Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Super Bitch (1973)

Original title: Si puo Essere piu Bastardi dell'ispettore Cliff?

Director: Massimo Dallamano

Writers: Massimo Dallamano, Ross MacKenzie, George P. Breakston

Composer: Riz Ortolani

Starring: Ivan Rassimov, Stephanie Beacham, Patricia Hayes, Ettore Manni, Luciano Catenacci, Verna Harvey, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Cec Linder, Leon Vitali

More info: IMDb

Plot: This 1970s crime thriller revolves around a high-class London escort agency that acts as a cover for a drug smuggling ring. Ivan Rassimov plays the duplicitous undercover cop Insp. Cliff, who falls for Stephanie Beacham’s call girl while plotting to get his hands on a fortune by setting some drug gangs against each other.



My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

On the surface, it's a silly crime action thriller with some cartoon gangsters but it's pretty darn entertaining and behind it all is a great, poppin', groovy score with screaming trumpets by Riz Ortolani.  Rassimov, looking and sounding (dubbed) a LOT like Clint Eastwood, is having a great time as the ruthless Cliff playing two sides of the coin.  Yeah, it's a DIRTY HARRY (1971) clone fused with A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) but it's rather fun. How about that surprise ending, huh?  Nice.  You know what else is nice?



OK, not so much on the old broad (she's a real super bitch).  One thing that separates this from other Italian crime pictures from the 70s is the lightness in tone.  It's not a comedy but it's not as gritty as others in the genre from this era.  That could make or break it depending on how you like your Italian crime.  I dug it but the ending and Ortolani's kickin' score helped a lot. 

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