While perfectly watchable and with at least two incredible set pieces (a shootout on a rollercoaster and a showdown on a cinema roof that opens) this movie is not a giallo.
As in a giallo, there is a murderer skulking about, but the search for his identity does not drive the movie's story as is standard for giallo films. Instead, we learn who he is early on. He's not even the proper antagonist of the story. That would be the international banker who orchestrates the film's crimes, just as "the Frog" does in The French Connection.
Also, our protagonist in this movie is not a regular citizen pulled into a murder mystery, which is so essential to the giallo narrative structure. Instead, he is a cop, who like The French Connection's Popeye Doyle, relishes breaking the rules. Also, like Popeye Doyle, he relishes the chase. This film has quite a few chase sequences. One takes place on busy city streets and lasts a very long time, much like Doyle's famous inner-city pursuit of the bad guy riding from stop to stop on an elevated subway train in The French Connection.
As much as I love 70s Italian cinema, the Italians just don't hold a candle to 70s Hollywood when it comes to gritty action flicks. This movie invites the comparison and then suffers from it. It's just not anywhere near as good as Bullitt, Death Wish, The French Connection, or Dirty Harry.
There are other essential giallo elements missing from The Suspicious Death of a Minor. Its kills are not creative, but are instead prosaic. Similarly, there is hardly any nudity. The tone is not dark and mysterious, but generally humorous and jaunty. Moreover, absolutely nobody in this film looks particularly fashionable (except maybe that coke dealer in the crimson red shirt, who is onscreen for about a minute).
Don't get me wrong. This movie is not bad. But it's also not a giallo.
As in a giallo, there is a murderer skulking about, but the search for his identity does not drive the movie's story as is standard for giallo films. Instead, we learn who he is early on. He's not even the proper antagonist of the story. That would be the international banker who orchestrates the film's crimes, just as "the Frog" does in The French Connection.
Also, our protagonist in this movie is not a regular citizen pulled into a murder mystery, which is so essential to the giallo narrative structure. Instead, he is a cop, who like The French Connection's Popeye Doyle, relishes breaking the rules. Also, like Popeye Doyle, he relishes the chase. This film has quite a few chase sequences. One takes place on busy city streets and lasts a very long time, much like Doyle's famous inner-city pursuit of the bad guy riding from stop to stop on an elevated subway train in The French Connection.
As much as I love 70s Italian cinema, the Italians just don't hold a candle to 70s Hollywood when it comes to gritty action flicks. This movie invites the comparison and then suffers from it. It's just not anywhere near as good as Bullitt, Death Wish, The French Connection, or Dirty Harry.
There are other essential giallo elements missing from The Suspicious Death of a Minor. Its kills are not creative, but are instead prosaic. Similarly, there is hardly any nudity. The tone is not dark and mysterious, but generally humorous and jaunty. Moreover, absolutely nobody in this film looks particularly fashionable (except maybe that coke dealer in the crimson red shirt, who is onscreen for about a minute).
Don't get me wrong. This movie is not bad. But it's also not a giallo.