Mini Review
Day 3: Poliziotteschi!
Contraband (1980)
The next prompt for Junesploitation is ‘Poliziotteschi’ and I needed to google what it meant as it was a term I hadn’t seen before. Poliziotteschi is a subgenre of Italian films focused on crime/action that began in the 60s and became popular by the 70s. The film I chose for the prompt to watch is Contraband (1980), by a director who has popped up a lot (and will again later this month) for Junesploitation over the years with Lucio Fulci. I’ve not seen too many non horror films from Fulci, any excuse to discover more from Fulci I’ll gladly take and it is quite evident the man was able to tackle any genre and put his spin on it.
The film focuses on cigarette smuggling in Italy, with a pair of brothers having the police find them during an attempted boat smuggle. This sets off a chain reaction with one of the brothers being killed, the other looking for revenge and rival gangs looking for ultimate power. Contraband is violent, sleazy, mysterious and has a disco centric soundtrack that sets the mood. Fulci’s flare is on display, it gets unexpected gorey at times, the tension is ramped up and as the mystery unravels more twists and turns are there to keep the audience guessing. Fabio Testi was memorable as sympathetic as Luca and carried the film well. I would recommend this to those who aren’t familiar with the subgenre and for those who haven’t seen Fulci do something non horror.
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Mini Review
Day 4: Cars!
Grand Theft Auto (1977)
Last year for the same prompt of ‘Cars!’ I decided to watch Eat My Dust (1976), a film produced by Roger Corman starring Ron Howard. Ron Howard starred in that film in order to do the chosen film for the day Grand Theft Auto (1977), in which he co-wrote, stars in and made his directorial debut with. The action and chaos of Eat My Dust was enjoyable and since last year I had planned to watch the spiritual successor Grand Theft Auto for this year. Back to back the films have a lot in common, the flaws that Eat My Dust had were mostly gone in Grand Theft Auto and this one somehow has even more chaos!
A simple plot with Paula (Nancy Morgan) from a well off family rebels against them by refusing to marry their chosen suitor and instead elope to Las Vegas with her boyfriend Sam (Ron Howard). She steals her fathers Rolls Royce and it isn’t long before the pair are followed by lots of groups after the chosen suitor calls the radio and offers a reward. There is so much chaos as the couple are on the go, the stunts and crashes are extremely memorable. The film hits overdrive and rarely slows down, keeping the pace tight and the action flowing. This is a better put together film than Eat My Dust, it is an interesting exercise to see the early directorial works of Ron Howard and see how far he has gone since. Grand Theft Auto is a lot of fun and a staple for the carsploitation subgenre, a must see for those who haven’t.
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Reviews written by Marcella Papandrea
Please check out FThisMovie.net, with many thanks to the crew for the concept of Junesploitation and some excellent prompts for 2023!
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