Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 25



Long on my list of the worst films I’ve ever seen, 1971’s KILL, KILL, KILL (or KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL according to IMDB) turned up on my radar only once as the second half of a double bill with Richard Burton’s BLUEBEARD in the mid-seventies. If not for the promised (and worth it) attraction of Joey Heatherton’s naked breasts in the Burton film, even I wouldn’t remember this one.
Improbably from the folks who would later bring you Christopher Reeve’s SUPERMAN (as well as the aforementioned BLUEBEARD), this international coproduction was written and directed by bad novelist Romain Gary and featured his ill-starred wife, Jean Seberg (look her up). Both would later be victims of tragic suicides but it’s presumed this movie had nothing to do with that. Classy James Mason stars as a government sanctioned hit man who goes after drug dealers and porn peddlers. FANTASTIC VOYAGE and BEN-HUR’s Stephen Boyd, one of my all-time least favorite actors is another guy with a gun who blows away a lot of folks. Who he is supposed to be exactly I don’t have a clue. It’s not that my memory fails from such a long-ago viewing, I couldn’t figure out the silly plot in the first place! There’s an almost surreal amount of blood which is probably why the film was named as it was (the original title was just plain KILL!)
Interestingly, IMDB’s bio on Boyd says, and I quote, "When he went independent it was obvious that he took on roles that spoke to him rather than just taking on assignments for the money…" and " Boyd chose his roles based solely on character development and the value of the story that was told to the public, and never based on monetary compensation or peer pressure." Uhhhh….yeah. Sure. Whatever you say, pal. If you have a chance to see this piece of cinematic drek and Joey Heatherton’s breasts aren’t part of the deal, I warn you now. Stay away. There’s a REASON some films are rarely seen again!

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