L'uomo che sfidò l'organizzazione

Italian crime film with Howard Ross and Karin Schubert

About a decade after his great successes in the EuroSpy genre ("From the Orient with Love" (1965) with the great James Bond imitator Ken Clark), director Sergio Grieco (1917-1982) made this almost forgotten crime thriller on a small budget that was only released in cinemas in Italy (September 13, 1975) and the USA (May 1977). Grieco's other films include the Western parody "Fünf Klumpen Gold / Five Lumps of Gold" (1972) with GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Antonio Sabato and Marisa Mell and the EuroCrime classic "Der Tollwütige / The Rabid" (1977) with the uninhibited GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Helmut Berger, which even made a lasting impression on Quentin Tarantino (remember JACKIE BROWN).

What's it about? A baggage worker (Howard Ross) at Madrid airport named Steve Barren helps dealer Harry (Alberto Dalbes) smuggle his drugs. Together with his pretty girlfriend Margie (Karin Schubert), the super cool Steve plans his own coup at the expense of his client. Of course, Harry can't accept that and sends his henchmen (including Pietro Torrisi) after the fleeing couple. In the background, Inspector Stephen McCormick (Stephen Boyd, known as the antagonist of "Ben Hur" (1959)) is watching what's happening, but doesn't intervene because he wants to get to the people behind it. What obscure role the striking Lady Rebekka Rosenbaum (Jean Claude Dreyfus in a crazy drag queen role) and her friend Florence (Nadine Perles) play remains unclear at first. When Steve and Margie escape, there are some complications, but the powerful Steve knows how to answer them.

In this film there is an interplay of light and shadow. The main role is played by bodybuilder Howard Ross (who turned 80 on January 10th, 2021), who, after starting out in the sandal films of the early 1960s, usually played supporting roles that required a certain degree of physicality (as a rowdy centurion in "Poppea - The Empress of the Gladiators" (1969) and as a strapping stable boy in "Naked Girl Killed in Park" (1972). Here he has a leading role, which he also masters satisfactorily as a hammer guy who could make even the lesbian Florence weak if he appeared stark naked in front of her.

At these points the film borrows slightly from the EuroSpy genre, which had been out of fashion for a decade at the time the film was made. The film is a tough gangster film, for example, when Margie, who is kidnapped while on the run, is brutally tortured and raped by Harry's henchmen. The German actress Karin Schubert (born in Hamburg in 1944), who was also seen in the wonderful spanking comedy "All for One - Spanking for All" with Giancarlo Prete and "Zwei Schlitzohren in der gelben Hölle / Two Rascals in the Yellow Hell" with Brad Harris and GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Antonio Sabato , plays it brilliantly. Director Grieco should have chosen the tough gangster film, which was in vogue at the time anyway.

The great French actor Jean Claude Dreyfus, who is also known from "La Anglaise et le duc / The Lady and the Duke" (2001) by Eric Rohmer and "Mathilde - A Great Love" (2004) by Jean Pierre Jeunet, has one too much as the drag lady Rebekka bizarre role because as a viewer you don't understand why those involved don't realize that the good guy is a man. If there ever is a remake, it would be the perfect role for the fantastic EUROVISION winner Conchita Wurst from Austria :-) The stuntman Pietro Torrisi, born in 1940, only has a small role as one of Harry's henchmen. But he is known as one of the muscle men from the gym who are so wonderfully beaten by Bud Spencer and Terence Hill in "Zwei wie Pech und Schwefel / Two Like Hard Luck" (1974). One of the most beautiful beating scenes ever between the two superstars!

The consistently great car stunts in this film were done by the famous Remy Julienne (1930-2021), who also worked on many Louis de Funes and James Bond films.

Despite all its weaknesses, it is understandable why this film was not so successful and has now been almost forgotten. But it is also an excellent example of what could be filmed in the Italian and therefore European film industry back then. It's worth a look!

Yet another lackluster poliziottesco featuring a fading Hollywood star (in this case, Stephen Boyd): actually, he supports nominal lead Howard Ross as a drug courier who decides to make a run with the money. Jess Franco regular Albert Dalbes is one of Ross’ associates/opponents, while the drugs were destined to an excitable Russian (who supplies some initial comic relief and then disappears altogether).

Among the ruses the hero adopts to make his passage safer is that of impersonating Special Agent Boyd – who has had his papers stolen by Ross’ girlfriend (Karin Schubert) while traveling on the same plane which was carrying the drug stash. As he happens to be after the organization himself, Boyd – rather than be cross with Ross {sic} – allows the latter to do most of the dirty work for him! At one point, however, Schubert is abducted, beaten and gang-raped by the vicious members the drug ring – with the latter scene filmed and fixed so that Ross can see it!!

The one novelty in the film is that the gang leader is, ostensibly, a rich lady with an attractive ‘lesbian’ secretary in tow; eventually, the former turns out to be a man in drag (though I must say that the make-up was pretty obvious) – an identity to which he reverts for the final getaway, with his accomplice hiding behind the vests of a nun! The film includes plenty of action – with an extended helicopter chase for the climax – but, all in all, Remy Julienne’s stunt-work here isn’t among the best on his track record; nevertheless, the pounding score by Luis Bacalov emerges as a definite asset.