Aka - Colpo In Canna (Shot in the Barrel)
It is hard to understand how Fernando Di Leo directed this colossal
mess only a few years after his terrific crime trilogy of Caliber 9, The
Italian Connection and The Boss. They were lean and mean. This is a bloated
corpse. Nothing works here in what appears to be an attempt to make an action
comedy film. The action is choreographed like a limp salad and the comedy
does a disappearing act. I knew this was heading for trouble as soon as the
musical score from Luis Bacalov kicked in. Bacalov had composed the music
for two of the Di Leo trilogy and they are great but this is like some jaunty
music you would hear in an Italian carnival. So immediately you know not
to take anything seriously in the film. It is really quite dreadful with
a plot that still makes no sense to me. I would guess by the end it didn't
to Di Leo either and he just ends it with a lengthy bust up between two gangs
and then a frolicking car chase.
But to give him credit. One thing he does well is get Ursula Andress or Undress
out of her clothes often and completely. The 1960s was her decade. The 1970s
not so much as she churned out a bunch of low-grade genre films. But as this
film repeatedly reminds us, she still looks fabulous. Whether standing on
the bed, lollygagging in the bath or in the elevator, she was still She or
the girl who walks out of the water on to the beach looking for seashells.
I imagine there were a lot of adolescents like myself who went, so that is
what girls grow up to be. I am in.
In this one she is a stewardess and when she gets off the plane in Naples
a man asks her to deliver a letter for a $100 to Silvera. Sure, why not.
Silvera turns out to be played by Woody Strode and when she arrives with
the letter he and his gang beat her up. Sort of for the hell of it. Beat
up Ursula Andress? What man would do that? I immediately wished them hell
and damnation. The letter was from The American. Another gang leader who
nobody knows what he looks like. They think he will contact her again and
so let her go with a warning. Double cross us and we will kill you.
Then the film just meanders about as Ursula disrobes and walks around Naples
or takes a cab. She seems unconcerned about all of this. Another gang enters
the picture - better dressed than Silvera's but just as nasty. And then there
is this priest and blindman who are always about. Eventually, I get the idea
that there is more here than meets the eye. But that damn music keeps popping
up and I just want the movie to end. I have seen enough of Andress undressed
and need for this to stop. Please. I never thought the day would come when
I would complain about Ursula being naked too often but here it is. Then
the endlessly boring fight. And the endlessly silly car chase. Fernando,
what were you thinking? Oh yes. Get Ursula undressed.
