La vittima designata

Strangers on a Train is given the giallo treatment in The Designated Victim, which is sadly nowhere near as good as Hitchcock's classic, nor is it one of the better Italian murder mysteries to hail from the '70s.

Tomas Milian plays successful advertising executive Stefano Augenti, who tries unsuccessfully to get his wife Luisa (Marisa Bartoli) to sell her half of the company, which would free up funds for Stefano to leg it to Venezuela with his sexy mistress, French model Fabienne (Katia Christine). While on a dirty weekend with Fabienne in Venice, Stefano encounters the foppish Count Matteo Tiepolo (Pierre Clémenti, who looks like Russell Brand crossed with Freddie Mercury) who comes up with a scheme that would benefit them both: Matteo would kill Luisa, and, in return, Stefano would murder Matteo's bully of a brother. Stefano brushes the idea off as morbid chit-chat, but Matteo goes through with his part of the plan regardless, strangling Luisa with a stocking. When the police investigate, they discover all about Stefano's affair and his intention to leave the country, which makes him the prime suspect.

What follows is a rather mundane thriller as Stefano tries to prove his innocence, with Matteo always one step ahead. Director Maurizio Lucidi fails to wring any tension from the set-up, and, barring some brief T&A from Christine during the opening credits, the film is totally devoid of the genre staples - gratuitous nudity and creative killings, making it a pretty pedestrian affair all round. A daft ending that requires Stefano to be an Olympic standard rifleman really takes the biscuit.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

Wonderfully morbid exceptional giallo in which Tomas MILIAN as a Milanese businessman meets a strangely fascinating Pierre CLEMENTI as Count Matteo in Venice. He proposes a very strange pact that will soon have fatal consequences...

It's wonderful how modern Milan (Pirelli skyscraper) is confronted with the morbid charm of Venice (Santa Maria della Salute). The Italian writer Luigi MALERBA (1927-2008), who wrote novels such as "LE MASCHERE / The Naked Masks" and "FANTASMI ROMANI / Roman Ghosts", was involved in the award-winning script. By the way, the song "My Shadows in the Dark" is sung by Tomas MILIAN himself.

Highly recommended!

Not a tennis player this time but a business man who has a matrimonial conflict with his wife and also a mistress. Noble friend Mateo Tiepolo offers him the "perfect crime" - i.e. he will murder Milian's wife and Milian is supposed to kill his evil brother. After doing his job Mateo expects the compensation. This more stylish version with a good score can be recommended to Milian fans. Considering that I didn't even like the original very much I'll give this one

5 / 10.

The influence for this film is clear; it's basically an Italian twist on the Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train. Being a big fan of that film, I was of course intrigued to see how this was going to turn out. I wont say I was too disappointed overall, but it's nowhere near as good as the original and certainly could have been a lot better. The main problem with it is that director Maurizio Lucidi has aimed too high; it's clear he wanted this to be a high quality thriller rather than a slice of Italian exploitation - and personally I'd rather it have been the latter. The basics of the plot will be familiar to most fans of thrillers, and in this film we focus on Stefano Argenti, an advertising executive who is at odds with his wife over the sale of a joint business. He wants rid of it so he can live a life of luxury with his mistress; but his wife wont agree the sale. Stefano meets Count Mateo Tiepolo, who it transpires, is at odds with his violent brother. Mateo suggests a plan in which each man murder the other's vice; though Stefano is reluctant. But then Mateo kills Stefano's wife, and demands that the favour is returned.

The lead roles are taken by Tomas Milian and Pierre Clémenti, and both perform well and share an intriguing (almost homo-erotic) bond on screen together. The plot itself is rather slowly paced and it has to be said there's not a great deal of excitement; I was never on the edge of my seat waiting to see what's going to happen, and that's unfortunate since the film is supposed to be a thriller. It's all very well orchestrated, however, and the film has themes that go deeper than merely what we're seeing on screen. Director Maurizio Lucidi obviously wanted to keep the film clean, and therefore we don't see any murders actually happen, which is a bit of a disappointment. The locations are all very beautiful and well shot, and this brilliantly offsets the dark themes of the film. The soundtrack is rather interesting also and not merely the norm for Giallo. The film deviates from Hitchcock's original with the ending, which features a clever twist; though I have to say I prefer how the original turned out. Overall, I would definitely say that this film is worth a look; however, I'd have preferred some more of the classic Giallo style.

Not the most obviously giallo although the Shameless DVD says it is one and also Troy Howarth in his splendid book, 'So Deadly, So Perverse' makes the point Patricia Highsmith's books are much in tune with the gialli, so who am I to disagree? The film taking a twist of Hitchcock's, Strangers on a Train (1951) and is in Italy. There are amazing shots in Milan and Moltrasio on Lake Como, of course in Venice and even up high in the Santa Maria Della Salute someone with a rifle. Tomas Milian at his best and Pierre Clementi, almost as well-known such as The Leopard (1963), Belle De Jour (1967) and The Conformist (1970). A great story and a different take especially with these wonderful locations and Milian and Clementi both together. Splendid!