La Scorta opens by detailing one such savage strike against a judge and his escort, which sets the plot in motion. The brooding, honor-bound police captain Angelo Mandolesi (Claudio Amendola), whose boyhood friend was a casualty of the assault, requests a transfer from Rome with the goal of being named to the escort. Far less thrilled with being assigned to the squad is the indolent young cop Fabio Muzzi (Ricky Memphis), who had been crossing his fingers for a cush detail. The unit's head, Andrea Corsale (Enrico Lo Verso), is youthful but ambitious, desirous of advancement for the benefit of his wife and kids, and wholly uninterested in any departmental rocking of the boat.
They're named responsible for the safety of the assassinated judge's newly-transferred replacement, Michele de Francesco (Carlo Cecchi), a dignified if aloof figure recently estranged from his wife. The judge has little choice than to get quickly acclimated to the realities of his new assignment, which include being tensely hustled from home to office under heavy guard by cops forced by underfunding to take turns sharing the unit's insufficient supply of body armor.
The tension truly begins to mount once de Francesco rolls up his sleeves and addresses the inquiry that got his predecessor killed, dealing with a local business' lock on water rights apparently bought with payoffs high into the government. As the inquiry deepens, and the already omnipresent danger ratchets up as a result of corrupt forces within the department, the bond between the members of the detail and their charge knits tighter, drawn by the gravity of Mandolesi's sense of duty. Corsale, who had been an interdepartmental leak for de Francesco's movements, is shamed into abandoning office politics for the judge's investigation, and de Francesco finds himself humbled by his handlers' willingness to stare down dire professional and personal repercussions.
La Scorta represented an early directing effort for Ricky Tognazzi (son of the venerable character lead Ugo Tognazzi), and he did a remarkably polished job of conveying the white-knuckle existence lead by these out-manned and out-gunned operatives and rendering the interpersonal bonds that such circumstances can forge. As his character did for his squad, Amendola gives the entire proceedings a fulcrum with a charismatic performance. The other players, including the gorgeous Lorenza Indovina as Corsale's worried wife, deliver uniformly fine work as well. A memorable, driving score from Ennio Morricone caps the production quite nicely.
Blue Underground's release of La Scorta isn't the first time the film has surfaced in America on DVD, but it's a cut above First Look Entertainment's bare-bones, pan-and-scan offering. Beyond the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation, commentary is offered courtesy of Tognazzi and producer Claudio Bonivento. Also included is the featurette Judging La Scorta, which offers interview footage with Tognazzi, Amendola, Bonivento, scenarists Graziano Diana and Simona Izzo, and cinematographer Alessio Gelsini. Two trailers for the American and Italian markets round out the extras.
For more information about La Scorta, visit Blue Underground. To order La Scorta, go to TCM Shopping.
by Jay S. Steinberg
