Cross Current

Good giallo in the old psychological way, set in the motorboat race circle. Marco (Philippe Leroy, Senza via d'uscita) is an offshore champion trained by Vincenzo Balestrieri (himself). During a race, his boat has a tough accident and he is hospitalized in the clinic of professor Mauri (Franco Fantasia, Sette Orchidee macchiate di rosso). He recovers but his memory remains weakened. He is welcomed home in his Roman villa by his wife Monica (Elga Endersen, Piu tardi Claire), his lawyer Burt (Ivan Rassimov, Lo Strano Vizio della signora Wardh), and his friend Tommy (Franco Ressel, Un Posto ideale per uccidere) with his girlfriend Terry (Rossana Yanni, The Eye of the Hurricane), who all want to help him to retake a normal life.

But unfortunately corpses start to pile up around Marco, starting with the murder of his former gardener Sante (Franco Balducci, Una Lucertola con la pelle di donna), for the desperation of the police inspector Baldini (Julio Peña, Tre Notti violente). All the characters seem to hide their game and to follow a personal plot around Marco and his valuable family plant. Who would be the more clever of all to build the "perfect homicide within the law limits", helped by the providential crosscurrent flowing near on the sea coast, useful to get rid of inconvenient bodies? The spectator shall get through a little bit too slow rhythm, with the quite overwhelming soundtrack of the English version (fortunately fair in the Spanish one), to, after the regular sequences with cemetery, nightclub, car pursuit, bathroom and spiral staircase, enjoy a very beautiful final full of twists. (Viewed in English 1h28 version.)

When I learned that this giallo featured a speed boat racer, I was less than enthusiastic and when the film opens with a prolonged speed boat race, my mind is already wandering. The music and strange sounds that make up the soundtrack are very good, the crazy architectural weirdness that is the villa where most of the subsequent action takes place, is great and once Elga Andersen and Rosanna Yanni appear things are starting to look up. The ever reliable Ivan Rassimov also helps and yet having got over the rather slow start the film begins to throw up confusion. Maybe it was the dark print and misleading English dub but I certainly became confused and when later we begin to realise what we are supposed to believe it is no wonder! But almost as I began to despair, the picture improves, clothes become loosened, murder is to the fore and things generally brighten up for a glorious last half hour or so.

Not that great but not that bad either. The plot is somehow both extremely simple and confusing at the same time, and it is halfway incoherent- something which is said about giallo as a whole, but unfortunately it's missing that trait which redeems other works with that same quality: beautiful visuals. Many (not all) gialli are style-over-substance; that is to say that the plot takes a backseat to the visuals and the atmosphere that bestows. They focus on gorgeous, luscious sets, artistic camerawork, and beautiful locations. Other gialli are tight thrillers, plot focused and over the top works that take hitchock and amplify his tendencies to the 10th degree, creating a campy but coherent 70s erotic murder mystery. This is unfortunately neither. It means to be plot focused, but doesn't do enough. The story is both simple and convoluted, there are things which aren't explained, and it's a slow burner without the atmosphere or visuals to justify that pacing. If you're looking for a giallo to watch you can do a whole lot better than this.

On the flipside, if, like me, you are a giallo fanatic and have eaten up all of the main dishes, this one isn't one you must avoid entirely. It still has enough there to scratch the itch, it isn't completely useless. It's enjoyable as a piece of camp with that giallo feel and the storyline isn't fully worthless, you'll still be interested to know what's happening.

I never thought I'd get to see this one! Tonino Ricci injects the genre with a welcome dose of daftness, nonsensical events, and a general half- arsed approach to storytelling that he would also bring to the Rambo-rip off genre (with Days of Hell), the horror genre (Panic – the one with the mutant guinea pig) and worst of all, The Close Encounters of the Third Kind rip-off Encounters in the Deep.

This time we have Phillipe Leroy as a super-rich power boat pilot who crashes during a race (one that drags on forever as this is a Tonino Ricci film), gets some brian surgery, then comes home having forgotten just about everything about anything. Except that tree outside…that tree…there's something about that tree…the tree…something…something about the tree…that tree, plus his wife, business partner (Ivan Rassimov), potential possible mistress, and the combover guy from Sabata! Don't forget the tree as Phillipe spends an awful lot of time staring at it, and Tonino spends an awful lot of time showing us the tree from various angles.

So apart from all the times where Phillipe is staring at the tree (that tree….something about it…) or scaring the crap out of people with his remote controlled hi-fi system, he's also got to contend with the strange phone calls from ex-employees who then show up dead instead of meeting him as planned. But who is the black-gloved killer going around killing folks and how is Phillipe supposed to recover from his surgery while all the killing is going on?

Tonino throws in a bit of everything to keep you going – a punch up, a car chase, some gore (cheap and fleeting), an arse, and a disco scene (dancing to "Yellow River" by Christie!) – these were the days where the lady would do the dancing in a mini-skirt while the man sat smoking and drinking whiskey, until the slow song came on and the guy could get up close and rub a semi on.

As you can imagine, not everyone is as friendly as they seem and things start twisting all over the place in the last half hour, including a slow motion gun-slaying which was rather good, and an ending that had me scratching my head as I was presented with a harsh "FINE" all of a sudden. Good stuff.

A speed-boat racer suffers amnesia after an (apparent) boating accident and goes to his isolated villa to recuperate. His relationship with his wife (Elga Andersen) is troubled, so he starts an affair (sort of) with the another woman (Roseanne Yanni), which results in one of the three of them being shot (in a catfight gone horribly wrong). But there are several more twists--and more murders--to come.

The Italian giallo is generally believed to have originated entirely with the work of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. But there was another parallel strain of the genre, which was a little more subtle and mannered (especially compared to the often bloody, over-the-top Argento films), that was clearly inspired by the seminal French thriller "Diabolique". These gialli, which include pre-Argento films like "Death Laid an Egg" and "The Sweet Body of Deborah" and director Umberto Lenzi's influential trilogy ("Orgasmo", "So Sweet, So Perverse", and "A Quiet Place to Kill"), all involve decadent members of the European "la dolce vita" jet-set crossing and double-crossing each other in ridiculously complicated sex and murder plots. This film is in that vein (even having a "Diabolique"-type twist where a character previously thought to be dead comes back to life).

The giallo genre of that time was blessed with many talented directors, including most notably Bava, Argento, Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, and Massimo Dallamano. The director of this is clearly not in that exalted company, but his work is certainly adequate. The ambiance of the isolated villa with one eerie, gnarled tree that seems to provoke hallucinations in the mind of the protagonist is very effective. And a scene at a modern disco where Rosanne Yanni shimmies to groovy music in a ridiculously short mini-skirt ensemble is definitely memorable. Some of your more horny and/or bloodthirsty giallo fans may be a little disappointed. The murders are not particularly effective and are hard to make out (at least in the dark, muddy print I saw). Andersen (or her body double) has nude scenes, but Yanni, while she nevers wears a lot of clothes, never takes them off either. Still, the plot is pretty entertaining, and the great Ivan Rassimov appears in an important supporting role. Not one of the best gialli, but still recommended.