A few pics of CC

 

Top Sensation rewatched

If there wasn't the Giallo Ciao Ciao podcast, I wouldn't probably watch this movie ever again. Or maybe not only a few months after the first watch. A few days ago they did a commentary on the full movie. Originally I wanted only to listen to their commentary, but without the pictures I was lost, so I watched it simultaneously with them talking. The sound was off, I was just watching the images and listening to the podcast. The sound was more entertaining than the movie. I realized, that the film is practically watchable only when Rosalba Neri or Edwige Fenech are on screen. Not only for their beautiful faces and bodies, but mostly because of their screen presence and charisma. Not much tu talk about their acting abilities in this movie, they can hardly show any. The rest of the people, maybe with the exception of Salvatore Puntillo, who is quite funny, are just like blurred, when R&E team is on screen. And especially when Tony is on screen, the movie gets really slow and boring. The worst part of this not really interesting movie is between the three-way lesbian sex and getting Sandro (Puntillo) drunk, that is some 20 minutes? A lot of really boring stuff, little of R&E team and a lot of Tony.

When these two are on screen, it's gonna be fun. But they're not in the center of the story, sadly.

I wonder how could I write a review on this movie at the Oik's blog and not mentioning the goat scene? Jesus Christ. And not mentioning the lesbian stuff? I probably made it look better than it really is - the only thing that stays in memory are actually the sleazy sex scenes. If the director tried to make a commentary on the upper class, he failed.

Interesting that Edwige Fenech probably doesn't remember this movie, claiming that in Your Vice etc. were her first lesbian scenes and also her first negative part. All right, that movie is much better than this one.

MY LITTLE SPAGVEMBER

I'm a frequent reader of the Spaghetti Western Database and its forum, where its members do a "Spagvember" every year since 2014 or so. I wouldn't make 30, every day a movie, I don't have the time or I don't feel like watching a movie or I'm not in the mood for a spaghetti western. But now I was in the mood, but being a little bit skeptical about it, I decide to watch at least 5 new SWs. It's November 15th and I've made it. Yay! So I will probably continue in the next day and we'll see what can I make. What I've watched so far:

TEQUILA (1973)

Oh that was so stupid and boring! Mostly about completely dull and unfunny Roberto Camardiel. The shootouts are awful, the fistfights are awful, just because the director needed to show more of Camardiel and less of everything else. Steffen can't help it, Fajardo looks bored. Never more.

KILL THE POKER PLAYER (1972)

Now that was one I kind of liked. But I would have liked it more if there was Gianni Garko instead of Robert Woods and if it was called Sartana. It felt like a not so well made Sartana, badly cut and badly shot, and with rubber snakes. But there are plenty of good character actors in the cast as the suspects - Frank Braña, Carlo Gaddi, Ivano Staccioli and Nieves Navarro, a.k.a. Susan Scott, a.k.a. Butthole Face. Sorry, I've been listening to the Giallo Ciao Ciao podcast lately, and too much I guess.

WANTED SABATA (1970)

Boring, badly made, very cheap and probably very quickly. Lots of zooming, practically no story. The hero, played by the late (and unfortunately wooden) Brad Harris spends most of the movie in a cave and we follow the bad guy, played by the absolutely non-fitting Vassili Karis. Completely waste of time.

BLOOD AT SUNDOWN (1966)

Steffen vs. Garko, yes! Steffen is wooden, Garko overacts, but I got used to it during the movie. Not bad, there were very good parts of it, especially with the mother, who is a kind of communist. Interesting ideas about her. Nice action, not so nice plot with many holes, especially in the end. And it feels really southern - blood relations and pride are above everything. And quote from the Bible in the end, while the God is angry. Oh, man, that sucked. But overall the best of the five with great music. And it's mostly enjoyable. Apart from unfunny scenes with Lord Tuff Tuff himself, Chris Howland. Did I mention Garko actually plays Sartana in this one? Not the traditional one.

SAVAGE GRINGO (1966)

I love Mario Bava, but then I found out that he didn't direct this film. This movie feels like an American 1950s B-western, where Ken Clark replaces Randolph Scott. He's good, he's brave and he's very hairy. The redhead wife falls in love with him, so does the Mexican prostitute. The sheriff is drunk and corrupted, the villain is just a common thief instead of a terrorist like Sartana from the previous flick. It's about a bank robbery without a bank, about cattle ranch without cattle. The good wins, the evil loses. Nothing special.

Stirba, the Werewolf Bitch

Howling II is one of the best worst movies I know, and I guess we from the Czech Republic, where the movie was shot, have maybe more fun while watching it than other people. Seeing a (in our country) notorious TV personality, a host of popular talk show, playing a werewolf, that tries to rape the main girl, is hilarious. Seeing notorious places from different parts of the country (Prague, Český Krumlov...) presented as Transylvania is hilarious. Hearing fluent Czech language at the station is hilarious.
But I don't want to talk much about the film, just to post a few pictures of Sybil Danning. Not that I like her very much, but some of you may. Enjoy

The Case of the Bloody Iris - the most giallish giallo

If I would have to show gialli to a person that knows nothing about them, this one would be definitely one of the first to recommend. It's far from great, it's sometimes really stupid, and definitely it's not original at all, it's really eclectic actually. But that means that this movie has almost every ingredience linked with giallo and its style. There's almost nothing missing in this one.

Overlong weird title? Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? In Italian, check. Well, it doesn't contain any number, any color nor any number, but I guess with "Bloody Iris" and "Drops of Blood / Gocce di sangue" it leaves a lot for your imagination of red blood on white skin / flower.

Numerous murders, mostly girls? Check.

City location? Check.

A black-clad killer using mostly a blade? Check.

Female nudity? Check.

Incompetent police? Check.

Who is the more representative pair of giallo leads than Edwige Fenech and George Hilton? Double check.

Non-police investigator? Edwige must do that herself, she's a shy detective but she investigates a bit. Check.

Bottles of J&B? I believe there were some. Yes, at least this one above the bartender - check.

Bad memories? Check.

Twisted sexuality (in terms of a 1972 watcher)? Check.

Modeling agency? Check.

Gay photographer? Check.

The violence could seem graphic to some and pretty mild to someone else, but yes, there's some blood, so check.

Luciano Pigozzi and George Rigaud in small parts? Check.

Weird (un)funny scenes? Check.

Stylish shots with lots of zooming? Check.

I could go on and on. Actually I believe I named it all. After the second rewatch, I didn't have such a good time, maybe it all seemed to me fresh the first time, with this being my third giallo, three years after the first two. Now after watching many more, I see its flaws clearly. But it's an entertaining movie and yes, I still would recommend it to a newby. Along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh and Blood and Black Lace, so he would see some quality stuff too.