Ciudad Baja (Downtown Heat)

Seeing a best films of 1994 taking place on ICM,the first thing I did was take off the shelf the fantastic Flowers of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco: 2 by Stephen Thrower and Julian Grainger,and found the auteur had only one title released from '94. This led to me getting set to go downtown with Uncle Jess.

Note:Some spoilers in review.

View on the film:

Getting filmed in 1990 but stuck in legal issues until 1994 due to a long court case after a falling out with long-time producer Marius Lesoeur, (who claimed he owned rights to the script) which ended in Marius losing the case and the film going to studio E.L.M.T, which went bust shortly afterwards. Freed from all the problems from being seen, the eventually release revealed this to be a restrained, polished tune played by co-writer/(with Michael Katims) directing auteur uncle Jess Franco.

Playing his trademark button-bashing trombone zoom-ins against a sun-lit city and buzzing Jazz clubs, Jess disappointingly keeps his distinctive quirks limited to a welcomed encounter with New Age Punks as Steve's wife lays dead with mice's walking over her,instead spending the majority of the time trying to fit in with the glossy video Thrillers of the late 80's, which Jess glides over with a flat atmosphere.

Becoming more anti-drugs in this era (a real change from his past decades!) the screenplay by Uncle Jess and debut co-writer Katims clips the thriller of tension with moralising lectures on the bad drug habits of the victim and her former friends, which also tugs Steve's search for his wife/later revenge from moving with the slickness Jess is trying to achieve. Running rings round the rest of the cast,Lina Romay brings much needed sparks to the flick as Melissa, (wrongly credited as Angela on IMDb) thanks to her off-beat New Wave Punk being paired with a rough-edge empathy for the troubles going on in the downtown heat.

This was a movie that I got the chance to check out as part of the Eurocine Collection Volume 1 that I got in for review from Full Moon thanks to Laura from Scandal Coactive. This was another film that I didn't know about from Jesús Franco. Interesting, I did hear a podcast go over this so my guess was that was Mr. Parka. Regardless, I was intrigued to see what we get here as I've gotten mixed results from Franco.

Synopsis: a young jazz-composer turns vengeful commando against local drug Mafia Capos when his wife is killed at the hands of Caribbean drug dealers.

We start this off by getting the opening credits with the backdrop of the city that this takes place. It is Spain but supposed to be South America. Something else to point out is that Franco claims this is a true story that he adapted into what we get here. We see a dead girl in a trunk. They're at the beach and there's a nearby cliff. There is a guy preparing to get rid of the girl when another shows up to help. While they're doing this, Alberto (Óscar Ladoire) and his partner, Emilio (Antonio Mayans), see. They interrupt, but not before the van is sent over the edge after being set on fire. It explodes. One of the criminals is shot, Emilio is run down by the other and Alberto gives chase.

He relays over the radio about his pursuit. This gets bubbled up to Badal (Philippe Lemaire) when the license plate comes back to an important person in town. He tells Alberto to stand down. He states that he has the criminal dead to rights but does as he is commanded. Badal is on the payroll for an important diplomat with ties to the drug trade.

This doesn't sit with Alberto. He tells Emilio's wife, Maria (Josephine Chaplin), about what happened. She is also a police officer. These two are going outside of the law to bring down the criminals being protected. He also reaches out to a drug enforcement officer from the United States to help.

Now there is another story here that runs concurrently. Steve (Mike Connors) is this young jazz-composer who gets tangled here. He is looking for his wife, who he tells us was having an affair with Melissa (Lina Romay). He seeks her out to find out what happened to her and it relates to a local drug dealer.

We also follow Don Miguel (Craig Hill). He is the drug dealer that the criminals in the beginning worked for. His right hand is Chucho (Robert Long) who must deal with the blunder. The only thing that Miguel enjoys more than his power and money is his daughter. He will do anything to protect her.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I do enjoy the concept here. We have these three stories that get intertwined. Miguel is operating just fine in the city until this one criminal is too blatant in his handling of a dead woman. This gets Alberto on his trail. By killing his partner, that gets Maria involved. It also exposes corruption. This drug agent from the United States is also after Miguel, so that is more aid there. There is an element of gialli here that Steve, who isn't a cop or in law enforcement joins the team. Having seen Angel of Death ahead of this, this reminded me of that. Taking people who don't have experience joining to help bring down the villains. It is slightly unbelievable though.

What we are getting here though is a classic 1980s action film that was released in the mid-90s. This was filmed in 1990 so that could explain it, just missing out on the decade. There were legal issues as to why this came out when it did. There is a big action sequence to end this out. I enjoyed that, even if it was over the top. We get the concept as well of the police, dealing with corruption in their department needing to overcome that to bring down the villain. It even plays with the idea that having power and money, Miguel could get away with this. The police must step outside of what they're allowed to do legally to bring him to justice. This is set in South America, so I'm not familiar with their laws there. Kidnapping a girl to flush out the drug lord doesn't seem legal.

Despite doing good things, this feels generic and in turn boring. It takes too long to get into it. The story with Steve isn't fleshed out as well as it could be and I struggled to settle in with it. Once I did, I went along for the ride. This just doesn't do anything to stand out though so that is part of it as well. This is a police procedural film with the investigation until everyone comes together and that's when the action picks up. I'd say you even get gialli elements with Steve's investigation. The cinematography set up the city and the locations this takes place was good, wanted to give credit there. The action sequences aren't great, but I can tell they aren't working with a big budget. They're fine. I will credit that the soundtrack was good. We get a combination of synth, which I'm a sucker for, as well as jazz. That fits in line with the lead.

All that is left then is filmmaking. Connors was fine as this jazz musician who gets sucked into the underworld looking for his wife. Then he wants revenge. I think he has a good look and fit the character in a movie like this. Chaplin was fine in her limited role. I did see that this was her last acting job as well. Ladoire is good as our main police detective we follow. I love how tenacious he is to get justice for what's happened. Hill was good as our drug lord. Lemaire, Romay, Long, Mayans and the rest of the cast are fine in rounding this out for what was needed.

In conclusion, this is an interesting film from Franco filmography. This is listed as an action/thriller, but we don't get a lot of that former until late. This is more of a police procedural with gialli mixed in for the investigation. There is a pacing issue that takes a bit too long to settle in. I thought the bright spot was the acting. It was solid for what was needed. I'd also say that the cinematography was good in setting up the locations. My issue though is that the lack of budget hurts here. What we focus on isn't as interesting. I'd recommend this to fans of Franco who are out to see his filmography. Those looking for action films, I'd pass as there are better ones out there. Unless you like schlock, then give this a go with friends and drinks for sure.

My Rating: 4 out of 10.