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Almost Human -aka “Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare”(1974)

Dir: Umberto Lenzi

Giulio Sacchi (Tomas Milian, “Face to Face“, “Cat Chaser“) is a totally unhinged, trigger happy, sadistic killer.
He’s also a liability as far as his partners in crime are concerned when he needlessly shots a traffic cop during a robbery.
Kicked (literally) out of the gang a drunk, wired and depressed Giulio, while robbing a cigarette machine, stabs another Cop to death before making his sorry way to his put-upon girlfriend Iona (Anita Strindberg, “A Lizard in a Woman's Skin”) and, after a spot of rough sexual therapy, Giulio hatches a plan.

Sacchi recruits two weak willed , small time, crooks, Vittorio (Gino Santercole) and the nervous Carmine (Ray Lovelock, “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie“), and tells them that he plans to kidnap the Daughter, Mary-Lou (Laura Belli), of Iona’s rich boss and hold her for a high ransom. He also lets them know that he has no plans to hand her back alive!

The kidnapping though is just the start of an chaotic orgy of sexual sadism and murder as Giulio becomes more and more insane and an Inspector Grandi (Henry Silva, “Alligator“, “Bronx Warriors 2”), who was investigating the stabbed Cop’s death, doggedly tracks the gang’s trail of destruction….

 

Opening with a great car chase and not letting up from there for the next 40 minutes or so, “Almost Human” is regarded as one of the best Euro-Crime movies for good reason.
Veteran Euro writer Ernesto Gastaldi’s (“The Case of the Bloody Iris”) screenplay delivers some great hard-nosed dialogue and a couple of pretty effective twists and turns but the film’s main strength is the character of Giulio Sacchi and the way cult Euro sensation Tomas Milian brings him to life.

spot the difference

With his delightfully dated flowery shirts, sunglasses and wild hair (you have to wonder if infamous Brit pop/rock nutter Liam Gallagher of “Oasis” based his whole look, and personality, on Milian’s character!) Giulio, whether blasting away with a machine gun or popping pills and swigging alcohol, is a horrible joy to watch.
Milian’s cackling, brutish, twisted performance (much of the character‘s physical action and quirks were mainly improvised) not only brings out Giulio’s dangerously unpredictable, psychotic traits but also the fact that he is basically just a sadistic, arrogant child.
Both Milian and Giulio totally dominate the film and when the pace slackens and the plot stalls during the middle portion we thankfully have Milian’s performance and Giulio’s character to keep everything alive. It’s one of the great Euro Trash performances ever, as simple as that.

Although Giulio’s nemesis Inspector Grandi has a couple of good ‘angry’ scenes as the criminal lowlife he has to exist with start to get him down, he does tend so drift aimlessly in and out of the film until the last third and due to the sheer power of Milan and his flamboyant role, Silva himself comes across as faintly bland (he only really comes alive as the movie reaches it’s conclusion), and his character almost seems like an afterthought at times with hurried explanations or just plain luck making up any advancements in the case.

Both Gino Santercole and Ray Lovelock do good jobs as the henchmen and a fresh-faced Lovelock especially does well in getting out from Milian’s shadow during a couple of scenes, most memorably during the kidnapping where he explodes in anger at his actions and what their consequences have been.
Laura Belli is not given much to do or that much screentime but she still makes Mary-Lou a strong, ballsy character who takes some nasty abuse (the panty baring near-sexual assault she endures is a classic example of 70’s Euro exploitation attitude) but never bows to her captors.

That aforementioned sexual attitude is something that runs throughout the film. Be it the way Giulio forces himself upon Iona (who quickly of course moans with pleasure and succumbs) , to the infamous scene of a topless woman hanging from a chandelier, to the already mentioned abuse of Mary-Lou , there is a very un-pc attitude of force and titillation as far as sex and nudity go. Even an old man that the gang buy guns from has an ex-prostitute Wife who he used to pimp out!
Violence is sporadic with a few messy bullet hits, knifings and various beatings but even when there is no actual violence on display Giulio brings an air of barely controlled violence to every situation.

Lenzi (best known in general for his trashy, exploitative horror flicks like “Cannibal Ferox”) brings some great energy to the action scenes and handles the actors wonderfully. But he seems a bit lost in what to actually do when no action, or an important conversation, is taking place and the film (and the characters) seem to hang around aimlessly while we are waiting for the father to pay the ransom, and basically only Milan’s performance and Giulio’s rough treatment of Mary-Lou, holds the interest at this point.
And during the finale you have to wonder why the hell the police are so slow and what their actual plan was. Messy confusion in the film’s structure damage the unfolding action here it has to be said.
Also his stated aim of showing that although Giulio is indeed a despicable person his poor, no breaks, upbringing and life should be taken into account as far as his actions are concerned (the screenplay itself also shoves in a few heavy-handed ‘look, rich people are all corrupt and we are hard done by’ speeches by Giulio and has the members of a well-off household, the gang bust in on, as a bunch of shallow, dysfunctional schemers) and it comes across as dreadfully simplistic and tagged on to try and add an aspect of social importance to what is actually just a well made action/exploitation movie.

Aside from Milian, another major strength of “Almost Human” is it’s superb Ennio Morricone score.
Morricone utilises meaty drum and piano pieces, punctuated with horns, to add excitement and drive to the on-screen action (as well as simply making for a catchy score) and although he would later rearrange (along with his “The Battle of Algiers”score) this music for his effective (though obviously lazy) score for “The Untouchables”, here it still seems fresh and exciting and helps make the film as good as it is.

It all ends on a nice twist (though it strangely stints on the bloody violence seen elsewhere) and you have certainly had a great time in Giulio’s twisted company and some fine action and violence has been presented, but you can’t help but feel that the second half of the film (for the most part, though it has its moments) compares quite badly with the full-on bombastic first half.
Still Milian, the score, the well done action, and a fine support cast, ultimately make “Almost Human” a pleasure to watch, despite the occasional lapses in structure.