MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Leofwine_draca DEATH RAGE is one of the probably hundreds of Italian polizia flicks made in the 1970s. These tough crime thrillers could typically be characterised by gangsters, violence, shoot-outs, car chases, and no-nonsense cops investigating the cases and I have to admit that they're among my favourite kind of films. This one is slightly different in that it's more American-focused than usual, in an attempt to pass itself off as a US-made movie. It doesn't work, but the film provides passable entertainment for those who like these kinds of movies. Imagine a '70s version of LEON and you'll be halfway there.The best thing about the movie is undoubtedly the main star. Yul Brynner has always been a favourite of mine and he trades on his Hollywood hard man image here as the icy assassin. Although he's clearly middle-aged by now, he more than looks the part in his dashing black suit and he acts everyone else off the screen effortlessly. Another big bonus is who he's cast against; Martin Balsam was an old hand in these types of films and once again he's typecast here as the commissioner. So what? Balsam's always excellent and he provides good value for money yet again.The revenge-style plot is nothing new and there isn't much in the way of twists to make it stand out. In fact, it's not particularly memorable, detailing Brynner's vendetta against a gangster gang, revealing how he works his way up from the small-fry thugs to the head honcho. Some interest is added from the inclusion of a young 'apprentice' killer, played by Massimo Ranieri. At first I didn't like this guy; there was no real reason why he was always hanging around Brynner's character (apart from hero worship). Yet by the closing scenes, in which Brynner sets him up to take over his line of business, I was more engaged and there's a nice twist ending involving his character.Director Antonio Margheriti is one of my favourite Italian auteurs, simply because he's so enthusiastic about whatever he does. He was there from the early '60s pepla through the spaghetti westerns, crime flicks, science fiction and fantasy. He can always be relied upon to make a decently-shot movie and this one's no exception. The pacing is spot on and there's the requisite number of car chases and shoot-outs just waiting to be enjoyed. The director was fond of fantastic elements in his movies and there's a little gimmick here of an animated blood pool popping up as Brynner relives a traumatic event from his past. It doesn't really make sense or fit in but it explains the title, I guess. The only other thing worth mentioning is an extraneous turn from Barbara Bouchet, who provides window dressing and nothing else. Bouchet is happy to strip for the role (literally) but she couldn't be more wooden. She's not the reason to tune in: Brynner's well-groomed, good-and-evil hit-man is. He keeps you watching.

Zeegrade When you think of Yul Brynner nine times out of ten it's his roles in either The Ten Commandments, Magnificent Seven or the King & I. Lucky for him that his mailed-in performances at the end of his career are so forgetful that they do little to mar his reputation. Death Rage is one of these movies.Yul Brynner plays former mob hit-man Peter Marciani that has flashbacks of the murder of his brother. The so-called "Death Rage" appears as an epileptic red montage of his brother's death superimposed over Peter's face whenever something reminds him of that fateful day. At one point in the movie it is proposed that Peter suffers from glaucoma as evidenced by his "eye medicine" however he is then told by an optometrist that nothing is wrong with his eyes and that perhaps the problem is mental. Whether this was deemed necessary to flesh out the story remains a mystery to me because it never factors into the movie. Obviously his sight is fine due to the fact that he's an amazingly accurate shot and the flashbacks do not in any way alter his demeanor. You might as well have named the movie Serious Bald Hit-man and been done with it.The cast also includes Massimo Ranieri as Angelo, Peter's eager beaver apprentice who tries very hard to impress him. One of Angelo's gifts to Peter is the introduction to Amy played by the gorgeous Barbara Bouchet. She instantly falls head over-heels in love with Peter and provides the few scenes worth viewing as she is topless in a strip club and fully nude in a following hotel scene. This, it appears to me, is the only reason this movie was given an R rating as the violence is the soft side. Martin Balsam rounds out the cast as, guess this, an Italian commissario! I'm sure Mr. Balsam cashed all of his checks thinking to himself if at some point he would still get paid for playing the same character.The reason I think so lowly of Death Rage is because it is boring and forgettable. Two sins that supersede production value, sound editing, or poor acting that plagued many seventies flicks. To top it all off, Dino DeLaurentis released basically the same movie three years before this called Frank & Tony starring Lee Van Cleef of spaghetti western fame as Mean Frank and his entertaining sidekick wannabe Tony LoBianco as Crazy Tony. Watch that one instead.

bkoganbing Before surrendering himself completely to touring with The King And I as completely as Bela Lugosi surrendered to being Dracula or James O'Neill surrendered to being The Count of Monte Cristo, Yul Brynner made this final farewell screen appearance in this very mediocre gangster thriller.Along for the ride on this wild turkey is Barbara Bouchet as Brynner's gangster girl friend, Martin Balsam as the Italian police inspector in Naples and Italian pop star Massimo Ranieri as Brynner's apprentice hit-man.Brynner is a retired hit-man that gets brought back into the active Mafia by news that a top Naples crime boss ordered and carried out a hit on Brynner's brother. Brynner leaves New York and plots his revenge.All that distinguishes Death Rage is some nice location cinematography of Naples in the mid seventies. All those seventies fashions are there as well, I can hardly believe I wore some of that. The Americans look bored and just walk through the roles, the Italian players are poorly dubbed in English.Death Rage is for die-hard fans of Yul Brynner only.

Dave Kaminskas Peter Marciani's brother was killed by the mafia. Now Marciani is traveling to Italy to kill his brother's murderer and he is going to take out his mob one man at a time. Low-budget revenge flick similar to The Punisher movies as far as plot. Slow paced, but peppered with some nice shoot-outs and car chases. I thought it was a fun little movie. Yul Brenner playing Marciani really makes the movie. Martin Balsam was good as the police inspector. The only problem was that their wasn't much characterization on the female lead Anny. Worth a look at if you like movies like The Punisher, other people might want to stay away. ** out of ****