L'ombre d'un tueur

The "Chilling Classics" 50-movie pack was staring me down like a salivating jackal as I stood in the horror aisle of Circuit City, contemplating the pros (50 movies for dirt cheap!) and cons (probably crap quality as a result). My inner consumer scanned the titles on the back of the package, and was intrigued enough to hand over the greenbacks. First flick: "Death Rage," a Naples-set crime thriller starring stoic bald superman Yul Brynner, an ex-hit man who is brought back into the world of organized crime to avenge his brother's murder--car chases ensue; an unlikely pupil is taught the ways of contract killing; a blonde sex kitten (Barbara Bouchet, from "Don't Torture a Duckling") falls for our chrome-domed hero; and Martin Balsam shows up to pay the rent. Director Anthony M. Dawson (really Antonio Margheriti) keeps the pace moving along, and stages some good (if ridiculously unrealistic) action sequences. And Brynner's performance is a wooden hoot... While "Death Rage" is hardly brilliant, it is low-budget, low-down fun.

A retired hit-man named Peter Marciani (Yul Brynner) decides to take one last job to avenge the murder of his sibling carried out by a mafia gang led by mobster chief named Gennaro Gallo who allegedly was the actual responsible for the murder of his brother . He goes Southern Italy , Naples , where Peter hires the small-time crook called Angelo (Massimo Ranieri) to work for him and the latter introduces him subsequently a beautiful Strip-tease dancer named Anny (Barbara Bouchet) who falls for him . Along the way an obstinate commissario (Martin Balsam) investigates the criminal happenings , as the Italian police inspector unsuccessfully attempts to track down the killer by anticipating Marciani's move . Vengeance is the trap set for an assassin!.The second chapter of the big city vigilante! BRONSON started it... BRYNNER finishes it! First, "DEATH WISH", Now... Con la rabbia agli occhi ¡

This crime thriller packs intrigue, suspense , car pursuits , noisy action-packed with grisly killings , explosive excitementc, thrills and lots of violence and nudism . This moving film is as calculating , cold and passionless as its central characters , two hired assassins , the master and his pupil ; as the prime contract killer pretending reckoning for revenge when his brother is murdered . Yul Brynner with his usual tough acting displays efficiently his weapons and killing mercilessly his objectives . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the two-fisted Brynner's side in spite of being a cruel killer . Brynner is pretty good as a wealthy murderer who travels from New York to Italy to carry out a merciless vengeance , and he offers the sort of strong acting as always . Along with Massimo Ranieri who is nice as the eager would-be hired killer helps him . And enjoyable performance of the gorgeous Italian actress Barbara Bouchet as Brynner's love interest, having a love affair with him , but the romance isn't what this movie offers , it is about action and violence and director knows his work . Furthermore , here appears a nice secondary cast , such as : Martin Balsam playing a stubborn Police Inspector , Giancarlo Sbragia as a powerful mobster and Sal Borgese as a nasty henchman .

It contains atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Sergio D'Offizi , though a perfect remastering being really necessary because of film copy is washed-out . Shot on location , as exteriors from the horse race track scenes were filmed in Naples, Campania, Italy and harbour scenes/funeral scenes filmed in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, while the interiors shot in Rome De Paolis/INCIR Studios, Rome, Lazio . As well as thrilling and evocative musical score by Guido and Maurizio de Angelis that at the time composed a lot of Spaghetti Westerns . The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by terror/action/adventure expert Antonio Margheritti, though it displays some failures and flaws . Anthonio often was assisted by his son : Edoardo Margheriti who usually served as second unit filmmaker . Antonio often used pseudonym Anthony M Dawson, he was born in Italy 1930 and passed away in 2002 . Italian writer director of horror and exploitation films, a former university engineering student who began shooting in 1956 . Antonio directs with ordinary aplomb and being especially known for films as Yor, Virus and Horror castle. He was specialist in model-making, optical effects , FX, miniature as floods, scale models and explosions . He directed all kinds of genres such as wartime : ¨The last hunter, Tornado, Codename Wild geese, Der Commander, Command Leopard¨ . SCIFi : ¨War of planets , Planet of the prowl, Criminal of the galaxy, Yor the hunter from the future, Treasure planet¨ . Spaghetti Western as ¨Joko, Dynamite Joe, The stranger and the gunfighter, Take a hard ride, Ghosts go west, Joe implacable, God said to Cain¨ . Terror as ¨Virgin of Nuremberg, Cannibal Apocalypse, Alien from deep, Flesh for Frankenstein¨. Action : ¨Operation Goldman, Indio, The squeeze, Cyberflic¨. Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable. The yarn wiill appeal to Italian Poliziesco aficionados and Yul Brynner fans .

When a mobster is assassinated in Naples by the gangsters of Gennaro Gallo (Giancarlo Sbragia), the retired hit-man Peter Marciani (Yul Brynner) learns that Gallo was the responsible for the murder of his brother. He travels from New York to Italy to revenge his brother and he hires the smalltime crook Angelo (Massimo Ranieri) to work for him. Angelo introduces Peter to the dancer Anny (Barbara Bouchet) and they have a love affair. Meanwhile the Italian police inspector (Martin Balsam) unsuccessfully tries to anticipate Peter's move.

"Con la rabbia agli occhi", a.k.a. "Death Rage", is a deceptive thriller with Yul Brynner. The unoriginal story uses clichés most of the time with a poor development of characters. The shameful Brazilian DVD released by the Cult Classic distributor has worn out image and is awfully dubbed in English. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Na Trilha da Morte" ("On the Trail of the Death")

Another selection from the 200 Drive in cult classics from those fine people over at Mill Creek.

Basic euro revenge mafia movie. Yul Brynner's last film. He play a hitman retired from the business but brought back in to kill the man who killed his brother. Decent enough movie nothing really stands out but very watchable. Worth a watch just for Mr. Brynner alone.

I found Death Rage to be a fun little Euro-crime movie that's much better than it's reputation would suggest (or at least better than many of the reviews I've read). Yul Brynner plays Peter Marciani, an aging hit-man hired to go to Italy to kill a mob boss. At first he refuses until he learns that his intended target is responsible for his brother's death. Along the way, he meets and befriends a young, overly helpful, wannabe mobster and a beautiful showgirl. Can these three pull off the job?

Quite simply, Yul Brynner is the man! He brings a certain authenticity and coolness to Marciani and makes most of the film a blast. I bought into his hit-man persona completely. When confronted by two hoods wanting to take him to see their boss, Marciani calmly says "If I were you, I'd shoot." One of the hoods tells Marciani that he's worth more alive. Marciani's response - "If I were you I'd still shoot". How classic is that! Death Rage also features a number of exciting car chases and gun battles in the narrow street of Naples. These scenes are exciting and very well done.

The film co-stars Barbara Bouchet. For the most part, she is underutilized and most of the scenes involving her are too predictable. You just know that at some point the bad guys are going to use her to get to Marciani. Also, I never really believed the relationship between Marciani and Bouchet's character. The two made a ridiculous looking couple.

Finally, I can't really end this without mentioning the subplot involving a problem with Marciani's eyes that, I suppose, relate to the film's title in some way. These scenes are pointless and go nowhere. Can you say "padding"?

While I've rated Death Rage a 6/10, I'm almost positive that my rating would change if I ever have the opportunity to see an uncut copy of the film. My copy of Death Rage has a runtime more than 15 minutes less than that listed on IMDb.