Blog #9 - Super Fuzz

            What is funny?  That’s a very complex question, and hard to answer.  Of course, you can always jump to the obvious example of irony, but is irony actually funny of itself or more a result of the circumstances surrounding it.  Alanis wasn’t right and didn’t know what irony is.  A, “No Smoking,” sign on your cigarette break is not ironic unless you happen to work at a cigarette manufacturing plant; and some just wouldn’t find anything involving smoking funny at all.  Still, we’re still stuck with trying to somehow define what funny is.  You see, what’s funny, is important when talking about B movies.  It’s important because for some of them, that’s how we define our enjoyment when watching.  It’s often about the humour found where humour was the last thing on the director’s mind.  So what do we do with an obviously B movie that’s also a comedy?

            That’s the essence of this week’s film Super Fuzz (Poliziotto superpiù), a film that was meant to be funny, but obviously had a budget low enough cement it in B movie lore.  But what’s the lesson here?   What makes this movie so great?  Well obviously talent from the leads, but there’s much more to it.  The film makers knew they didn’t have the kind of budget to make a blockbuster.  Instead, they decided to make the lack of money work to their advantage by purposefully being cheesy whenever possible.  With talent, enthusiasm, and effort they took what should have been a flop and reaped a bit of serious success here in Canada.  I saw this one in the theatre when it came out and knew it was a cheapie, but it was one of the best movies that year.  Just one more gem waiting for you to discover.

           

Super Fuzz (1980)

Director	Sergio Corbucci
The Main Players
Terence Hill	Dave Speed
Ernest Borgnine	Sgt. Willy Dunlop
Joanne Dru	Rosy LaBouche

Synopsis: 

            A rookie cop determined to serve a traffic violation notice travels to a recently abandoned American Indian village now converted to a weapons test range.  When a new type of weapon using red isotopes detonates above him, he is showered by red particles giving him super powers.

Review:

            This movie has a fantastic opening.  It starts just outside the prison walls holding Officer Dave Speed, recently convicted of murdering his supervisor Sgt. Dunlop.  The news reporter says Speed is about to get the electric chair because the three previous attempts to administer justice by hanging, firing squad, and gas failed to finish him.  This is where our hero begins a narrative taking us back to where things started getting strange for him.  It all begins with him trying to do the best job he can.

            Dave wants to deliver a traffic violation to a reclusive Indian who has sought refuge in his swamp village reservation.  He doesn’t realize, until its too late, that the village has been abandoned and sold so it can be used as a weapons test range.  A new weapon using red isotopes is detonated above him and Dave is completely buried in red dust and presumed dead.  A few days later he emerges back in town only to find his boss Dunlop has been busted down to traffic duty as punishment for Dave’s demise.  Just as Dunlop is about to be creamed by a speeding delivery truck, Dave is able, by his will, to prevent the accident.  He has become Super Fuzz.

            Well the rest of the movie is quite predictable and contrived, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t entertaining.  Terence Hill just has a likeable quality that makes almost everything he does on film funny and exciting.  He projects an almost idiot like quality that you’re certain is hiding a genius behind it.  I just can’t figure out a better way to describe it.  I suppose he embodies what we all are at any given time.  Some days you feel like the world is your oyster, and other days we are the person who just isn’t smart enough to work the pull tab on the oyster can.  It means we can identify with Dave Speed.  He’s the kind of person, who when endowed with super powers, does what he can to right the wrongs in the world just like we’d want to.  In short, he’s just a fun great guy, and like they say, it couldn’t have happened to a better person.

Lessons Learned:

• It doesn’t take much to bring down a missile.  The USAF wasted a lot of money on the Patriot.
• A pool can easily be confused with the ocean.
• We didn’t have high expectations for movies in the ‘80s; we didn’t pay that much.
• Never catch a bullet with your teeth; you have no idea where it’s been.

 Watch the Trailer