Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 31, 2025

Ruggero Deodato's "Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critic Rachel Nisbet; archival documentary; and TV spots with commentary by Deodato. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The bad boys

Here are two interesting details that make Rugero Deodato’s Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man a curious genre film. There is a short sequence in it where Adolfo Celi’s character, a veteran police captain, summons Antonio (Ray Lovelock) and Alfredo (Marc Porel), both members of a secret Death Squad, and recognizes their efficiency. But he also warns that they are routinely going too far, making it virtually impossible for him to distinguish them from the criminal figures they target. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Italian police operated multiple Death Squads that carried out hits in major cities like Milan and Rome. The members of the Death Squads were former freelancing assassins and criminal figures who blended perfectly with their targets while working for the state. However, only a select few, usually top police and government officials, knew about their existence because the mafia had informers at the highest echelons of government. In the 1970s, the Death Squads began taking out international targets, like members of the far-left terrorist organization Red Brigades, and, after their existence became impossible to dismiss as a conspiracy theory, the government was forced to terminate them. But this is only the official version of the end of the Death Squads. There is a lot of material revealing that members of the Death Squads continued taking orders, only this time from various places, in Italy and abroad, and some of them were involved in the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981.

Lovelock and Porel were both legitimate bad boys. Lovelock was a very handsome, wonderful actor who appeared in many risky genre films that are now considered legitimate cult films. However, before and after he began acting, Lovelock frequently mingled with shady characters and made questionable choices. Porel was even wilder and quickly developed a reputation. He died of a heroin overdose in his early thirties. Lovelock and Porel’s characters are bad boys, too, and it is not a stretch to conclude that the enthusiasm they show while doing some pretty bad things is not entirely manufactured.

Unfortunately, Deodato was not the right man to direct Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. It is not because its action is unattractive or the drama underwhelming. Both are fine and blend well, or at least for a poliziotteschi from the 1970s. The problem is that Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is based on original material supplied by Fernando Di Leo, and Deodato attempts to deliver with it a poliziotteschi that looks and behaves like one of Di Leo’s. The end product is most definitely not a flop. However, it looks and feels like a very light film, almost a buddy cop picture, and it should have been a gritty poliziotteschi that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats and gives them a lasting headache. Unsurprisingly, the best material in Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is the one where Lovelock and Porel temporarily become unleashed and do some pretty bad things.

The catalyst of all the drama (and violence and sleaze) is the protracted hunt for Bibi Pasquini (Renato Salvatori), a famous gangster, who has started creating a lot of problems for the authorities in Rome. Before Lovelock and Porel track him down, they take out several other criminal elements.

Deodato worked with cinematographer Guglielmo Mancori, who lensed some of Umberto Lenzi’s best films, including A Quiet Place to Kill and So Sweet... So Perverse.

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video.

The release introduces a recent 4K restoration of the film that is quite the disaster. The crucial flaws of the restoration are present on countless other restorations of color films completed at L'Immagine Ritrovata. All native color values are dramatically altered and the dynamic range of the visuals compromised. As a result, delineation, clarity, and depth are routinely very problematic, leaving the impression that the film has been heavily filtered. However, the raw 4K files are not filtered. The film looks as it does because when it was regraded, various other anomalies were introduced as well. Indoor and darker footage can be especially problematic because virtually all darker nuances are destabilized in some way. (You can see the effects of the anomaly in screencapture #2). Obviously, all of this is enormously frustrating because the 4K files easily could have produced a 'reference quality' presentation of the film with a proper, faithful color grade.

I have a couple of other releases of Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. For example, the 88 Films' release is quite disappointing because it is sourced from an older master covered with scanner noise. Ironically, this old master produces visuals with a notably superior dynamic range. They are just bad visuals that do not have a proper organic appearance. I have included a few samples from the 88 Films release.

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are twp standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the latter.

Both tracks feature original overdubbing. The English track is preferable because various actors utter their lines in English. However, on this release, the English track is heavily compressed, so a lot of its high-end frequencies are missing. As a result, even if turn up the volume quite a bit, some exchanges can be very difficult to follow. I suspect that something was done to automatically remove his and other age-related anomalies across the entire film.

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Violent Police - this archival documentary takes a closer look at the conception and production of Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man and the popularity of the poliziotteschi in Italy and across the world. Included in it are clips from interviews with director Ruggero Deodato, star Ray Lovelock, sturntman Gilberto Galimberti, and actor Al Cliver, amongst others. In Italian, with English subtitles. (42 min).

• Early TV Spots - presented here is a selection of early TV spots that Ruggero Deodato shot before he made his directorial debut with Waves of Lust. Deodato provides a commentary as well. In Italian, with English subtitles. (21 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Rachel Nisbet.

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The damage that has been done to countless classic and cult films at L'Immagine Ritrovata and several other European labs is incalculable now. It is sad because there is a new generation of film enthusiasts that will most likely never see the majority of these films as they were made by their creators, and a decade or two from now, the next generation of film enthusiasts will not care about the damage at all. Fortunately, a lot of good restoration work is done away from these labs, at various tiny outfits run by knowledgeable people, and on this side of the Atlantic, at the majors and by plenty of other knowledgeable people. This Blu-ray release of Ruggero Deodato's Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man introduces a very problematic 4K restoration, but has a wonderful archival documentary. If you decide to pick it up, it will have to be because you want to see the documentary.