Friday, May 10, 2019

Movie review - "A Bullet for Pretty Boy" (1970) **

Fabian was a half decent actor, best suited for delinquent types, so he's well cast as the gangster Pretty Boy Floyd. It's a sympathetic account - Floyd only goes into gangster-ism after bullies shoot down his Paw - an he's surrounded by crooks and cops who are worse than him.

This was shot by Larry Buchanan, who has a bigger budget than we normally see - the period detail isn't lavish, but it's not bad, there's some old cars, and a robbery in the main street. There's a fair amount of action which is reasonably handled - I'm not sure if this was Buchanan, or Maury Dexter, who took over filming.

Jocelyn Lane is touching as the prostitute who loves Fabian. Adam Roarke is effective as a preacher who joins Fabian's gang - I kept wishing his part was bigger than it was. The film could have done with deeper, richer relationships.

Fabian gives a solid performance. His attractiveness is exploited - surprisingly few films did this considering he became a pop star mostly by being good looking. Here he's got Lane and Astrid Warner (his wife) throwing themselves at him, as well as a brothel madam.

The film is competent rather than inspired - it could have done with more passion - but isn't bad.

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