Suspected Death of a Minor

Suspected Death of a Minor poster Available DVDs

Also Known As

• Too Young To Die
• Morte Sospetta di una Minorenne (Italy)
• La Sospechosa muerte de una menor (Spain)
• The Suspicious Death of a Minor (USA)

Main Details

• Released in 1975
• Color
• Running Time: 100 Min.
• Production Co: Dania Film
• Distribution Co: Titanus Distribuzione (Italy)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Sergio Martino
• Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Sergio Martino
• Starring Claudio Cassinelli, Mel Ferrer, Lia Tanzi, Gianfranco Barra, Patrizia Castaldi, Adolfo Caruso
• Produced by Luciano Martino
• Original Music by Luciano Michelini
• Cinematography by Giancarlo Ferrando
• Film Editing by Raimondo Crociani

Film Review

Template:Sergio Martino

With Sergio Martino's Morte Sospetta di una Minorenne, there was a collision of two of his most loved subgenres, the poliziotteschi (cop-crime film) and the giallo (murder-mystery), making the movie sort of tough to categorize as one specific kind of film.

A beautiful curly redheaded woman named Marisa (Patrizia Castaldi) is attending a dance in the city of Milan. While there, she meets a bespectcled man (Claudio Cassinelli) who asks her to "spend some time" with him. Soon, another mysterious man wearing mirrored shades makes his presence known and when Marisa sees him, she runs away scared. The man chases after her, but she manages to hide long enough to get to a phone booth where she calls a friend.

Marisa goes to see this friend at their apartment, but suddenly the man with the sunglasses appears and attacks her, slitting her throat and stabbing her repeatedly. Soon, the cops are on the scene and of course, begin investigating. This is when the other man from the dance appears and starts trying to find out who killed Marisa. We never know who or why he is involved at this point. Is he a concerned admirer? A private eye hired by a loved one?

While leaving the crime scene, one of the police inspectors has his gold lighter stolen by a local punk kid named Giannino (Adolfo Caruso). When the bespectled investigator confronts Giannino as he tries to steal a radio from his car, he asks him to be his assistant in crime (or so we think). One of the running gags in the film that provides some humor is that the bespectled investigator keeps breaking his glasses.

Meanwhile, a local doctor's son is kidnapped and the police are on that case. After the doctor pays the ransom, the boy is returned to him. After some pretty harsh methods of questioning, the investigator figures out the man behind the kidnapping is a guy named "Menga" (Franco Alpestre). So, he heads to his apartment and just kills him, then waits for his thugs to show up with the billions in ransom money. When they do, he kills one of them, but another gets away. He then jumps in his car with Giannino and they get into a very exciting and funny car chase with the police (who are already chasing Giannino for another crime). When the investigator takes a wrong turn and pulls into the police station (???), it is revealed to us that he is, in fact, an undercover police officer named Germi which also really surprises his young cohort Giannino and finally explains his motives for looking into Marisa's death. When the killings of Marisa's aquaintances begin occuring again at the hands of the mirrored shade wearing creep, it leads us back into the giallo-inspired part of the film. Germi along with the help of Giannino begin questioning some of Marisa's female friends and we find out an especially lurid backstory involving a teenage prostitution ring and a respected figure Marisa knew well.

While Suspected Death of a Minor doesn't quite top Martino's earlier films, it's still really well made and entertaining. It provides a genre mash up that gives the standard police procedural story extra twists. Claudio Cassinelli's Inspector Germi is yet another of the polizio genre's rebel cop characters who were themselves inspired in large part by Dirty Harry. This brings another level of fun to the story. You're never too sure if he's truly nuts or just bluffing. The film also contains plenty of sexy women, brutal violence, action and humor.

A film fans of the giallo and polizia genres will want to see! --PopeyePete