Now Playing: DEATH RAGE
I've been curious about DEATH RAGE ever since I used to have the one-sheet hanging on my kitchen wall. All I knew about it was that it was an Italian crime drama starring Yul Brynner as a pissed-off dude out for revenge. Hey, that's good enough for me. Hard to screw that up.
I picked it up on DVD awhile back as part of Mill Creek's CHILLING CLASSICS collection. You've seen these--50 movies for under $20. At that price, you can imagine about what you're getting--ugly, tacky-looking prints taken from inferior sources (often just ripped from an old VHS release) and likely unauthorized. DEATH RAGE runs 96 minutes, according to Leonard Maltin, but the Mill Creek print is only 84. No wonder I couldn't figure out what was going on much of the time. It's not an edited TV print either, no way, not with Barbara Bouchet's naked body prancing into frame every 15 minutes or so.
DEATH RAGE was one of Brynner’s last films; both this and FUTUREWORLD, the sequel to WESTWORLD, were released in 1976. Yul famously died of lung cancer in 1985, and made sure he filmed a series of anti-smoking PSAs before he did. I don't know whether a dead Yul Brynner lecturing on the hazards of lighting up ever prevented a kid from smoking, but the message was certainly a persuasive one.
The bald-pated star plays Frank Marciani, an American hitman recruited by the Mafia to perform one last job--the touch of the Italian gangster who murdered Frank’s brother. Frank was present at his brother’s death, which left him with psychosomatic eye pain whenever he witnesses a violent act (director Antonio Margheriti demonstrates this by “painting” the lens with red animation). In Naples, Frank shows the hitman ropes to an eager young man--shades of THE MECHANIC--and fools around with a frequently nude stripper (Bouchet). A couple of car chases and shootouts, Yul’s steady performance (draped in a black turtleneck and blazer) and Barbara’s luscious body make this one an adequate timewaster.
On iTunes tonight:
Theme from GET SMART!
"For Your Eyes Only"--Sheena Easton
"There He Is Again"--Hues Corporation (from BLACULA)
"It Must Be Him"--Vikki Carr
"Colt in Agguato"--Bruno Nicolai from $100,000 FOR RINGO
"Commotion"--Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Captain Groovy and His Bubblegum Army"--Captain Groovy and His Bubblegum Army
"Say What I Mean"--The Shandells, Inc.
"Backstage"-Gene Pitney
"Tomorrow Never Knows"--The Beatles
"I Think I'll Just Go & Find Me A Flower"--Moorpark Intersection
"Cool, Calm & Collected"--The Druids
"The British Menace"--Lalo Schifrin from RUSH HOUR
"Michael, Row The Boat Ashore"--The Highwaymen
Posted by Marty
at 11:10 PM CST
