PRONTO

Aka Pronto ad uccidere (I), Tote pflastern seinen Weg (WG), Risking (International)
1976
Italy/West Germany
Alberto Marras and Vincenzo Salviani for T.D.L. Cin.ca (Rome), Hermes Synchron (Berlin)
Director : Franco Prosperi
Story & screenplay: Peter Berling, Antonio Cucca, Claudio Fragasso, Alberto Marras
Music : Ubaldo Continiello (ed. mus. Bierre). The song 'I'm Startin' Tomorrow' is by M. Fraser and sung by Ray Lovelock
Cinematography : Roberto D'Ettore Piazzoli {Vistavision - Technoscopes}
Editor : Amedeo Giomini
Art director : Dario Micheli
Original running time : 95 mins
Italian takings : n/a
Shot at: Centro Cin.co Dear Studios (Rome), with exteriors in Rome, San Remo and Monte Carlo
Cast : Ray Lovelock (Massimmo Torlani), Martin Balsam (Giulianelli), Elke Sommer (Perroni's secretary), Ettore Manni (Perroni), Heinz Gomez (Piero), Ernesto Colli (the pusher), Peter Berling (the 'Bavoso'), Riccardo Cucciolla (Inspector Sacchi), Dante Cleri (the helpful old prisioner), Massimo Ciprari (Giovanni Caputo), Francesco D'Adda (the jewellery store owner), Philips Dallas (Marti), Consalvo Dell'Arti (San Remo Chief Commissioner), Galimberto Galimberti (Tequila), Franco Galizi, Emilio Messina, Enrico Gozzo, Gino Pagnani, Anna Taddei (Massimo's Mother)

Masimo (Ray Lovelock), a young slip of a lad, holds up a jewellery store - rather inadequately, as it turns out. Without much difficulty he is captured and sent off to prison awaiting trial. He immediately has problems with a thug on the bunk below him, who has hairy shoulders and states rather reasonably 'don't want you crapping on my head'. By beating the living hell out of this Neanderthal he shows that he's no sissy and wins the admiration of the old lags.

It becomes clear that he is, in fact, a plant; a policeman driven by vengeance after some bank robbers shot his mum in the back and crippled her. His job is to infiltrate the inner circle of racketeer Giulianelli (Martin Balsam), and they are soon such good chums that they escape together and set about re-establishing the don's old business. Massimo proves to be a rather effective criminal - rather too effective, as far as his superiors (who impotently watch over the ever-increasing bodycount) are concerned.

However, he does seem to be making progress, meeting a selection of bigwigs from the Roman underworld. Most particularly, he seems to be making inroads into the Marseilles-San Remo-Genoa drugs ring operated by Perroni (Ettore Manni), a close associate of Giulianelli's. Before long he is trusted enough to be charged with driving a truck full of narcotics (hidden in eggshells) across the French border. Unfortunately, things aren't as simple as they seem.

Pronto is a top notch crime thriller which manages to exploit it's uncomplicated storyline to the full. Fast moving and always engrossing, it manages to avoid the grubbier aspects of the genre while maintaining a healthy spattering of sleaze (most notably one entirely unnecessary 'night club with naked dancing babe' scene). There are some great throwaway lines of dialogue - 'with a tank like hers, I wonder how often she gets filled', for instance, or the even more poetical 'this shit is still a shit, flush him!' There are also some comedy dubbed whores and a protracted outtake from a mid-seventies football match (being watched by someone who's a dead ringer for a young Harvey Kietel).

On the downside, there is a pretty horrible soundtrack that includes a pathetic country and western tune that sounds suspiciously as if Ray Lovelock - questionably talented in the vocal arts at the best of times - is singing. This also wasn't helped by the fact that the version under review sounded as if it was running through a phase pedal.

Franco Prosperi was one of the more efficient jobbing directors to work in the genre. After helming a number of mondos - including the notorious Mondo Cane (63) and Africa Blood and Guts (66) - he went on to make a variety of interesting films, most notably the excellent Professional Killer (66), starring Robert Webber and Franco Nero. Unfortunately, he was reduced to making run of the mill sword and sorcery films in the eighties, such as Throne of Fire (82) and The Invincible Barbarian (83).

Peter Berling, who not only acted in this but contributed to the script, had a varied career that ranged from working with arthouse darling Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love is Colder than Death (69)) to sexploitation specialist Adrian Hoven (The Erotic Adventures of Siegfried (71)). He can also be spotted in more mainstream items such as The Name of the Rose (86) and Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (88). Despite her high billing, sexpot Elke Sommer - who looks rather puffy and wears huge hexagonal sunglasses - only appears fleetingly in the last third of the film.

Reviewed by Matt Blake