This ¨Designated Victim¨(1971) results to be a good Hitch style film about an advert executive who becomes involved with a psychopath in exchange for killing . It deals with Stefano (Tomas Milian) in Venice where meets a stranger Count , Matteo Tiepolo (Pierre Clémenti) , who offers a diabolic scheme to exchange murders . The latter's a wealthy Count who leads to an ominous plan and a nail-biting race against time where both will do each other a murderous favor to free them from the people who ail them . Along the way , a cunning Police Inspector (Luigi Casellato) starts investigating the bizarre deeds . Just how perfect is your plan? . It was the perfect crime... but who was the victim? .How two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement . Strangers who kill for each other! . A perfect plan - a horrific result!
This rarely watched Giallo turns out to be a passable thriller in which a chance meeting leading to the edge of sanity , resulting in unpredictable consequences with thrilling events , deliciously twisted happenings and brief touches of erotism . Thriller with baroque giallo overtones and surprising intrigue being well proceeded here and there , along with an unbearably tension in charge of the two adequate protagonists . It is a real high point in 70s Italian Giallo/Poliziesco cinema that is wrongly underrated , obscure , extremely unknown and a hidden psychological gem . Main and support cast are pretty well . Tomas Milian is nice as an advertising executive trapped in an unhappy marriage , as he needs to sort out his troublesome wife who is seriously spoiling his future schemes , and the strange Pierre Clementi is fine as a resourceful sociopathic who proposes him an amazing plan , while the gorgeous Katia Christine provides the essential erotic touches and beauty enough . A decent mystery/thriller with a lot of twists , turns and combining the elements of intrigue with drama and action . Suspenseful and interesting screenplay inspired by Patricia Highsmith novel , ¨Strangers on a train¨ , and co-scripted by Fulvio Gicca Palli , Augusto Caminito , Aldo Lado and Mauricio Luzidi himself , all of them regular writers/directors of Eurotrash movies. There's also a motley group of Italian actors usual in the typical genres of the Sixties and Seventies such as : Luigi Casellato as Commissario Finzi , Carla Mancini and cameo by Maurizio Lucidi himself as a Deputy Commissioner.
La vittima designata (1971) contains atmospheric and moving musical score by Luis Enrique Bacalov in Ennio Morricone style , he subsequently won Academy Award for ¨The Postman and Pablo Neruda¨ . Adding a song : My Shadow in the Dark sung by Tomas Milian and Concerto Grosso No. 1 (allegro - adagio - cadenza) , Grand Concert for New Trolls written by Luis Bacalov with the participation of New Trolls . Evocative and adequate cinematography by Aldo Tonti shot in several locations , especially at a mist-wreathed Venice , such as : Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Veneto, Lainate, Milan, Lombardia, Moltrasio, Como, Lombardia, Venice, Veneto, Italy . The motion picture was professionally directed by Maurizio Lucidi , though it has some flaws , and gaps , but being an acceptable thriller flick . This inspired remake of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train well made by director Maurizio Lucidi is able to carry out the concept of the original movie into something far more including nudism , violence and grisly killings . Maurizio Lucidi was born in 1932 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy and died in 2005 , Rome . He was a director , writer and editor , known for ¨The Man from the Organization or The sicilian cross or Los ejecutores¨ (1976) and he made more thrillers as ¨The last chance¨ with Elli Wallach , Fabio Testi and Ursula Andress . And he directed three Spaghetti Westerns as ¨Halleluja for Django¨(1967) with Hunt Powers , ¨Saddle tramps¨ with Bud Spencer and ¨Pecos¨ with Robert Woods . And furthermore , a wartime movie titled Probabilità zero (1969) and this La víttima designata (1971) at his best , among others . Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable.
