African Story
| Title: | African Story |
| Year: | 1971 |
| Directors: | Marino Girolami |
| Writers: | Ralph Anders (novel) Ralph Anders (screenplay) |
| Actors: | Stephen Boyd | Sylva Koscina | Michael Kirner | Marie Du Toit | Cobus Rossouw | Susan Kiel | Guido Lollobrigida | Ivano Staccioli | Sergio Mioni | Roberto Chiappa | Christopher Galloway | Lorenz Schultz | Roger Scheibe | Franco Marletta | Rita Forzano |
| Rating: | 5.1 | 18 votes |
| Languages: | Italian |
| Color: | Color |
| Country: | Italy |
| Company: | Sirio Film |
| Comments: | |
| 1) After completing 13 Television Spectaculars, Rex Maynard, a Sinatralike singer, goes on vacation. He also decides to elope with hisproducer's daughter to Africa! Stephen Boyd, the producer, stages afake kidnapping to scare Rex off from his daughter and make publicityfor his television spectaculars. All is under control until RexMaynard, who was also a former stuntman, escapes, using his StuntmanSkills. But the coast of South Africa isn't clear yet! REAL kidnappersdecide to grab Rex and it gets out of control! Then we find out who Rexcan trust and can't trust. Even his wife is involved some how. But canthe Manipulator manipulate the situation to save the day? Who doesn'twant to be Rex Maynard? Michael Kirner gives a very realisticperformance as a man who's been kidnapped many times in one day.Stephen Boyd is great as The Manipulator. I'm only sorry to see thisseries did not take off. It would be great to see him put hisStuntman/singer through more adventure. There are lots of side storiesgoing on to keep the characters fresh and add depth to the story.
Beautiful locations in South Africa. Great music with, "Man, You Need AHand" and other songs. The soundtrack would be a great addition to anycollection. Very rarely does a movie have an impact on my life, butthis one did. This is a very hard film to find and I'm lucky a friend taped in byaccident. This was made back to back with 'The Big Game', but they arenot related, just the same film crew. If you get a chance, check thisfilm out! The real title of this film is 'The Manipulator'. The MickeyRooney film came out at the same time and they were forced to changethe title. 2) Everything negative any reviewer said about this film is absolutelytrue. Still, I think it has great entertainment value. First of allthere is the lovely Sylvia Koscina as femme fatale which is really pureMatt Helm/The Mna from Uncle terriroty. Then there are nice car chases,some really funny scenes, Stephen Boyd as scheming mastermind etc. Thehero, Rex Maynard, is a slightly overweight young singer eloping withhis producer's daughter. Given his physique, the fight scenes in whichhe knocks out at least three mobsters are a laugh. To be honest, Ididn't really get what the story was about due to the fact that it wassomewhat convoluted and the quality of the soundtrack was awful. Thefilm is set in Africa, yet there is a surprisingly large number ofItalian cars on the streets. And I do wonder why someone would flyAllitalia from LA to South Africa. 3) The guy who was a star in "Ben Hur" finds himself in this awful spydrama. I realize that much of it is dubbed from the Italian, but thedialogue is laughable, the characters are wooden and stupid. There is abunch of judo and karate that looks silly. I'm sure that this emergedout of the James Bond era, but this has nothing to recommend it. Thebad guys want money, and somehow they don't have to do much other thanask for it. Then there's the insipid byplay between the newlyweds.Thank God they married each other so they wouldn't bore anyone else todeath. This film was part of a collection. Sometimes, it seems, thecompilers of these sets must get really desperate. Anyway, theresolution is unsatisfying. There is no real direction, just randomaction. Watch an old sixties/seventies spy show and you will have amuch better time. |
|
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Comments are closed.