Der Tollwütige

If you took a blender and added a little bit Steve Buscemi, Arnold Stang and Nicolas Cage from "Vampire's Kiss," you'd get the whiny, bug-eyed bad acting from John Chandler in his first and only lead role.

Everyone else in the cast, including Savalas and Orbach were fine, but Chandler's performance was absurd, comical, and sort've fun to watch in a guilty pleasured way.

Not a bad Ed Wood/Corman-like film to watch and make fun of, so a few stars for the laughs.

My favorite scene is where the old man tells Coll (Chandler) to go threaten somebody else because the old man doesn't even look at "girls in summer dresses" any longer. Good line-- so, take that, tough guy! Too bad the rest of the movie looks like it was filmed in somebody's garage. It's a "Thalia" production and not surprisingly plays like a quickie meant to cash in on TV's top-rated Untouchables. This was the early 1960's, and the public was fascinated with 20's style careening cars and Tommy gun splatters. So why not a "Mad Dog" Coll, to go along with Capone, Nitti, and the rest of the gangland icons. Thalia may have been a cheap outfit, but they knew where the bucks were.

Chandler sure tries—he's seen all the old Warner Bros. classics. Then too, with his over- sized teeth and heavy-lidded eyes, no one would confuse him with Cary Grant. More importantly, he hits all the right poses and sprays the chopper with appropriate bloodlust delight. The trouble is he's also got zero charisma. So, unlike a Cagney or Bogart, his Mad Dog comes across as little more than a dislikable tough guy that nobody cries for in the end. No wonder Chandler's future lay in character acting. But what's up with Broadway actor Jerry Orbach (Joe) who performs like he wandered onto the wrong set. He looks confused throughout. Maybe he's waiting for clues from director Balaban. If so, he never gets them, resulting in several near-painful scenes. Anyway, the movie amounts to a C-grade version of the gangland craze, but with one key distinction. It may be the only film on record where just about all the supporting cast is now better known than the lead.

I see no reason for whining about being inaccurate. Has anyone seen a movie lately that was accurate? For that matter has anyone seen a news broadcast that is accurate? I found this inaccurate movie very entertaining. I only gave it a 7 because i saw the movie many years ago and maybe it wasn't quite as good as i thought it was then. probably not, but i did switch brands of cigarettes to chesterfield kings for about 6 months, i don't guess i have to mention non-filtered as i don't believe any chesterfield cigarettes were filtered at the time. and yes, i do find stupid movies entertaining, i saw another about a blue butterfly, many years later, cant remember the name of it and have looked for it in vain. i have not seen many movies where the actor actually looked like the person he was portraying unless perhaps it was abraham lincoln. i have seen various actors portray mad dog, and the one in this movie is the closest my mind could picture as looking like him. who really cares anyway. its not like you have to identify him in court.

In the late 1950s into the mid-60s, there were a lot of films which purported to be biographies of famous mobsters, such as Al Capone and George "Pretty Boy" Floyd. "Mad Dog Coll" is one of these movies and it tells the SEMI-true story of Vincent Coll, a sociopath with a penchant for violence.

Before watching this movie, I read up on the real life Coll. Needless to say, the film omits, exaggerates and distorts his life. For example, he was born in Ireland and he and his family immigrated to New York while he was young. This is a very important event...and it's never mentioned in any way during the film! What it does get right is Coll's general style as well as highlighting some of the murders he was known to have been involved with during his short life.

One of the best reasons to watch the movie is to watch the performance of John Davis Chandler as Coll. Chandler had a long and successful career playing the slimiest and scariest of sociopaths...making him perfect for this role. He's scary and believable...and a bit over-the-top!

So is the film worth seeing? Well, it depends a lot on you. If you dislike gangster films or violent movies, skip it. If you want the TRUE story of Coll's life, read Wikipedia! But if you want an enjoyable and creepy crime film...this one is worth seeing. Plus, it gives you a rare chance to see a young Jerry Orbach as one of Coll's henchmen.

Those years of the late 50s and early 60s there was a spate of films inspired by the legends of gangsterism. Vincent 'mad dog' Coll was every bit as ruthless and psychotic as shown here. But the facts are not true, they rarely were in these films.

John Davis Chandler made his debut here and played various punks and psychos his whole career. Chandler plays Coll probably as psychotic as he really was. His indiscriminate killing of citizens made both gangsters and cops want to see him put out of business.

Nice to see Telly Savalas, Jerry Orbach, and Vincent Gardenia in this independent New York based film. All of those worthy folks in their salad days.

Mad Dog Coll the movie, no better or worse than some of the others of this type.