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Rating: If, starting from the '90s, thanks to various authors like Lucarelli, Fois, Carlotto, and, of course, Camilleri, the Italian mystery has become one of the most frequented literary genres by seasoned storytellers and aspiring writers, as well as by a plethora of readers, this doesn't change the fact that, in past decades, few writers ventured into the writing of mysteries, noir, and the like. Enthusiasts could rely on niche authors like Scerbanenco, Olivieri, and a few others, aware that the genre was relegated to paraliterature, or, more prosaically, to "B series" literature, suitable for newsstands or the less visible shelves of various bookstores.
Among the "newsstand" mystery writers was (and still is) above all Luciano Secchi, an author who writes and self-publishes the stories of the Milanese detective Riccardo Finzi, who, aided by the retired carabiniere Ciammarica and, at times, by his housekeeper Pina, solves mysteries and intrigues set in the upscale Milan as well as in its working-class neighborhoods. The author's name might not ring a bell for many, though his activity in the comics world under the pseudonym of Max Bunker is well known: this is to say that the writer is solid, the stories often very beautiful, and in any case, ideal for leisure, especially under the summer heat.
The strength of the Riccardo Finzi cycle novels isn't so much in the detective plots, which are excellently crafted, but especially in the reconstruction of the historical and sociological climate in which the detective stories are set and in the characterization of the characters, especially the minor ones: the interest in the mysteries is almost more on the relationships between Riccardo and the Milanese underworld than on the search for the culprit or the solution of the puzzles. We are, in short, closer to Simenon than to Ellery Queen, without, of course, comparing unjustifiably.
Given these premises and the popular and appealing style of Secchi's novels, it was natural that cinema would take notice of Riccardo Finzi, producing, in the late '70s, a film based on the first novel by the Milanese writer, "Agenzia Investigativa," and assigning the role of the protagonist to the then-star of Italian comedy Renato Pozzetto, with the excellent Enzo Cannavale as Ciammarica and the well-cast Adriana Facchetti as the housekeeper Pina, directed by the unforgettable Bruno Corbucci.
Riccardo Finzi, coming from the provinces to open a ramshackle detective agency (thanks to a detective diploma obtained "by mail"), meets an attractive girl from the Milanese high society, who seduces him with her charms and uninhibited behavior. When, a few days after the meeting, he learns of her mysterious death by a hit-and-run, the detective begins searching for the culprits, uncovering the (many) vices and the (few) virtues of the Milanese upper class.
While the film's basis is undoubtedly interesting, providing Pozzetto with the opportunity to break away from the usual clichés that seemed to have irreparably trapped him by the end of his most successful artistic decade, and the product exudes the typical Italian craftsmanship (now outdated, to put it in Tarantino's terms), the final product strays significantly from the typical characteristics of the novel, giving too much way to the blend with the classic tropes of Italian comedy and diluting the innovative character of the story, as well as the underlying bitterness experienced when reading Secchi's debut novel.
While the book can be read as a sort of coming-of-age novel, in which the young and naive provincial discovers, through his investigations, the dark side of the city he saw as a place for his professional and human redemption, the film seems to lose this message, entrusting the comedic gags of Pozzetto and Cannavale with the driving role of the feature film, in which the mystery fabric inevitably takes a back seat, providing essentially the occasion for a comedic diversion in the vein of the traditional comedies of the time.
The film is still watchable, being today indicative of the changing tastes of Italians: if by the late '70s the mystery could only appeal to the general public through a blend with other genres that sweetened its content and messages (regardless of the events of thrillers like those by Bava, Fulci, Argento - almost always remaining "niche" films), today a character like Riccardo Finzi would be an ideal model for TV fiction, in which it might be easier to recover the bitterness of his stories, and the ambiguity of the world in which the detective, almost like a "firefly in the darkness," seeks to shed light.
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