Nocturnal Forum

One of my favorite C-level Italian journeymen to touch just about every genre, Tonino Ricci is certainly no stranger to fans of sublime Euro-drek. I personally have managed to score only three of his films thus far - but I'm fascinated by the man's filmography - which will no doubt fuel me to find more of his "visions" as 2010 goes on.

I have however, obtained copies of two of his rather fun 'White Fang' oriented, pseudo-Spaghetti Westerns; WHITE FANG TO THE RESCUE (1974) (ZANNA BIANCA ALLA RISCOSSA) and Ricci's later, BUCK AND THE MAGIC BRACELET (1999) (BUCK E IL BRACCIALETTO MAGICO).

WHITE FANG TO THE RESCUE in particular, is a great time for the avid Euro-cult lover, with an ultra-cool cast that includes Maurizio Merli, Henry Silva (playing another real sly prick here), Gisela Hahn, Donal O' Brien, Luciano Rossi, Renzo Palmer and Benito Stefanelli, among them. The latter, BUCK AND THE MAGIC BRACELET, is Ricci's far lighter and campier follow-up to his popular 1991 film, BUCK AT THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (starring David Hess and John Savage). It would also be his last to date (I'm assuming he is still alive by all accounts). Old favorites like Bobby Rhodes, and Ricci-regular, Conrad Nichols (aka. Luigi Mezzanotte...real name, Bruno Minniti) turn up for one last go in Ricci-land.

As well, I own a couple of prints of his Dominican Republic-shot crossover oddity, NIGHT OF THE SHARKS (1988) (LA NOTTE DEGLI SQUALI)...a mix between a JAWS cash-in (of which Tonino was no stranger to) and a crime flick. A nice later-eighties cast assembled here though as well, with American stalwarts, Treat Williams and the always jive, Antonio Fargas coming over to appear with Italian B favorites like John Steiner, Janet Agren (who doesn't stick around long enough), a sadly dying, Christopher Connelly (who by this time, was well into his cancer), Sal Borgese, and my good real life pal, Carlo Mucari. Crime kingpins chase around a disc with vital information on it while a massive Great White turns up every once in a while to chomp on someone. It is what it is, but I personally have always dug it, and the line-up doesn't hurt.

Aside from that though, I definitely need me some more Tonino Ricci. I've heard awesome things about his giallo/crime cross CROSS CURRENT (1971) (with Phillipe Leroy and Ivan Rassimov), with many folks stating it's his best work. I'd also love to see his bizarre sounding western, KID IL MONELLO DEL WEST (1973) (KID, TERROR OF THE WEST). Of course, there's his two post-nukers - RUSH (1983) and RAGE (1984) that I finally have to get my hands on as well. Long overdue with those, and a pair amongst only a very tiny bunch of Euro-post-apocalypse pictures left to see for me.

Okay guys, what are your thoughts on the films of the man otherwise known as 'Anthony Richmond'? There must be at least one other Tonino Ricci fan out there...

I really like his giallo CROSS CURRENT. It's a really stylish, great-looking film with a good giallo plot, excellent score and a stand-out cast. Philippe Leroy and Ivan Rassimov are always great and the gorgeous Rossana Yanni (a frequent Paul Naschy co-star) is a sight to behold - especially in the disco scene where she dances to "Yellow River" in a tiny mini-skirt. I quite agree with the assessment that this is Ricci's finest film. However, I still haven't seen his first film, the WW2 flick SALT IN THE WOUND (1969), which is said to be quite good.

And I am in complete agreement regarding WHITE FANG TO THE RESCUE. I liked this film a lot more than I expected to. I'm not a western fan but I often find myself liking these snow-bound westerns. It's very well-made for its kind but it's the great cast that really makes it a stand-out for me.

With that said, I do think that whatever talent Ricci may have had early on in his career apparently went down the toilet as the majority of his later output is a pile of boring, uninspired nonesense. I started to watch KID, THE TERROR OF THE WEST but I had to turn it off (something I very rarely do) because it was so horrible. I'm just not able to deal with a painfully unfunny comedy-western starring a bunch of annoying and badly-dubbed children.

THE SHARKS' CAVE (1978), too, is a horrible mess. Stelvio Cipriani's score is ultro-cool and catchy but the rest of the film is very boring, badly paced and with nothing of interest going on. Arthur Kennedy actually did a lot of solid work in many of his European films (he's excellent in both KILLER COP and LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE) but here he looks embarrassed and drunk - spending most of his screentime hidden under a hat and a pair of big sunglasses. Just sad to watch.

PANIC (1982) is another failure. The idea is nice enough (mutant monster running around killing people in England) and there's a good cast headlined by the always welcome David Warbeck. There's plenty of gore too but Ricci's direction is completely uninspired and it all gets boring after a while. It doesn't help that Janet Agren (with a horrible 1980s perm) is criminally under-used. Has some nice gory bits and unintentional hilarity, though, so it's not without merit.

I love post-apoclaypse films but found RUSH (1983) to be unwatchably bad. It's basically a post-nuke version of FIRST BLOOD (1982) but it's really boring and badly made. Surprisingly, the follow-up RAGE (1984) is vastly superior. It's totally unoriginal but I found it to be good action-fun. It plays out a lot like a western in a post-apocalyptic setting. Well worth seeing. I also enjoyed NIGHT OF THE SHARKS so it may well be that Ricci got his career back on track around the mid 1980s. Altogether I'd say he's perfectly capable of making enjoyable films when he's at his best but his worst films can be a real challenge to sit through...

Regarding Bruno Minniti alias Conrad Nichols: he is NOT the same person as Luigi Mezzanotte. It's just yet another IMDb fuck-up as Minniti and Mezzanotte are entirely different actors.

Thanks for clearing this up, Johan. I was confused because when I typed the name up, it just didn't feel right. I had always known him as Luigi Mezzanotte.

I'm also keen to see Ricci's Dardano Sachetti scripted jungle mind-number, I PREDIATORI DELLA PIETRA MAGICA (1988) (PREDATORS OF THE MAGIC STONE...or, RAIDERS OF THE MAGIC IVORY) - starring Euro-action flavor of the month, Chris Ahrens.

And in regards to Rossana Yanni...YES and YUM!!!

Yeah, there has been quite a lot of confusion and misinformation about the real identity of "Conrad Nichols" through the years. Earlier, the IMDb claimed has Conrad Nichols as an alias for Luigi Mezzanotte and kept a separate entry for Bruno Minniti but now all the credits have been merged into one person. Typical.

But, yeah, the real Conrad Nichols is Bruno Minniti, who in addition to his film career was also a very busy leading man in fotoromanzi.

Wow, this is a huge revelation to me...and I guarantee, others. I know our friend Paul Cooke is a real fan of Nichols.

By the way - his last film credit is also the aformentioned, BUCK AND THE MAGIC BRACELET. Is he currently still doing fotoromanzi, or is that a long gone art form now in Italy?

The heydey of the fotoromanzo is long gone but they still exist and have loyal fans. My main interest in this field are the ones from the 1960s and early 1970s as I think they were the best but I do know that Bruno appeared in fotoromanzi from a publishing house named Lancio for years. He started in the late 1970s and did his last one around 2001, I think. It's possible that he has done some after that too but not on a regular basis like he did in the 80s and 90s.

A very cool Ricci-related follow-up here to my initial post, guys...

My very dear friend; Italian supporting veteran, Carlo Mucari (ARABELLA THE BLACK ANGEL, NIGHT OF THE SHARKS, OBSESSION: A TASTE FOR FEAR) sent me an outstanding and generous package in the mail over this last week containing a wonderful personal letter with autograph, as well as five European DVD's of films he is in that I did not previously have.

Among these was a gorgeous, jam-packed Italian disc (with English options) of Tonino Ricci's BUCK AI CONFINI DEL CIELO (BUCK AT THE EDGE OF HEAVEN) (1991); the first of the director's two 'Buck', adventure westerns, starring Mucari, David Hess, John Savage, William Berger, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Bobby Rhodes, Franco Fantasia, Rik Battaglia, and Hess' wife Karoline Mardeck (first rape victim in HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK) in a rare appearance. It also contains an interview with Tonino Ricci himself among the extras!!!

What a brilliant gift from Carlo (I'll discuss the other films in a separate thread - but boy are there some rare beauties!) and certainly one of the Tonino Ricci flicks that in my mind has been a must-see! The cast alone - combined with the fact that I personally enjoy these White Fang inspired, Northern, Italian spaghetti western hybrids that are often surprisingly violent - and I'm incredibly pumped to kick back with BUCK AT THE EDGE OF HEAVEN over the weekend. Any opportunity to see something from the body of work of David Hess that I haven't yet is a big plus too!

Great to have more Ricci - especially this one!

Oooh! Didn't know there was an English-friendly disc of that BUCK film. I'm generally not too hot on Italian flicks from the 90s but it has a cool cast, so maybe it's worth a watch!