aka Cani arrabbiati, Kidnapped
In my opinion, Mario Bava is up there with names like Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini when it comes to truly, all around great Italian film directors. Sure, guys like Fulci, Martino, Castellari and Lenzi made great and entertaining films, but the films of Bava, Leone and Fellini were like...well, to quote Keanu Reeves, "whoa!". Now, I'm not going to act like I'm an expert on the films of Mario Bava, I've only seen a handful of his films (the more popular ones like BLACK SUNDAY, BLACK SABBATH, KILL BABY KILL, ect.), but I must say, RABID DOGS is beyond anything I've seen from Bava before. RABID DOGS is gritty, realistic and more of a character study than any of his other films that I have seen. RABID DOGS was made towards the end of Bava's career, in the 70's and he was trying to stay in style which the more popular films coming out of Italy at the time, which were crime thrillers.
I had actually never even heard of the film before the release of the two Mario Bava box sets released earlier a few years ago, and there's probably good reason for that--the film was never released until 1997. The courts seized the original film when the original producer went bankrupt and the film was locked away for over 2 decades. Lea Lander (a co-star of the film) pushed and pulled for the film to get released for years, and finally an American producer (which based on the featurette on the DVD, is kind of a prick...go figure a producer being a prick—shocker!) bought it, restored it, added some pointless footage (with help from Mario's son, Lamberto Bava), re-scored it and released it as KIDNAPPED. I'll explain why I'm reviewing the RABID DOGS version, and not KIDNAPPED later.
The film opens with a blast as we watch 4 men pull off a heist, and make their escape by car (a scene similar--I mean, very similar to the opening scene of Sergio Grieco's BEAST WITH A GUN, released in '77). The driver is shot, and the car is wrecked, so they end up hoofing it, until the police in a parking garage corner them. Two women happen by, and one of the robbers kills one of the women (sort of on accident), and then threatens to kill the other if the police don't back off--they do and the men are on the run again. They end up car jacking and older gentleman, whom just so happens, has his ill child in the car with him. Once on the run, the head thug, Doc (played by Maurice Poli; he oozes cool in this movie) asks the man, what is wrong with the child, and he's told the boy ingested some medication (a sedative), and needs urgent hospital care. Doc, not caring about anything but getting away, orders the man to drive on and the man does as he's told.
So now we have 3 thugs and 3 hostages in one tiny Italian car--and it's that way for most of the film--and Bava makes it work! During this road trip from hell, the men argue, the woman tries to escape, there are many intense moments between each of the cast members, people are killed--meanwhile this poor kid is sedated through the whole thing--while the Father acts very strange at times, and we have to wonder--what the hell is up with this guy and his kid? Something isn't right. Some may figure out the end of the film by the midway point, but that doesn't stop the film from being enjoyable. The film is an intense character study more than a mystery movie of any kind.
First of all, the cast is fucking brilliant! Everybody gives 100%, there's not a bad performance in the film. Riccardo Cucciolla plays the Father, and he probably had the most difficult role, because he's the only character that is a mystery. Maurice Poli is the brains of the 3 thugs, and also the unspoken leader. He plays the part flawlessly, and stays cool and likable through the whole film. Don Backy plays the hothead, Blade (he's called Bisturi in the film though), and if there was a role in the film in danger of being overplayed, it's Blade, but Backy nails it--he never goes over the top. Then there's my man, George Eastman (billed as Luigi Montefiori in the film) in what I could honestly say is the best role of his career as Thirtytwo, the muscle of the gang. Eastman and Backy play the fools to Poli's, Doc's straight man, but they are not stupid in a stereotypical way, they're just uneducated streetwise thugs. Lea Lander plays the female hostage and she plays the role very straight--her actions (this can be attributed to the writing as well) are very believable. She's terrified, but you can see she's thinking about how she's going to get out of the situation the whole time--and she even makes a good attempt, only to be captured, and then humiliated by Blade and Thirtytwo--no where on the level of say, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, but she is dehumanized by the men, nonetheless.
Speaking of LAST HOUSE, before I watched RABID DOGS, I was kind of under the impression that it was yet another knock off of that film (which can be argued is a knock offs of Ingmar Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING, but whatever), but it in no way reminded me of said film, other than the scene with Lander, Backy and Eastman where they force her to piss herself (there's a similar scene in LAST HOUSE) for their sick pleasure. If anything, the film reminded me of Pasquale Festa Campanile's film, HITCH-HIKE (which was made after RABID DOGS). HITCH-HIKE has a slightly different scenario (one thug, two hostages--a husband and wife), but both take place in a car for the majority of the film, and both are more about the characters and their actions than the storyline itself.
What also separates RABID DOGS from other rape/revenge movies like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (besides that fact that is not a rape/revenge movie) is how the 3 bad guys stay at different stages of likableness throughout the film. Blade, who kills an innocent woman, keeps our sympathy, due to Backy's performance. Backy plays Blade as a scared little boy, trying to be tough--just look at his face when he kills the woman in the beginning. The same can be said about Eastman's, Thirtytwo character (a penis joke, using the metric system...think about it....got it? Good), who is just an immature and dumb thug, but not without his charm, though he’s too busy playing the tough guy in front of his buddies, and thinking with his dick. Both men are scared deep inside, and know they are in way over their heads, which is why they allow Doc to be the leader--he's smart, cool and calm...and maybe most importantly, he has the gun.
Of course the film wouldn't be as solid in my eyes without a kick ass score to go along with it--which it has--supplied by the great, Stelvio Cipriani of which Bava fans will know from TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE and BARON BLOOD. Cipriani's score is as intense and frantic as the movie itself, and fits it perfectly, which is why the re-released version of RABID DOGS, KIDNAPPED didn't work for me.
Okay, so it's great that the film was finally released and brought to the masses, but at what cost? I'm so glad Bava's original version of RABID DOGS is available, because KIDNAPPED really sucks. So this American producer (of which I'm sure has a name, but I don't really care) allows the go ahead for the film's release, as long as the it's edited in parts, has some new scenes added (fuck! why?) and the incredible original score wiped away and a new "modern" one to replace it. I'm convinced there’s a reserved spot in hell for movie producers like this douche nozzle (I'm an atheist, but you get my point). The only good thing about KIDNAPPED is the restoration of the film looks great. Lamberto Bava provided the some new, if not pointless footage, and in an interview with him on the DVD he claims, 'this' is the way his Father would have wanted it. Really? I guess Mario Bava was a big fan of his films being raped (who knew?). Now as great as Mario Bava is, I really have no love for Lamberto--his film, DEMONS is one of my favorite horror films and LASERBLAST rules, but other than that, the guy's pretty much a hack. So the fact that he had any part in the re-released version, being it a film of his Father's or not, is not a good thing.
RABID DOGS (not KIDNAPPED) is a great film, and now one of my all time favorite films. I truly have fell head over heals in love with this movie. I only rented it from Netflix, but I purchased it soon after and has received many a repeat viewing.
