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Saw this again this week after a gap of about 10 years. Still pretty entertaining despite the misogyny. It does make me laugh and is very nasty and grubby to boot.
There was some comment above about the delayed UK release. It was rejected entirely by the BBFC in February 1972 - this information has recently been restored to the BBFC database - and then classified X (Over 18 only) in June 1972 after about 7m of cuts. Scenes that were significantly cut include the Mexican soldiers groping the women in the ‘theatre’, the machine-gunning of the soldiers later in the same room and the scene in the desert in which the girls are stripped and mauled and shot. The torture of Blindman when he is dropped onto a table was also cut. The UK theatrical version didn’t appear for over a year afterwards and ran only 96m.
In contrast Blindman got only a 14 rating in Italy. The Italian censor had got incredibly lenient from about late 1969 as far as I can tell giving virtually everything an unrestricted rating unless there was a lot of nudity and violence. This would have got an 18 if released in 1968.
I felt sorry for Marisa Solinas who had played the heroine in Killer Adios only 3 years previously, who is required to do nothing except take her clothes off for one brief scene (which looks to have been abridged as well). Must have been very short of cash.
The 50 brides include French actress Janine Reynaud, who had major roles in several Jesus Franco movies including leading roles in Succubus (1969), Two Undercover Angels and Kiss Me Monster. I recognised her in several shots and I am pretty sure she was the Bride who attacked Magda Konopka outside the cell and dragged her inside. The database (consistent with the Wikipedia entry) has her credited as ‘prostitute’ but she is one of the Brides. I am guessing Klein and Baldi and Anthony combed the field of European exploitation movies to find ‘Brides’ willing to take their clothes off for nominal cash.
Magda Konopka had been in the news quite a bit over her personal life including a court case so might have been desperate for the work. And Baldi gives us a brief ‘money shot’ of her to see what the fuss was about (although I presume that a body double was used for the longer shots of her tied to the post naked).
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Interesting stuff regarding the censorship … I doubt the nudity was any kind of big deal for ‘starlets’ of this era … and the same for Magda in her naked scenes - I’d bet my last cigar there were no body doubles employed for a film of this kind … besides, it’s scorching hot in Almeria and the ‘babes’ were only too happy to get their kit off …
Credit page has been added…
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Damn, I thought this was going to be a blu-ray announcement
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In the ‘Unidentified’ section, the second character, ‘Bunny’, is, Mal Evans … Friend and road manager / security, for The Beatles … who died in tragic circumstances in 1976
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‘Blindman’ premiered in the United States at the Oriental Theater, Chicago, January 12 1972.
In the UK it opened at the Astoria Theatre on 27th December 1973, followed by a general release in mid-January 1974 double-billed with ‘Gordon’s War’. After its run ended in July '74 it returned for a few screenings in 1975 before a final showing at Droitwich Film Theatre on 30th July 1978 (1 day only).
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The UK version of Blindman was cut by 7m by the censors following an original rejection (and submitted print missing 2m of footage never dubbed into English).
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