Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)

AKA Suspected Death of a Minor

Along with giallo and spaghetti western, one of the most popular branches of the Italian genre family tree would be Eurocrime, or “Poliziotteschi”. Taking their cues from the gritty American cop thrillers of the late 60's/early 70's, particularly films like The French Connection (1971) and the Dirty Harry series as well as films like Death Wish (1974) and their ilk, the Italian's turned up the grit, violence, nihilism and due to various events sweeping Italy at the time, sociopolitical commentary and thanks to repeat appearances in many films, actors like John Saxon, Thomas Milian, Franco Nero and Maurizio Merli became synonymous with the genre. Given how lucrative the Italian genre film boom of the 70's was, several genre specialists turned to the poliziotteschi, with two of the most memorable being Ruggero Deodato's Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) and Lucio Fulci's Contrband (1980). The poliziotteschi is also where several of Umberto Lenzi's most revered films are found, titles like Gang War in Milan (1973), Almost Human (1974), and The Rat, the Cynic and the Fist (1977). Being a jack of all genres, of course Sergio Martino would dip his toes into the Eurocrime pool a few times, 1975's Suspicious Death of a Minor being one such example, standing out as one of the most unusual and off the wall approaches to the poliziotteschi genre with touches of giallo as well.

When the body of Marissa, a young woman revealed to be the niece of Gaudenzio Pesce, a wealthy and powerful banker, is discovered slashed to death in a seedy apartment building, Paolo Germi (Claudio Cassinelli), a police inspector whom had previously been following the woman begins to suspect there is much more to a case he had already been investigating. Putting his unorthodox methods to use, Germi enlists the help of Giannino, a petty thief to assist him in getting information from Marissa's circle of friends. The more Germi discovers, the more he begins to uncover the inner workings of a teenage prostitution and drug trafficking ring. Much to the chagrin of Germi's police chief, all clues lead to Pesce and with more women turning up dead, Germi begins to find himself in both a professional and personally dangerous predicament.

There's poliziotteschi, there's giallo, and then there's Suspicious Death of a Minor (Morte sospetta di una minorenne), a lunatic fusion of the two that's also a comedy? Indeed, this is an incredibly bi-polar film that switches moods without warning, making for one head scratching, but unique and rewarding viewing experience. Part of what makes the tonal shifts seem so extreme is that the serious parts of the film are dealing with some pretty dark material in teenage trafficking, while the more frivolous bits in the film are so over the top loony they come across as even more jarring. Ultimately though, it ends up working due in part to the film succeeding at both ends of the spectrum. Martino starts the film off on a somewhat odd foot with the first 40 or so minutes playing out like an almost stream of consciousness succession of random scenarios, with Martino planting various seeds of a mystery yet with little to no context or character motivation. Slowly but surely however more bits of said mystery begin to unveil themselves, becoming more complex and involving, thus making the main crime portion of the film one of the most intriguing out of any film in the Eurocrime cannon. Then there's the comedic bits, most of which fairly ridiculous, such as a car chase where the doors are ripped off the car as a defense mechanism and a shootout on a roller coaster, a good example of the film being both serious and absurd at the same time.  

By 1975, leading man Claudio Cassinelli was already an Italian genre veteran having appeared in films like Damiano Damiani's The Devil is a Woman (1974), Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974) and Gianfranco Mingozzi's Flavia the Heretic (1974). Suspicious Death of a Minor was his first Martino film, although he would go on to become a reoccurring player for Martino with roles in Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978), Alligator (1978), Island of the Fishmen (1979) and Scorpion With Two Tails (1982). His last film ended up being Martino's Hands of Steel (1986) after an accident on set resulted in a helicopter crash, killing Cassinelli at the age of 46. Suspicious Death of a Minor was Martino's third poliziotteschi type film, having first tried his hand in the genre with The Violent Professionals (1973) and he would subsequently helm two more films under the Eurocrime umbrella prior to Suspicious Death of a Minor, Silent Action (1975) and Gambling City (1975). Clearly when compared to to other films in the poliziotteschi genre, not to mention giallo as again, the film has both feet planted in both, Suspicious Death of a Minor probably seems as far removed as possible, yet its the entirely singular nature of the film that makes it a genre highlight as well as showcasing Martino's originality, approaching the material in such an out of left field manner.