Underplayed Gems

Almost Human (1974)

Almost Human poster
Original title
Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare
Directed by
Umberto Lenzi
Genre
film noir, action film, thriller film
Country
Italy
Runtime
1h 40m
Rated
R
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 111 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A small-time criminal in Milan talks two friends into helping him kidnap a young heiress. The tough police inspector chasing him grows frustrated with the limits of the law.

grimytensebrutalgrittyfast-pacedcynicalexplosivesleazy

What happens

Almost Human (Italian: Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare, lit. 'Milan Hates: The Police Can't Shoot') is a 1974 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Tomas Milian, Henry Silva, Laura Belli, Ray Lovelock, Gino Santercole and Anita Strindberg. Milian stars as Giulio Sacchi, an arrogant and murderous small-time criminal who convinces two gullible associates, Carmine (Lovelock) and Vittorio (Santercole), into joining him for a series of increasingly sordid crimes — most notably the kidnapping of heiress Marilú Porrino (Belli) — which test police Inspector Grandi's (Silva) belief in mainstream law enforcement. While negatively received during its original run, Almost Human' is now regarded as one of the best Italian crime films of the 1970s, and marked the first of several collaborations between Lenzi and Milian. The film has been released under a variety of titles, with the original English-dubbed export prints bearing the title The Executioner. In North America, it opened in limited release as The Kidnap of Mary Lou in 1975, before receiving a wider release as The Death Dealer. Its most enduring English title, Almost Human, stems from a 1980 reissue, for which it was dubiously marketed as a horror film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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