A Special Cop in Action

A Special Cop in Action
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Marino Girolami
Written by	Leila Buongiorno Gianfranco Clerici Vincenzo Mannino
Starring	Maurizio Merli
Music by	Franco Micalizzi
Cinematography	Fausto Zuccoli
Release date	1976 (1976)
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

A Special Cop in Action (originally titled Italia a mano armata) is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Marino Girolami, here credited as Franco Martinelli. The film is the final chapter in the Girolami's trilogy about Commissioner Betti, after Violent Rome and Violent Naples.

The main theme of the film was used in the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.

A crime syndicate starts a crime wave in Turin, they rob a bank, taking a hostage to get away from Police Inspector Betti and Ferrari, his partner. However, the hostage turned out to be their accomplice in disguise. Later, they hijack a school bus full of children to use as ransom.

Betti and Ferrari sees through the syndicate's scheme and ambushes them on their next robbery attempt, arresting all but one armed criminal. The remaining criminal takes one of their unarmed mules as hostage, trying the trick they used last time. However Betti sees it through and closes in on them, refusing their demands for a getaway. The armed bandit gambles by releasing all other individuals in the bank to appear genuine, however, the "customer" taken hostage was a career criminal known to the police and Betti. The police close in on them, forcing the crooks to give up.

The remaining criminals hide the schoolchildren in a nearby farm and lay low, but their cover is blown when one of the criminals try to rape a female cyclist nearby, leading Betti and the police close to in on them. They demand a large sum of cash and a getaway car, executing one child in the process. The child's mother, Anna, confronts Betti and blames him for her son's death. All other kids are released except the last one, Betti then offers to take the child's place to secure her release. The criminals agree and blindfolds him and take him away in the getaway car instead.

Betti is dumped on the highway and sustained injuries, impressed by his bravery, Anna visits him in the hospital and apologizes for her earlier comments. Betti then begins to round up the syndicate members, first chasing two of them through a wet market. The two crooks flee, but Betti hijacks a car and goes after them. After a lengthy chase, Betti destroys their car and arrests them. Another crook was chased by Betti across the rooftops, the crook panics and shoots him, nearly making Betti fall off the building. They then climb down the scaffolding, the crook tries to hijack a nearby car but was T-boned by a speeding truck, killing him.