Customer Reviews

Kidnapped

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful DVD from the folks who restored it in the 1990s. An excellent-transfer, great sound, and some wonderful goodies! Originally-released in a limited-run in 1998, it is available again for the true Bava-cultists (like me). You cannot go-wrong with this DVD, the reconstruction is spot-on. The score is one of the best in Italian-cinema, and it makes "Last House on the Left" seem a little-tame. Mario Bava shows us why he made all of his other horrors--life in Italy during his film-run (50s-70s) was rife with political and criminal-violence. Enjoy! This is the real-deal.

I'll admit that I've never seen films by Mario Bava. I've only recently gotten into Italian Cinema with the films of Dario Argento and other Giallo taken up my interest. Until now I had never tried any Bava. So hearing of this film and being intrigued with the premise I picked up the DVD.
The premise of the film is four criminals rob a pharmaceutical companies payroll during which the getaway driver is killed. The three remaining killers flee to a parking lot taking hostages, one of which they kill in order to escape. Afterwards in order not to be spotted by police in a familiar car they pull off and take more hostages this time a middle aged man and a sick child. At this point the films been a violent crime film. When it gets in the car the film is basically centered on the drive of the criminals and their hostages. Whats good in the film despite minor flaws is that even in its form (neither Rabid Dogs or the re-edited Kidnapped was completed with Bava's support due to circumstances which earned its "lost" status until recently) its a really well assembled suspense thriller building its tension slowly. As tensions in the car rise and victims plead for their lives even the criminals begin to turn against each other. One wants to rape the woman hostage, while another goes along with what ever happens while the leader is more concerned with just getting to their destination. There are moments in the film that to me were great in a transgressive way that newer films couldn't even come close to topping. And in the end, I don't want to ruin it but if you get into the plot as much I did it will definitely suprise you. I was totally blown away by the film. One thing also is the feeling of anger that seeps from every frame. This is a brutal film to watch at times with its portrayl of a world that is vain arrogant and rather brutal in considering the plight of the hostages (especially the child). To me its a film that in tone could almost compare to one of my favorites, Kurosawa's Ran.
Unfortunately I've only viewed the Rabid Dogs cut on the new Anchor Bay disc. It also contains Lamberto Bava's edit Kidnapped more in line with his fathers intentions which I will watch in the future but was turned off for the synthesizer score (I just love the harpsichord and organs blaring in Rabid Dogs even though admittedly the score is incesant) and didn't want to watch the film so soon after seeing it. Still this a definite recommend from me, worth viewing.

Note; this US Anchor Bay DVD has two alternate cuts, one finished by
Bava's son, called 'Kidnapped'. But almost all Bava fans and
professional critics prefer the rougher edged, less polished original
;'Rabid Dogs', so that's what I watched.

--vague possible mild spoilers ahead --

It's a film that is saved by the rare truly successful twist ending,
that changes everything you thought you saw. The acting is less than
great, and the film has a definite misogynistic tone (although everyone
in it is pretty awful on the humanity scale).

On the other hand, there's effectively high tension, as 3 murderous
robbers take two innocent people and a baby hostage. Especially
impressive that it never gets talky or visually dull, despite taking
place almost entirely inside a car.

But the over-acting and clunky dubbing (and writing) really hurt. Then
the end came and I was suddenly ready to forgive a lot.

Some films are just born unlucky. Mario Bava's 'lost' 1974 film Rabid Dogs is a classic case in point. Shooting started as A Man and a Boy with Al Lettieri and an extremely low budget: Lettieri dropped out after a week due to 'illness' and the money barely materialised only for the film to never get through post-production when the producer died and the film was seized by creditors for a quarter of a century. When co-star Lea Lander pulled together a deal to get Bava's rough cut restored, the only US deal she could get with it was with producer Alfred Leone, who, in a throwback to the old days when no foreign film could be allowed on US shores untouched, promptly re-edited, rescored and redubbed the film with new dialogue and added stock footage and new scenes shot by the director's son Lamberto Bava 'to complete it the way my old friend wanted it to be seen.' Sure... An attempt to make a more contemporary shocker in a more naturalistic setting as the European horror genre was hitting the skids, it plays a bit like an automotive addition to the Last House On the Left genre as the surviving members of a payroll robbery kidnap a female hostage and, later, a driver rushing his unconscious son to hospital to help them in their getaway. Cue much humiliation, boorish behavior, relentless nihilism and fatal divisions coming to the fore as you wait for the tables to be turned Tall-T style by the 'little man' (Riccardo Cucciolla, literally miniscule whenever seen standing next to the towering George Eastman). That it doesn't always do so in the most obvious ways and offers a remarkably passive hero is all to the good and Bava's confident handling never makes the fact that most of the film takes place in a car seem uncinematic - harder than you might think.

Not that Bava Sr's cut is a lost masterpiece. Like most of his films, it isn't as shocking as his reputation implies: the violence is never especially convincing even if the film's mean spirit seems genuine enough. But the re-edited version, retitled Kidnapped, certainly makes it look like one. The new footage makes the final twist, already fairly heavily signposted if your suspicions are roused early even more obvious - and a lot less bleak than in Bava's version. And while the image and sound are clearer, the constant irrelevant cutaways to police control rooms or new characters presumably intended to open up the picture simply act as irritants that dilute the drama and waste screen time without adding anything to the show. Even the new title sequence looks like something from a cheap 80s porno video.

Anchor Bay's Region 1 NTSC DVD includes both versions of the film, with audio commentary by Tim Lucas, featurette End of the Road - Making Rabid Dogs and Kidnapped, and trailers for Bava films Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Kill, Baby... Kill! and Knives of the Avenger.

Already had a fair-quality gray-market DVD of this "lost" Bava classic (as _Rabid Dog_), but was delighted to find a more legit copy here at Amazon. Sure enough, it's a better print! As for the movie, if you're a Mario Bava fan, you know this is a gem. Definitely worth the price, all the more so compared to other versions out there.

To all you Quentin Tarantino fans out there, WATCH THIS MOVIE. First off let me start by saying this is not a horror movie, it is however very extreme and violent. This is a film Mario Bava made in 1973 that never surfaced due to legal issues, and is an absolute shame. This is more like a crime/action/thriller movie, and VERY different for Bava. While I wouldn't say Tarantino ripped it off, I would say however that he drew A LOT of inspiration from it, especially for Reservoir Dogs.
The story is about four gangsters and a heist that goes wrong, have a run in with the cops, and take some hostages. All I could think when I watched this movie was RESERVOIR DOGS, the style of it is very (for lack of a better word) Tarantino-like. The acting was pretty impressive and stars George Eastman from Anthropopagus, if your a fan.
The most exciting parts for me were the beginning and the ending, I won't go into much detail here, but will say there are a couple of twists throughout the movie. I won't say which kind of twists though, you just have to watch it and find out.

Being a huge Bava fan, I was eagerly awaiting this departure from horror and fantasy. It was the master's attempt at making a film about the real world and the people in it. After viewing, I think Bava nearly succeeded. Probably the best acting I've seen in a Bava film, this could be due to the fact that it wasn't dubbed. Also, the film shocked me with some incredibly brutal scenes, especially when one kidnapper forces a woman to urinate in front of him, and she DOES!!!. The twist ending was incredible and unexpected. The only real problem I had with the film are all of the little cliches that make me so irritated. For example, the kidnappers are about to fill up the gas tank to their captured car. They're about to get away and then, out of nowhere, a hitch hiker appears desperately needing a ride. And they give her one!!!
All in all, if you can handle the annoyances, and the ultra-small subtitles, I think you'll enjoy this "lost" treasure.

There's a scene where the criminals force a kidnapped woman to urinate in front of them---even the commentary on the dvd mentions it being done first in LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.

This an ok eurotrash movie, slow moving, mostly set in a car on a highway, with a BAY OF BLOOD maybe-surprize ending. KIDNAPPED is one of many 1970s italian movies that ripped off DIRTY HARRY/DEATH WISH. It certainly doesn't have the style of bava's horror movies.

Too bad the origonal producer, who had more money, lost out on the project. And too bad Al Letteri, from THE GODFATHER, was kicked off the movie for being a drunk---he died months later, at age 47, from his boozing.

I liked the movie pretty much. It got a little ham-handed at moments, but in general it was about as tight as the original short story on which it was based: Man and Boy (in the April, 1971, issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).

A couple of characters were introduced that weren't in the original, but they did the job of increasing the tension and justifying the full length movie.

I must admit to being a little bit biased. You see, I wrote the story and then during the years the film sat waiting to be finished and released, it appears my name was lost. Given that not just the story, but essentially the substance of the dialogue "created" by the screenwriters (who did get credit) was my own, I feel a certain degree of neglect. Nonetheless, I do appreciate the rendering of the movie. Now, when will there be an American version?