...a tutte le auto della polizia...

"Calling All Police Cars" directed by Mario Caiano is an intriguing Italian oddity as it mixes elements of poliziotteschi and giallo.Massimo Dallamano's effective giallo "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?" is an obvious influence here.The body of murdered teenage girl is found at a lake.Commissario Fernando Solmi(Antonio Sabato)leads an investigation and he discovers a teenage prostitution racket.During the final third of "Calling All Police Cars" three vicious murders are committed by black gloved killer including nasty throat slitting.There is plenty of nudity and like I already said there is an emphasis on police procedural methods during the first hour of Mario Caiano's movie.7 nude teenagers out of 10.

The Giallo was one of the more popular genres in Italy during the early seventies, and as the decade moved on (and Dirty Harry was released), the Polizi flick pushed the Giallo out a little. Mario Caiano's Calling All Police cars is a sort of mixture of the two; for the first half of the film, it plays out like a Polizi flick and then as we move into the final third, the film transforms into a Giallo. Rather than feel like two movies stuck together, however, the film actually does feel like a complete whole and the two blend well with each other. The plot takes obvious influence from Massimo Dallamano's unofficial 'Schoolgirls in Peril' trilogy and puts its focus on corruption inside a school. The film begins by focusing on Fiorella Icardi, the daughter of a rich surgeon. She lies to her parents about where she's going and promptly goes missing. Due to her father's standing in the community, the police mount a big search for the girl; who promptly turns up in the river with a bullet in her brain. Commissioner Fernando Solmi investigates and he is lead to a schoolgirl prostitution ring.

The first two thirds of the film are rather short on action and put more focus on building up the situation and characters as well as showing us some police procedure. It's all very well done and that is thanks mostly to director MMario Caiano who gives the film a great style that suits the film perfectly, as well as pulling great performances from his cast, which includes Antonio Sabato in the lead role. Despite taking obvious influence from Massimo Dallamano's films, this one is not nearly as sleazy and that is down to the fact that we focus more on the police investigation and characters than the actual schoolgirls. This may not please some movie fans; but for me, Calling All Police Cars is a better film for it as the director keeps the focus on things integral to the plot. The film really takes off in the final third when many Giallo themes start being incorporated and we are treated to three murder scenes; the final one of which is particularly bloodthirsty and a scene that the great Dario Argento would be proud of! The mystery itself comes to a satisfying, if not particularly inventive, conclusion at the close and overall; I would not hesitate to recommend this film to fans of Italian thrillers.

This one didn't quite catch fire for me and I had never heard of the director. It turns out that Mario Caiano has made almost 50 movies though not many of note. The most interesting sounding one is a giallo, L'Occhio Nel Labirinto, which I shall seek out although the film in question here being some mix of crime and giallo is less that awe inspiring.

It begins well enough but is never really engaging with uninteresting characters and a missing girl we barely know. After a protracted police procedural section the picture becomes more lurid and there is plenty of young flesh but still we remain uninvolved because of lack of charisma, mundane dialogue and lack of pace or direction.

Mario Caiano's Calling All Police Cars is a mix of the poliziotteschi and giallo genres, but isn't a particularly good example of either. The police procedural part (which takes up the first hour) is fairly boring and uneventful, and while the last 25 minutes or so delivers several bloody giallo-style murders, they're not that creative or stylish in execution.

Antonio Sabato stars as Commissario Fernando Solmi, who leads a search for missing schoolgirl Fiorella Icardi (Adriana Falco), daughter of rich and influential surgeon Professore Andrea Icardi (Gabriele Ferzetti). The hunt comes to an end when the girl's body is found in a lake with a bullet in the back of her head. As Solmi investigates the murder, he uncovers an underage prostitution ring, and prompts the killer to get rid of anyone who might know too much.

The film's schoolgirls-for-sex storyline gives the film a sleazy vibe that will appeal to fans of trashier giallos, especially with its plentiful female nudity (N.B. despite looking like jailbait, the actresses concerned were not as young as their characters). The murders that come later in the film are suitably nasty in tone (especially a throat slashing, which results in several generous spurts of blood) but would have been more effective if they had been spaced further apart throughout the film, rather than coming in such quick succession.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

This extremely rare and hardly known film (as far as I know, it was never released outside of Italy) is an interesting mix of a classic crime story and a typical giallo. In the first half of the film, there is only one murder to be solved, but as soon as the police comes closer to the truth, people are killed in usual giallo style, during thrilling and atmospheric intense scenes. This mixture may seem odd (one may ask why the film wasn't made in giallo style right from the beginning), but it works quite well and keeps the tension up until the end. The murder scenes are nasty, and the identity of the killer really a big surprise. The movie has also its tragic moments, but never becomes exaggeratedly melodramatic.

One of those films that deserve a far broader release, interesting not only for giallo fans.