Magnum Cop Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Magnum Cop Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 15, 2023

Stelvio Massi's "Magnum Cop" a.k.a. "Fearless Fuzz" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video. The only supplemental feature on the release is an exclusive new audio commentary by critics Tory Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani. In Italian or English, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

Hard landing in Vienna

Regardless of whether you choose to view Stelvio Massi’s Magnum Cop in Italian or English, at some point, and quite possibly well before the half-hour mark, you will begin to wonder whether you should have opted for the other audio track. If you choose the English track, you will quickly realize that it utilizes some quite wild overdubbing that frequently seems at odds with the tone and style of the film. This is not an unusual occurrence on English tracks that were prepared for Italian genre films between the 1970s and 1980s. However, this English track introduces new names and plenty of descriptions that are not on the Italian track. If you choose the Italian track, you are still getting plenty of overdubbing, the most distracting of which will be the one that was done for Joan Collins’ character, which has a major part in the film. So, what should you do? I tested both and I think that the Italian track is preferable. Why? The Italian actors utter their lines in Italian. Collins does not, but she enters the film after the forty-minute mark. Also, the Italian track properly describes Maurizio Merli’s character. On the English track, he gets an English alias, plus there are some other colorful embellishments that are not featured on the Italian track. As noted above, Italian film producers routinely created English tracks for international audiences that were different. It just so happens that the English track for Magnum Cop is very different.

Former police detective-turned-private eye Wally Spada gets a check for $2,000 from an Austrian aristocrat with a request to track down his daughter (Annarita Graputto) who has gone missing in Italy. With the check, Wally also receives a picture, presumably of the missing girl, of the kind that men would expect to see in a dirty magazine. While praising Lady Luck, Wally goes to work and quickly discovers his target, but much to his surprise she plays a trick on him and runs away. Then, while Wally chases her, several men kidnap her. Determined to keep the check, Wally travels to Vienna, Austria, and meets Karl Koper (Gastone Moschin), another private detective and old friend, who recommended him to the aristocrat. After gathering some additional information about the missing girl, Wally begins scouting some of the seediest areas of Vienna. Somewhere along the way, Wally begins working on a second case, again involving a young girl in trouble with some very shady characters, and meets the popular cabaret dancer Brigitte (Collins), who seems to have some valuable information about their activities.

Massi began his career as a cinematographer in the early 1960s and directed his first film in the early 1970s. Between 1974 and 1979, Massi directed fourteen films, all of them crime films, and Magnum Cop is the strangest among them. Or at least if you attempt to deconstruct it while viewing it through the same prism you would the other thirteen films.

The other thirteen films are either high-octane poliziotteschi or crime dramas and all of them are serious films. Magnum Cop is not a serious film. It subtly satirizes the serious and violent urban films that were all the rage in Italy during the 1970s, which is why the many contrasts it produces are so ‘strange’. For example, a veteran private eye with a solid reputation is quickly outsmarted by a loopy girl who has fallen under the spell of Hare Krishna. While pursuing one target, the private eye becomes distracted with another target, which alters the course of his investigation. The private eye is an Italian macho guy but for some reason in Vienna is routinely forced to make contact with the floor. When the bad guys begin to emerge from the shadows, a cabaret dancer who struggles to keep her clothes on steals the spotlight. And so on. From the prologue, which is a hilarious slow-motion action sequence, to the very end, Magnum Cop unleashes curveballs that provide ample evidence that it is exactly the opposite kind of genre film it pretends to be.

Even though Massi worked with Ricardo Pallottini, who assisted him on arguably his greatest film, Highway Racer, the quality of the visuals in Magnum Cop is difficult to praise.

The original material for Magnum Cop came from a short story written by Fulvio Gicca-Palli (The Designated Victim).

Magnum Cop Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Magnum Cop arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Raro Video.

It is very easy to tell that Magnum Cop has been recently remastered because it looks very healthy and quite beautiful in high-definition. I was a little concerned that the remaster could be one of those strange looking makeovers that usually emerge from L'Immagine Ritrovata after I saw the English title of the film, Fearless Fuzz, appear on my screen, and then the first frame of the slow-motion prologue (see screencapture #6), but the rest looks lovely. Delineation, clarity, and depth were very pleasing, though the entire film should have been place on a double-layer disc and encoded a little bit better. Still, you do not have to worry about serious anomalies. In a few areas, grain exposure is slightly looser, but the visuals hold well. There are no traces of problematic digital tinkering. The entire film looks very healthy as well. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Magnum Cop Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

I tested both tracks and mentioned elsewhere that prefer the Italian track. Though both tracks feature overdubbing, the Italian track sounds better. Clarity and sharpness are better. It is 'thicker', too. The English track can be quite anemic and even flat at times, but these are inherited limitations as it is a dub track, too. I did not encounter any pops, cracks, distortions, or dropouts to report in our review.

Magnum Cop Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani. The commentators deconstruct Magnum Cop and share plenty of information about the people that made it as well as the era from which the film emerged.

Magnum Cop Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you approach Stelvio Massi's Magnum Cop expecting to entertain you the same way the director's other poliziotteschi and crime dramas from the 1970s would, I think that you are setting yourself up for an underwhelming viewing experience. Magnum Cop does a lot of mocking, though it is most definitely not a silly parody. If you pay attention to the very particular contrasts it produces, which are loaded with Italian genre flavor, I think that you will find it quite intriguing. One of the most unexpected delights in the film is a strong performance by Joan Collins. Raro Video's release is sourced from a beautiful recent master and is Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (For a proper dose of high-octane poliziotteschi action, consider picking up Massi's masterpiece, Highway Racer, which was recently restored).