Goma-2

I can't say why, but this is probably (together with the ator films) the worst film I've ever seen. Twice I've fallen asleep while watching it. It's dark and blurry and the story is pathetic. But then again, Lee van Cleef is in it, and he's fun. I don't have so much to say about it, so I stop here.

What can I say? First of all no stars for this turkey. I saw Killing Machine on one of those old '80s videocassette deals hosted by Sybil Danning. She is actually the best thing about the program, because the movie stinks big time! It is billed on the video box to star Lee Van Cleef, Richard Jaeckel, Willie Aames, and Margaux Hemingway. They are more like guest stars, because the real star is some Spanish bum that I've never seen before and never want to see again. Its supposed to be about a truck driver that is attacked by French unionists: they kill his wife, and he goes after them. It is never fully explained why the unionists are angry at the truck drivers other than the fact that they carry fruit that is evil (I guess...like I said...It is never explained). Lee Van Cleef plays a lawyer (!) that covers things up for the union. There's an interesting scene that is supposed to be in a courtroom, but it looks like the scene was shot in a cheap conference room in some warehouse. Cleef was very old here, so the idea of him being some kind of tough guy is demolished by his aged appearance. Hemingway looks astonishingly bad, and her acting reflects her awful appearance. Richard Jaeckel (mispelled?) makes the worst performance by William Shatner look good, and Willie Aames is annoying as always. Aames had passed over his teenage good looks, so there isn't even anything good to look at. I heard later that he bottomed out on drugs and converted to Christianity (no small favor for movies...stay out, Willie!) PLEASE SKIP THIS TRASH! UPDATE 08/04/05: I originally voted this the worst film I saw in 2005, but then I saw High Tension and changed my mind.

Steel-fisted, preternaturally handsome action hero, Jorge 'Fist Fighter' Rivero thrills as, Txema Basterrenech, a former explosive expert for a shady hardline terrorist outfit who grimly discovers that his new straight life as long distance lorry driver, and loving husband to the beautiful, pregnant, Elisa (Ana Obregon) is to be fraught with no less danger than the shadowy past he had hoped to distance himself from! The intractable, Txema won't kowtow to the relentless brutality of enjoyably despicable B-movie mob boss, Major Julot (Lee Van Cleef), this defiance fatefully becomes the shatteringly violent catalyst which propels, Txema upon an explosive campaign of righteously destructive retribution, methodically hunting down the three vermin responsible for his wife's death with the same ruthless efficiency as his arch nemesis, Major Julot!

Making the most of this incendiary cocktail of volatile exploitation material director, J. Anthony Loma wastes very little time with narrative niceties, the distressing scene of a physically overwhelmed, Txema being savagely beaten and then forced to watch on helplessly as, Julot's hired goons torment his young wife makes for a memorably unpleasant interlude, thereby making it absolutely impossible not to sympathize with Txema's roiling hatred for cruel Machiavellian gangster, Julot and the unconscionable brutality of his pitiless henchmen.

'Killing Machine' delivers gritty, skull-shattering B-Movie catharsis of the highest order, and watching the earnestly enraged, Txema sending his ignominious abusers into the flesh-searing inferno they so richly deserve makes for gloriously edifying, blood-lusting entertainment, and not only is Txema's explosive revenge excitingly mounted, 'Killing Machine' has a notable cast of illuminated Euro-cult Thespians, Richard 'Grizzly' Jaeckel, Hugo 'City of the Living Dead' Stiglitz, Aldo 'A Fistful of Spaghetti westerns' Sambrell, Frank 'Pieces/Slugs' Brana, and the truly reprehensible mafia sleaze, Julot being essayed with immaculately glacial élan by screen con Lee Van Cleef. But one of Killing Machine's greatest strengths lies in the sublimely moody synth score by Euro-crime legends, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis whose magnificent theme is, perhaps, one of their very finest works! 'Killing Machine' is a bona fide, Grade 'A' B-Move Cult waiting to be discovered!

A profesional hit-man has started a new life as a track driver in Spain. In a travel to France, carrying oranges, escorted by his lovely wife, he will run into a lot of problems, because of the local mafia that is trying to control the market of fruits. He will try to stay away from trouble, but his beloved wife, by mistake, will find a horrible death, trapped inside the truck, when They will put fire in it. After this, he is simply forced to return back to his old ways, find through his old contacts all the guns and information that he needs and then kill each and everyone of the bad guys. Simple film, with ordinary plot and flat characters, for entertainment without any expectations. For those who like this kind, not so bad for rent and see in the video.

Watching this film Killing Machine Americans Margaux Hemingway, Richard Jaeckel and Willie Aames looked so jarringly out of place among the Spaniards and other European types in this Spanish produced film, you have to figure that they did this one for the paycheck and the European trip. Hope the checks cleared for them.

Jorge Rivero of the Mexican cinema and best know to American audiences as Pierre Cardona from the John Wayne western Rio Lobo is our protagonist. A former terrorist he's settled down to the simple life of a truckdriver in Spain. He has a California kid brother-in-law in Willie Aames and a pregnant wife in Ana Obregon. Rivero gets involved in a dispute between Spanish and French truck farmers and his wife is killed. After that he's a Killing Machine and he sure has the expertise.

Lee Van Cleef is the organized crime figure head of the union. He never looks out of place because he's the same smirking, sardonic Van Cleef we know from a gazillion American and spaghetti westerns. He knows it's a turkey, but gobble he doesn't.

I doubt the film will get the restoration it needs. The sound is terrible, the acting is phoned in performances, and the direction most pedantic. Sounds like these truck farmers were peddling some spoiled fruit.