This is Corbuchi's third entry in a series of cop-thrillers featuring Thomas Millian as inspector Nico Giraldi. This series features more humor than other Italian cop-thrillers. They also contain less violence and less of a political statement. And worst of all there is hardly a story-line. Instead the movie focuses on Millian as a fun-loving member of a anti-theft squad. This particular movie is even a step down from it's earlier entry's. If you're looking for comedy go for it, but if you're looking for a good example of an Italian cop-thriller with lots of action, violence, corruption, and a revenge-theme you'll have to look elsewhere.

While keeping an eye on his small time crook brother in law, Inspector Nico Giraldi gets involved in a murder case set in the world of Formula One racing. Giraldi is suspended for trying to cover up for his brother in law and becomes afraid his wife and son may be targeted next. Therefore he calls in the help of his childhood friend and chief informant, Venticello.

I didn't much like this film when I first saw it ten or twelve years ago, but I was probably expecting a serious, fast-paced, violent Italian crime film as many of Tomas Milian's mid-70s films were. However this one emphasizes the comedy at least as much as the action, although it is still a successful package and the comedy/crime mixture works well. I haven't see all the later films (which ran well into the 1980's) with Milian as unconventional police inspector Nico Giraldi, but the one after this THE GANG THAT SOLD America, which also features a lot of US location shooting, does not work that well in my opinion and is full of dated pop culture references and unfunny humor. The first scene of LITTLE ITALY--as a dirty old man is looking through binoculars at a lady undressing...while his apartment is completely stripped clean by robbers only a few feet away from him!--sets the tone for the film. The plot, such as it is, takes Milian to New York and eventually to Las Vegas (and eventually to the gas chamber in Nevada in an outrageous climax!), and there's lots of great location footage of him walking along the old Vegas strip circa 1978. Eli Wallach appears (though his voice doesn't!) as a mafia don, in a role that didn't require much of this fine actor, but he plays comedy well and is good in the scenes involving his underlings, his red-haired wallflower oversexed daughter, and Milian (the scene in the Italian restaurant where Milian throws a pizza in the face of one of Wallach's underlings is classic!). Bombolo, who appears in a number of these later Nico Giraldi films, is a fine comic foil for Milian, and they have a good chemistry. I've yet to see the 1980's entries in this series (any kind soul out there with extra copies?), but in LITTLE ITALY the series still has some life in it, and Bruno Corbucci makes the mix of lowbrow Italian comedy and Italian police action work well. Not a classic, and action-oriented fans will be let down, but Milian fans will enjoy it.

Emergency Squad/Squadra Volante (the latter actually translating as 'Flying Squad') is an okayish no-budget poliziotteschi that there's absolutely no reason to watch but which fills the time slightly better than expected if you do. The usual cop out to find his wife's killer plot suffers from having a lead who is barely present (the usually reliable Tomas Milian is a surprisingly dull turn in an almost non-existent role), but there are a few minor flourishes (such as Milian imagining crooks standing in front of the targets in a pistol range) and it fulfils every exploitation film's remit: always include an explosion for the trailer and book a helicopter for one day's shooting. The best moment comes not in the film itself but on the DVD extras in a brief but rambling interview with the film's dying director, Stelvio Massi, when he tries to remember the name of some American director who wrote him a fan letter until his wife suddenly remembers: "Tarantino?" "Yes, I think that's it."

In Italy this is considered a B-movie. Anyway it is a sort of thriller, very rich in strange and funny characters, sometimes a little exaggerated. Dialogues are often based on Roman dialect which could be difficult to understand (sometimes it is even for Italians). Among conversations, there's a lot of gags, especially between two main characters, Nico Giraldi and Venticello, representing people coming from the same poor, post-war background. One of them is a policeman (Nico), the other one (Venticello) is a definitely unlucky, ignorant, little thief. Once were friends. In a way, they still are. The main soundtrack theme is obsessive and distressing, creating a suspense that's difficult to imagine. I saw this movie several times, but from time to time I like to watch it again, just for fun. A movie rich of rude dialogs and scenes that make you laugh even before any of the characters has the chance to speak. It could be considered a B-movie but I think that soon it will be re-evaluated.

Mlle de Maupin escapes from her uncle's castle, invaded by Hungarian troops, under the guise of a clergyman named Theodore. An army recruiter forces Theodore to enlist in the King's army, and not even the religious robe is an insurance against it. Theodore is assigned to be aide-de-camp to Alcibiade, a man as virile in combat, as he seems troubled for the figure of his aid... D'Albert, an aristocrat, will expose Theodore's true sex, and after a number of confusing, comedy situations, Alcibiade will appease his troubled feelings.

Urania Cabral returns to Santo Domingo, after several years, and remembers her and her family's relationship to Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican dictator, as well as the events surrounding his assassination.

Leo (Rod Steiger) is an aristocrat whose family fortunes have plummeted in this downbeat melodrama. He seeks to reverse his money problems by courting the wealthy Mariagrazia (Paulette Goddard), throwing over his former lover Lisa (Shelley Winters) in his quest to continue his posh lifestyle. Mariagrazia is too caught up in the attention of the charming, conniving Leo to notice that he also makes a play for her daughter Carla (Claudia Cardinale). Mariagarzia continues to want Leo even after he gains control of family fortune and property. Meanwhile, Carla's brother Michele (Tomas Milian) takes up with the jilted Lisa. Finally, in a most poignant scene, the ailing matron finally realizes she has been used by Leo. Excellent performances all around.
~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide