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Redneck

Italy/UK 1973
produced by
Michael Lester, Silvio Narizzano for Compagnia Internazionale Alessandra Cinematografica (CIAC), Crawford Productions
directed by Silvio Narizzano
starring Franco Nero, Telly Savalas, Mark Lester, Ely Galleani, Duilio Del Prete, Maria Michi, Beatrice Clary, Bruno Boschetti, Aldo De Carellis, Tommy Duggan, Giuseppe Mattei, Antonio Paris, Wanda Pallini, Liliana Fioramonti, Jean-Pierre Clarain, Britta Barnes, Michael Bernes, Daniela Barnes (= Lara Wendel)
screenplay by Masolino D'Amico, Win Wells, based on a story by Rafael Sánchez Campoy, music by Maurizio Catalano

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Mosquito (Franco Nero), Memphis (Telly Savalas) and Maria (Ely Galleani) are holding up a jeweller, but the thing seems to be doomed from the beginning: First Memphis shoots someone, then they totally crash their car within minutes of their getaway, and then they find out all they have robbed are two boxes loaded with cutlery. But then they find a fourteen year old boy, Lennox (Mark Lester) in their second getaway car, who turns out to be a diplomat's son, and they figure with him as hostage they can at least make good their getaway ... but thing is, Memphis is a bit of a loose cannon, and when he at one point finds Maria, Mosquito's girlfriend, gone, he goes after her and brutally rapes and kills her.

In the meantime, Mosquito tries to make his getaway on foot and take the boy with him to the next village to release him - but when they are spending the night at a Principessa's (Maria Michi) mansion, who believes them to be honest and honourable citizens, Memphis catches up with them and makes them his captives ... and soon enough everything amounts to a game of cat-and-mouse between Memphis and Mosquito, where it's not quite clear who's the cat and who's the mouse.

The whole thing climaxes in the trio running into a German family camping in the countryside whom Memphis locks into their trailer before pushing the trailer into a nearby lake to watch them drowning - ouch.

Thing is, young and impressionable Lennox is everything but repulsed by this action, he has by now taken a liking to Mosquito and tries to imitate the two gangsters' way of life ... and when in the finale both of them are shot dead by the police when trying to cross the border, Lennox puts up their gun and fires some shots as if he wanted to protect them nevertheless ...

So-so exploitation movie that has a few memorable if gruesome scenes - like Maria totally trashing their getaway car or Memphis drowning the Germans - and is mainly carried by a purposely overacting Telly Savalas and a restrained Franco Nero ... but on the other hand, the whole coming-of-age subtext is about as terribly clichéd as it is unbelievable, and a very bland young Mark Lester is doing little to bring his role to life.

Definitely this is not the worst film out there, and it even features some interesting concepts ... but then again, you might have seen much better elsewhere.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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