HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Cry of a Prostitute Don't Bash Barbara
Year: 1974
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Stars: Henry Silva, Barbara Bouchet, Fausto Tozzi, Vittorio Sanipoli, Mario Landi, Mauro Righi, Dada Gallotti, Patrizia Gori, Pier Maria Rossi, Alfredo Pea, Pietro Torrisi
Genre: Sex, Action, ThrillerBuy from Amazon
Rating:  6 (from 1 vote)
Review: A car is run off the road with the driver decapitated and his lady passenger crushed, but Italian police discover the child travelling with them was already dead. Turns out the Sicilian mafia are smuggling heroin inside the corpses of murdered children. The older mafia dons are disgusted by this ghastly revelation, particularly Don Cascimi (Vittorio Sanipoli) who has designs on the rural town of Colle Pietra. To that end he sends granite-faced, whistling assassin Tony Aniante (Henry Silva) down South to settle a long-running feud between affable Don Turi Scannapieco (Mario Landi) and the ruthless, despicable Don Ricuzzo Cantimo (Fausto Tozzi). However, Tony faces distraction in the form of Don Ricuzzo’s luscious, ex-prostitute wife Margie (Barbara Bouchet).

Essentially another retread of Red Harvest, the Dashiell Hammett novel that inspired the likes of Yojimbo (1961), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Miller’s Crossing (1990) and Last Man Standing (1996), this near-unbearably gruesome, sleazy and sadistic Italian crime thriller stands as the strongest directorial effort by Andrea Bianchi. Best known as the hack behind trashy horrors Burial Ground (1981) and Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975), his atypically taut, evocative direction imbues the sordid story with an air of twisted panache. Never one to let subtlety or good taste get in the way of a rattling yarn, Bianchi serves up great dollops of grotesque violence and sleaze: a head bisected by buzz-saw, a graphic autopsy on a little boy, Tony flattens enemies with a steamroller.

Much harder to stomach are the sadomasochistic sex fantasies enacted between Tony and Margie who, as the Don’s prized possession, delights her perverted husband by describing her flings with other men. Though celebrated for her exhibitionistic roles, Bouchet had acting talent to match those blonde bombshell looks. Her role here may largely be that of sex object, yet she hits every note as a self-loathing, alcoholic, sadomasochistic, nymphomaniac. Whilst playing along with Don Ricuzzo’s sordid sexual fantasies, she projects a flicker of revulsion. Margie latches onto Tony out of desperation, but like almost every character here is already damned. Tony destroys Margie in a manner closer to defacing private property than abusing a human being, which is not to excuse his reprehensible actions merely place them in context.

Henry Silva makes a uniquely dead-eyed anti-hero, sweaty and shark-like as he ploughs through the swarthy Sicilian mobsters. Strong-stomached viewers still have to trawl through a lot of macho mafia bluster to get to more substantial points raised about rural prejudice and pointless blood feuds. The local priest has almost resigned himself to the Sicilian way of life (“murder is as common as playing cards”), while the root cause of this vicious cycle is pinpointed when someone hands a crippled boy a gun and says: “You’re the last man this family has. Fight!”

A Romeo and Juliet love story between Don Ricuzzo’s son Paolo (Pier Maria Rossi) and Don Turi’s daughter Carmela (Patrizia Gori) is also woven into the plot. Tony shows more compassion to these two, perhaps latching onto them as the one pure thing in an increasingly nightmarish, nihilistic world. Bianchi is better at bloody action set-pieces and seedy goings on than making sense of the murky mafia conspiracies. Tony’s plan is none too clear compared to that of the Man With No Name but the film reaches a satisfying conclusion where every character suffers for their transgressions, which counts as some kind of ethical message in a largely amoral affair.

Reviewer: Andrew Pragasam

 

This review has been viewed 6015 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
  Stuart Watmough
Paul Shrimpton
Darren Jones
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
   

 

Last Updated: