| Super Fuzz | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sergio Corbucci |
| Produced by | Maximilian Wolkoff |
| Written by | Sergio Corbucci Sabatino Ciuffini |
| Starring | Terence Hill Ernest Borgnine Joanne Dru Julius Gordon |
| Music by | La Bionda |
| Cinematography | Silvano Ippoliti |
| Editing by | Eugene Alabiso |
| Release date(s) | 1981 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Country | Italy United States |
Super Fuzz or Poliziotto superpiù (also called Super Snooper) is an Italian film about Dave Speed, a bumbling Miami police officer who gains super powers through accidental nuclear exposure. Directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Terence Hill and Ernest Borgnine, it was released in 1980.[1]
The story starts as a retrospective plot, as young police officer Dave Speed (Terence Hill) faces his fourth consecutive execution attempt (this time by the electric chair) for the alleged murder of his superior and friend, Sergeant Willy Dunlop (Ernest Borgnine). While taking his last walk once more, Dave reminisces about how this all got started.
Coming fresh from the police academy, Dave is sent to deliver a parking ticket to the member of a tiny Indian village in the Florida Everglades. Unbeknownst to him, the U.S. government and the NASA preparing to conduct a secret radiation experiment in the area by firing a nuclear missile loaded with red plutonium into the landstrip where the village (which has long since been evacuated) is located. Dave, the only person in that particular area, is hit by the radiation but does not die, and returns to civilization. His tale of having him been close up to the explosion is marvelled at by most, but dismissed by Dunlop, who is a rather stubborn personality. Still, Dave sticks with him partly because he has a weakness for Dunlop's winsome niece, Evelyn (Julie Gordon).
As time passes, Dave discovers that somehow he has picked up a wide range of super powers, including super reflexes and speed, super endurance, telekinesis, precognition, hypnotism, and the ability to survive a window drop from the 23rd story of a building unscathed. What is more puzzling is that sometimes his powers suddenly fail to work whenever he sees the color red. But his powers, even with their limitation, come as an advantage when counterfeit money is found throughout the city. The masterminds behind this scheme are a local businessman named Torpedo (Marc Lawrence) and his mistress Rosy Labouche (Joanne Dru), a former actress on whom Dunlop has a serious crush. Right now, however, Dave is less a danger to them than an old retired magician named Silvius (Herb Goldstein), who had inadvertently discovered how Torpedo transports his counterfeit and now finds himself chased by Torpedo's henchmen. As it turns out, Silvius had also gained super powers the same way Dave did, and reveals his secret to the young policeman: Whenever he sees the color he saw at the explosion, his power is nullified for as long as he beholds it.
Dave reveals his secret to Dunlop and Evelyn, who react less than ecstatic about it: While Dunlop points out that Dave's precognitive abilities, which helped uncover Torpedo's scam, is unlikely to be admitted as evidence in court, Evelyn is not overjoyed at having a too-perfect man in the house. One night, Dave and Dunlop proceed to Torpedo's clubhouse, where Dave has Dunlop dance with Rosie (with some hypnotic encouragement) while he poses as a corrupt cop who wants a share of the winnings. By using his hypnotic powers on Torpedo, he gets the gangster to blab out the location of his printing facility: the fishing trawler Barracuda. But in the meantime, Dunlop inadvertently tells Rosie about Dave's powers and weaknesses in order to impress her.
Once the information is obtained, Dave and Dunlop proceed out to sea to find the Barracuda. Going aboard alone, Dunlop finds the printing press and the latest stash of dud money, but is knocked out by Torpedo's men, who lock him into a freezer and then sink the trawler to destroy the evidence. Upon his return to Police HQ, Dave is arrested following a trumped-up accusation by Rosie, who also makes sure that he keeps seeing something red to prevent his escape from prison, though she could not do so during the first three execution attempts.
Despite Rosie's last-ditch attempt to ensure Dave's demise by having a bouquet of red roses left in the electric chair room, Dave finally manages to escape prison and into the sea, where he promptly swims to the Barracuda. Once he finds Dunlop, alive but frozen stiff, aboard, he uses a borrowed bubblegum to create a balloon, and both men rise out of the ocean and float back to the city. Having heard of Dave's escape, Torpedo and Rosie prepare to flee with Evelyn as their hostage. Dave manages to intercept them by jumping onto their Cessna and redirecting it to an airfield where the police are already waiting. Finally convinced of the validity of Dave's powers, Dunlop overconfidently jumps off the balloon while Dave races to save him with Rosie's red Feather boa wrapped around his legs. At the last instant, he manages to catch Dunlop (though in the process they wind up plunging through the earth and straight up to China), and both return safe and sound to prepare for Dave's and Evelyn's wedding. However, Evelyn, still reluctant to have a superman for a husband, has decided to have the last word in the matter by having her hair dyed red.
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