La decima vittima

THE TENTH VICTIM might not be the kind of film one readily associates with Italy's foremost political director, Elio Petri, but it sure has his leftist mark stamped all over it. Set in a not-so-distant future, a hodge podge of pseudo-futuristic art installments, snazzy backgrounds and a general air of camp-kitsch than a fully realized world, more A CLOCKWORK ORANGE than BLADE RUNNER in that sense, and involving a peculiar game called The Big Hunt where people are assigned to murder complete strangers and become in turns hunters and victims, an idea that seems to have resurfaced in another form in Robert Altman's QUINTET a decade later, The Tenth Victim is at once a biting critique of capitalism and all assorted paraphernalia and a thoroughly enjoyable absurdist comedy.

Nothing escapes Petri's ire. Although not particularly profound, his satire makes the rounds firing among other things at the media's obesssion with violence, reality TV, society's fixation on youth and beauty, the ostracizing of the elders, etc. It's all very tongue-in-cheek and vibrant in an irreverent Euro-kitsch way but still quite imaginative for its time. Later in the film, Mastroianni presides in a sun ritual by the seaside, mourning the setting of the sun, which is interrupted by a group of 'neo-realists' throwing tomatoes at the assembled crowd. Petri's stab at Rossellini, De Sica and the rest? Mastroianni's character admits of doing the ceremony for the money and the tears he cried were fake thanks to a 'tear pill' that lasts for 15 minutes.

That's pretty much the tone set for the entire movie. Petri doesn't seem to dwell on anything for long or take his critique any more serious than he has to. The movie declines significantly in quality in the last 20 minutes, the last 10, an awkward shootout between Mastroianni and his two ex-wives, should've been left out altogether, but overall it's never boring and it's filled with great little moments. The opening titty-shotgun murder in the Masoch Club, students beating each other up as a nonchalant Mastroianni walks through them, other players of the game popping up randomly throughout the movie shooting at each other. If all else fails, you can still oogle at the gorgeous Ursulla Andress and her skimpy outfits.

According to film lore, actor Marcello Mastroianni was so impressed with a short-story by science-fiction author Robert Sheckley that he sent it to director Elio Petri. The result was a groundbreaking Italian film that alternately shocked and amused audiences of 1965--and which, like the 1976 NETWORK, proved prophetic re the rise of "reality television." Set in a future imagined in terms of minimalist 1960s fashion and design movements, THE 10TH VICTIM (LA DECIMA VITTIMA) presents us with a world that has sublimated the human race's hunger for violence into a game known as "The Big Hunt." Register as a member and you become predator and prey, with each player seeking to survive while killing ten others in order to win fame, fortune, and national acclaim.

American Caroline Meredith (Ursla Andress) is particularly celebrated and--after dispatching her ninth victim via her boobytrapped bra--is eager to win the grand prize by taking out her tenth: Italian Marcello Polletti (Marcello Mastroianni.) But an advertiser promises her even bigger bucks if she can turn it into a television ad for his product, creating a situation in which Caroline cannot simply kill Marcello at will: she must do it at a particular place and time where the cameras will be rolling.

In order to accomplish this, Caroline decides to seduce Marcello with both her body and the lure of cash--which he badly needs--for a television interview. Marcello is no fool, and even as Caroline plans to blow his head off for benefit of television he's signing his own advertising deal to accomplish her death by crocodile. But there's a further complication: even as they attempt to maneuver each other into death, they also unwillingly fall in love.

THE 10TH VICTIM was extremely celebrated in 1965; today, however, it reads as slightly thin. We've become used to the idea of people who are willing to do just about anything on television, and the idea of murder by game show isn't nearly so far-fetched as it used to be. The film scores, however, in its specific ideas, which range from exploding boots to a government that occasionally switches out your apartment's furniture whether you like it or not. The DVD transfer is quite nice, but bonuses are limited to cast notes and the theatrical trailer. Recommended, but mainly for fans of 1960s futurism who haven't lost their sense of humor! GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I normally don't feel compelled to write reviews for films, especially when similar views have already been presented. However, after seeing a blatantly off-base review under the title of "hopeless" for "The 10th Victim", I had to make up for it. That reviewer is obviously incapable of appreciating a film like this because it's not easily pigeonholed. It's a fun, exciting comedy, drama, and farce rolled into one... I really liked the interactions between Andress (who looks absolutely stunning in this film) and Mastroianni. An interesting concept that is well executed... after viewing it for the first time, I knew it would remain an all-time favorite of mine for life... I am thrilled that this is finally seeing the light of day on DVD (after a way-outdated VHS version that even had a photo of Andress from ten years later on the cover, instead of a proper still from the movie). I'm buying this on DVD the second it's released...

Lest I forget... the soundtrack of this film is simply amazing... Not a large amount of original music, but what a score it is... by the Italian master Piero Piccioni. Listen and love...

The more serious you get about this movie, the more you are missing the point. It's an Italian Sex Farce, really, but it's also a fine pop art film, and a fine science-fiction romp that would be a great double feature with Blade Runner. The review "A wonderful example of 60s pop art film-making,Italian-style", by jisenhath from New York, New York USA, really nails the essence of this social-satire sci-fi.

Like the crocodile tears the sun worshippers cry for the setting sun (satire on religion, of course, though it's also close to the excesses of the 60's hippy-dippies doing nature "for real" in 65), the movie is best taken in the vapid, mondo gellato style it revels in.

From the novel by Robert Sheckley (still a great read, too), the "shocking" hunt takes a swipe at the media circus and boredom of excess, while visually reveling in it. The fashion, style and beauty of both Elsa Martinelli and Ursula Andress are a joy, while Marcello works his casual nonchalance and easy timing as the Italian sophisticate at ease with multiple meanings. That's come to pass, hasn't it, as we read from this computer on a network spanning the world. Is this a cult we are a part of? If so, don't cry, but laugh. Like this film does.

Cheesy one review says... no, cheesy is when the film attempts something and does not succeed through taste, budget or in-ineptitude. Opera is not cheesy, but it is ornate, over-the- top and hyper. So is this film. It's space opera in the operatic sense of La Scala.

It's spun gold, and a fine bookend to Marcello's 60's sex romps like Cassanova 70. (done in '65 too, a good year for vintage Marcello). Asti Spumante, anyone?

As a wonderful example of 60s pop art filmmaking, Elio Petri has taken many of the decade's most popular culture crazes (the Bond films, Courreges fashions, discotheque jazz, etc.) and used them with great success to give a plausible look to a highly improbable (in 1965!) future world. Petri's digs at Mad Ave advertising and humanity's relentless pursuit of fame and money (no matter the price) are on-target, and his delight in mocking societal idiosyncrasies (the sun worshipers) is priceless. However, at the heart of The Tenth Victim is the old-fashioned battle-of-the-sexes plot (still very popular in the mid-60s), and yet Petri has the upper hand by his spoofing of the romantic-comedy genre and giving us instead a deliciously amusing trifle that is fun to watch for its joking attitude towards everything it depicts, including Marcello and Ursula! To one reviewer who found it outdated, it must be remembered that this film was made 35 years ago and so it naturally has nothing to do with today's standards - and why should it? That's like dismissing Griffith's Intolerance because it's a silent film!