till the final scene. It is accompanied by a great instrumental score as well.

My third DAMIANO DAMIANI film (I had watched THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WIFE and I AM AFRAID before this). It is a bleak Italian crime drama. Commissioner Bonavia (a really tough as nails MARTIN BALSAM) arrives at a mental institution and helps free a patient. A few days after his release, the patient tries to kill a famous builder but the builder's henchmen are already waiting for him and a bloody shootout ensues. Deputy district attorney Traini (Franco Nero) investigates the shootout and feels that commissioner Bonavia is not telling him the whole truth. His investigations lead him into the corrupt world of the Italian building mafia. I liked how the film is built up with commisioner Bonavia as the villain but there is a twist at the end and it turns out that Bonavia is actually a cynical guy who is tired of bringing the mafia to book using legal means. So he tries to destroy them through his own methods. After he murders the builder himself, he ends up in jail. There is a great scene in jail when he is stabbed and he barely makes it into a prison movie screening and everyone ignores him because they are all laughing at the comedy film on screen while a man dies in their midst. The film could have been a lot leaner if some of the sub plots had been avoided. There is one involving the sister (the beautiful MARILU TOLO used as a sex object) of the mental patient. It is a film where you have to pay close attention to understand what is really going on. The fantastic fatalistic background score by Riz Ortolani full of melodic electronic guitar and violins, is put to great use. I had watched BALSAM as a gay man in THE ANDERSON TAPES and he is terrific in this film. Apparently the role was first offered to BEN GAZZARA. This film is as bleak as I AM AFRAID in its depiction of the unassailable link between the mafia and the justice system in Italy. (7/10)

This is a gritty, melancholy police drama that was very different from the poliziottesco of the 70s, directed by Damiani in a way that tells its grim story without the usual pyrotechnics and flashy physical action of that genre. It's a longtime favorite of mine. Whereas the great Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion veers into fantasy and a giallo-flavored eroticism, the chain of events in this picture is very realistic; when I first saw it, on TV, I thought that this could have happened. The interplay between Nero and Balsam is totally believable and gripping. No extraneous subplots derail the story. The Riz Ortolani score truly piles on the mood of tragedy and hopelessness in the destructive wake of uncontrollable social evils, the utter impotency of the law and political/business corruption. Underrated and ignored. It's ripe for a class-act DVD release since American TV has long since abandoned airing Italian films.

There's some great acting in Damiano Damiani's police thriller but precious little action. District attorney Franco Nero slowly (too slowly) realizes that police captain Martin Balsam is a corrupt lunatic out to squash anyone who stands in his way as he tries to eliminate Mafioso Luciano Catenacci. Drawn out as opposed to complex, the film nevertheless has plenty to recommend. Balsam is excellent and well matched by the idealistic Nero. Marilu Tolo is very good as Catenacci's doomed girlfriend. The pulse-pounding music is by Riz Ortolani and is at times more exciting than the movie actually is. The US version of the film suffers from some not-so-great dubbing and dulls Nero's performance.

Despite the often inventive use of real locations, and the much better dubbing than average for the English language version (Balsam was obviously speaking in English on the set) and a few good sparks of action, this is a somewhat disappointing movie. For one thing, it lacks a real climax. In fact, the biggest action spot is right at the very beginning! Instead of action, the movie is very dialogue bound. The plot also disappoints. It's that well-used one, detailing Mafia infiltration into the construction industry. Fortunately, the acting is forceful enough to maintain a fair amount of audience interest, and the plot actually does have one or two welcome twists.

It's ironic that director Damiano Damiani is most famous today for "The Amityville Horror 2", which is somewhat underrated, but no one's idea of a great movie. He has actually made any number of films in many different genres, including at least four superlative ones I've seen in just the last year: "A Bullet for the General", "The Most Beautiful Wife", "How to Kill a Judge" and this one. This is a typical Italian police thriller in some ways, but rather than focusing solely on shoot-outs and high-speed car chases, it is more of a character study of two law enforcement agents, trying to do the right thing while fighting massive high-level corruption, but in very different ways. Martin Balsam is a the titular police captain who is willing to bend the law to go after a corrupt industrial cartel leader. For instance, he gets a sworn enemy of the man and the brother of the man's mistress released from a mental institution to allow him make an assassination attempt on the crooked industrialist. Franco Nero, on the other hand, plays the by-the-book district attorney who's torn between fighting the "corruption" of the police captain and the far more pervasive high-level corruption all around him. The two eventually form an uneasy alliance. An American film would definitely come down in favor of one man or the other (most likely the vigilante police captain), but this film is not afraid to leave the whole matter morally ambiguous. It is also pretty pessimistic in tone, as things don't work out too well for either of them. Balsam and Nero are both great (the latter was also in Damiano's "How to Kill a Judge"). Marilu Tolo (who plays the mistress) is the only other real name actor. She was kind of an enigmatic actress, probably the most Sicilian-looking actress of her era (it's hard to believe she and the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Nero are from the same country). She has a much smaller role than the two men, but still manages to transcend the usual "nice piece" mold women were usually cast in in these types of films. Unfortunately, this is currently available only as a VERY crappy-looking public domain flick on "The Grindhouse Collection Volume 1" DVD set. (The most low-rent bootlegger would be ashamed to sell a customer a DVD-R of a video in as bad of shape and as badly ported as this one). Still if you think the price is right on the whole set or you find it from another source, this is definitely a movie I would recommend to poliziani fans or anybody else.

I'm a big fan of Italian cop flicks, but Confessions of a Police Captain actually doesn't contain many of the things that I love this type of movie for. Damiano Damiani's film is an early example of the Polizi flick and has the rare accolade of not following on the heels of Don Siegel's masterpiece Dirty Harry. The film is a rather more sober affair than what I'm used to from this sort of film and doesn't feature the things such as car chases, gun fights and fistfights that other films in this genre feature in droves; but this is made up for by the fact that the director has created a stylish and interesting film that flows well throughout. The plot focuses largely on the mafia that run Italy over and above the law. Our two central characters are Commissioner Bonavia and District Attorney Traini who are investigating mafia occurrences in the city. The plot begins with an attempt on a man's life, and the man later turns out to be D'Ambrosio; a man high up within the mafia. The two law enforcers appear to be on the same page in fighting the crime in the city... Damiano Damiani was apparently quite a prolific crime film director in the seventies; although the only film I'd seen from him prior to this one was the abysmal Amityville II. It's clear that he has a real flair for this sort of film, however, as Confessions of a Police Captain is perfectly pitched and very professionally done. The fact that the film doesn't feature the things that usually make these films exciting may be a hindrance for some people, but in my opinion; the film has more than enough going for it elsewhere. The two central performances are one of the film's strongest elements. American actor Martin Balsam is fantastic as the police commissioner, but even better than him is Franco Nero as the district attorney. I've seen a lot of Franco Nero films and every time I see him, I become more impressed. He's a very versatile actor who seems to be able to play just about any role and once again he gives a fantastic lead performance. The commentary on justice is well thought, although I have to admit that I wasn't keen on the ambiguous ending. Overall, this is at the very top of Italian cop flicks; while it doesn't fit in with some of the better known examples, it's hard to deny that it is a gem of a movie.

As was the case with L'ISTRUTTORIA E' CHIUSA: DIMENTICHI (1971), this too proved different to what I had been anticipating - as Martin Balsam is the nominal police-officer hero, while lead Franco Nero is merely an investigating magistrate! When Balsam is bumped off, the film follows Nero's actions but ends on an ambiguous open-ended note. However, Balsam is excellent as the unorthodox and determined Commissioner; Nero, on the other hand, occasionally overacts as the flustered State representative. Marilu' Tolo has a small but pivotal role, and her death sequence is particularly mean. Despite the poliziottesco ambiance, it's far less action-oriented than usual but all the more classy and compelling for this reason; still, when action is required by the narrative, the film rises to the occasion. The complex plot (involving Balsam's backstory told in intermittent flashbacks) takes some effort to follow, but the rewards are reaped eventually. As usual for this sort of film, Riz Ortolani's score is a notable asset. By the way, not only is the surname of Nero's superior, a judge, Malta but other surnames here - such as Bonavia (Balsam's character) and Rizzo - are also typically Maltese!