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.

Claudio Carvalho When a mobster is assassinated in Naples by the gangsters of Gennaro Gallo (Giancarlo Sbragia), the retired hit-man Peter Marciani (Yul Brynner) learns that Gallo was the responsible for the murder of his brother. He travels from New York to Italy to revenge his brother and he hires the smalltime crook Angelo (Massimo Ranieri) to work for him. Angelo introduces Peter to the dancer Anny (Barbara Bouchet) and they have a love affair. Meanwhile the Italian police inspector (Martin Balsam) unsuccessfully tries to anticipate Peter's move. "Con la rabbia agli occhi", a.k.a. "Death Rage", is a deceptive thriller with Yul Brynner. The unoriginal story uses clichés most of the time with a poor development of characters. The shameful Brazilian DVD released by the Cult Classic distributor has worn out image and is awfully dubbed in English. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Na Trilha da Morte" ("On the Trail of the Death")

evanston_dad Yul Bryner plays a hit man out to avenge the death of his brother in this low-budget European thriller that also features Martin Balsam (of all people) as an Italian police chief! There's not much of note about this film except some exquisite but all-too-brief full frontal nudity provided by bombshell Barbara Bouchet. The film's not bad, exactly, but it's too rough around the edges and uninspired to be truly good. The malady that gives the film its title is a sort of mental migraine that afflicts Bryner whenever he's about to kill someone and has a flashback to the killing of his brother, and it's visually represented by a groovy smear of red that runs down the frame like blood. But though the filmmakers make such a definite point of introducing that particular plot point, it oddly plays no role in the film and nothing comes of it.Grade: C

Hitchcoc I don't know much about Yul Brynner ("The King and I" and "Taras Bulba" and all that). Because of his shaved head, he used to get a lot of notoriety. Today, everyone has a shaved head. He did have that deep voice and piercing eyes. He's a very good actor and a pretty masculine presence. This movie is so easy to figure out and so dull, that he's not given much to do. He, of course, is trying to avenge the death of his brother, during some race track intrigue with people shooting trotters and pushing them off their game. It's like thousands of other films. We wait for the showdown, we have a minor character who must become a man and show his stuff. It's not that it's a terrible movie. It just seems slow moving and ordinary.