- Year
- 1976
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 92 min
- Director
- Umberto Lenzi
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- obscure (59/100)
- Also known as
- Tough Cop
Free Hand for a Tough Cop
Tomas Milian debuts Er Monnezza, the filthiest man in Italian crime cinema, and steals his own movie.
A rogue Rome cop springs a foul-mouthed petty thief from custody to help him run down a child kidnapper, and Umberto Lenzi shoots the chase at a dead sprint. The thief is Tomas Milian debuting Er Monnezza, the greasy-wigged, rotten-toothed Roman lowlife he would ride through a decade of crime pictures, and he walks off with every scene he is in. Henry Silva supplies the cold-blooded villainy.
The plot is an excuse. Milian is the film.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 23 Sept 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Filed alongside
▶ watchobscureCops vs. Thugs
Fukasaku again, arguing the two categories in the title are the same.
▶ watchobscureThe Cynic, the Rat and the Fist
Late-cycle Castellari. Everyone is exhausted and it shows productively.
▶ watchcultViolent Naples
Merli takes his no-mercy cop routine to Naples. Fast, brutal, and politically incoherent as ever.
cultThe Violent Professionals
Martino sends Luc Merenda undercover and off the leash. Prime cop-on-a-rampage stuff.
▶ watchcultShoot First, Die Later
Di Leo's dirty-cop picture, and the rot goes all the way home.
▶ watchcultRome Armed to the Teeth
Maurizio Merli punches Rome for 100 minutes. Politics: incoherent.