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Category Archives: Italian Cinema

RABID DOGS

Jul 8

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RABID DOGS-Italy-1974

Riccardo Cucciolla as Riccardo

Lea Lander (L) as Maria

Maurice Poli as Dottore

Luigi Montefiori as Trentadue (Thirty-two)

Aldo Caponi as Bisturi

Directed by Mario Bava

Screenplay by Alessandro Parenzo

“Rabid Dogs” is an intense thriller that packs more claustrophobic, sweltering action into 90 minutes than Michael Bay has packed into his entire career. What’s even more amazing is that most of the action takes place within the confines of a small white car filled with three desperate men and their prey; a woman, a man and a sick child in need of medicine. The three men are on the run from the police and their abductees are in the wrong place at the wrong times as they usually are in movies like this.

Mario Bava’s film has been compared to Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” and I guess I can understand the comparison. Both films are about the aftermath of a botched robbery/escape attempt, both feature the abduction of innocent(s) and both feature characters that are cruel and without moral foundation. In “Reservoir Dogs” it is the razor wielding Mister Blonde; in “Rabid Dogs” it is Bisturi and Trentadue (Thirty-two). Like the title implies, they are men needing to be put down.

However, the main difference in the two films is the twist. Tarantino lets the audience in on the secret early in the film. With “Rabid Dogs” Bava never once lets us in on the secret and the final scene in the film is a complete surprise. For a director to have that kind of control over a film is a work of genius and it’s no wonder that Bava was compared to Hitchcock throughout much of his career.

“Rabid Dogs” is not an easy film to watch. There are scenes in the film that I hated at first; but then came to realize that they are necessary in conveying the cruelty of the characters. In the end, my final assessment of the film is that if you can find it, watch it.

TRIVIA

One of the robbers is called Bisturi (Blade). His weapon of choice in the movie is a knife. Another Robber is called Trentadue (32) which is a reference to his penis size in centimeters. The final Robber is called Riccardo, the same first name as the actor who plays him.
 
Often mistakenly is considered an influence on Reservoir Dogs because of how the movie is based around the after effects of a heist. The film wasn’t released till 5 years after Reservoir Dogs. Quentin Tarantino has said that Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath influenced Pulp Fiction, however.
 
Lea Lander (who played Maria) was previously in Bava’s Blood and Black Lace.
 
Was not released until 1997, 23 years after it was made.
 
 
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Posted in Films of Mario Bava, Films Released in 1974, Italian Cinema, Italian Horror Films, Movies

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