seanmoliver64 Reviews

The Fourth Victim (1971)

Flawed Plot But Otherwise Great

[8/10 · 1 August 2023]

The plot becomes too convoluted during the second half, but the first 30 minutes or so forms an excellent mystery focused on Mr. Anderson's unlucky marriages to 3 women all of whom died in 'accidents' within a year after their weddings.

One of the writers was Santiago Moncada, who wrote stories and scripts for some 60 Spanish/Italian productions including the excellent neo/post/whatever noir thriller 'Corruption of Chris Miller' from about the same time as 'Fourth Victim'.

The mood is set by one of the best opening sequences I've seen in a giallo-esque picture, accompanied by Piero Umiliani's languid, dreamy theme featuring those theremin-like female vocals common to Italian 70's thrillers, ooohhh-ing over a dreamy gentle but melancholy descending melody.

We see a handsome middle aged man looking through a large window on a sunny day at a beautiful blonde woman floating alone in the backyard pool, reclining on a clear plastic inflatable chair. She looks very relaxed, slumped to one side, maybe asleep under her sunglasses, a drained cocktail glass at poolside. The dreamy sad music continues.

Then we see that the cigarette in her limp hand has burned all the way down to her fingers, but she doesn't react to the burning ashes at all. Something is wrong with her.

The sad music sound fearful and menacing as it hits an ominous chord.

The burning cig has begun to melt the arm of the plastic chair, and it gradually sinks as the inert comatose woman slowly rolls over into the water and lies floating face down. The man watching her runs down some stairs through a big mansion and out to the pool, where the woman is obviously dead....

The movie should've continued with the 'dead wives' mystery, but it goes off on a silly tangent. Nevertheless, it has a unique flavor different from most giallos, which makes it recommended.

The Italian Connection (1972)

Get the ENGLISH dubbed version - 'Manhunt' not Italian.

[9/10 · 28 March 2023]

FYI an enlightening word or two thousand about overdubbed films of the 60's-70's: European and Asian films from the 1930's and into the 1970's era (especially B-movies like this one) were often filmed without the costly requirements of using 'live' microphones to record the performers' dialogue. This was because capturing live dialogue well on a film set was technically far more problematic and expensive back then. Sets had to be absolutely quiet while filming, since the mics picked up a lot of unwanted background noise. Nevertheless, they couldn't always pick up the actors' voices clearly if they spoke quietly or moved around. Recording sound outdoors on location was frequently out-of-the-question even with high-tech Hollywood equipment, which is why even big-budget US movies filmed outdoor scenes with phoney sets and films with moving backgrounds projected behind the actors.

Nonetheless, actors were filmed speaking their lines, recorded with microphones, yet knowing this audio was probably unusable for the final print. Later, the actors would record their dialogue clearly as they followed their earlier filmed performance, producing an understandable high quality dialogue track. Sound effects like footsteps were also provided this way by so-called 'foley' artists, and finally music would be added to the film before release.

This was also a practical and simple method for making movies in one country but intended for greater distribution worldwide in dozens of different languages. Dialogue could be added by different performers around the world in any language, for each country they were shown.

Although many US and UK actors could speak some foreign languages, most did not have the skills to do this professionally for their own parts (i.e. Jane Fonda's and Terrence Stamp's overdubbed French in 'Spirits of the Dead' (1967), was good -- but unconvincing to say the least). European actors OTOH were often multi-lingual, and could provide at least one or two different languages for their parts. If not, some other actor's voice was overdubbed. There were many English actors in Europe who only worked as voice-over artists, and these same voices can be heard in dozens of different films but 'spoken' by dozens of entirely different on-screen performers, sometimes with comical results when two such movies are watched back-to-back.

The main point I'm making with all this is is that contrary to the assumptions of film snobs, there is often no true 'original' language version of a film, especially if the actors come from different countries speaking different languages, like this one. This applies to virtually every European/international movie made up to the 1980's (I confess ignorance about more recent international film making practices). This is why so many of these films have dialogue with that characteristic 'dubbed' sound.

Interestingly enough, the most commonly spoken language among actors worldwide in the 1970's was probably English. With this film, (La Mala Ordina aka Manhunt aka The Italian Connection etc) the 'Italian' version is obviously NOT the 'correct' 'proper' or 'original' version because most of the cast spoke their lines on-set and overdubbed that dialogue in English - not Italian. This is proven beyond all doubt by a viewing of the Italian dubbed version (as currently shown by Criterion, f.ex) which has totally different Italian speaking voice-over artists supplying the Italian, so that Cusack, Adorf, Woody Strode and Henry DeSilva's lines voiced-over in Italian sound bizarre and inappropriate, almost ridiculous. The filming script seems to be largely in English, not Italian, and few of the main cast spoke Italian anyway or they would have done their own Italian voice-overs.

Apologies for the long explanation, but I hope it's enlightening.

Finally, the movie itself:

It's a blast.

Some scenes are in dubious taste, especially the appalling 'Let's all live in harmony and have a groovy orgy' pop music playing at the commune is disturbing, as is the 'hippy chick' prostitute with the ghastly blue frightwig who hits on 'Wooden' Woody Strode with the seductive line; 'I don't always do it just for money'. But these are merely incidental and forgivable, considering it's a 'Mafia' movie.

Instead, the focus is on Mario Adorf who steals the show. He plays Luca Canali, a small-time Milano pimp who is such a good-hearted pushover, his only whore takes all of his money, demands more, then slaps him around and screams at him for being cruel to her!

He discovers he is being blamed for allegedly stealing a million pounds of heroin from the syndicate. They are out to kill him, and have offered a big reward for turning him over. He has nowhere to run, nobody to trust for help.

The awesome chase scene of the long-suffering but now enraged Adorf sprinting furiously through downtown Milano traffic in his 2-piece 'pimp' suit and black dress shoes - with white socks (!?) to catch an escaping mafia hit-man disguised as a milktruck driver (!?!?) where the crazed Adorf finally leaps onto the truck and headbutts himself through the windshield to grab the terrified hitman by the throat (!!!) is undoubtedly the greatest chase sequence ever filmed.

Matalo! (Kill Him) (1970)

Taking spaghetti westerns further along one possible path

[8/10 · 13 October 2022]

Spaghetti westerns are known for their absence of well defined good and evil, a familiar element of most earlier Hollywood westerns, and this moral ambiguity is one of the key hallmarks of 60's and 70's pop culture. With a title like Matalo! (a term which is roughly translated as 'kill 'em all!') this 1970 film certainly has the cynical morals and body count of typical spaghettis, but director Cesare Canevari takes this all a step 'further' by adding superficially entertaining gimmicks of the era, like hippie fashions, druggy cinematography, and especially Mario Migliardi's preposterously enjoyable prog-rock soundtrack, which sounds like a melting Ash Ra Temple LP played through a phase shifter. The central character is a hoot; a smiling trigger-happy psychopath named Bart, played by Corrado Pani, who cheerfully shoots everybody in sight. This is a uniquely odd specimen of the spaghetti western genre, which makes it essential. Worth your time as long as you don't take it seriously.

I Love You Again (1940)

Powell + Loy = Perfect

[10/10 · 20 December 2021]

I'm not usually a big fan of Rom Coms/Screwballs but this one is notable for its absurd amnesia premise, its satire of small-town America, and Powell's scheme to take the money and run. But most of all it's a perfect setup for Loy + Powell to work their charm as a couple, perhaps the most successful and consistently entertaining onscreen chemistry ever, some 14 (?) films.

Myrna Loy could bring the comedy out of her characters with such understatement, it could be eaasily missed. (See her in 'Mr Blandings...') She is especially brilliant here. When she tries to fight off Powell's adorably goofy advances ('coo...coo!') but can't resist him any longer, her conflicted and bewildered reactions are perfectly expressed and very, very funny.

Battleground (1949)

One of the best 'infantrymen at war' movies

[10/10 · 16 March 2021]

Although not in the top 5 or so 'war' movies (I currently rate Bridge/Kwai as probably the best) Battleground has no silly love interest, no conflicts between characters or any of the usual movie cliches. Instead it follows a squad of cynical dogfaces over several days as they fight off several German attacks from their foxholes in wintry pine forest. These US soldiers - like the vast majority of WW2 soldiers from England, France, Germany, The Soviet Union and Japan - were not professionals, they were draftees who were assigned a wide range of military duties. 80 to 90 % were not combat troops. Only about 10 or 15% ended up in the infantry or other branches like armor which suffered the overwhelming share of death and wounds in combat. Even after recovering from their wounds they were sent back to the front. Some were wounded 8 or 10 times and still survived the war. Most other infantrymen were not nearly so lucky. This combat film doesnt have explosions, big tanks, 'thrilling action' or any of that baloney. It's not anti-war but it doesn't glorify soldiers either. It's low key but is probably the most accurate depiction of WW2 soldiers as they were and the cast is first rate. Sadly its been mostly overlooked. 10plus!

King Solomon's Mines (1950)

Great, Rare Color Footage of African Villagers etc

[9/10 · 6 May 2013]

This 1950's version of King Solomon's Mines is unusual in a couple ways. First, there's no symphonic music score whatsoever. Film music is typically used to tell us what we as the audience should feel about activity on screen, and also tell us what the characters themselves are supposedly feeling. In this way both audience and characters share the same emotional reactions. Music on film is such a common and natural expectation (or substitute?) for an audience's emotions, that some reviewers here think the movie was bland and boring!

Secondly, the MGM crew of about 30 people and 7 cargo trucks spent months in 1949 filming this on the Dark Continent itself, at locations hundreds of miles from civilization in eastern Africa instead of the usual Hollywood lots. They enlisted the inhabitants of remote villages as actors, asked them to perform communal dances, and took many close-up shots of their faces, hair, headgear, jewelry and body paint. This amounts to some of the most magnificent - and rare - color and sound footage of "old" untouched African culture I've seen.

Not long after this, during the 1950's-1960's these villages gradually became part of the modern world, and by the 1980's, remote tribesmen were filmed as they hunted with spears - wearing "Michael Jackson" t- shirts.

The movie is generally pretty good, but the Africans steal the show.

Danger: Diabolik (1968)

A Batman (TV) Meets Bond Spoof

[10/10 · 19 July 2008]

Deliriously psychedelic pop-art crime-spoof mini-masterpiece! Although many people mention the Bond films, Mario Bava borrowed quite a large number of ideas from the brilliant US 'Batman' TV-series of 1964-65, such as Diabolik's underground cave-lair with its secret opening, the use of comic book artwork, and especially the scene at the 'Live on TV Police Press Conference' where the authorities are announcing their new "Anti-Crime" plan designed to catch Diabolik. Diabolik is there, of course, disguised as a news photographer. But his camera actually sprays "Exhilarating Gas", and so to protect himself, Diabolik swallows an "Anti-Exhilarating Gas Pill". Everybody in attendance begins laughing uncontrollably in front of the TV cameras including the Police Commissioner and the Minister of Finance, making total fools of themselves on live TV while Diabolik slips away undetected! This scene is straight out of the Batman TV show, of course.

The sets and costumes - like 'Batman' - are wonderfully mind-blowing examples of mid-to-late sixties fashion and pop art; all vibrantly bold colors, weird geometric shapes, huge sunglasses, and transparent plastic furniture. When he started shooting his films in color, Bava always used deep, richly colored lighting with bold, angular shadows. By the early 70's, it seems he (and every area of the arts from fashion to film to music) eschewed this 'plastic' look for a more natural, 'earthy' style. 'Diabolik' (released 1968) is perhaps one of the last of Bava's films to use this Pop Art look. His later films that I have seen are much less colorful.

This also may be one of the reasons it did rather poorly at the time; it was more 1965 than 1968, and popular tastes changed very, very quickly in those days. What was cool last week was suddenly considered passe this week, and by 1968 when 'Diabolik' was released, its kitschy style was simply too 'last week'. 1968 saw many films which were "heavy" and addressed social and political issues. 'Diabolik' would've seemed silly and childish in the face of 1968's realities such as MLK and RFK assassinations, Vietnam, and the May '68 revolts in Paris.

Time has treated it well, however, and Diabolik is a pure delight. Morricone's score is one of his best - it's tragic the tapes were lost - I could listen to it over and over. Marisa Mell (as Diabolik's girl, Eva) also disappeared, dying early in 1991. She is lusciously foxy in that 60's go-go girl way with the long legs and boots and the various outfits she wears, especially the black one with silver rivets all over it! Diabolik and Eva's underground lair is certainly THE ultimate swingin' pad with a revolving bed, transparent his-n-her shower stalls and about 30 Jags parked around the giant living room.

The Chain Reaction (1980)

Terrific 'Mad Max' (Sort-Of) Prequel

[9/10 · 10 July 2008]

'The Chain Reaction' was made by many of the same actors and crew who made the first - and best - 'Mad Max' movie. Although the IMDb credits don't share too many names, the style, photography and direction are so uncannily similar, that George Miller must've been more involved with 'The Chain Reaction' than just as co-producer. The two films are practically twins. Even the car-chase scenes are alike, which is good.

The plot could easily serve as a prequel to Mad Max; an accident at an Austrailian nuke disposal site out in the boonies results in catastrophic radiation leakage which will poison the area's water table. The evil corporation that owns the disposal site is trying to hush up the accident by sealing off the area, but some eco-activists have been in contact with one of the scientists at the site, and they find out about it. The scientist took a huge dose of plutonium during the accident and only has 3 days to live, but hotheaded motorhead dude Larry (played by Steve Bisley - 'The Goose' in 'Mad Max') and his wife get tangled up in the unfolding crisis...

Many of the local inhabitants appearing in 'The Chain Reaction' also played similar characters in 'Mad Max'. They don't necessarily play the exact same parts, but it is not a stretch to imagine that after the nuclear catastrophe has devastated their environment, they all evolved into the desperate characters of 'Mad Max'.

It appears (to me anyway) that 'The Chain Reaction' was filmed first, since one of the characters seems to say "It's 1977, mate...", but I'm not quite sure about this. The haircuts and clothes are definitely mid-70's, (flared jeans etc) while Mad Max has a later, more punkish late-70's look.

Cop Killers (1977)

"I had a spider named Karen, once..."

[10/10 · 5 July 2008]

Wickedly mean, low-budget 70's road-film exploitation cinema at its best! Two sleazy long-haired dirtballs try to get rich by dealing coke, kidnapping a poor blonde chick named Karen, stealing an ice-cream truck, and killing everybody who gets in their way - mostly Arizona troopers. Filmed entirely on location around Tucson, "Cop Killers" is a non-stop stream of priceless scenes with great dialog, like when psycho Ray tries to make poor tearful, hysterical Karen read from the porno-novel she was carrying when the two scum-balls kidnapped her; "If you can't READ it out, then we'll just have to ACT it out!" he screams. When Ray then tries to rape Karen, and Alex tries to stop him, Ray says "Okay, okay, I'll leave little miss virgin alone, but if she tries to rape ME, then I won't be responsible!" The scenes with the drug dealer with the pet spider (also named Karen) and the two stoned hippie/stripper chicks reminded me of people I knew when I lived in Tucson! An absolute classic. Should be in every film-buff's library.

The Tongfather (1974)

Wicked gritty 1974 Asian crime flick

[10/10 · 4 July 2008]

From the crudely edited looping of the Temptations' "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" (wahka-chakka guitar with space-echo, etc) as the theme music, to the pastiche of every action film style imaginable (noir, spy, gangster even spaghetti westerns etc) this minor-masterpiece of grotesque violence will be quite a hoot for fans of 1970's crime-movie schlock.

I found it copied from an appropriately battered and discolored 16mm print re-titled as 'Hands of Death' on one of those 'Kung Fu 20-movie-DVD pack' for $5.00 used - and worth every penny. The credits are almost nonexistent, other than 'A Sino-American Co-Production by Terry Levene Directed by Roc Tien' (Roc Tien is also known as Peng Tien) It is is clearly a Chinese picture, but different from the typical martial arts flick from Hong Kong (i.e. Shaw Bros) and apparently Taiwanese. There seems to be slightly different prints circulating, but I'm not certain.

'The Tongfather' has the familiar plot which follows a tough take-no-prisoners detective from the Taiwan police as he infiltrates and destroys several opium smuggling gangs and their bosses across Asia, only to discover they are controlled by a single Japanese crime lord, the ruthless Tongfather.

There aren't many fighting scenes (by martial arts movie standards anyway) but there are a few fairly imaginative and original depictions of brutality and pain, including my favorite - the scene where several underling crime bosses meet with their boss the Tongfather. They're all sitting cross-legged Japanese style on the floor in a circle having tea and discussing crime business. One of the underlings shamefully admits that one of his men betrayed them to the police. The Tongfather asks him how he will atone for this failure. The guilty underling slowly and silently reaches down, grabs his own leg and with all his strength slowly bends it upwards until its bones crack while the others stare in astonishment! The man doesn't scream and only grimaces a bit. Nice!

Available as 'Hands of Death' on Tubi as of June 2023.

Mandinga (1976)

Wow! Disgustingly enjoyable!

[10/10 · 26 June 2008]

Incredibly hilarious mid-70's Italian Rootsploitation with lots of non-consensual S&M, lesbian sex, gratuitous racial cruelty etc...Few redeeming cinematic qualities, except for the fairly cool theme music with dubby "African" drums and flute. Brilliant sample dialog:

White Slave Owner (to White Plantation Manager): "You're so dumb, I'll bet you forgot to interrogate that n****r midwife!"

White Plantation Manager: "Not only did I interrogate her, I did it so well she died before I could get any answers from her!"

All the black actors have 70's afros, and say "yes, massa" in a high-pitched voice. The female lead has sex with everybody on the plantation. 10 Stars for fans of tasteless sleaze.

Voodoo Black Exorcist (1974)

Stylish Low Budget Horror Trash - Great!

[7/10 · 22 June 2008]

Title: 'Black Voodoo Exorcist' from about 1973, but released in the US in '75. There isn't any "exorcism" to speak of, but that's okay, the US producers were just trying to cash in on the "Exorcist" craze of that period, and the Blaxploitation craze of...several years earlier.

Plot: Who cares?

Location: Aboard a Carribbean Cruise Ship

Female Characters: Gorgeous Redhead; Bizarrely Buxom "Voodoo Dancer" w/ Grotesque Facial Makeup; Flaky Middle-aged Alcoholic Tarot Card Reader

Male Characters: Psychotic Lovelorn 3000 Year-Old Mummy; Sunburned Anthroplogist; Fat Cigar-chomping Hamburger Salesman; Sweaty Columbo like Detective; Voodoo Dancer's Bongo-Player; Various Cruise-Ship Crew Members Who Die;

Acting: Pretty good considering the international cast were all speaking different languages while filming

Music: Great! Funky Fuzz-Wah Theme; Frantic "Voodoo" Bongo Drumming throughout

Directing: Really Great! Wide-angle lens, odd camera angles, lurid red flashbacks; Almost every 70's psychedelic horror gimmick in the book is employed.

Dialogue: The translated script (from Italian and Spanish into English, apparently) gives all of these 60s-70s Euro-Trash Classics a poetic quality which is missing from similar US films. The fact that the dialog must be overdubbed and made to fit the actors' lip motions makes this task even more challenging and creative.

Horror FX: Wow... The phony decapitations are truly horrible, and the blood is even redder than real blood. Incredible.

Recommendation: Thumbs up! Get the 'Mill Creek Entertainment' DVD versions if possible - y'know, the '50 Movies on DVD for 19.95!" cardboard box sets. They've released several 'genre' box-sets like 'Horror', 'Suspense', 'Sci-Fi' etc etc. My personal fave is the 'Drive-In' 50-movie box set. That's less than a dollar per film - priced appropriately - and the print quality is wonderfully abysmal, just like you remember watching them late at night 30 years ago. The films are from all over the world from different decades, and you never know what you'll end up with, but unpredictability is what makes life exiting.