Blind Rage

Caught a double feature of this & The One Armed Executioner at the New Beverly Cinema last week and what a treat it was. Both films are very cheesy, yet seeing them on 35mm film at a theater as awesome as the New Bev was an absolute delight. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is terrible, the production is hokey... but in all of that lies the charm. It's a total throwback 70s exploitation flick worth of a Tarantino grindhouse vibe. The print shown was fairly rough, and the color was often quite warm... a few choppy edits... but it totally works for this kind of film. The audience totally got into it and it was enjoyed by all. Definitely recommend for a good bad movie. The freeze frame as the credits roll is just perfection.

Ever see a film that you knew deep down was bad, but you were able to suspend your usual beliefs about what a good movie should be and enjoy it anyway? Meet BLIND RAGE, a low-budget '70s anti-masterpiece.

The plot is highly original, if not ridiculous. Five blind men are assembled to rob a bank in broad daylight. Why? Because who would ever suspect blind men of robbing a bank? (Well, there's a bit more to it than that, but I won't spoil it for you). The group of visually-impaired thieves (no, you've never heard of any of the actors) is carefully trained in a mock bank by the lovely Sally (Leila Hermosa, who later landed a coveted role in the highly acclaimed BONGGA KA DAY). But can they pull it off? Well, this is a dumb '70s movie, isn't it?

BLIND RAGE isn't rife with so-bad-it's-good humor, but it certainly has its moments. I'll never forget the badly-dubbed scene where one of the blind dudes breaks up an attempted sexual assault by another. In a voice with about as much emotion as Eeyore before coffee, our hero orders the aggressor to "Get off her... sex hungry bastard." Then there's the hilarity of desperate producers trying to pass this off as a Fred Williamson actioneer. They don't tell you that Freddy doesn't show up until about the last 20 minutes (though he is vintage cigar-chomping Williamson once he finally arrives).

If this review has at all piqued your interest in BLIND RAGE, you're definitely a candidate for enjoying it. (Though you'll probably have to scour eBay to find it).

Of course, the idea of hiring five blind guys to rob a bank is pretty ludicrous. Though the movie DOES at least go to the trouble to show the men training for an extended period of time, and admit it - who could resist that premise? Sadly, the movie pretty much wastes it. It's slowly paced, and lacking excitement, even in the actual bank robbery. And Fred Williamson doesn't even appear until the last ten minutes! I'm curious as to why he is playing his Jesse Crowder character, since he made that character for his personal projects. Anyway, Williamson does provide a little spark (even though he seems to be sleepwalking here), though it's not enough to save things. I won't be surprised if Hollywood eventually remakes this movie - whatever the results, it will have to be better than this.

My review was written in March 1983 after a screening at Selwyn theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

Filmed with the more appropriate title "Steal 'em Blind" in 1977, "Blind Rage" is a funny, inept action film as yet undiscovered by connoisseurs of camp.

Filipino production (with American guest actors) was filmed in globe-hopping locations amounts to an unwitting cheapie parody of the international (superimposed card: "Paris 5:30 p.m.") thriller genre.

"Foolproof alibi" gimmick has five blind men, led by familiar blaxploitation actor D'Urville Martin, rounded up to execute a bank robbery in the Philppines. A pretty, poorly-dubbed FIlipino heroine (Leila Hermosa) trains them, with funny dialog, such as the caper run-through beginning with her saying: "Let's begin by synchronizing your Braille watches".

Adequate tension is maintained during the robbery, though the blind quintet's movements often resemble sighted people merely disguised in dark glasses. Poor continuity has a bright, daylight robbery, yet the police cars arrive at the bank in the dead of night.

After an hour's running time devoted to standard recruitment, training and caper execution (plus periodic martial arts outbursts), story premise is suddenly unraveled as the Filipino police immediately (through the aid of an informer) hunt down blind suspects. The heroes escape, hidden in the vast tank of a gasoline truck (a la "White Heat"), which suddenly crashes explosively into a jet plane to end the main narrative.

For the tacked-on final reel, the local crime mastermind flees to Los Angele, where CIA agent Jesse Crowder (Fred Williamson reprising his tough-talking, stogie-smoking screen character from his own films such as "No Way Back") has a showdown with him at the International House of Pancakes. Zipping breezily in and out of the film, Williamson (only his stogie is mussed during some hectic chasing and fighting) gets a tagline which sums up the film's philosophy: "Next time you want some of Uncle Sam's money, ask for it".

What a damn exploitation gem from Manilla...Underrated and not for intellectuals, but rather single blue collars after work or for sundays matinees. Lousy directing, laughable dialogues as in a cartoon album for ten years old kids, corny script, where sub characters are so unusual, where there is no real lead role and a topic for which the audience never gets bored. Every one watching this film wishes the gang to suceed in his task: rob the bank. The most unexpected heist film I have ever seen and of course improbable too, except DOBERMAN GANG, where a bank heist was pulled not by blind men but dogs; you can confound both movies, at least put them on the same scale. I highly prefer this to any Hollywood one hundred million dollars budget crap. I repeat, tha main thing to remember is that there is NO LEAD, MAIN character in this movie. And that's the first time in my moviegoer life that I see a film where the "should be main character" appears in the last seven minutes of the feature. All the rest of the crew, the cast have already "disappeared". Sooo unexpected, and hat's precisely what I like. I love.