The opening sequence already demonstrates that director Umberto Lenzi disposes of a playful and curious sense of humor. When the film starts, you're most likely to grab the DVD-box again to reassure you're watching the right movie, as it opens with a typical Spaghetti Western scene showing a gang of Cowboys riding on their horses and invading a little village. Is this a Western? The pictures and the synopsis displayed on the DVD-box surely don't look or sound like this would be a Western, but you never know with director Umberto Lenzi and lead star Tomas Milian, right? The doubtfulness vanishes right away after the credits, and "Free Hand for the Tough Cop" naturally is a crime-thriller (or "Poliziotteschi", if you wish),but the misleading intro nevertheless proves that Lenzi is an extremely gifted filmmaker who immediately captures your full attention and interest. "Free Hand for the Tough Cop" is another wildly exiting, gritty and remarkably plotted 70's Euro-Cult cinema highlight, with a structure that is delightfully convoluted, wicked dialogs & action situations that rank amongst Italy's finest! Personally, I would even state this film is as good as on par with the quality levels of Lenzi's most famous crime-thrillers, like "Almost Human" and "Violent Naples", but it's not as easily available as those two and therefore still a little under-appreciated. With the revival of European cult cinema lately, this film is destined to be released in a fancy DVD-edition any time soon, and I'm sure it'll get many new fans from that moment on. For those who can't wait for an English and/or internationally released version; the film is already available on a French label called Neo Publishing. The picture quality and sound are awesome, and the disc contains some fascinating extras, but you have to able to understand either the French or the Italian language.

The indescribably charismatic and talented Tomas Milian stars as a witty criminal Sergio Marazzi, but he's widely known by his friends and enemies under the nickname "Garbage Can". He's knocked unconscious and taken OUT of prison by the unorthodox detective Sarti, who requires Marazzi's criminal skills and experience to help his police investigation. The odd couple has to rescue a kidnapped young girl from the claws of Italy's most feared crime boss Brescianelli, and urgently, because the girl suffers from severe kidney problems and risks to die without regular medicine injections. Garbage Can manages to recruit three more wanted thugs and they begin their search for Brescianelli. Slight problem though, the crime lord recently underwent plastic surgery and nobody knows what his new face looks like. "Free Hand For the Tough Cop" actually contains LESS virulent shoot-outs and wild car chases than you'd expect, but their lack is widely compensated by wickedly intelligent dialogs and a continuously anarchistic atmosphere. Every single character that walks through the screen is genuinely fascinating and provided with a compelling background. Unlike Lenzi's other Poliziotteschi flicks, this movie isn't really set in the busy and crowded center of one of Italy's most prominent cities, but most of the action takes place in rural villages and deserted industrial factory buildings. Tomas Milian and Henry Silva are both brilliant in roles that are the opposite of their previous collaboration with Umberto Lenzi, namely "Almost Human". And if you're slightly familiar with Italian cult cinema, you'll definitely also recognize many other actors and actresses that (briefly) appear in this production, like Luciano Rossi, Claudio Cassinelli and Biagio Pelligra. The climax is excellent and very violent, the music is catchy and both the camera-work & editing are handled with a great deal of professionalism. This certainly isn't just another smutty and repulsive Lenzi quickie, but a solid and unforgettable Lenzi highlight!

Another top-notch "polizia" offering from Umberto Lenzi, the director I'm gradually gaining more and more respect for after watching the different genres movies he made. FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP is everything you could want an Italo crime film to be - fast-paced, full of furious scenes of action, with plenty of violence, snappy dialogue, and quality performances from seasoned genre performers. The central plot conceit - that the good guys must rescue the kidnapped girl who only has a week to live - leads to lots of tense situations, double crosses, and twists in characters, as some become allies and others enemies. The film has a large cast and many interconnected characters which give it a realistic edge as Lenzi creates a corrupt and violent world for his characters to live in - take for example the two minor robbers who hit people with bricks before they steal from the tills!

The action sequences are as great as always, with big guys letting loose with machine guns and innocent bystanders always getting caught up in the bloodshed. There are also some brief but cool car chases in which other road vehicles are literally smashed out of the way and moments of extreme violence that the genre is famous for. The casting is great, every actor here is perfect for his particular character, with lots of familiar faces for genre buffs. Taking the lead is Claudio Cassinelli (ISLAND OF THE MUTATIONS) who is always undeniably wooden, but to be fair he's not THAT bad here and could have been a lot worse - at least he's a believable policeman. Tomas Milian has great fun as the comic relief character "Garbage Can", but still proves to be instrumental in tracking down Brescianelli. Henry Silva is one of the best "bad guy" actors in recent history and puts in another commendably icy performance here and proves himself a force to be reckoned with.

Another nice touch is that Lenzi litters his film with references to Italian cinema. Posters for the likes of SALON KITTY dot the walls and the film even opens with lead characters watching a spaghetti western. Just a small but rewarding touch for fans of Italian cinema. FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP has all the gritty violence and action that a genre fan could want, and on top of that its bolstered by a strong story which puts its "immiment deadline" plot device to good use.

Umberto Lenzi, for my money, is the king of the Polizi films and while Free Hand for a Tough Cop might not be the best known of his genre films, or as good as the likes of The Cynic, The Rat and the Fist or Almost Human, is still a damn fine piece of cinema and is sure to please anyone with a mind to see it. This film is different from the other Polizi films I've seen from Lenzi as the urban landscape that usually makes up the setting for this sort of film has been thrown out in favour of a more rural one. This sets the film apart from most of the rest genre, and it also gives it a feel that borders on Spaghetti western, which is nice. The plot is well worked and features a police officer who teams up with a dirty criminal known to friends and otherwise as 'Garbage Can'. They've been put together to find a girl being held for ransom by vicious gangster Brescianelli. They face a race against time as the girl has kidney problems, and there's also a secondary objective, which takes the form of taking down the gangster who is hoping to gain ransom from holding her.

Free Hand for a Tough Cop benefits from a great musical score, which is amazingly catchy and also provides a nice backdrop for the movie. The film features all the shootouts and car chases that you would expect from this sort of film, and there's also a fair share of humour, which actually bodes quite well with the characters and plot line. Lenzi's direction is solid as always, and he pulls great performances out of his esteemed cast. The lead role, as you would expect, goes to Thomas Milian, who delivers a different sort of performance to the ones seen in most of Lenzi's crime films. He gets great backup from Claudio Cassinelli and Henry Silva, as well as a number of other memorable Italian crime flick faces. The characters are actually very well designed considering what you would expect from this sort of film, and that is another aspect that makes Free Hand for a Tough Cop better than your average Polizi flick. The conclusion to the story isn't difficult to guess, but Lenzi provides a nice bit of humour at the end that leaves the audience with a nice taste in their mouth.