Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is a 1976 film from Italy, directed by Ruggero Deodato, running 98 minutes. reelscum files it under poliziotteschi.
- Year
- 1976 · 1970s films
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Director
- Ruggero Deodato
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (47/100)
- Also known as
- The Terminators
Defined in the glossary: Poliziotteschi
Two cops who are clearly the villains. Ruggero Deodato, before the jungle.
Two cops who are plainly the villains. Ruggero Deodato, a few years before the jungle, follows a pair of special-squad officers who ride a motorcycle through Rome doing whatever they like, and the film's queasy fascination is that it never quite decides whether to condemn or celebrate them.
The opening motorcycle chase is a genuine stunt showcase, and the casual brutality of the leads is the whole uncomfortable subject. It is the cycle's fascist tendencies made text.
Slick, mean, and morally rotten in a way that is hard to look away from.
Trailer
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Where to watch
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Written about
- Poliziotteschi: the Italian cop film, 1973 to 1980
A moustache, a Magnum, and total contempt for the courts.
Filed alongside
Shoot First, Die Later
Di Leo's dirty-cop picture, and the rot goes all the way home.
Rome Armed to the Teeth
Maurizio Merli punches Rome for 100 minutes. Politics: incoherent.
Almost Human
Tomas Milian as a repellent psychopath. Deeply unpleasant, very good.
The Big Racket
Castellari's best. The car-rolling-down-the-hill shot is famous for a reason.
Street Law
Castellari's Death Wish. An ordinary engineer, brutalised and ignored, arms himself.
High Crime
Castellari's breakout in the genre, and Franco Nero furious for ninety minutes.
The Boss
Di Leo's most cynical crime film. A mob enforcer navigates a Mafia war where everyone is corrupt.
The Italian Connection
Mario Adorf on foot versus a car. Best chase in Italian cinema.
The Violent Professionals
Martino sends Luc Merenda undercover and off the leash. Prime cop-on-a-rampage stuff.
Violent Naples
Merli takes his no-mercy cop routine to Naples. Fast, brutal, and politically incoherent as ever.
Revolver
Di Leo's saddest. Oliver Reed, and a Morricone theme that hurts.
The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist
Late-cycle Castellari. Everyone is exhausted and it shows productively.