Vengeance is Futile: Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo/An Average Little Man (1977)

 Mario Monicelli’s Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo/An Average Little Man opens with a scene of Alberto Sordi — Mafioso — savagely beating a fish to death with a rock and tearing its guts out. This proves to be excellent foreshadowing to a film that lulls you into complacency and then wrenches your psyche with narrative twists that defy simple genre categorization. I should say that there’s no real way to discuss Un Borghese without some kind of spoiler-y talk. Here’s the short version — this is a good movie that you should watch. It might be best to go in blind or only having read the synopsis on IMDB — A meek middle-aged man finally takes justice into his own hands. This both gives you some idea of what you’re in for without preparing you at all for how it unfurls. However if you’ve already seen it or don’t mind a major spoiler — please proceed.

Un Borghese is the story of Giovanni Vilvadi — Sordi — a middle-aged bureaucrat and his son Mario — Vincenzo Crocitti — who is coming of age to enter the workforce. “Meek” is probably an overstatement as Giovanni boasts and fantasizes about Mario’s future success, drives like a man possessed to get to work, and bellows at his long suffering wife played by an wonderful if understated Shelley Winters. While he is willing to be brash around those in his personal life, Giovanni consistently defers to his superiors at the pension office that employs him. In his attempts to secure Mario a position, Giovanni doesn’t hesitate to beg and plead with the officials in his office. He buys them gifts, writes long, adoring letters in Mario’s name, and even joins a masonic lodge in an extended and hilarious scene that most resembles Monicelli’s other strictly comedic films. In fact — for the first hour of run time — Borghese plays out much like other commedia all'italiana. It’s a lightly comic story of a man with ambitions for his son battling bureaucracy and a depressed economy.

The shift in tone comes completely without warning in a shocking moment of violence. On their way to the professional exams — Giovanni and Mario encounter a bank robbery and Mario is killed by a stray bullet from one of the thieves. The scene hits like a wrecking ball and is brilliantly executed both in direction and Sordi’s performance. The news of the killing is immediately broadcast and Amalia Vivaldi — Winters — has a stroke and becomes nearly catatonic upon hearing. Giovanni makes some attempts to proceed according to law and custom — he cares for his ailing wife, he cooperates with police, he accepts the condolences of his colleagues — but the undercurrent of failing systems is ever present. During a second police lineup Giovanni declines to identify the murderer. Instead he stalks him —  waiting until dark — where he beats him over the head with a tire jack and hauls the unconscious criminal to his fishing cabin. 

There is a way a story like this plays out in typical genre fare and you could be forgiven for thinking Un Borghese becomes an Italian Death Wish knock off but Monicelli is working with more subtlety than that. While the failure of systems is a major theme throughout the film — Giovanni does not get catharsis by working outside of them. This is a deeply pessimistic story and the finale is more tragic than it is thrilling. Part of what makes Monicelli’s work here so fascinating is how disparate elements of comedy, tragedy, genre, and even nihilism are blended together. While the second half of the film is decidedly darker — it’s not without absurdity. One of the more memorable scenes is at a cemetery where Giovanni is now looking for an appropriate resting place for Mario — mirroring his search for a position with the pension office — and he’s told again that he must be patient and that they’re doing all he can. He’s then led to a kind of warehouse where all the coffins of all the people awaiting burial are stacked on top of each other. It’s a chaotic scene of wailing and confusion and disinterested forklift operators that Giovanni takes in with resignation. Unable to toss flowers onto the coffin of a loved one, a grieving woman simply states that it doesn’t matter. It’s a tragic scene that is darkly comedic and hopeless all at once. 

Both Monicelli and Sordi are comedic masters with a gift for portraying everyday Italian life and those facilities are certainly on display in Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo. However this film is a savage indictment of a society in decline — faltering systems and economic anxiety with no refuge offered by religion or philosophy. It is very much in line with the pessimistic sentiment of the poliziotteschi even if it doesn’t offer similar action thrills. It’s a beautifully executed film with some marvelous performances. Winters is perhaps underutilized — she’s dubbed over in Italian as was common — but she has a couple of excellent scenes of anguish and frustration. Sordi’s long expressive face is the perfect and perhaps only canvas to express the complex blend of sentiments contained in Un Borghese. I’m uncertain of how appreciated it was outside of Italy in 1977 — it won several Italian film awards at the time — but it certainly seems underseen today. It would make an excellent candidate for a Criterion edition to go along with some of Monicelli’s other films like The Organizer and Big Deal on Madonna Street.

Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo can currently be found on rarefilmm and I highly recommend checking it out: http://rarefilmm.com/2017/12/un-borghese-piccolo-piccolo-1977/

Espionage, Absurdity, and Apocalypse: The Unknown Man of Shandigor (1967)

Delightfully weird with a singular aesthetic — Jean-louis Roy’s pop art cold war farce has been largely forgotten following its 1967 debut. Fortunately it has been restored and released on blu-ray via Deaf Crocodile so that a new audience has the chance to rediscover this Swiss curiosity that exists somewhere alongside Dr. Strangelove and Godard’s Alphaville.

The central conceit of The Unknown Man of Shandigor is relatively simple and fails to convey the depths of strangeness that it delivers in just over 90 minutes. A renowned physicist — Herbert Von Krantz — develops a technology that can render nuclear weapons inert. Rather than share this discovery with the world — Von Krantz isolates himself in his secluded home/laboratory with his daughter and loyal assistant. As a result various factions of international spies descend on the Von Krantz home in an attempt to steal the formula for “The Canceler.” How this narrative plays out is actually quite abstract and is almost more of a series of vignettes further underscored by title cards that appear when new chapters begin. 

Herbert Von Krantz is played by Daniel Emilfork — best known to many for his similar role in Jean-Perre Jeunet’s The City of Lost Children. Though Von Krantz’ discovery is of a seemingly benevolent nature — he is a paranoid egomaniac in classic mad scientist mode. His daughter Sylvainne is played by Marie-France Boyer who dreams of her lover Manuel — the titular unknown man played by American Ben Carruthers — when she isn’t being verbally berated by her father. Marcel Imhoff plays Von Krantz’ long-suffering assistant Yvann who seems to attract abuse from everyone he encounters. The initial espionage factions introduced are the French, the Russians, and the Americans. The Russians are a team of trenchcoated spies led by the maniacal, monocled Shoskatovich — Jacques Dufilho. The head American is a former Nazi-turned-agent Bobby Gunn — the Americans are featured in several firearm heavy scenes — played by Howard Vernon who has connections to Alphaville, Jeunet, and several science-gone-mad narratives himself. The most instantly recognizable faction are the French — a troupe of black clad, totally bald agents called the “bald heads” or the “bald ones.” The leader of the bald heads is the distinctly not-bald singer, songwriter, artist, and pop culture icon Serge Gainsbourg. 

Though the plot is essentially a spy novel cliche — it is approached with a deeply absurdist, surrealist bent. Elements such as the Americans being headquartered in a bowling alley or Shoskatovich torturing his captives by blasting “capitalist rock music” at them are played in a deadpan manner but are possessed of a wonderfully odd humor. There are moments that even lend themselves to the fantastique — such as when Sylvainne is instructed to feed “the beast.” This beast is never shown in full but apparently some kind of sea monster lives in the churning swimming pool on the Von Krantz estate. In what is likely destined to be the most memorable scene of the film — the “bald heads” perform a candlelit embalming/funerary rite for one of their fallen comrades while Serge Gainsbourg performs a haunting lounge number “Bye Bye Mister Spy.” The final chapter introduces yet another faction and the disparate plot threads converge in ways both ridiculous and pessimistic — as is only appropriate for a narrative so steeped in Cold War paranoia. 

As Unknown Man moves from bizarre plot point to plot point — its immediate impact is rooted in its amazingly rendered visual world. The comic strip inspired science fiction/espionage story is set in a series of striking locations — some of which were clearly constructed sets but many are real locations with minimal art direction flourishes. The result gives Roger Bimpage’s expressionist black and white photography a somewhat Kubrick-ian feel but unlike Kubrick — Roy and Bimpage used their television experience to shoot quickly and at a fraction of the cost. The most notable of these location-as-character sequences is when Sylvainne escapes her father and travels to Shandigor — composed almost entirely of shots of Gaudi’s architecture in Barcelona. Roy also did a tremendous job of filling his ensemble with remarkable faces that help bring his heightened absurdist world to reality. Emilfork, Howard, Dfulho, and Gainsbourg all possess visages that reflect the weird universe that surrounds them. The largely anonymous “bald heads” were all truly bald non-actors cast for their look — though the most recognizable among them is played by Unknown Man screenwriter Gabriel Arout.

Though Unknown Man may prove too abstract or delivered too dryly for some audiences — I think the exceptionally strange imagery and world conveyed as well as the unique assembly of personalities is more than enough to recommend it. Fans of Jeunet, fans of Gilliam’s more dystopian visions, and certainly anyone interested in New Wave adjacent 60s cinema are going to find a lot to appreciate in Roy’s film. I will say that while I enjoyed my first viewing of Unknown Man — it has really opened up to me as a text through pursuing the extras with the blu-ray release. There’s an excellent essay from writer/punk rock legend Chris D. that I read before watching and the archival Swiss television special is such a great find — it includes interviews with Roy and several of the cast members giving their thoughts on the production and their approach to filmmaking and acting. Writer/film historian Samm Deighan’s solo commentary is terrific and best helped me contextualize the film — not only in giving some background on Jean-Louis Roy but connecting Unknown Man to a list of films that I’ve been both discovering for myself or revisiting after a long absence. Given the journey that I’ve gone on with this film — The Unknown Man of Shandigor will undoubtedly make my best new-to-me list for the year.

Best New-to-Me: Junesploitation 2022 Edition

 After several years of watching from the sidelines I decided to take the plunge and participate in the annual Junesploitation celebration from the fine folks over at F This Movie! The premise is simple enough — you watch a genre/exploitation film every day in June and you are provided themes/prompts/categories for each day. Then you can share what you’re watching via social media or posting comments on fthismovie.net or letterboxd reviews or whatever moves you. How you interpret the categories is left to your discretion and at the end of the month you’ve managed to watch some — hopefully— enjoyably cheap, violent ridiculousness and cross some items off of your watchlist. My movie watching had languished a bit recently and I was traveling in June so I knew this would be a bit of a challenge for me — I still caught the bug somehow and I’m happy I did it. I have the full list here and I included the films I watch at Ex-Fest though I’ve already written about those. I wasn’t able to watch everything in order and I did miss the “prison” category — but in the end I watched 31 films and several of them featured prison/imprisonment themes so I’m calling that good for my first time. One of the cool things about Junesploitation is the spirit of inclusion — the participants are frequently encouraging and insist that there’s no wrong way to do it. Having fun is the point and I was successful using that criteria. 

Here’s my rundown of top new-to-me Junesploitation watches that do not include the Ex-Fest films I’ve already covered. I watched a ton of great stuff so trimming down the list was more of a challenge than getting the films watched.

Day 2: Westerns! Cemetery Without Crosses (1969) — Directed by and starring Robert Hossein — and featuring a writing credit from Dario Argento — Cemetery Without Crosses is a desperately bleak French/Italian co-production. The dialogue is spare, the locales are desolate, and the brief moments of violence erupt from the screen. Both Hossein and Michèle Mercier are masterful as the haunted gunslinger and his recently widowed former lover. It’s a beautifully shot revenge film that is profoundly sad while containing a seething undercurrent of rage. By contrast it features a killer toe-tapping main theme that stuck in my head for days.

Day 8: Cars! Watch Out, We’re Mad! (1974) — I’ve been aware of Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill for ages and yet their comedies have escaped my attention until now. I’m not always the biggest fan of comedies and it’s hard to know where to start with their extensive filmography. I absolutely adored Watch Out, We’re Mad! The unlikely duo star as rival stunt drivers who tie for first place in an off-road race and have to share the prize - a new dune buggy. The buggy is destroyed by the local mafia and the two form a partnership to get a new car from the gang. What ensues is an absolutely madcap affair of hotdog eating contests, choir practice, dance numbers, motorcycle fights, Donald Pleasance, and a TON of delightfully choreographed brawling. I couldn’t stop laughing and was put in such a great mood watching this one. The De Angelis Brothers’ alter ego Oliver Onions provides the music including the unstoppable earworm “Dune Buggy.” If you’re looking for premium buggy content — Watch Out, We’re Mad! has you covered.

Day 13: Italian Horror! The Long Hair of Death (1964) — There’s a lot of ground to cover with a theme like Italian Horror but I decided to go with some classic black & white gothic featuring Barbara Steele — I can’t ever seem to get enough of these. Admittedly Long Hair of Death creaks a bit in the middle but it’s bookended by truly striking sequences of medieval torture and death. Long Hair is wholly enveloped in atmospheric touches — castles, cobwebs, secret portals, hidden crypts, desiccated corpses, corrupt aristocrats, vengeful curses, and ghosts! There is a distinct lack of murderous tresses — so don’t think you’re going into a 60s Italian version of The Bride with White Hair or anything. Also — The Long Hair of Death has multiple kickass posters. This is an easy recommendation for Steele fans or Italo-gothic enthusiasts and one I’m very happy to have gotten to.

Day 14: Blaxploitation! J.D.’s Revenge (1976) — Upping the sleaze content a bit with this slice of violent supernatural New Orleans revenge. Clean cut college kid Ike is possessed by the spirit of a vengeful 40s gangster — J.D. Walker — during a nightclub hypnotism show. Turns out J.D. was framed and killed for a murder he did not commit and his spirit has been unable to rest. Ike’s life starts to take a downward slide as J.D.’s persona creeps further and further into dominance. Though his grievances are valid — J.D. was still a violent creep and generally awful guy. When he is not pursuing revenge against those responsible for his framing he is taking out his frustrations on everyone around him — particularly Ike’s girlfriend. It’s a sordid affair but Glynn Turman turns in a fantastic performance as he transforms into J.D. Walker throughout the film. It’s also a wonderful snapshot of 70s New Orleans and everyone looks amazing in this. 

Day 17: Fulci! The Conspiracy of Torture (1969) — I finally took the good advice of Erica and Lance over at the Unsung Horrors podcast and caught up to Lucio Fulci’s underseen period piece and I’m so glad I did. Supposedly Fulci’s favorite of his own films — Conspiracy of Torture is in many ways a different side of the maestro but also contains undercurrents of his future work. It’s the story of a tyrannical landowner — Francisco Cenci —  who imprisons and abuses his teenage daughter Beatrice. When she can no longer stand it she enlists the aid of one of her servants — played by a fairly restrained Tomas Milian — in killing her father and making it look like an accidental death. What follows is an absolutely brutal investigation led by officials of the church implicating the entire Cenci family in their patriarch’s death. The narrative is somewhat convoluted at times due to the flashbacks employed but it’s an absolutely gorgeous film. Fulci’s deep seated distrust of power structures — particularly religious ones — takes center stage here and yes, there is a remarkable moment of orbital trauma.

Day 23: Giallo! Nothing Underneath (1985) — Sex! Murder! Fashion! Donald Pleasance eating spaghetti at a Wendy’s! Mid-80s giallo Nothing Underneath really has it all. Park ranger Bob travels from Wyoming to Milan because he has psychic visions of the murder of his fashion model twin sister who has disappeared. Bob’s fish-out-of-water experience in the Milanese fashion world is exacerbated by the fact that nobody seems to readily accept the fact of twin telepathy — outrageous! More models die and the mystery unravels as Bob and Donald Pleasance’s Commissioner Danessi uncover more secrets and conspiracies bubbling underneath a veneer of glamor. I recently picked this up from Vinegar Syndrome and had an absolute blast watching it. It moves quickly and the finale is nothing short of spectacular. This wound up being a Pride weekend watch for me and while I’m not going to say it provides the best LGBTQ+ representation in the world — it does feature a runway sequence set to Gloria Gaynor’s I Am What I Am. I think that counts. 

Day 24: 90s Comedy! Coldblooded (1995) — I’ll fully admit that I watched better movies last month than largely forgotten 90s black comedy Coldblooded — but I wanted to include it in this list because it was such a pleasant surprise. It features Jason Priestly as a low level mob employee — Cosmo —  who is suddenly “promoted” to hitman under the mentorship of a veteran played by Peter Riegert. Cosmo mostly ambles through the world with a blank, almost childlike affect — but it turns out he is an amazingly talented hitman. While Cosmo is celebrated both by Riegert and his boss — dealing with the emotional burden of killing people leads him to try a yoga class where he inevitably falls in love with Jasmine — his instructor. Complications ensue and bodies pile up as Cosmo attempts to find a way to leave his new profession and start a new life. There was an absolute glut of quirky crime and hitman movies during the 90s so I suppose I’m not shocked that Coldblooded got lost in the shuffle somewhere. Still, I found this to be genuinely funny and charming and shockingly violent in moments. The cast is a lot of fun with Riegert, Robert Loggia, Janeane Garofalo, Kimberly Williams-Paisely, Josh Charles, a Michael J. Fox cameo, and Priestly turning in an admirably weird performance. It’s definitely one of those movies that deserves wider rediscovery and appreciation. Part of the fun of doing a challenge like Junesploitation is pushing yourself a little and finding something outside of your normal inclinations that you really enjoy and Coldblooded was very much that for me. 

Larceny in Technicolor - 5 Ultra Cool Euro-Heist Flicks

I am a fan of all manner of crime flicks throughout the 20th Century from the gritty pre-code classics to the operatic Hong Kong gangster stories but I have always held a deep affinity for a swinging 60s Euro-heist. Immaculately styled capers featuring impossibly cool casts set against locales from the golden age of travel. I imagine my enthusiasm for this genre is somewhat akin to what James Bond fans feel — I just have an easier time rooting for thieves than I do for government agents. Maybe it's the Summer vibes and thoughts of taking a holiday but I've had heist flicks on the brain again. The following are some of my absolute favorites in this vein and the films I often find myself recommending to the curious or people stuck talking to me at cocktail parties.

Topkapi (1964) — Jules Dassin may not have invented the heist film with his unimpeachable 1955 classic Rififi but he very well may have perfected it. After Rififi’s breakout international success Dassin made a succession of European films outside of the crime milieu before returning to the genre with Topkapi. A much lighter affair than its predecessor, Topkapi makes explosive use of color and employs humor in the place of noir stylings. Peter Ustinov co-stars as the unwitting accomplice (schmo) to an international crew of master thieves looking to steal a jewel encrusted dagger in Istanbul. Despite the riot of sound and color on display for most of Topkapi’s runtime, the films highlight is a near silent burglary sequence crammed with white-knuckle tension. It's corny in parts and the plot doesn't make all the sense in the world, but I get swept away by Topkapi every time I watch it. 

Any Number Can Win (1963) — An absolutely gorgeous heist picture from Henri Verneuil featuring the first collaboration between cinema titans Jean Gabin and Alain Delon. Gabin plays the veteran crook who recruits Delon’s hotheaded rookie to help rob a casino on the French Riviera. The dynamic between the two is a lot of fun to watch and the actual heist sequence is excellent. I’ve always thought Verneuil had a real gift for framing a sequence and Any Number is no exception. The extended sequence of Delon trying to nonchalantly pass bags of stolen loot by the pool as police descend on the resort is perfection. More Gallic cool than crazy caper, Any Number oozes style from Michel Magne’s jazz score to the Cannes locale. As of this writing there is no in-print physical copy of Any Number Can Win available in the US and that’s a more serious crime than any robbery.

Grand Slam (1967) — Giuliano Montaldo’s international caper flick is a breezy, idiosyncratic affair that features a ridiculously fun score from Ennio Morricone and a wild cast including Janet Leigh, Edward G. Robinson, George Rigaud, Klaus Kinski, Adolfo Celi, and more. The set up is an assembled multinational crew of experts who plan to rob a bank in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival season. This is another fantastic heist sequence that is nearly wordless and involves close to 30 minutes of rappelling, suction cups, electric eyes, telescoping ladders, and the titular Grand Slam 70 alarm system. Some of the narrative twists and turns are a little hard to swallow but Grand Slam more than delivers on sweaty palmed tension. The actual footage of Carnival in the 60s is a genuine treat as well.

Gambit (1966) — Ronald Neame’s heist comedy employs a gambit of its own but manages to be clever enough to get away with it. The film was advertised with the line “Go Ahead: Tell the End (It's Too Hilarious to Keep Secret) But Please Don't Tell the Beginning!" Which hopefully is enough to dissuade you from reading too much about the plot. It also contains some elements which we’d call out as problematic in a modern context — Shirley MacLaine plays a woman of European and Asian descent while Harold Lom plays a Middle Eastern man from a fictional country. If you’re still able to appreciate Gambit as a product of its time; there’s abundant charm, wit, and tension to enjoy. Michael Caine plays a burglar, Harry Dean,  who recruits MacLaine’s Nicole Chang in a Hong Kong nightclub to help him rob a priceless statuette from the incredibly private and wealthy Ahmad Shahbandar (Lom). Dean believes they can use Chang’s resemblance to Shahbandar’s late wife to gain access to his penthouse and consequently his art gallery so that the statue can be stolen. I don’t want to say much more other than this is probably worth your time just to see 1960s Caine and MacLaine play off of each other. They are both delightful and look amazing. Definitely more of a comedy with a less technical heist than the other films on this list but still delivers some legitimate suspense. 

The Sicilian Clan (1969) — Another Verneuil film and another one featuring Delon and Gabin with the addition of this blog’s favorite actor — Lino Ventura. The Sicilian Clan was a large-budget affair that was shot both in French and in English (reportedly a source of consternation for Gabin who felt he should be paid twice) and had a wide international release. Beyond its marquee power Sicilian Clan features a phenomenal Morricone score and was shot by the master French cinematographer Henri Decaë. Delon plays a thief who manages to escape police custody in a thrilling sequence with the help of the Italian crime family led by Gabin. The new allies reach an uneasy agreement to rob a jewelry exhibition and Ventura plays a gruff police inspector determined to re-apprehend Delon and uncover the criminal plot. Between the firecracker opener and an epic finale, Sicilian Clan brings the temperature down to a simmer. The focus is frequently on the interpersonal relationships — the crime family dynamic, the outsider vs. the in-group, an affair, and the professional rivalry between Gabin and Ventura. It’s all done with consummate professionalism and intricate detail, though. It’s an absolute must-see for French crime cinema enthusiasts.

 

Ex-Fest 2022!

During the darkest of COVID times when movie theaters were closed and their future was uncertain, I made a promise to myself that if the world came to life again I would endeavor to make it to a film festival and particularly to a movie marathon. In the slightly less uncertain but still dark times of a Minnesota winter I purchased tickets to Ex-Fest in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania hoping I wouldn’t be sick and planes would be flying. Admittedly it wasn't the highest bar to set in the world but I was stoked when Erin and I were finally able to board that plane to Philly.

In fairness there have been movie marathons closer to home that I could have attended but they tend to sell out quickly, be entirely horror focused, and run a full 24 hours. Ex-Fest being a 7 movie, 12 hour affair was enticing and since the theme is classic exploitation and grindhouse films — you have the promise of a variety of movie genres as you go from film to film. The organizers — Exhumed Films — hold fantastic repertory screenings all over the Philadelphia area and are committed to exhibiting everything on film so I knew the selections would be solid. The festival was also being held at the historic Colonial Theater which is the theater featured in The Blob and is where they host Blobfest every year. As a fan of classic movie houses — I was certainly interested in visiting. What really put Ex-Fest on my radar and sold me on the idea was the Twitch of the Death Nerve podcast crew singing its praises during one of their episodes. Those folks know their shit and if they say an event is one of their favorites — I’m bound to listen.

Those of you that know me personally are probably aware of my general abhorrence towards cars and driving and that was the only logistic hurdle that we had to overcome in getting to Phoenixville. Despite being a mere 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia and being in possession of some lovely old railroad infrastructure — it’s a real pain to get there without a car. When I crunched the numbers it looked like hiring a cab was going to be cheaper and easier than renting a car. I’m not going to say it was cheap but it was easy. Phoenixville itself offers a historic small town downtown strip and we stayed at the one hotel in town. It’s not 100 percent my scene but they do close the main drag to car traffic on summer weekends which strikes a chord in my pedestrian heart. Once you’re there you can walk to everything — the hotel, the theater, restaurants, coffee, bars, etc. It’s in sharp contrast to the kinds of conventions held at isolated suburban hotels bound by freeways.

We landed the night before the fest and mostly wandered around eating and drinking. We had a chance to say "hi" to some folks and I got to meet/chat with Jon from TotDN and Erica from Unsung Horrors. I’m not the best at introducing myself normally and have gotten rustier in the last couple of years but I found a lot of the attendees easy to converse with randomly throughout the weekend. The festival opened at 10am the next day and there was already a line to get in an hour before that! We were a little slower to get going — we stopped for massive breakfast burritos to properly fuel beforehand — but had no problem getting some decent seats adjacent to the people we sort-of knew. The theater was great with reasonably comfortable seats and a balcony — my years served at the historic Uptown Theater in Minneapolis have made me a main floor guy but I admit that balconies are cool. There were a couple of merch tables so I naturally grabbed a t-shirt and picked up a copy of Vigilante from Jesse/DiabolikDVD which I’ve been meaning to buy for a long time.

There was a rough schedule/line up with some clues about what the movies were going to be and I overheard some wild conjecture regarding those. We buckled in an prepared for a day of cheap thrills.

Film #1 - High Risk (1981) - Not the Jet Li spin on Die Hard but a star-studded action/comedy from Stewart Raffill — the man behind such classics as Ice Pirates and Tammy and the T-Rex. It’s the story of a group of laid off auto workers who — under the leadership of James Brolin — travel to Colombia to rip off a drug lord played by James Coburn. It has some hangout vibes, some Deliverance elements, and some positively bonkers moments. Ernest Borgnine and Anthony Quinn turn up as total scene-stealers as an arms dealer and revolutionary turned bandit. High Risk got a huge reaction from the audience and was a great way to kick things off.

Film #2 - The Ladies Club (1986) - I knew this was going to be a rape/revenge flick going in so wasn’t sure how much of a downer it would be. I was genuinely surprised by how little this dwells on the former — while treating it honestly and with gravity — and how well it delivers on the latter. It’s the story of a group of women who have had their lives affected by rape in one way or another and formulate a scheme to abduct serial rapists and castrate them. It does have a bit of a Lifetime movie feel to it, but I found the cast terrific and the overall film well executed. 

Film #3 - Deadlier than the Male (1967) - Swinging 60s spy story that keeps things fun without moving into parody. I am not the biggest James Bond fan in the universe but I do love jet-set crime flicks from the same era. I found Deadlier than the Male had enough of that energy to hold my attention. The fact that it featured Elke Sommer, Sylvia Koscina, and an epic dummy drop from a London high-rise didn’t hurt. It loses some steam towards the end of the film but thankfully it's a breezy affair under the two hour mark.

Film #4 - Kill or be Killed (1976) - Somewhat surreal South African karate cult classic. This had been on my watchlist for a long time so this was probably the ideal way to check it out. Diamonds, Nazis, a dwarf named Chico, and lots of serviceable karate action. I didn’t quite know what the hell was happening in parts but I’m an easy sell when it comes to the “eccentric villain holds a martial arts tournament for reasons” genre of film. I especially loved all the exterior shots of what was definitely a toy model of a castle. There are so many of them.

Film #5 - Crimson Bat, the Blind Swordswoman (1969) - Sadly, this is where we had to tap out for a minute. After a full shift of movies we were ready for a break and some food that wasn’t popcorn. Luckily that was easily obtained across the street and after a bowl of pasta and a negroni we were back in time to catch the final showdown. I can’t really speak to Crimson Bat other than it’s a riff on a Zatoichi style narrative with a female protagonist. It’s definitely on my watchlist now.

Film #6 - High Crime (1973) - The only film in the lineup I had seen previously but I was thrilled to see again in a theater on 35mm. A high octane, desperately pessimistic poliziotteschi from the legendary Enzo G. Castellari starring the peerless Franco Nero. Castellari is such a fantastic action director and there are some terrific sequences throughout High Crime. The violence is cranked pretty high in this one and it was a real joy to hear the audience reactions throughout. Fernando Rey and James Whitmore are both in excellent supporting roles and the music is by the De Angelis brothers. I need more non-horror Italian genre theatrical screenings in my life!

Film #7 - Killer’s Romance (1990) - To wrap up the festival, we were treated to a loose, Hong Kong adaptation of the Crying Freeman manga featuring Simon Lam looking both lovely and sad in a variety of autumn fashions. The titular romance between Lam and Joey Wong was not setting my world on fire but there definitely moments of inspired violence that would startle me back to consciousness. I was reaching my limit at this point and Killer’s Romance wasn’t quite the thrill ride I needed but we stuck it out to the end and immediately marched back to our hotel to crash.

This was such a fun experience and I’m so glad we made the trip. The film selection was terrific and delivered on the variety we hoped for. The facilities were excellent and being able to reach everything we need on foot was something that not every fest/marathon can offer. The crowd was great! Everyone had a lot of respect for what was happening — lots of audience engagement that was totally appropriate and nobody was trying out their MST3K material. My favorite movie of the bunch is still High Crime but if I had to pick a favorite viewing of the day it has to be High Risk. There is a moment towards the end that had the entire audience roaring in laughter and applause. I imagine there are some music rights issues with releasing it, but absolutely catch it at a rep screening if you have the chance. I don’t know if schedules and finances will allow for us to make the trip out to Ex-Fest every year — but having made the journey we’re definitely going to have to consider it.