Nocturnal Forum

Really very excited about having just bought a bunch of old pre-records, among them some Bruno Mattei madness, COP GAME (1988), in the form of a rare Canadian tape.

A Mattei I have yet to see and look very much forward to, the cast alone is mouth-watering for a Eurotrash junkie such as myself. Brent Huff takes his first leading part in an Italian action opus, fresh off of stuff like NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA (1985), Fred Olen Ray's ARMED RESPONSE (1986) along side legend, Lee Van Cleef and the U.S./Argentinian, STORMQUEST (1987). Joining him is the relatively unknown (at least to me) Max Laurel, who had popped up in Mattei's ROBOWAR - ROBOT DA GUERRA (1988) prior. As usual for this period in Bruno's prolific career, COP GAME was shot in the Philippines.

Also on hand are Romano Puppo, Werner Pochath, and Candice Daly (all of whom are no longer with us and greatly missed), as well as Robert Marius, Claudio Fragasso and Castellari regular, Massimo Vanni.

And this is yet another in the strange cases of Luciano Pigozzi, who although credited, apparently does not appear (???). Can anyone shed some light on that?

Can't wait to kick back with COP GAME later on and I look forward to comments on the film here at CN.

I know there's a cheapo US dvd out. Perhaps it's sourced from this Canadian tape?

In any case, I haven't seen the film but would love to check it out if there's a decent-looking version out there.

Finally sat down with this last night and I've got to be honest and say, although it definitely filled an hour and a half worth of Italo-Eurotrash explosiveness, it wasn't my favorite Mattei effort by far, or even just from the period (Bruno's 1987-'89 output). Let's face it - Bob Hunter is just no Vincent Dawn.

Much of the best action in COP GAME in fact was recycled from other, better films of it's ilk, namely Mattei's own STRIKE COMMANDO (1987) and a car chase sequence borrowing heavily from Antonio Margheriti's ARK OF THE SUN GOD (1983) (I SOPRAVVISSUTI DELLA CITTA MORTA). However, there is no disputing that some of the absurd dialogue in COP GAME is most definitely all it's own. One example has Macho Man, Brent Huff describing his partner Hawk's (Max Laurel) "rage" to a seedy coke pusher: "When he gets mad he makes Bruce Lee look like a pussy!". To be honest though, Hawk has all the menace of a seagull.

On the plus side, this was one of the meatier roles I've seen for one of my all-time favs, Romano Puppo. And yes, his character is called Captain Kirk here (with Huff at one point even making a hilariously ridiculous Star Trek reference!). And yes I can confirm from my print as well (Canadian VHS: 3 Star Releasing) - the pseudonymous Allan Collins is listed in the opening credits but alas, no Luciano Pigozzi to be found. Now this leads me to believe that like with ROBOWAR - ROBOT DA GUERRA (1988), ZOMBI 3 (1988) and TRAPPOLA DIABOLICA (1988) (STRIKE COMMANDO 2), his scenes were for some reason deleted. Either that or there's an actual Allan Collins appearing in these things and we've just not had a clue who he was. Why all the Pigozzi edits from around this time?

And lastly, where the hell did the Filipino chick who saves Huff's ass towards the end come from?!! Talk about lack of character build-up, she's just introduced as an afterthough as Hawk's apparent widow, no back history, voiceless, nameless. Ah hell, this is Mattei territory, who needs continuity anyway?

I think I might give this one another go.

Did you also notice that following the car crash the scene just completely jumps as well ?. I've got the Japanese Tape, be interesting if perhaps there are different edits of this movie. I enjoyed it as Huff is just priceless entertainment in all these Eighties flicks. bb