L'ombre d'un tueur

Another selection from the 200 Drive in cult classics from those fine people over at Mill Creek.

Basic euro revenge mafia movie. Yul Brynner's last film. He play a hitman retired from the business but brought back in to kill the man who killed his brother. Decent enough movie nothing really stands out but very watchable. Worth a watch just for Mr. Brynner alone.

When a mobster is assassinated in Naples by the gangsters of Gennaro Gallo (Giancarlo Sbragia), the retired hit-man Peter Marciani (Yul Brynner) learns that Gallo was the responsible for the murder of his brother. He travels from New York to Italy to revenge his brother and he hires the smalltime crook Angelo (Massimo Ranieri) to work for him. Angelo introduces Peter to the dancer Anny (Barbara Bouchet) and they have a love affair. Meanwhile the Italian police inspector (Martin Balsam) unsuccessfully tries to anticipate Peter's move.

"Con la rabbia agli occhi", a.k.a. "Death Rage", is a deceptive thriller with Yul Brynner. The unoriginal story uses clichés most of the time with a poor development of characters. The shameful Brazilian DVD released by the Cult Classic distributor has worn out image and is awfully dubbed in English. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Na Trilha da Morte" ("On the Trail of the Death")

Just in case you didn't know it yet, Yul Brynner isn't the type of guy you want to mess with! This charismatic tough bastard starred in a whole lot of western & war movie classics and wasted the lives of approximately a thousand bad guys on screen. Being a big fan of his macho style, I loved to see him star in a typically violent crime-thriller, particularly because this an Italian crime-thriller and those guys always add more of the red stuff and sleaze! The plot of "Death Rage" is unimportant and routing Mafia & Revenge guff, but the car chase sequences are exhilarating and the wild shootouts are truly blood-soaked (at least in the uncut version...). The events are set in Italy – mainly on the horse racecourse – where the American hit-man Peter Marciana has come out of retirement especially to kill the gangster boss who was responsible for the death of his beloved brother. Peter gets entangled in the local mafia network, falls in love with a ravishing strip bar dancer (Barbara Bouchet!) and makes a young and spirited thug his hit-man-acolyte. This last sub plot is stolen directly from the Charles Bronson flick "The Mechanic", but who cares, as every fan knows that Italian cinema loves to borrow ideas from popular American blockbusters. Yul Brynner is still the total definition of coolness, even though he clearly didn't put too much passion into his performance of the ageing assassin. His bald head, his eyes (that appear to malfunction) and his sneaky smile are enough to make his character convincing! Martin Balsam is another veteran actor whose character isn't really important, but it's still very nice to have him around. Antonio Margheriti is – in my humble opinion – Italy's most underrated cult director and "Death Rage" is another amiable effort in his repertoire.

Peter Marciani's brother was killed by the mafia. Now Marciani is traveling to Italy to kill his brother's murderer and he is going to take out his mob one man at a time. Low-budget revenge flick similar to The Punisher movies as far as plot. Slow paced, but peppered with some nice shoot-outs and car chases. I thought it was a fun little movie. Yul Brenner playing Marciani really makes the movie. Martin Balsam was good as the police inspector. The only problem was that their wasn't much characterization on the female lead Anny. Worth a look at if you like movies like The Punisher, other people might want to stay away. ** out of ****

One of Yul Brynner's least known films and the last film he made. Death Rage has Brynner as Peter Marciani, retired hit man that is force out of retirement to avenge the death of his murdered brother. Marciani (Brynner) goes to Naples and after the man he learn killed his brother, mafia kingpin Gennaro Gallo.

The film is fine generally speaking: not great but it is not horrible but it is the storyline that that seems to be lacking something to me and I'm not sure what - maybe a little bit more action scenes and a little less talking at times? My point being: the film needed some "spice" that it lacked to make this film stand out better. Really the only thing to make this film stand out is Yul Brynner himself - and that's it.

If you like 1970s crime-action films you might like this one but just remember this film could use a wee bit more action... also if you are a fan of Yul Brynner's then I would recommend the film to you.

5/10