Danger: Diabolik (1968)

Too much of everything

Powerful

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I can't see it as anything other than a success. A film that's all style, with a flashy couple that steals things because — hey, why not? — and battles the mob and the police because — hey, why not? I've seen reports that De Laurentiis had budgeted $3 million for this and Bava came in so low, he was offered the chance to do a sequel (this kinda conflicts with other reports that Dino was unhappy with the returns). Bava didn't want to work with Dino again, even when offered the chance to work on King Kong.Just watch a few minutes of the film and you'll realize there has never been anything before or since like it. It's probably my favorite comic book movie ever — the closest a movie will ever get to simulating the reading experience without slavishly copying panels ala Sin City.Read more at bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/07/12/danger-diabolik-1968

Thief Diabolik wreaks havoc on a generic European country for his own financial gain and amusement. He shares an extravagant underground lair with his curvaceous, yet shallow girlfriend...who uses her looks and allure, to help Diabolik kill innocent people and steal billions from the government. Because of the origins of his wealth, Diabolik must face off against bumbling cops and revenge-seeking mafia........You done just see this film, you experience it, because its one of the most trippy, psychedelic, and surreal movies you will ever see. Yes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, has that trippy sequence, and all around stoner feel to it, but this is just blatantly in your face bonkers.For starter, we are rooting for a quite despicable person, a murderer, a robber, who in any normal film would be the main villain, but here, you cannot help but like him, because the film almost brainwashes you to do so, as the other characters are so superfluous to the narrative.Law is brilliant as the titular character, and proves that he made some wonderful decisions in the sixties, as this, along with Barbarella, are two of the most iconic movies from that decade. Yes, there are more popular movies, but these two films are referenced so many times, that you may think you've already seen them numerous times before.It out Bonds Connery, and Myers could only wish Austin Powers will be as fresh a this still feels thirty years from now.The soundtrack is wonderful, and although the film makes no sense in the slightest, it's still an amazing piece of cinema....

Lavishly produced but extremely low on credibility, this movie featuring a comic-strip super-villain runs for an extraordinary length of time. Its repetitious plot is over-acted by everyone in the cast except John Phillip Law – who plays the frozen-faced, impersonal, uninteresting and uninvolving Diabolik. Marisa Mell makes up for some of Law's deficiencies, but Terry-Thomas grossly over-acts. Fortunately, his role is small. Michel Piccoli is okay as the hero. It's Adolfo Celi who comes out of the movie with flying colors, but unfortunately his role is comparatively brief. Morricone has contributed a disappointing score. As I said right from the start, lots of money was wasted on this one.

MASTER PLAN: steal everything. Based on the Italian fumetti/comic strip, this was director Bava's follow-up to "Dr.Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs" and, at first glance, would seem merely a slight upgrade from that earlier unfortunate campy fiasco. But, with the availability of a decent DVD version, the picture's strengths become more readily apparent. Bava's ability with design and color enables a fairly successful transposition from comic books to movie screens. Many might point to "Dick Tracy"(90) as another such heartfelt attempt to capture comic strip ambiance on the screen, but that one was far more blatant & apparent. Bava's creativity due to a lack of a huge budget resulted in a more subtle interpretation of comic book action, as incongruous as that sounds when talking about an adaptation of a comic strip. Some of the images here, whether large buildings or close-ups, are startling - something seems a little off in the image but you're not sure what it is. When you think about it or view it again, you realize it's a comic book come to life. Bava was also fond of filming a frame within the frame, resulting in some intriguing compositions. This also invites comparisons to "Barbarella," released a little later. But, Barbarella's images are awfully static when compared to all the movement we see here - everything and everyone moves here - whether on foot, in a sports car or on motorcycles.Since this was the sixties, one also can't help but think of the James Bond craze of this period. The obvious difference between this and the Bond imitators is that the central character is a villain, not some agent-hero. Diabolik (Law) specializes in outrageous acts of thievery; at the point the film begins, the establishment (government & police) are well aware of him, to the point that they resort to unusual methods of transporting valuables in an attempt to avoid him; of course, they fail. Diabolik wears a weird comic book-styled suit, with a mask that covers the lower half of his face; yet, you can still see the outline of his mouth. He also has a weird, sinister laugh, though this is not over-indulged. He operates from a fantastic underground hideout, an expansion of the Batcave from the "Batman" TV show. Of course, he does not work with the authorities but against them, a rather subversive message in those pre-Watergate times, where-in the audience is placed in the position of rooting for this, at best, anti-hero; but, remember, this is from Italy (see Sergio Leone's 'Man-With-no-Name' western trilogy). Also, rather than hanging out with a younger version of himself, as Batman did, this guy gets it on with a cool chick; ah, yes, the villains do have all the fun. Keep in mind, though, his violence does extend to killing cops, so it's not just a laughing matter.There's no 'main' plot line; the authorities make a deal with a local bigshot gangster (Celi, the villain from "Thunderball") to capture or eliminate Diabolik, but this plot is wrapped up way before the conclusion. The story switches to an attack by Diabolik on all the economic bastions of power, a rather direct act of terrorism (though there are no realistic repercussions, such as showing fatalities) and then there's some climactic action involving all the gold on a moving train. It's as if the filmmakers took several disparate plots from the comic strip and welded them together in one film; but, it holds together pretty well, against expectations. The ending is a little on the eerie side. Since this is, overall, an amusing and even silly take on the super-hero/super-villain genre, it may be why "Mystery Science Theater 3000" chose it as one of the films they made fun of, an honor they saved for the most silly movies out there. But, this has enough esoteric style and panache to place it above those clunkers and MSTK3 should have saved their efforts for some other truly dumb film. Anti-Hero:6 Villain:6 Femme Fatales:6 Henchmen:5 Fights:5 Stunts/Chases:7 Gadgets:6 Auto:7 Locations:6 Pace:6 overall:6