Speed Driver

Speed Driver (1980) deals with Rudi Ruffo (Fabio Testi) who's an illegal and freelance street racer . This time Testi is a motorbike racer and reckless driver who gets involved with the usual gang of goons who proceed to make his life painful . Rudi rides bikes and cars , whose reputation in the area becomes so strong that he is hired to compete professionally on the circuit . He is a hot shot stunt driver/racer who has his heroin-crazed brother treated in hospital . Then he catches the eye of a suspicious promoter called Lucky Esposito (Francisco Rabal) . Lucky is all full of encouragement and invites him to come , being contracted to compete on the circuit to be his star racer on the international track , but Fabio soons finds out that the job that isn't too good . Along the way , Rudi is interviewed by a beautiful reporter (the German Senta Berger) and he falls in love for her . Non basta arrivare primo , devi arrivare vivo...!

Formula thriller with noisy action , suspense , thrills , crisply edition , tension , intrigue , and loads of Formula 1 races . This is a mostly Italian film , in the early 1960's they made movies about Gladiators known as Peplum or Sword and Sandals , then they made Spaghetti Westerns , then Spy Movies , Gothic Horrors , War Flicks , Giallo Slashers , Crime Trash Epics or Poliziotto , Sex comedy , Rampaging Shark thrillers , Star Wars ripoffs , and eventually Racing Movies . This belongs to bike/car riding sub-genre in which competing riders trying to force each other off the road combined with a drug smuggling subplot . Stars Fabio Testi as a brave racer whose role gets involved in a drug smuggling plot and who's blackmailed into dropping off a shipment in between races. There is a good stuntwork with cars , pursuits and motorcycles jumping here and there . This is another collaboration between Fabio Testi and filmmaker Stelvio Massi, and inferior than the same year's Speed Cross (1980) about an undercover cop infiltrates the world of motocross racing , being shot back to back with similar artistic and technical team . A nice cast in this one doing their bit , but the story is rather small scale and slightly dull and tiring in parts . It makes up for the excellent races taken from real competitions , though the car crashes are lousy stock footage , as well as the exciting climax of the movie in which a hit man attempts to kill our starring . Good buddy role for Fabio's sidekick, Orazio Orlando , and being a Spanish co-production shows up Francisco Rabal and Manuel Zarzo, and another gem of an appearance by the late Romano Puppo , a prolific secondary in a large number of Spag Westerns and other Latin sub-genres.

It contains atmospheric and evocative cinematography by cameraman Domingo Solano . Likewise , thrilling and moving musical score by Stelvio Cipriani . The motion picture was written by four screen writers from Spain : Luis Maria Delgado , Germany : producer Artur Brauner , Italy : director Massi himself and Massimo de Rita , being regularly shot by Stelvio Massi in his peculiar style . Here he delivers frenetic action , thriller and violence enough along the nail-biting flick . Stelvio is considered to be one of the best Italian cameramen , then he moved to directing , making a nice career, shooting all kinds of genres , such as : Thriller : Taxi Killer , Ready to Kill , Balkan Runner , Black Angel . Wartime : Hell's Heroes , War Dogs . And specially Poliziesco : Poliziotto solitudine e rabbia , Dirty Gang, Fearless Fuzz , Commissario di Ferro, Speed driver , Poliziotto va e uccidi , Hunted City , Speed Cross, among others . Rating : 4.5/10 . Mediocre European thriller .

What are you trying to do to me here, Stelvio Massi? I've been a big fan of Mark the Narc, Mark Headbutts the Pope and several billion moustache epics starring Maurizio Merli, but this is too far.

Fabio Testi is a hot shot stunt driver/racer out to make a quick buck to have his heroin-crazed brother treated in hospital when he catches the eye of suddenly-with-a-full-head-of-hair-again promoter Francisco Rabal. Francisco is all full of encouragement and invites him to come and be his star racer on the professional track, but Fabio soons finds that the job that is too good to be true...is too good to be true.

Testi has without his knowledge smuggled drugs into whatever country they are in, and he's not too happy. Rabal's all like 'too bad buddy' and blackmails him into dropping off a shipment in between races. Will Testi tow the line for this wig-wearing drug-donkey, or will he drive his new fangled racing car directly up Francisco Rabal's rectum?

Sadly, apart from lots of car racing, not much happens in this film, which is disappointing. Usually Stelvio Massi at leasts builds up to a great shoot-out in a warehouse or something similar involving Maurizio Merli, but don't expect that here. Throw in a lot of drama where Testi starts being a jerk to everyone because his brother died and a journalist who may or may not be double-crossing him, and that's about it. Massi seems to have a lot of genuine racing going on, but the stock footage crashes stand out a mile, even in the terrible transferred laserdisc version I watched.

Massi also made Speed Cross the same year, also with Testi. I hope that one's better. That's one hundred and forty-six of these Italian crime films I've watched, so if I don't like it that much, something's wrong.

SPEED DRIVER is a lesser vehicle for action star Fabio Testi, this time around playing a race driver rather than a cop. His character gets involved in a drug smuggling plot with a ne'er-do-well and for the rest of the time he's trying to extricate himself from the guy's clutches. In the hands of experienced director Stelvio Massi you'd expect wall to wall action but there's very little of that here, and most of it is stock footage.