The Mad Dog Killer (1977)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Nice effects though.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Known as Mad Dog Killer and Beast With A Gun, my print comes up with the title, Furious Mad Dog Killer and I have to say all titles are appropriate. This is not sophisticated film making by any means but does, as they say, what it says on the can. Little story, just an angry young man determined to do with his gun what he is going to do and even rape the co-star along the way. Helmut Berger is excellent in the lead and fully convinces as the near lunatic, Mad Dog or Killer of the titles. Marisa Mell is also effective and not quite as dumb as the females often seem to have to be in these Italian crime movies. The police are as dumb as usual, even if led by the charismatic, Richard Harrison. Tough. Mean and fast moving.

Poor me. I was so eager to see this movie. It's a "poliziottesco", it inspired Quentin Tarantino nonetheless, plus the big plus of having been shot in my hometown. And what a defeat, my friends. Yes, good camera angles. Yes, great score. Right. I won't repeat the profanities I said while watching, just believe me: the rest is plain, full, big, fat, outrageous rubbish all round. Ridiculous plot, no investigative work whatsoever, sloppy and very short car chases. The dialogues? Never mind, you'll barely hear them among the smacks and pows. They had only two sounds recorded: one smack and one pow. The same for all the movie along. Smack! Smack! Pow! Smack! Everybody goes berserk for no reason. "Good morning". Smack! Pow! You remain openmouthed. After the jailbreak Vanni Vitali visits his sister to take care of her. "You need money?" asks the supervillain, "Take these. They're fake. I've millions of them. All fake." Pause. "Listen, will you give me some real money, won't you?" In a scene the detective leaves the police HQ on a truck, no kidding, with a telescopic ladder mounted on, then he reaches the countryside, stops by a pole, climbs the ladder, connects a telephonic device to the wires and...makes a call to the HQ! Not enough? After the robbery the crooks run away taking some hostages with them. A dozen. The crooks leading in the car, the hostages following in a minivan. Driven by a hostage. OK, sorry, gotta stop now, I'm laughing by myself. Choking actually. I want to just say...laughing again. I'm sorry. I rest my case. Wow...

Helmut Berger gives a gritty performance as a sadistic killer. Unfortunately there are two kinds of punishment being dished out, Helmut's and that which the audience must suffer. The police work in "Beast With a Gun" is mortally laughable, and the stilted dialog in the dubbed version rivals that in the worst "Godzilla" movie. Berger's deranged killer, and a nice Morricone-like score save this from being just another Italian crime flick. So, if you can throw logic out the window, cringe a bit with each spoken word, and suspend disbelief, you might be ready to watch this gloriously sleazy tale of robbery, rape, and revenge. - MERK

Four escaped convicts, led by Nanni Vitali (Helmut Berger), go on a killing spree. Their main target is the man who turned them in. After he's murdered, Nanni kidnaps his girlfriend, Giuliana Caroli (Marisa Mell), and threatens to kill her unless she agrees to help him pull-off a payroll heist. She double-crosses Nanni and goes to the police. Now Giuliana's life is in real danger.What Works: The Vicious Nanni. Nanni Vitali is one of those vicious, brutal, sadistic type characters that are necessary for this kind of film to work. The things he is capable of doing can be at times shocking. The ferocious way he beats-up the gas attendant for no real purpose at all is the perfect example. He's the kind of character you wouldn't want to run into in real life.Marisa Mell. Marisa Mell is another of those European actresses who may not have been much of a thespian, but she has a certain screen presence that's undeniable. It's too bad the decision was made to ignore her character for the final third of the movie.The Score. Until seeing Beast with a Gun, I'm not sure I had seen a film scored by Umberto Smaila. His main theme is one of those pieces of music that gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out. The rest is above average and adds to the drama and tension on screen.What Doesn't Work: Unbelievable Plot Points. While I could write about several instances where the movie stretches credibility, I'll limit these comments to two. First, no real police would bungle a heist set-up as bad as the police in this film. They have inside information. They know where and when the robbery is to take place. They have their own people poising as factory workers. Yet two people are killed and the robbers make off with a van full of hostages. Second, while scouting the vast Italian countryside, the police just happen to select and climb the very electric pole that will give them a clear view of the killers' hideout. How lucky can you be! Originality. Beast with a Gun is a fairly standard Italian police thriller that offers very little in the way of innovation. It's all routine, run-of-the-mill, seen-it-before type stuff. A little more creativity would have gone a long way to making it a good film of its type.In the end, if you're a fan of this kind of film, you probably won't see anything you haven't seen before. But what is presented is generally well done with some very nice accompanying music. And, Marisa Mell makes the whole thing worthwhile for me.