Shoot First, Die Later
Shoot First, Die Later is a 1974 film from Italy, directed by Fernando Di Leo, running 91 minutes. reelscum files it under poliziotteschi.
- Year
- 1974 · 1970s films
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Director
- Fernando Di Leo
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (47/100)
- Also known as
- Shoot First, Die Later · Play Cop
Defined in the glossary: Poliziotteschi
Di Leo's dirty-cop picture, and the rot goes all the way home.
Fernando Di Leo aims the corrupt-cop picture at its most respectable target: a decorated, universally liked detective who has quietly been on the mob's payroll for years. Luc Merenda plays the golden boy whose arrangement holds up fine until his honest father stumbles onto a file he was never meant to see. Di Leo skips the macho catharsis of the Merli cop movies and studies instead how the rot works its way into a family. Richard Conte lends the syndicate real weight, and the last stretch is upsetting rather than exciting. One of the sharpest and meanest entries in the cycle's late phase.
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The cycle in depth
- Poliziotteschi: the Italian cop film, 1973 to 1980
A moustache, a Magnum, and total contempt for the courts.
Filed alongside
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
Two cops who are clearly the villains. Ruggero Deodato, before the jungle.
Rome Armed to the Teeth
Maurizio Merli punches Rome for 100 minutes. Politics: incoherent.
Street Law
Castellari's Death Wish. An ordinary engineer, brutalised and ignored, arms himself.
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.
High Crime
Castellari's breakout in the genre, and Franco Nero furious for ninety minutes.
The Italian Connection
Mario Adorf on foot versus a car. Best chase in Italian cinema.
The Boss
Di Leo's most cynical crime film. A mob enforcer navigates a Mafia war where everyone is corrupt.
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.