I really liked this the second time around. Maybe I was more prepared going in. Maybe its bleakness and toughness was kind of refreshing. The conflicts were big, the dramatic lines clear, the handling strong. Joseph Biroc has a field day making everyone sweaty.
it's not always an easy watch. Rich Kim Darby is kidnapped by some guys who killed her rapey boyfriend - she's then kidnapped again by basically Ma Barker and her boys, one of whom (Scott Wilson) falls in love. Wilson and Darby act all over the shop - Wilson playing someone who is mentally regarded, does a giggle and curls his lips and throws his voice into it; Darby screams and seduces and panics and is scared. Darby is excellent - Wilson has excellent moments.
There is strong support from Wesley Addy (Darby's dad), Tony Musante (brother - Mustante should've been a star), Irene Dailey (crazy Ma), Connie Stevens of all people (just weird to see her in an Aldrich film but she's fine, does a few numbers and gets shot... she plays the girlfriend of one of the original kidnappers), Robert Lansing (a private eye type working for Addy).
Lansing is the one thoroughly sympathetic person in the film, although you definitely feel for Darby - who is in a horrible position and has to sleep with Wilson to survive. I wasn't wild about her falling for him - I guess there's Stockholm Syndrome and all that, but it made me uneasy. Maybe I'm worrying too much but Hollywood always glamorises kidnappings of hot women via a love story which makes dramatic sense but in real life I feel adds to rape.
Still like I said I enjoyed this more on a second viewing. It's Aldrich at he's uncompromising peak, a sweaty intense melodrama with action.
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