American Rikscha

This may be named "AMERICAN Rickshaw", but it's a 200% ITALIAN cocktail of absurd satanic horror, sleazy exploitation, and macho 80s action! Sergio Martino was one of the most prominent and successful directors of the 70s and early 80s but, just like his compatriots, he struggled during the late 80s to get his movies noticed. "American Rickshaw" is little-known and barely loved, but undeservedly so, as it's marvelous entertainment.

I presume that Italian cult directors booked group travels together to Miami, Florida, and then shot movies there separately. Enzo G. Castellari made "Hammerhead", Alberto de Martino did "Miami Golem", and Sergio Martino thought up the grotesquely inventive "American Rickshaw". The hunky & athletic Mitchell Gaylord (I'm not making fun of him, mind you, that's his actual name) stars as a student/rickshaw driver Scott Edwards who becomes entangled in a convoluted web of Chinese spiritualism, devilish evangelists, voyeuristic amateur-pornography, double-crossing strip dancers, hypnotizing cobras, spontaneously combusting boats, eerie warthog relics, prophetic cats, rejuvenating geishas, and flesh-melting locker keys. I kid you not!

Explaining how all these bizarre elements connect would take too long and would also ruin the fun! Just take my word for it, "American Rickshaw" is jolly great fun IF you don't ask any questions regarding logic or sense. It's fast-paced, full of action and gratuitous nudity, and - especially towards the finale - there's also some excellent gore! Mr. Gaylord and the ravishing Victoria Prouty (in her only role ever) are amiable, but - as usual - my preference goes to the nasty, evil villains! Daniel Green, Martino's regular beefcake from "Atomic Cyborg" and "Day of the Condor" is awesome as the unstoppable killer, and good old Donald Pleasance is present again as well. I'm not sure if Pleasance fully realized what filmset he was on, but his charisma is always an added cult value.

The cat is lovely - although, given some of the shots that we see, it's readily evident that the poor feline was mistreated to obtain the desired reactions. It's nice to see esteemed, prolific voice actor Darin De Paul in a rare live-action (supporting) role, and he's readily recognized; on the other hand, while iconic Donald Pleasence is usually able to lend a point of integrity to even the most tawdry of flicks, in this instance he flounders just as much as everything else. I can appreciate that an evangelical preacher is depicted as a villain, which is certainly all too true to real life, and the premise of mysticism and black magic is promising; would that the movie did something useful with any of this before the last act. I would love to have more major, positive words to impart about this film, but to be honest, all this is just about the nearest that I can get. 'American rickshaw' is dull rubbish pretty much from start to finish.

The writing is achingly thin, and some dialogue and scene writing is just bewildering - not least as characters possess perfect knowledge about specific relevant information (watch for when De Paul's character remarks upon a date's special meaning), or betray such information in senseless ways (e.g., a henchman pointlessly says aloud exactly what we know the protagonist needs to hear). The preponderance of the length is an ordinary thriller about an innocent person getting drawn into a quagmire of murder and whatever, and only after we get a lore dump partway through the third act does the picture meaningfully bring the premise to bear. The back end feels rushed and forced, for that matter, as if filmmaker Sergio Martino realized he still had to do something with the story he helped to write, and it became necessary to cram it all into the last stretch. The latter messiness notably makes the narrative at large feel all the more flimsy. There are times when Martino's direction doesn't come off well (is that why he filmed under a pseudonym?), and there are certainly more instances when some of the acting raises a quizzical eyebrow.

In fairness, other facets actually are well done. Stunts and practical effects look pretty terrific; I like the art direction. This is well made from a technical standpoint, and all those behind the scenes turned in good work. Though some of the acting falls short, mostly it's just fine. The problem is that none of this means all that much when the storytelling is at best bland, and often altogether questionable. It's not that 'American rickshaw' is emphatically bad, but more than not it's nothing special - and more to the point, it shoves those aspects about it which are special into a very small corner. There are bits and pieces to enjoy here, but there are also flaws, and some of the best potential is mostly squandered. It remains true that there are much worse things one could watch, but what it comes down to is that unless you're a huge fan of someone involved, there's just not all that much reason to check it out. If anything this feature is best reserved for a lazy, quiet day when you want something that doesn't require or inspire active engagement; would that this made better use of the included notions so as to stand out more from the crowd.

My review was written in June 1991 after watching the film on Academy video cassette.

Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord makes an okay hero in the Italian action pic "American Tiger". Poorly scripted effort is being released directly to video in the States.

Credited to four writers, including director Sergio Martino, storyline unwisely attempts to inject a mystical element into an otherwise straightforward suspense plot.

Muscular Gayulord plays a young student in Mami who earns money pulling a rickshaw carrying tourists (pic's original title was "American Rickshaw"). Pic opens with him being kind to an old Oriental woman (Michi Kobi) by giving her a ride in the rain. It turns out she's an ageless witch who's been guarding a legendary Boar Statue that's about to fall into the hands of unscrupulous televangelist Donald Pleasence unless Gaylord saves the day.

While Peasence's henchman Daniel Greene is killing folks and hunting Gaylord for a missing key to obtain the statue, Mitch is thrown together with a young stripper (Victoria Prouty) as innocents on the lam. Martino stages the action scenes well with plenty of Miami location atmosphere but keeps injecting idiotic supernatural interventions, as Kobi starts fires or uses her pet cat and snake to try to confound the villains.

Prouty is an attractive redhead who deserves better roles than this while Gylord shows some promise as a he-man action star. Pleasence is embarrassing wearing a wig in flashbacks as a younger version of himself -he already was bald back in '50s movies, so the effect is incongruous..

Not your typical B movie schlock. I've had this one on my shelf for about 6 months now and finally built up the nerve to sit down and watch it and it did not disappoint! A storyline so chalked full of confusing twists and turns, most of which prove to be completely unnecessary, American Rickshaw confuses and then kind of explains it all by the end of the movie. It's a headscratcher and rightfully so as most low budget Italian American films turn out to be in this era of B movies. Some hilarious scenes (Jeans shower, Aids threat and of course Donald Pleasance pig transformation) as well as some genuinely well done practical effects (burning key, Donald Pleasance pig transformation). If you're into these types of movies this one definitely isn't your average bad movie, it has its own charm and wild storyline. I Very much recommend!

'American Rickshaw' on my disc but even with its Italian title, 'American Riscio', it would be no better. Directed by prolific and usually reliable, Sergio Martino, this suffers from weak and mostly inexperienced cast and pretty ludicrous storyline. Male lead, Mitch Gaylord is famous for having been the 1984 US Olympic gymnast champion and his female counterpart is unknown Victoria Prouty, who does well enough compared to everyone else but is asked to play a lap dancer despite a most modest chest. Actually, this begins fairly well and remains quirky throughout but things start to go wrong with appalling police representation and then this Chinese mumbo jumbo which becomes more prominent as the film progresses. We also get a spluttering performance from, always willing but not always able, Donald Pleasence as an evangelical nutter preacher, gone very wrong.