Flatfoot in Africa (1978)

If there is one thing you can always rely upon, it is that a Bud Spencer solo-movie will ultimately involve the big man single-handedly slapping a horde of villainous toughs into submission.  So it is with Flatfoot in Africa, (the trailer here is the US version, which re-titles the film The Knock Out Cop), a pretty typical late seventies vehicle for Spencer.  This is the third in a series of four films in which Bud Spencer played Neapolitan cop 'Flatfoot', a sort of comedic Italian 'Dirty Harry' who uses his outsize fists instead of a .44 Magnum.  Only the first is set entirely in Naples, the second takes him to Hong Kong and the fourth to Egypt.  Flatfoot in Africa has a short prologue in Naples, setting up the plot with a South African cop trying to contact Spencer about a drug smuggling racket being shot dead in front of him.  Naturally, 'Flatfoot' heads for South Africa where, conveniently, his former sidekick Caputo has relocated after retiring from the police and finds himself looking after the dead cop's now orphaned young son in-between investigating the drug smuggling case by beating up everyone in sight.

Which is pretty much the standard set-up for many of Spencer's movies of the era: tough guy hero has to juggle his brawling adventures with looking after a young kid, forcing him to get in touch with his sensitive side.  But it's a formula that works well for Spencer's regular screen persona of the grouchy big guy with the heart of gold.  The film itself is typical not just of Bud Spencer vehicles, but also of Italian comedy action/adventures films of the era, combining pratfalls and physical comedy, a travelogue to exotic locations punctuated by bursts of elaborate action sequences, including chases and fights.  Not surprisingly, Flatfoot in Africa also includes some of the sort of racial 'jokes' common in the seventies - the boy Bodo being told that he has gone white with fright, for instance, or Caputo blacking up as a disguise but, in the English language version, at least, these are pretty mild and kept to a minimum.  It's notable that in the English language version Spencer isn't dubbed with his usual voice, that of Edward Mannix, although, in the Italian original he does get to speak with his own voice, (Spencer was apparently usually dubbed by another Italian actor as his native Neapolitan accent was unpopular in many parts of the country).  In common with most films of this genre, it all goes on a little too long and starts to flag about a third of the way through, but picks up for one of those trademark climactic brawls that were always so well choreographed.  (Despite the fact that they are presented on the level of a cartoon, the UK prints often severely trimmed these sequences in Bud Spencer and Terrance Hill movies, on the pretext that young viewers might be encouraged to try some of the more violent moves themselves).

I have to admit that I have a tremendous soft spot for these movies, whether they feature Bud Spencer solo, or with Terrence Hill, (or Hill on his own).  They all tend to follow a  standard formula and are very undemanding, but they are a lot a fun if you are in the right mood and both Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill were tremendously charismatic performers.  (Hill still is, last time I checked he was still active as an actor, despite being in his eighties).