Diamond Connection

While Director Sergio Bergonzelli's rough cut grindhouse gem 'Diamond Connection' (1982) is a frequently shambolic, low-budget actioner, it is, to its credit, a rather boisterously entertaining B-movie. Borgonzelli has fortuitously assembled an entirely notable Euro-cult cast, featuring William Berger, Gordon Mitchell, and the incandescently gorgeous Giallo Goddess Barbara Bouchet! The main dude, 'Alan The Racing Driver' is unexcitingly played by Lorenzo Bonaccorsi who expresses all the screen dynamism of a carpet mite, but composer Louis Crelier's peppy, super-80s score is pretty rad, the Turkish locations are easy on the eye, and Barbara Bouchet is even easier on the ol' peepers, plus there's plentiful enough Bud Spencer-style roughousing to keep things from stagnating. While the prosaic plot is pure shenanigans, there's an enjoyably naïve Ed Wood Jr. Quality to Bergonzelli's Mise-en-scène that fairly swiftly won me over, and it's ALMOST in the same wonky wheelhouse as Jess Franco's equally penurious 60s & 70s Euro-spy flicks. Bergonzelli also directed the outstanding weirdness 'Blood Delirium' aka 'Delirio di sangue', which is GREATLY underrated horror-schlock.

A lot of people looking for some diamonds. There are so many of the plots, encounters and deceptions that more than a thriller looks like a comedy. You need to have a fair amount of imagination just to think about some things and a little patience on the part of the public to see them.

Abysmal Swiss "action adventure"- film.

A handful of diamonds are lost in a plane crash that belong to a middle east revolutionary group. A bunch of people try to recover the gems from the underwater wreck and subsequently fight for the possession of the precious stones.

No script, bad acting (surprisingly including Barbara Bouchet), no rhytm, no nothing. Bad eighties score, no sets, no set pieces, no costumes. Unbelievably badly staged plane crash with a model plane.

Way too boring to be entertaining.

Released on video in Finland in the eighties.

Sorsimus is generally right. By any objective standards, "The Diamond Connection" is a pretty bad film. The script is incoherent and the action sequences are poorly staged (including one of the least satisfying car chases and one of the least satisfying catfights ever). The "special effects" of the plane crash are positively embarrassing. But at least it moves fast enough and I was never actually bored with it. It also offers the chance to see that Barbara Bouchet was aging quite gracefully in the 1980's. Speaking of the 1980's, fans of that glorious decade will appreciate the music score, as well as the disco and aerobics sequences! *1/2 out of 4.