Death Rage

Death Rage is Yul Brynner's last starring role which tells me exactly squat because it's the only Brynner film I've ever seen, at least as far as I can recall off hand without looking up his credits. It's an unimpressive piece about the mob and hitmen. Peter (Brynner) is a retired hitman who just discovered who murdered his brother some years before. He sets out after the killer with vengeance in his eyes.

Meanwhile, some young gangster wannabe pushes Peter for employment. Will Peter take him under his wing or use him for nefarious purposes? And, of course, we can't have a mob movie without a leading lady: Peter falls in love with a lovely stripper. Will he be her knight in shining armor or her wolf in sheep's clothing?

That's pretty much all there is to it. It's a rather dull movie. There's nothing in story, acting, or action that strikes me as impressive. In fact, I had a hard time staying interested. Keep in mind I'm not much of a fan of mob movies in general. I will say that the ending didn't go in the direction I expected which was better than being predictable, but (being at the end and all) it did little to help my lack of interest up to that point.

With the exception of Barbara Bu..Bou.. Buo.... ummm.... (something French sounding) I've never heard of anyone in this (not counting Yul, of course), and even Barbara whatshername isn't familiar enough to me to clearly recall her last name. Maybe it's because these are Italian folks that didn't do much in the U.S, but I think it's also because nobody is memorable. Having said that, though, there was nobody so bad, not in the starring cast, at least, that made me wonder how they got hired.

The action is kind of goofy at times. Like when a guy gets shot he rolls when he falls, and keeps rolling, then rolls a little more. (Mel Brooks are you back there somewhere?) Now I could understand if he were on some kind of huge hill or something, but the guy is on ground that looks so level a marble would need an outboard motor to go very far. Can you say, “overacting stunt man?” You're supposed to be dead. Be still already!

MORALITY:

There is a lot of shooting going on throughout the movie but surprisingly little blood. In fact, I'm not so sure I saw any at all.

I was a little surprised at how little strong language I heard, too.

While there is no sex, there is sexuality mostly particularly in the dialogue. Barbara gets naked twice and shows a little bit of everything.

SPIRITUALITY:

While I could talk about what the Bible says about vengeance and other such things I don't feel like the movie plot is strong enough to inspire much discussion on the matter.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I say skip Death Rage unless you're a fan of B grade mob movies or are a Brynner enthusiast. It's just not worth the effort.

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