Monday, June 9, 2014

Are We There Yet? The Super Sweaty Italian Edition


Sometimes you just need a little sleaze for your morning commute.

Sometimes Netflix Instant is better than coffee.

Even sleazy coffee.
(Obviously, Google Image Search is incredibly literal when it comes to sleazy coffee)

Quick Plot: A band of nogoodniks rob a factory of its workers' wages (which is seriously NOT COOL) but run into some police trouble on their way out of the parking garage. To ease their escape, they kidnap an attractive young woman named Maria and quickly ditch their escape vehicle for one with a full gas tank and, a little less conveniently, a driver hellbent on getting his sick but tranquilized son to the hospital. 


Can we say road trip?

Before you can argue the rules of I Spy, let's pause to introduce our villains:

The leader, most levelheaded, and somewhat sweaty Doc


Blade, the stabby and fairly sweaty one 


And 32, a man who oozes so much perspiration that he might very well be a supervillain named Dehydration


Although '32' is fun in itself, once you do the metric conversion.

Also, he's played by George Eastman, aka Gigi Montefiori, aka George Histman, Luigi Montefiori, aka (in this movie) Gabriele Duma, aka the Sultan of Sweat and Inappropriate Glee


Unless in Italy circa 1974, it was normal for a grown man to enjoy making a terrified woman pee under a long skirt in the middle of nowhere.


We've all been there, right?

Primarily filmed in 1974, Rabid Dogs hit some financial skids and remained unfinished and unreleased until 1997, with Alfredo Leone and Lamberto Bava adding some scenes for completion Either I'm not that observant or I was just REALLY into the movie, because never once did I find myself noticing anything odd. 

Well, odder than George Eastman's maniacally dubbed cackling.


This is, lest you be worried, a sleazy, sweaty, trashy, and darn fun little slice of '70s Italy. It will not change your life for any reason, but it will give you 90 solid minutes of colorful villains doing terrible things with extreme volume. A satisfying twist brings it all together and at the end of the day, you can live forever knowing you'll never experience a road trip quite as painful as one that puts you smack center of highly perspiring Italian men in a station wagon without air conditioning.


Lessons Learned
Snoring implies that you are sleeping


One of the hidden benefits of a leather car interior is that it's ideal for sharpening your blade

The first thing you do with a lot of money is screw some broad with big boobs


Just a suggestion: before committing a violent burglary, make sure you've checked that your getaway car has a full gas tank


Rent/Bury/Bury
Anyone with an love of Italian style sleaze will find little to not like in Rabid Dogs. It's a seedy, sweaty little film packed with memorable villains, ridiculous dialogue, and surprisingly satisfying twists. Stream it today with a few extra absorbent paper towels by your side. 

4 comments:

  1. I love this movie and have sprung it on unsuspecting people with great effect. There are actually two versions - one with the new footage and one without. I have only seen the one without, but I gather the way to tell the difference is that the new footage is the only stuff that cuts away from the people in the car.

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  2. I'm guessing the Netflix version is the original without the modern footage. I knew there had been reshoots some 20 years post-filming, but I didn't catch anything that looked out of place. Then again, it's hard to focus on the little things when you're so distracted watching George Eastman sweat!

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  3. There should be a George Eastman award for most unsanitary performance. Between this, Anthropophagous and Warriors of the Wasteland, he's set a three-pronged standard of smelliness.

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  4. Have you not seen Hands of Steel? I think he actually sweat so much that he melted other dudes' hands off.

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