Michele Massimo Tarantini (responsible for such classics as Massacre In Dinosaur Valley and Women In Fury) directs this odd Eurocrime comedy hybrid starring Luc Merenda (of Gambling City) in the lead role of Inspector Dario Mauri. He arrives in Naples with the specific task of fighting crime alongside the local police department, who are currently involved in figuring out the specifics of the local drug trade which seems to revolve around a crime lord named Domenico Laurenzi (Claudio Gora of Beast With A Gun).

When a shipment of Laurenzini's contraband is stolen while en route to its drop off point, he hires a deadly assassin named Cerullo (Giancarlo Badessi of Caligula) to figure out who stole his goods and make them pay. Luckily for Mauri he's got two things working in his favor – the first is a loyal, if kind of dopey, sidekick in the form of Sergeant Nicola Capece (Enzo Cannavale of Cinema Paradiso) and the second is an unknown informant who is sending him child like drawings that seem to be clues of some sort.

As Mauri and Capece close in on the crooks, things start to turn ugly when Cerullo resorts to whatever means necessary to keep his boss' secrets from the police that are trailing him – even if that means killing them, his own men, or a lovely model who happens to unfortunately know too much for her own good.

A Man Called Magnum is a pretty mixed up film. While the usual Polizia elements are all here (violent shoot outs, car chases, naked ladies, drugs and scum-ball rapists), the comedic interplay between Mauri and Capece prevents the movie from coming across as serious as it otherwise would. Right before and after a grisly rape scene we've got footage of the two cops making 'gay jokes' towards one another – politically correct it isn't, but mildly amusing? Well, no, not really. Sadly most of the humor is pretty bad and very dated, if it was even all that funny in the first place. There are a few good lines here and there and Cannavale shows a knack for physical comedy, playing well of the more serious looking Merenda, but it's just not good material that they're working with here.

Thankfully there are enough action scenes in here and enough police drama to make it worth a look despite the groan inducing humor of the dialogue. The direction and cinematography makes good use of the scenery in and around Naples and the pacing is fast and exciting. While the English dubbing makes the film unintentionally funny even when it's not supposed to be playing it for laughs, the Italian track presents the action scenes in a more serious manner and shows Merenda in a more interesting light.

The DVD

Video:

The 1.85.1 progressive scan anamorphic widescreen picture is good, but not great. The colors look a little on the flat side throughout most of the film and while there isn't a lot of print damage, there is some here and there that isn't too hard to spot. Moderate grain pops up almost as often as J&B whiskey bottles do, but it doesn't prove to be too distracting. Blacks are solid but could have been deeper. There's a pretty decent level of detail in the foreground and the background of the image and while this isn't a prefect transfer, for an older low budget import it's still pretty decent overall.