Director: Fernando Di Leo
Screenplay: Fernando Di Leo
Based on a Story by: Sergio Donati
Starring: Luc Merenda, Richard Conte, Delia Boccardo, Raymond Pellegrin, Gianni Santuccio, Vittorio Caprioli, Salvo Randone, Rosario Borelli
Country: Italy
Running Time: 94 min
Year: 1974
BBFC Certificate: TBC
This month, Raro Video, via Radiance Films in the UK, have another classic poliziotteschi (Eurocrime) coming out on Blu-ray, Fernando Di Leo’s Shoot First, Die Later. This bombastic title was only for international audiences. In Italy, it was called Il poliziotto è marcio, which roughly translates as “The cop is rotten” or “The police officer is corrupt”. I’m not sure which is less subtle, the English one that matches its luridly violent poster art or the Italian one that spells out the plot/theme too clearly.
But I’m getting off-topic. What about the film itself…
Shoot First, Die Later follows Police Commissioner Domenico Malacarne (Luc Merenda), a rising star in the Milan police force who secretly accepts bribes from the mafia. While maintaining a public image as a hero, Domenico navigates a dangerous path, balancing his illicit activities with his official duties.
His life spirals out of control when a seemingly minor complaint inadvertently implicates the mob in a murder, drawing Domenico’s honest father (Salvo Randone), a fellow police officer, into the unfolding events.
As the body count rises and his involvement deepens, Domenico finds himself increasingly trapped in a web of corruption, leading to a confrontation with the very criminals he has been serving.
I found Shoot First, Die Later to be a film that I felt I should have liked more than I did. It hit a lot of my sweet spots (I enjoy poliziotteschi in general and can’t resist a car chase) and I appreciated the different directions the film took. However, on the whole, I left feeling slightly disappointed.
I think my main gripe with the film was its star, Luc Merenda. I found his performance to be quite bland and wooden. In his commentary, Travis Woods makes the argument that this works on second viewing, as you realise this ‘hero’ is actually a hollow shell of a man, who’s been corrupted by the system. Woods believes the empty performance is intentional. I can see where he’s coming from and, perhaps giving the film another watch would turn me around, but I found it hard to care about the character and his story.
The story is a good one though. The protagonists in poliziotteschi often don’t play by the rules, but they’re usually still on the side of the law. This time around, the film centres around a police commissioner who is undoubtedly corrupt. He has some morals, perhaps, complaining to his ‘benefactors’ about their involvement in more nefarious activities than the usual stolen goods trading, but he is certainly not a squeaky-clean hero.
This is a welcome subversion to the genre, but Di Leo doesn’t let the fans down in terms of giving them the tropes they know and love. There’s plenty of shocking violence, from the outset, and a couple of first-class car chases. The one near the start of the film is particularly good, with some hair-raising stunts and highly effective camera placement. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the great Rémy Julienne, who’s best known for his work on the Bond franchise, was involved in the sequences.
Fans of Italian genre cinema will also be pleased to know that Luis Bacalov provides the score. As usual for the composer, this has some wonderfully funky cues. It also includes the ballad ‘There Will Be Time’, which was used in Milano Calibro 9.
Whilst Merenda left me a little cold, Salvo Randone and his character helped add heart to the film. Playing Domenico’s father, Randone effectively portrays the initial quiet pride for his son’s success before this turns to despair and disappointment when he learns the truth.
So, whilst I wasn’t keen on the film’s lead and not everything hit me in the ways I’d have liked, the intriguing premise and genre thrills were enough to make Shoot First, Die Later a film I’d recommend to fans of poliziotteschi.
Film: 
Shoot First, Die Later is out on 19th May on region-free Blu-Ray, released by Raro Video via Radiance Films. The picture is a touch soft but this may be down to the film stock originally used. Colours are pleasing and there’s little to no damage. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed. The audio is strong too, in the Italian version I watched. An English dub is also available.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
– High-Definition digital transfer from the original camera negative
– Optional Italian and English audio tracks, uncompressed mono PCM audio
– New audio commentary by film critic Travis Woods
– Archival interview with director Fernando Di Leo
– Archival interviews with various crew members and star Luc Merenda
– Italian and English trailers
– Reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
– New and improved English subtitle translation for Italian audio and English SDH for English audio
– Limited edition booklet containing new writing by Sam Moore
– Limited edition of 3000 copies
There’s a commentary on the disc by Travis Woods. He makes a strong case for the film not being the best of the genre, but being the “most” of the genre. It’s an enthusiastic track that makes for a compelling listen.
There’s also an archival interview with Di Leo. He begins by talking about his love of noir and how this informed his filmmaking. He goes on to discuss genre filmmaking in Italy and how producers’ obsession with this affected him and other contemporary directors. Later, he focuses on his films and Shoot First in particular. He’s not afraid to speak his mind, so it’s quite an enjoyable watch.
On top of this is a collection of archival interviews with other contributors and Luc Merenda, edited together as a ‘making of’.
On both of these archival extras, the subtitles are poorly synced, with notably long stretches of talking before they appear in places and some lines that come up a little too quickly to read. I feel like a few chunks were not being translated either. This was annoying, but it’s nevertheless good to hear from a number of people involved in the production.
I wasn’t provided with a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
Overall, Raro Video have put together a decent package for a decent poliziotteschi. Genre fans should certainly pick it up.
Disc/package:
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