Rabid Dogs

When movie fans hear the name Mario Bava they usually think of films like Black Sunday, The Whip and the Body, Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace. I decided to watch something else and instead watched:

Rabid Dogs (1974).

After a couple of box office failures, Bava decided to show everyone that he wasn't just a horror director but that he could do a contemporary thriller. Thus the sort of but not quite poliziotteschi movie Rabid Dogs came to be.

In an odd twist of fate, the producer became bankrupt and the ownership of the movie got stuck in limbo, so no one got to watch it until 1997. Apparently there exists at least two versions of it, with the other version being called Kidnapped. I think I watched the Rabid Dogs version and since the differences should be quite small, I don't think it matters. There is a rumor that Rabid Dogs was an influence on Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, but that came out in 1992, five years before anyone got to see Rabid Dogs, so that's is not true.

The plot in a nutshell is this; a gang robs a payroll and in doing so end up killing a bunch of people. Desperate to get away they kidnap a woman, Maria, but the cops know the car they're driving. So, they grab a new car and force the owner to be their get away driver. The man, Riccardo is pliant as he was driving his young sedated son to the hospital. What follows is a tense road trip from hell.

This is all I'm going to “spoil” of the plot. Of course there are multiple scenes with complications and dangers, but that is to be expected.

Rabid Dogs is shot on a shoe-string budget, so small in fact that they had to fire the cinematographer after only two days, with Bava taking over that job as well. Despite this, Rabid Dogs is a twisted masterpiece.

The film drags a lot at times, despite being only 96 minutes long but this plays in with the fact that it mostly takes place in a swealtering car during the Italian summer and mostly in real time. You can almost smell the sweat coming off the desperate robbers and their terrified captives. Everyone is a mess when the movie comes to a close and I felt pretty exhausted myself. I can't tell if it was luck or Bava's skill that pulled it off but he did it. Most of the film takes place in the car, or by the side of the road, which is natural considering the lack of money.

Of course we have to give kudos to the actors as well. Maria (Lea Lander) is brought to the brink of madness from fear for her life and her virtue, particularly as one of the bandits, Thirty-two (that's his name) is very keen on “getting to know her more intimately”. The robbers themselves, from the cool and collected Doc, to Thirty-two's cackling madness and finally Blade who has his own problems and temper to deal with, are well done. They are despicable and disgusting people but weaker actors and poorer direction would have plunged the movie into farcical territory. This is not the case with Rabid Dogs.

It's well shot, you can tell that Bava's experience served him well. I can't comment on the soundtrack as I can't remember it at all. My focus was on the people 100% of the time.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, absolutely. It is unlike the other poliziotteschi movies I've talked about before. There is no handsome macho Inspector to chase down and fight the bad guys, it is all about survival, both for the hostages and the crooks. It is a hard movie to watch at times. The violence is almost theatrical, but the threat of it makes the brutality worse when it comes. Any fan of thrillers should get a kick out of Rabid Dogs.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!