What happened here, seriously? With its clever pitch, awesome cast and breathtaking filming locations, "The Ultimate Thrill" easily could have been one of the greatest and most original American action movies of the 70s. However, due to bad writing, absent direction and the incomprehensible choice to stuff the film with random stunt-skiing stock footage, it became one of the most frustratingly dull failures ever.
The basic idea is awesome. The title refers to the rather unusual hobby of lead character Roland Parley (Eric Braeden). He's a millionaire who seemingly has everything, including a stunningly beautiful wife (Britt Ekland) and a luxurious lodge on the top of a mountain in a fancy Colorado skiing resort. The sole thing that provides him with the ultimate thrill, though, is hunting down and killing innocent men. In order to give himself an excuse, he lures tourist skiers to the lodge and almost straight into the arms of his wife, just so that he can pretend to be the jealous husband with a shotgun!
So, in other words, what we have here is a clever variation on the 'hunting human for sport/kicks' theme (originating from "The Most Dangerous Game") in a stupendous setting full of snowy mountains, deep ravines and potential avalanches. This really should have been an awesome thriller, and there aren't any excuses for its incompetence. The cat-and-mouse chases are exhilarating (death by helicopter!) but too short, and neither the plot nor the characters are elaborated properly. How come? Well, because half of the film exists of padding footage! It looks like a marketing video to promote the wonders of winter sports.
