Cani arrabbiati (1974)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Alessandro Parenzo (screenplay)
Alessandro Parenzo (story)

Release Date:

25 February 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Lock the doors, rollup the windows, and buckle up ... for the ride of your life!

Plot:

Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean getaway.

Plot Keywords:

Robbery | Criminal | Hostage | Grindhouse | Urination

Cast

Riccardo Cucciolla	...	Riccardo
Don Backy	...	Bisturi (Blade) (as Aldo Caponi)
Lea Lander	...	Maria
Maurice Poli	...	Dottore
George Eastman	...	Trentadue (Thirtytwo) (as Luigi Montefiori)
Maria Fabbri	...	Maria Sbravati
Erika Dario	...	Marisa
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	Employee (as Luigi Guerra)
Francesco Ferrini	...	Gas Station Attendant
Emilio Bonucci	...	Taxi Driver
Pino Manzari	...	Toll Collector
Ettore Manni	...	Bank President

Also Known As:

Kidnapped (Italy) (restored version) (USA) (DVD title)
Rabid Dogs (USA) (literal English title)
A Man and a Boy (International: English title)
Semaforo rosso (Italy) (alternative title)
Wild Dogs

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 | Canada:16+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

International Media Films

Trivia:

The film was seized by the courts when the producer went bankrupt in 1974, during the final stages of production. Tied up in legal wrangling, it wasn't released theatrically until 1997.

Movie Connections:

References Grand Hotel (1932)

Soundtrack:

Hold on to Me

A Masterpiece of Tension and Suspense

After the heist of the payment of the employees of a chemical industry where the treasurer and a security guard are murdered, the driver of the runaway car of the criminals Dottore (Maurice Poli), Bisturi (Don Backy) and Trentadue (Luigi Montefiori) is shot and a bullet hits the gas tank. The car runs out of gas and the trio is forced to run to the parking lot of a mall where they kill one woman and kidnap her friend Maria (Lea Lander) and use her car to escape from the police. They are chased by the police but they carjack the car of the middle-aged Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), who is driving his unconscious ill son to the hospital for an emergency surgery. They force the calm RIccardo to drive them out of the city using secondary roads to escape from the blocks in the highway. During the trip, the tension increases but Riccardo and Dottore manage to control the situation until an unexpected conclusion.

"Rabid Dogs" is a masterpiece of tension and suspense of Mario Bava. The immediate association that I made was with the famous Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" that is visibly inspired in this movie, but less realistic and tense. This is the first time that I have seen "Rabid Dogs" and the dialogs and situations are still very impressive; imagine thirty-five years ago the impact of this movie. The claustrophobic location inside a car where most of this feature was shot transmits the horror of Maria with the cruelty and sadism of Bisturi (that means scalpel and not blade) and Trentadue. The final twist is totally unexpected but makes a perfect sense to the plot. Now I intend to see the restored version "Kidnapped" also available on the DVD. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): Not Available