Car Crash (1981)

 

Car Crash (1981)- * * *

 Directed by: Antonio Margheriti 

 Starring: Joey Travolta, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Ana Obregon, Ricardio Palacios, and John Steiner

Paul Little (Travolta) is a stock car racer, and his best buddy Nick (Mezzogiorno) is his mechanic. The two men live to race, and they don't cheat, which really hacks off mobster Eli Wronsky (Palacios) who didn't want them to win a rigged race. After drawing the ire of the gangsters, Paul and Nick travel to Acapulco so they can be part of a new race called 'The Imperial Crash'. Along their journey they meet Janice Johnson (Obregon), an antiques dealer, and sparks fly between her and Paul. When the three of them go to the mansion of the wealthy Kirby (Steiner) and his snooty butler Gershwin, more chaos ensues before they can get to the final race. But Kirby's friendship will prove invaluable later on. Will the gangster baddies rub out Paul and Nick before they can even get to The Imperial Crash? Or, while they're in sunny Mexico, will there be - to quote Atomic Swing - a CAR CRASH in the blue? Find out today!



Antonio Margheriti has always been among our favorite directors, and Car Crash seems to be one of his lesser-seen works. Despite the cult status of Margheriti, the presence of Joey Travolta, and the fact that it was a Italian-Spanish-Mexican co-production which ensured a worldwide release, it appears as though the only way to see it in the U.S. is the Sony VHS.

While there are some scenes of light shooting and beat-ups, there are plenty of blow-ups and, of course, car races and crashes. Over almost 100 minutes, the film does slow down at times, but the camaraderie between Paul and Nick is good, and some drama is needed because it can't be all cars all the time.



One of the best things about Car Crash is the music by Mario and Giosy Capuano. It's really tremendous stuff and it helps keep the movie afloat. It ranges from hard-driving rock to synth to folk cues, and it's a treat for the ears. They were an interesting choice to provide the music, because it appears that this is their one and only soundtrack. It should come out on CD or vinyl, stat. I would say reissued, but it appears it has never been issued in the first place, which is a shame. I think a lot of people would buy it. It would be perfect for a company like Digitmovies.



Of course, it was 1981, and one of the first scenes takes place in an arcade with plenty of pinball machines and stand-up games. But, moving on from that highlight, much has been made of Margheriti's use of miniatures during some of the racing scenes. Far from a negative, it comes off as delightfully charming as far as we're concerned. If they had called the movie "Hot Wheels" it would have been entirely appropriate. Of course, Margheriti used plenty of "fast motion" to give the feeling of more speed, which gives things an old-timey "Keystone Kops" feeling which may or may not have been intentional.



John Steiner does an atypical role as the foppish Kirby, and his butler Gershwin is annoying so it's great when Nick finally punches him in the face. Nick also has some great insults, calling people "Jerk Brain", also, and we quote, "Your mother eats moose meat!" Obviously Nick was quite ahead of his time, as these two insults together were clearly the precursor to Judd Nelson in Conflict of Interest (1993) and his immortal "Jerk Beef".



Naturally, it all comes to a head at The Imperial Crash, which seems like it would be a good band name. Car Crash is decently entertaining most of the time, and would have been perfect for the waning days of drive-in theaters. Hopefully it'll get a physical release in a digital format so more people can see it and re-evaluate it, or just evaluate it for the first time.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Elimination Force (1977)

Elimination Force (1977)- * * *

Directed by: Domenico Paolella

Starring: Marcel Bozzuffi and Vittorio Mezzogiorno













Protection rackets are running wild in the streets of Italy. The poor shopkeepers are fed up, but feel they are powerless against the muscle of the ever-increasing criminal gangs. The baddie of all baddies, a psychopath named Valli (Mezzogiorno) is not only the king fish all the cops want to catch, but is also a vicious killer and even a “phone bomber”, a guy who exacts payment by placing bombs in telephones, so when someone calls your business - kaboom. But Valli has met his match in the take-no-guff police commissioner Grifi (Bozzuffi). Grifi wants to clean up the streets, so, noticing that he and his force are not dealing with ordinary criminals, they come up with an extraordinary solution. Saying “simple cops can’t beat ‘em - we need commandos”, Grifi forms the Stunt Squad, a highly trained band of law enforcement that ride super-fast motorbikes and shoot to kill. But will it be enough to stop Valli? Find out today!

We here at Comeuppance Reviews absolutely love the 1970’s Italian Poliziotteschi movement, and this seems to be one of its lesser-seen titles. We can’t seem to get enough of movies of this place and time, and apparently they were borne out of a real-life crime epidemic in the Italy of the day. The locations, the fashions, and the music all gel together with the violent plots and the result is addictive viewing. The power-team of writer Dardano Sacchetti, director Domenico Paolella, and the score by Stelvio Cipriani provide a solidly entertaining addition to the genre.

Director Paolella seems to be concentrating on certain aspects not always associated with these types of Italian crime films - for instance suspenseful setups and varying uses of pace. At one moment, it seems slow, but then it speeds up, almost like the dynamics of the music of Cipriani. Plus this movie has one of the coolest training sequences we’ve seen in some time: in order to properly train his guys to become the Stunt Squad, they have to practice hitting targets with their guns while zooming on their motorbikes, and to somehow fit collaring criminals into their wheelie-popping schedule. Naturally, there are some great chase sequences, among other fine moments. Probably our only complaint about this movie is that it could have used more Stunt Squad. There are some pretty lengthy sections without them. But that’s a minor quibble for this enjoyable movie.

The film was released on VHS in North America on the cleverly-named label Lettuce Entertain You. Not only is this lettuce Canadian, but it’s thought that it might be a bootleg (or at the least, grey-market) tape. That might help explain the fuzzy, washed-out, poor quality of the VHS. While we recommend this movie, we don’t recommend this tape. Sad, it does the film a disservice, but it’s a testament to the film that it can overcome these shortcomings and still manage to entertain. But on the upside, the dubbing does give us gems like “You have to start combing Bologna to find Valli”. While they’re clearly talking about the region in Italy, it’s not every day you hear the words “combing Bologna” said. Or done for that matter. It just sounds funny.

Perhaps the reason why Elimination Force hasn’t joined the top tier of Poliziotteschi titles is because more people don’t know about it, because of its unfortunate release on Lettuce Entertain You. Hopefully that will start to change, and if we’re lucky, a DVD release will correct the record.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty