Le coriace

Saw this in 1978 in Houston at The McClendon Triple Drive In on South Main as "Bummer". I was an amateur boxing champion at the time and this was the filler for "Massacre At Central High". I was a big Robert Blake fan and was disappointed as I thought this was going to be another "Rocky" which was the reason this film was re-released to Drive Ins to try and piggyback on the Oscar winner to make a few bucks. Blake tries and is his usual cool self, but the fight scenes are not well staged and it is very hoaky looking. Completely hack job in terms of editing - just a piece of Italian junk an amateur could do a better job of making. Still, the 70's memories are nostalgic and it is fun to see the old cars again and what the heck, if you are home sick from work like I am, give it an hour and 14 minutes of your time. I do miss ol' Blake after watching this as he gave so many people a lot of joy on television.

To call Ripped Off the second half an adequate drive-in double feature is being charitable. However, the movie does have some redeeming qualities for the Drive-In community. One redeeming quality is the appearance of Catherine Spaak. If you are familiar with her, you might be entertained.

As for the movie itself, Robert Blake was probably in a career slump and did this Italian action drama filmed in Albuquerque, NM. The film was shelved or played in second-rate drive-in/walk-in grindhouse theaters and quickly disappeared from the screen. A few years later, Robert Blake hit it big with Baretta, and this film was reissued to the same type of theaters for another go-round for newfound Robert Blake fans.

A decent action film with Blake giving it his all, but I think this is the TV edit I saw a while back. I would like to see its original edit.

As of this writing, I believe Camille Keaton is in the official eighty-two-minute version of this film. My copy runs seventy-three minutes.

Just another boxer movie. Blake is framed. He needs to find out who did it. There are some murders committed. There are some really ugly bad guys. The plot is sort of convoluted. Blake can be seen as a pretty handsome, Brandoesque kind of figure.The cinematography is pretty kind to him. He is a man of few words (mostly because he probably doesn't know many), and he must get the law off his back so he can get to the person who framed him. There is little suspense. There is a surprise. Where'd that come from? I just can't watch Blake playing a violent character without thinking of his current situation. He's a pretty good actor who peaked early with "In Cold Blood," did a little television, and then pretty much disappeared. The movie is dull and seemingly unending.

Teddy (Robert Blake, In Cold Blood), a talented boxer, decides to leave his crooked manager Paul (Fortunato Arena, Terza ipotesi su un caso di perfetta strategia criminale), who happened to have picked up from him his girlfriend (Camille Keaton, Cosi avete fatto a Solange). He seeks a new opportunity in New Mexico, and meets a former college friend, the newspaperman Mike (Orazio Orlando, Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto), who introduces him to his new coach Nick (Gabriele Ferzetti, Alta Tension). Teddy resumes a successful career, but a strange hippie (Tomas Milian, La Vittima designata) seems to prowl around them, dealing with a bet on tricked match issue with the bookmaker Chink (Emilio Messina, Tre Notti Violente).

And the canonical "black leather gloved mysterious killer" beats to death Nick while framing Teddy, who gets no alternative but to flee from the police led by the captain Perkins (Ernest Borgnine, The Split), in order to lead his own inquiry and track down the unknown murderer. In his quest to clear himself and save his "hard skin", he can rely on the help of Nick's daughter (Catherine Spaak, Il Gatto a nove code), but corpses continue to pile up in all kind of bloody ways as he gets closer to the solution. This original giallo set in the sport circle will allow the spectator to stay caught until the very epilogue. (Viewed in an English 1.85:1 aspect ratio 1h26 version.)

Barely released italian crime-drama boxing film, and watching the film shows why it took so long to get the film released. Choppy looking film (U.S. distributor seems to have edited it) that headlines Robert Blake, Thomas Milian and Ernest Borgnine in a dull and badly put together would be drama. The film is muddy looking, as if the American distributor had no care to transfer the italian negative correctly. The video print runs if it was a TV print and had a very short running time.

The film played in Seattle in 1978 as BUMMER, a second feature to MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH with no ad slick of showing what BUMMER was. Sitting watching this film is a real bummer, and I guess the independent film company that pick this film up in the late 70's was probably trying to release it as if it was "Baretta" stars new film, which it wasn't. Blake is a underrated actor, and this film isn't good.