 With directors such as Fernando Di Leo and Umberto Lenzi and actors such as Maurizio Merli and Tomas Milian, "poliziotteschi" films became popular in the mid-1970s after the decline of Spaghetti Westerns and Eurospy genres.The subgenre lost its mainstream popularity in the late 1970s as Italian erotic comedy and horror films started topping the Italian box office.Although based around crime and detective work, "poliziotteschi" should not be confused with the other popular Italian crime genre of the 1970s, the "giallo", which (incorrectly) refers to violent murder-mystery crime films.