Calling All Police Cars

Calling All Police Cars

Genre: Giallo, Poliziotteschi

Original Title: ...A Titte :e Auto Della Polizia...

AKA: Without Trace / The Maniac Responsible

Director: Mario Caiano

Year: 1975

A wealthy Dr's daughter goes missing & the police pull out all the stops to find her

This effort from Mario Caiano is often seen as genre hybrid of Gialli & eurocrime. Though, where something such as What Have They Done To Your Daughters manages to combine the best parts of both genres into a true hybrid, Calling All Police Cars seems to miss out on the important traits & beats that both genre's rely heavily on. This could be seen as a good thing, a film that doesn't get caught into the expected trappings - However, Caiano seems more interested in the details of the case rather than the thrills as we spend the majority of the film trapped in never-ending police procedural's.

The initial set-up is good, often crime films of this era will skip over fleshing out characters in favour of getting straight to the crime, however the time spent with the daughter & her family gave a layer of depth to the story which felt refreshing. After an intriguing initial 20 minutes the daughter has disappeared & then things seem to come to a standstill. Antonio Sabata is cast as the main police chief & is unfortunately wasted, his character isn't given much in the way of story, nor does Sabata get to show off any physicality. 

The plot regards a prostitution ring of school-girls, so of course there is plenty of young looking women in the nude - minus this, & a few graphic murders towards the end the exploitative side of this film is played down in favour of the plot. The problem is that nothing ever really comes to life quite how it should.

Lallo Gori's score is of the pulsating variety & is probably the most exciting thing on offer here. Calling All Police Cars does just about enough to make it a worthwhile watch, however anybody expecting the thrills of a euro-crime, or the kills of a Gialli will probably be disappointed. 

Rating: ★★½

Sabata investigates, & investigates some more.