Flesh and Bullets

Flesh and Bullets (1985)

** (out of 4)

Two losers casual meet in Las Vegas and get to talking about their lives and realize that they have a lot in common. The most common thing is that both of them are being taken to the cleaner by their ex-wives who got them for a lot of money in their divorces. The men agree to knock off each other's ex but in the process they both fall in love with them and want to back out of their deals.

Carlos Tobalina had directed a number of porno films up to this point in his career but he wanted to try his hand at a "mainstream" feature so he made this low-budget picture, which is basically a take-off on Alfred Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. This film offers up some nudity, some mild sex scenes as well as some veteran cast members but at the end of the day there's just nothing overly special about it.

The film has an extremely cheap feel to it and in all honesty it looks and feels like the porno movies that were made during this period. Tobalina certainly wasn't able to bring any style to this movie and in fact his direction is pretty weak throughout as there's never any erotic feel, there's certainly no tension and I'd argue that there's not too many good things going on. With that said, the film is far from awful as its cheapness does have a certain charm about it.

The main reason to check this film out is due to the cast, which includes some rather famous faces in small roles. You've got the likes of Yvonne De Carlo, Cesar Romero, Cornel Wilde (straight out of retirement) and Aldo Ray as well as cult sensation Mai Lin playing a hooker. Seeing these famous faces pop up throughout the running time is certainly entertaining and they almost make the picture worth sitting through.

FLESH AND BULLETS isn't a horrible movie but it's not a very good one either. If you're a fan of low-budget films like it then you'll want to check it out.