Medusa

According to what I've read about Medusa it was partially produced by "star" George Hamilton which puts it into the category of vanity projects that tend to become tedious stories that overexpose the actor who in some way feel that their particular talents aren't utilized more. Clocking in at a whopping 103 minutes, Medusa, a title that bares no significance whatsoever to the plot, delivers a dagger to any possibility of Hamilton seen as anything other than a hammy, Warren Beatty clone.

George Hamilton plays the role of Jeff an American playboy, drunk, gambler, screwup delux that is purportedly in line to inherit millions through a will. Jeff has a very unhealthy relationship with his sister, here played by Luciana Paluzzi who has been betrothed to financially successful Theodore Roubanis as Nikos. The fact that Jeff and Sarah are brother and sister when Hamilton is unabashedly American and Italian Paluzzi, thick accent and all, seem so odd that it would have been better to say that perhaps they were former lovers than siblings. They certainly act the lovers part anyway. Jeff desperately needs to be included in the will because he owes money to friend and gangster loan shark Angelo, ( Cameron Mitchell) who in turn owes money to his bosses. Mitchell is the loan bright spot as he appears to have fun as the tough-talking wise ass who seems conflicted with what to do with Jeff. The rest of the film is about Jeff's decline into the depths of darkness as he and a "mysterious" accomplice go on a murder spree in order to extract information about the will. Takis Kavouras rounds out the cast as a Greek inspector with the hairiest hands I've every seen!

Between Hamilton's mugging to the camera and the dragging plot it truly is a task to watch this in its entirety. George even manages to cast his wife, Alana Stewart, in a pointless role as Eleana. Gordon Hessler of MST3K's Master Ninja fame directs this made for television clunker that provides no surprises whatsoever. There is a Greek musical score that is bashed over your skull repeatedly. If a viewer drank a shot of ouzo every time it blares onto a scene you might actually be drunk enough to make it through Medusa in one sitting. I did not succeed.

That's one of the biggest problems i have with this movie. i have NO idea why it's called Medusa. She doesn't appear in the movie, there's no mention of her, and it's not even one of those cheesy things like "cat on a hot tin roof" where they use her name in a metaphor one time. they NEVER mention her or allude to her. EVER. if you name a movie "Medusa", then it better FRIGGIN HAVE MEDUSA IN IT! but enough of that, how's the actual movie? well it comes in the chilling movie 50 pack, and that's probably the only reason anybody would see this stinker. and it has a problem a lot of the other movies do. number 1. it's not a horror movie and therefore does not belong in a horror set. number 2. it's boring. BORING BORING BORING. God how do all these 70's movies keep getting more and more boring? but OK. lets discuss plot. Guy (Hamilton) needs to find the new will to destroy it so he and his sis can get all the inheritance money so he can pay off the mob. along the way people die. why? i'm not sure. there's really no justification of WHY these people are dying, they just kind of are. This movie was actually incredibly hard to follow. There were several characters doing things that i didn't know what they were doing and i didn't really care.

this movie made me stop several times to take breaks. and as a film lover. i hate doing that. i despise stopping movies and taking breaks. i saw epic movie in one sitting. i should be able to sit through anything. But not Medusa, oh no. you have to break this crap up.

Even the kills are dull as dirt in this movie. there's a lot of strangulations and offscreen deaths with no tension because i couldn't tell who was dying half the time because of oh yeah. the lighting! This movie must have a hard on for night shots because over half of this movie is filmed like someone forgot to bring a flashlight on their camping trip. The picture gets so dark you can't see who's doing what or what's going on. it's confusing and stupid.

The payoff (if you can call it that) isn't really a payoff because the beginning of the movie shows you what happens at the end. so it's not really a payoff.

Unless you want to see all 50 movies in your box set, (in which case know you're in for a boring one here) for the love of GOD do not search for this movie by itself, but if you HAVE to sit through it, just know you're in for a snoozer.

Medusa gets 2 scenes in pitch black dark, out of 10.

Confusing tale of hell-raising playboy (Hamilton), a rogue mercenary thief based in Greece and living a bizarre double life as a cold blooded murderer. Enchanting though she may be, Paluzzi's Medusa connection is tenuous, instead the film focuses on Hamilton's bloody conquests with a succession of exotic imports, among them, Alana Stewart and the beautiful (and unknown) Nora Valsami. The rub of course is that Hamilton never actually recalls doing the deeds, while the manipulative Paluzzi disposes of the evidence (complete with mop and bucket) before suspicion is aroused.

Takis Kavouras is effective as the no-nonsense, yet ineffectual police inspector, while Cameron Mitchell is wasted as a local mobster who ends up, literally, swimming with the fishes in a sadistic demise. Hamilton is suitably hammy as he feigns drunken stupor one moment, fractured lunatic on the edge the next. The relationship between Paluzzi and his character is complex and, to my mind, never properly revealed (there's an implied incestuousness never realised). Paluzzi, for her part is assured and suitably sinister as the title character, with just a hint of the mythology to make the title linkage (revealed in the film's final act).

Authentic and attractive location work, combined with some effective chills and suspense are hampered by the convoluted storyline, making for a very uneven thriller. "Medusa" seems to dramatically change track at intermission, switching from a routine crime drama to a twisted "Bonnie & Clyde". Director Hessler's plot is full of sadism, lust and jealousy - just the ingredients necessary for a Greek tragedy of this ilk, but it ultimately lacks cohesion and sense.

George Hamilton shows why he became more popular for his tan than acting ability with "Medusa," a terribly insipid attempt at a crime thriller with would-be supernatural undertones. The plot...ummmmm...doesn't really make any sense (and not in the good David Lynch way). Okay, imagine Andrezej Zulawski's "Possession," with made-for-TV production values, none of the surreal sh1t, and a bunch of cop-thriller baloney. Set against a Greek backdrop, George (our hero?) plays a character more obnoxious and muggy than what you'd find in a typical "Saturday Night Live" sketch; anyway, he runs afoul of scenery-chewing gangster Cameron Mitchell (whose presence in any movie is like the official stamp of bad taste) who is whacking a bunch of guys(?); George spends the rest of the film running around Greece, wooing (and killing) random females, and finally fleeing to 'Atlantis' on a boat with his unusually devoted sister. Some existential hokum about the body dying, but the soul living forever is tossed in like an afterthought. Blandly directed by Gordon Hessler, "Medusa" is a slow-moving bore, its only amusing moments belonging to Mitchell ("The Toolbox Murders"), who gives an epic bath-house speech that is brilliant in its own head-scratching incoherence.

Jeffrey (George Hamilton) is a frivolous, quite possibly psychotic playboy. He and his sister stand to inherit the family fortune through their zillionaire father's will. It's not long before those involved with the will begin dying at the hands of a mysterious strangler.

Not even fellow psycho and loan shark, Angelo (Cameron Mitchell) is a match for this shadowy figure!

MEDUSA is a semi-dark, somewhat twisted tale of greed, violence, and murder. There are a few memorable scenes, like Angelo's swimming sequence. Though kooky and dull, this movie is worth watching to witness Hamilton and Mitchell face off in their dueling histrionics. Hamilton is his usual smirking self. So, if you're a big fan of "The Man With The Tan", that'll bump this one up a couple of notches...