La decima vittima

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 To one reviewer who found it outdated, it must be remembered that this film was made 35 years ago and so it naturally has nothing to do with today's standards - and why should it?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!

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 I am thrilled that this is finally seeing the light of day on DVD (after a way-outdated VHS version that even had a photo of Andress from ten years later on the cover, instead of a proper still from the movie).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...

In the future an organization sets up a game show that show people hunting each other. Two people are chosen: the Hunter and the Victim. Anything goes as the Victim flees for the designated time period. Marcello Mastorianni plays the most successful killer and then his number comes up as a victim. The hunters and victims have know knowledge of one another and Marcello must always be on guard. The hunter after him is the beautiful Ursula Andress, always dressed in knock-out fashions. Marcello's as cool as ever, always dressed in black, wearing sunglasses. The production design is fantastic. The colourful comic book architecture is the height of retro cool. For fan of Italian '60s pop art science fiction, this is one to check out.

To judge this film by "today's standards" misses the point--what are we comparing it to? Armageddon? Scream 3? This was the European 60s vision of the 'future'-- and why didn't it turn out that way? An odd, cheeky little plot mixing romance, light sci-fi and gunplay is underscored by dazzling visuals in a similar style to The Prisoner series, or Alphaville (if it were in color). Piero Piccioni's score is pure 'Jazz 2001', and is available as an import reissue. Mastroianni is charming and Ursula Andress is at her sexiest, in an array of groovy ensembles. It all depends on what you're after, but personally I wish the WORLD LOOKED like this movie and that men's and women's fashion reflected this film's 'in the future, people will dress like this' style. Anchor Bay's DVD is a great addition to the collection of any 60s/European film fan.

Very silly, very early 1960s, very Italian, very stylish and in the end very sexy and very amusing. This variant of The Dangerous Game does not start well and is far more confusing than it need be but the more it goes on and the more we saw of Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress the more fun it gets. Having recently seen Andress give a great performance with Stanley Baker in Perfect Friday, I was delighted to see she is just as good here, helping proceedings enormously with her great looks and performance. Mastoianni is as reliable as ever but doesn't look so good with blond hair and doesn't seem 100% comfortable all the time. Hard to classify and also hard to rate because although by the end I was smiling broadly, was not anything like as happy at the start. Very strange film and it sits even more strangely within the output of director, Elio Petri but certainly worth seeing and if you like Andress, you will love it.