Haute tension

What happened here, seriously? With its clever pitch, awesome cast and breathtaking filming locations, "The Ultimate Thrill" easily could have been one of the greatest and most original American action movies of the 70s. However, due to bad writing, absent direction and the incomprehensible choice to stuff the film with random stunt-skiing stock footage, it became one of the most frustratingly dull failures ever.

The basic idea is awesome. The title refers to the rather unusual hobby of lead character Roland Parley (Eric Braeden). He's a millionaire who seemingly has everything, including a stunningly beautiful wife (Britt Ekland) and a luxurious lodge on the top of a mountain in a fancy Colorado skiing resort. The sole thing that provides him with the ultimate thrill, though, is hunting down and killing innocent men. In order to give himself an excuse, he lures tourist skiers to the lodge and almost straight into the arms of his wife, just so that he can pretend to be the jealous husband with a shotgun!

So, in other words, what we have here is a clever variation on the 'hunting human for sport/kicks' theme (originating from "The Most Dangerous Game") in a stupendous setting full of snowy mountains, deep ravines and potential avalanches. This really should have been an awesome thriller, and there aren't any excuses for its incompetence. The cat-and-mouse chases are exhilarating (death by helicopter!) but too short, and neither the plot nor the characters are elaborated properly. How come? Well, because half of the film exists of padding footage! It looks like a marketing video to promote the wonders of winter sports.

With a title like this, sadly it's anything but the ultimate thrill… maybe a mild, predictably frosty one. A rock solid cast (Britt Ekland, Eric Braeden, Michael Blodgett and Barry Brown) and nice scenic location work of Vail, Colorado keeps you watching. There are a couple of dangerous looking stunt work involving cat and mouse chases scenes with a helicopter (my pick of the two) and the climatic final chase with a wind glider after some poor Joe on skies. Sadly they're not as suspenseful as they should have been, but for most part lackadaisical.

However the most intersecting facet is the lead up to them and that's the focus on the ruthless industrialist tycoon Roland Parley (a superbly intense performance by Braeden) and his twisted philosophy. "No man deserves the best unless he's willing to die for it". This sadistic guy is searching for simulation, and he gets it in a variant on the most dangerous game theme… firstly by accident (because of his wife's imagined infidelity), but because of the high he goes about setting up the situation that leads to a deadly game, where losing isn't an option. Britt Ekland's alluring, if fragile character becomes the unknowing pawn in his insane jealously. It all becomes a game… life, business and romance.

The story is simple minded and gradually builds upon the patchy circumstances, but the characters are somewhat complex in their shades of grey. Script-wise it can come over sounding clumsy and jarring in its shifting tones, but underneath there's certain uneasiness and the character motivations actually engage. Michael Blodgett and Barry Brown are fitting enough and are two different extremes in characteristics (one cocky and the other brooding) as the two unlucky Joes that get caught up with the Parleys.

Even though this movie is super cheesy with the music, the ski jump into the helicopter was awesome. It's worth the watch. Especially since it has one of the hottest Bond girls ever in it Britt Ekland. Movie is hard to find.