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The Bloody Brood
Canada/USA 1959
produced by Julian Roffman for Meridian Films, Key Films
directed by Julian Roffman
starring Jack Betts, Peter Falk, Barbara Lord, Ron Hartmann, Ron Taylor, Robert Christie, Bill Brydon, Michael Zenon, Anne Collins, George Sperdakos, Sammy Sales, Carol Starkman, Kenneth Wickes, Lloyd Jones, William R. Kowalchuk, Betty Anderson
written by Anne Howard Bailey, Ben Kerner, Elwood Ullman, Des Hardman, music by Harry Freedman
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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A group of beatniks doesn't do anything but "rebel" against
the establishment all night - which of course means little more than
getting drunk, doing drugs, beating bongos, reading weird poetry and
making up their own kind of warped philosophy. For many, the party seems
to end when they see a hobo die in their favourite dive - but one of them,
Nico (Peter Falk), makes an artpiece out of it, à la the ultimate
expression of one's self ... which is bollocks of course, but it helps all
others come over the sight of death pretty quickly. For most it's just a
sign of their shallow nature, but for Nico it goes deeper, and he
eventually conspires with his sidekick Francis (Ron Hartmann) to kill
somebody. Now Francis is just an idiot who is too easily persuaded to feed
a mailboy (William R. Kowalchuk) a ground glass-laced hamburger, but Nico
is an actual psychopath. The mailboy dies of course ... However, the
mailboy has a brother, Cliff (Jack Betts), who just can't believe to what
degree the police neglects his brother's death, and thus he takes up
investigations on his own, and it doesn't take him long to track Nico
down. However, Nico is by far not the anti-establishment beatnik he
pretends to be, he has contacts to drugrunners and the mob, so he tries to
mobilize his contacts to get rid of Cliff ... but a girl from his gang
(Barbara Lord) has taken a liking in Cliff and gives him quite a few good
clues that make Cliff more determined than ever ... and yet, he ultimately
walks into a death trap - that however turns on Nico when two small fry
drugpushers he wanted to get rid of (Bill Brydon, Michael Zenon) survive
an assassination attempt and now turn on the man who ordered it - with
lethal consequences. Not a great film but a nice low budget
thriller that uses the beatnik atmosphere and ideology to its advantage
rather than just making it a cool backdrop, and it's very immoral
beginning is rather unusual for a movie of its ilk (we're actually not
even introduced to the hero until a quarter of an hour or so into the
movie), and very appealing at that. The real attraction of this film
though is Peter Falk in a very early movie role, playing his ruthless
psychopath with haunting precision - and for that alone, the movie (which
has its weaknesses like the very traditional build-up and resolution after
the strong beginning) is almost a must-see!
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