Le coriace

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.

UN UOMO DALLA PELLE DURA stars Robert Blake as Teddy, a down-on-his-luck university grad who wound up a low-level boxer. He finds out that his manager has been lying about money, so he hits the road in search of opportunity. Teddy runs into an old college buddy, who steers him toward a new boxing manager. The manager and Teddy hit it off, and things seem too good to be true. The resulting partnership leads to a string of vicious killings, Teddy's involvement with a determined police detective (Ernest Borgnine), and a budding romance with the new manager's daughter (Catherine Spaak). Fans of the great Tomas Milian will get a kick out of his creepy, funny, mysterious hippie who may be involved with all of the murder and mayhem.

Much of the fun is not knowing where the narrative will lead, and which genre it will touch upon. It starts as a noirish road movie, with a drifter comes to realize there's an array of characters out to get him. His novice sleuthing, coupled with some horror elements (jump scares, bloody murder sequences, creepy music, etc.), gives much of the film a strong giallo (Italian murder-mystery) feel, a sub-genre that was popular at the time. There are occasional action moments, in the form of fighting (both in and out of the ring) and some jarring gun violence, giving the film a strong eurocrime/poliziotteschi vibe.

The performances are all uniformly fine. Blake is particularly good here, presenting us with a likable central character who isn't without faults. The writing is surprisingly sharp, filled with memorable dialogue, especially Teddy's colorful, profane, occasionally hilarious verbiage.

I'm not surprised by the negative reviews here. The movie is almost solely available in a highly truncated and censored version. If people could finally see director Francesco Prosperi's cut, this would likely garner a sizable following.

I've seen this one a number of times. It's a favorite. It's clear that no one involved set out to make a masterpiece, just a tough, clever, scary, entertaining movie. I think it wound up being a masterpiece.

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.

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.

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.)