Albuquerque 40 years before BREAKING BAD: GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Antonio Sabato as an investigative journalist
This unusual mixture of action thriller and giallo was released in Italian cinemas on April 10, 1971. Directed by Alberto De Martino, the film was shot on location in New Mexico.
One night in Albuquerque, a former senator is murdered in front of his home. Thanks to the testimony of a beautiful stripper (as always, charming: Barbara Bouchet), the police are able to quickly arrest a suspect (Giovanni Petrucci) from Mexico. Also the aspiring journalist Eddie Mills (Antonio Sabato) and his editor (Victor Buono, as a murdering butcher alongside Brad Harris in "Il strangolatore di Vienna / The Strangler Comes Quietly" and alongside the athletic Dallas star Patrick Duffy in the television series "The Man from Atlantis", 1978-79) are convinced of the defendant's guilt. He will soon be sentenced to death for murder. Meanwhile, Eddie has noticed some inconsistencies that make him seriously doubt Valdez's guilt. After all sorts of complications, there is a nerve-wracking showdown in which the lively Eddie not only has to prevent the execution of the accused, but also save his own life against all odds.
Other roles include Faith Domergue as the defendant's wife and Keenan Wynn, who was supposed to play the father of Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal) and thus also the father-in-law of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) in the successful television series "Dallas". The wonderful stuntman Nello Pazzafini (1934-1996), whose face appeared in countless Italian films, is also there as a man in the elevator. What remains unforgettable is how, in the opening scene of the beating movie "Vier Fäuste - Hart wie Diamanten / Four Fists - Hard as Diamonds" (1976), he is beaten so wonderfully and mercilessly as a prison escapee by Simone/Butch (Bud Spencer imitator Paul L. Smith), who is disguised as a priest.
This excitingly staged film, which also features some Giallo elements, enables a reunion with the legendary city of Albuquerque, which was to be hugely popular in the globally successful series "Breaking Bad". Nude skin is occasionally provided by the wonderful Barbara Bouchet. The actress, who was born in 1943 in what was then Reichenberg (today: Liberec/Czech Republic), played in many Italian films such as "Milano Caliber 9" (1972) with the great EUROPEAN FILM AWARD nominee Mario Adorf or in "Höllenhunde bellen zum Gebet / Hell Dogs Bark to Prayer" (1976). In her new home USA she was also seen in the musical "Sweet Charity" (1969) and in "Gangs Of New York" (2002) by Martin Scorsese.
Antonio Sabato (1943-2021), who recently died of Covid19, was a reliable leading actor in many Italian films for over 20 years since his breakthrough in "Grand Prix" (1966), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He shone in historical dramas (The Lady of Monza), western comedies (Fünf Klumpen Gold / Five Lumps of Gold), police films (Poliziotti violenti / Blutiger Schweiß / Bloody Sweat) and, alongside Brad Harris, was also cast as a fist-wielding muscleman (Zwei Schlitzohren in der gelben Hölle / Two Rascals in the Yellow Hell), who cheekily and cheerfully beat his opponents.
A very worthwhile mixture of serious crime film and giallo-like sexiness that should definitely be discovered in German-speaking countries!
This unusual mixture of action thriller and giallo was released in Italian cinemas on April 10, 1971. Directed by Alberto De Martino, the film was shot on location in New Mexico.
One night in Albuquerque, a former senator is murdered in front of his home. Thanks to the testimony of a beautiful stripper (as always, charming: Barbara Bouchet), the police are able to quickly arrest a suspect (Giovanni Petrucci) from Mexico. Also the aspiring journalist Eddie Mills (Antonio Sabato) and his editor (Victor Buono, as a murdering butcher alongside Brad Harris in "Il strangolatore di Vienna / The Strangler Comes Quietly" and alongside the athletic Dallas star Patrick Duffy in the television series "The Man from Atlantis", 1978-79) are convinced of the defendant's guilt. He will soon be sentenced to death for murder. Meanwhile, Eddie has noticed some inconsistencies that make him seriously doubt Valdez's guilt. After all sorts of complications, there is a nerve-wracking showdown in which the lively Eddie not only has to prevent the execution of the accused, but also save his own life against all odds.
Other roles include Faith Domergue as the defendant's wife and Keenan Wynn, who was supposed to play the father of Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal) and thus also the father-in-law of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) in the successful television series "Dallas". The wonderful stuntman Nello Pazzafini (1934-1996), whose face appeared in countless Italian films, is also there as a man in the elevator. What remains unforgettable is how, in the opening scene of the beating movie "Vier Fäuste - Hart wie Diamanten / Four Fists - Hard as Diamonds" (1976), he is beaten so wonderfully and mercilessly as a prison escapee by Simone/Butch (Bud Spencer imitator Paul L. Smith), who is disguised as a priest.
This excitingly staged film, which also features some Giallo elements, enables a reunion with the legendary city of Albuquerque, which was to be hugely popular in the globally successful series "Breaking Bad". Nude skin is occasionally provided by the wonderful Barbara Bouchet. The actress, who was born in 1943 in what was then Reichenberg (today: Liberec/Czech Republic), played in many Italian films such as "Milano Caliber 9" (1972) with the great EUROPEAN FILM AWARD nominee Mario Adorf or in "Höllenhunde bellen zum Gebet / Hell Dogs Bark to Prayer" (1976). In her new home USA she was also seen in the musical "Sweet Charity" (1969) and in "Gangs Of New York" (2002) by Martin Scorsese.
Antonio Sabato (1943-2021), who recently died of Covid19, was a reliable leading actor in many Italian films for over 20 years since his breakthrough in "Grand Prix" (1966), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He shone in historical dramas (The Lady of Monza), western comedies (Fünf Klumpen Gold / Five Lumps of Gold), police films (Poliziotti violenti / Blutiger Schweiß / Bloody Sweat) and, alongside Brad Harris, was also cast as a fist-wielding muscleman (Zwei Schlitzohren in der gelben Hölle / Two Rascals in the Yellow Hell), who cheekily and cheerfully beat his opponents.
A very worthwhile mixture of serious crime film and giallo-like sexiness that should definitely be discovered in German-speaking countries!