Just watched this last night for the first time and thought it was pretty solid. If I didnāt already know that Lizzani had also directed the Hills Run Red I never would have guessed; I liked that one too but it had a very different vibe to me.
Iām not sure how I feel about Lou Castelās performance; he wasnāt bad but I feel like another actor might have done more with the material. However, Mark Damon was fantastic and the opening scene with that Ortolani guitar riff is an all time great in my book. Pasoliniās speech to Castel at the end definitely felt a bit preachy and on the nose but it didnāt hurt my enjoyment of the movie at all.
An odd movie. The left wing polemic rather undermined by the increasing emphasis on Damonās barmy character- did he write or ad-lib his main speeches? That one in which he rants that women are morons only good for breeding and then finishes it by asking his henchmen whether he has lost his attractiveness was hysterically funny. At time he also looked like a Gothic horror character from one of Gothic horror movies. And he has his padded room for his wife on the off-chance that he has to imprison her there!
Well, my feelings regarding this one havenāt changed much. Itās an okay movie mostly marked by Damonās fantastic interpretation of one of the most memorable and arguably one of the best antagonists in the history of the genre, he really shines here. Other than that, there is not much of interest here, the storyline is badly let down by Lizzaniās soporific directional style. The political overtones do little to rectify the thoroughgoing visual unimaginativeness and most of the time, it feels like a missed opportunity above all else. This probably could have been a classic had it been helmed by somebody else. If I ever revisit this one, it will be for Damon alone, as he is absolutely fantastic, his performance genuinely coruscates here.