Super Fuzz (1980)

Directed by: Sergio Corbucci
Starring: Terence Hill, Ernest Borgnine

Dave Speed [Getting Underwater Directions from a Piranna]: Blub blub, glub bubble bubble.
Piranna: Bubble, glubble blub.

Super Fuzz was Italian star Terence Hill's biggest American hit, thanks to repeated screenings at local drive-ins and early morning HBO. Hill plays Dave Speed, a rookie cop who gets super powers when he's exposed to red radio-active plutonium. Mostly he uses his powers for good... catching bullets in his teeth, preventing pachyderm-automobile pile ups, that sort of thing. Of course, from time to time he uses his powers for his own personal use... like when he gets rid of the crowd at a football game so he can make out with his girlfriend (sucks to be them), or when he throws a ball that a bunch of kids are playing with into the ocean (what a jerk!)

What Speed doesn't realize is that his powers are lost anytime he sees the color red. Something about the color of the plutonium and equal but opposite powers equalling zero. I dunno, pretty advanced physics for a movie that considers a plate of spaghetti in the face high-comedy. Anyway, Speed doesn't figure out this pretty obvious weakness until over an hour into the movie. By that time he's neck deep in an investigation that involves counterfeit $1 Bills (yuk, yuk, yuk), an aging Starlet, and a mafioso wanna-be. He gets himself framed for the murder of his partner (Ernest Borgnine) & sent to Death Row, where he survives four execute attempts. He finally breaks out of jail and manages to somehow save Borgnine (with a piece of bubble gum no less) and clear his name.

This movie is much cornier than most of Hill's movies. Lots of broad physical humor, an abundance of silly puns, and a borderline-retarded plot. And that's not even mentioning the annoying soundtrack that accompanys all displays of super powers with enthusiastic cries of 'Supa SupaaaaaaaAAAA!' Of course, that's not to say that you won't enjoy this movie. Borgnine's acting is hilariously out of control as Speed's vetran partner and Hill retains his inate likability. Some of the slapstick scenes come across particuarly well... the scene where Speed gives three suspects a field sobriety test and forces them to beat each other up is always good for a laugh. Anyway, if you've got access to any other Terence Hill movies, I'd recommend you watch them instead. If not, you could do a lot worse in a corn-ball comedy than Super Fuzz.



- Micah