(1975/ITALY)
(AKA-LAST CHANCE, LAST CHANCE FOR A BORN LOSER, MOTEL OF FEAR)
REVIEW BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTED BY-MAURIZIO LUCIDI CAST-FABIO TESTI, ELI WALLACH, URSULA ANDRESS, BARBARA BACH, MASSIMO GIROTTI and HOWARD ROSS. SOURCE-BLACKHORSE ENTERTAINMENT DVD (PAL REGION ALL/ 86MINS /2005)
Just fresh out of prison, small time theft Floyd (Fabio Testi) hooks up with Joe (Eli Wallach) another theft who heads up their next heist in downtown Montreal. The two of them knock off jewels, and Joe shots someone who flees. Not able to grab all of what they came from, they too flee the scene. With the police hot on their tail, them have to do some fancy driving to lose them and hook up with their hidden getaway car. Once the police find they have a cold trail, Joe and Floyd make it to the other car and decided to split ways and hook up later in Newport. Floyd has 72 hours to get out of Canada or risk going back to prison, so Joe doesn’t worry about the jewels. As Floyd heads down to Newport, he uses the back roads to avoid the cops, but with winter weather and the slick roads, Joe’s car slides off a desolate road.
He makes his way to the Last Chance Motel to see about getting a rental car some where in the nearby town. There he meets Michelle (Ursula Andress) a troubled girl who the motel’s owner Fred had taken in. With no luck in getting a rental or having his car fixed that day, Floyd takes up a room for the night until his car is fixed in the morning. In the meantime, he contacts Joe in Newport to let him know the bad news. Joe finds it suspicious but gives him more time to make it there with the jewels. As time goes, Michelle and her mechanic boytoy discover that Joe is one of the two guys involved with the Montreal jewel heist, they plan to grab the loot and take off with it. As Joe’s car takes longer then anticipated, Floyd decides to drive back up to the Last Chance Motel to see if Joe isn’t stiffing him out of the jewels. He arrives just in time as a group of skiers arrive as well and the scene at the motel heats as the jewels go missing.
Despite the strong cast, STATELINE MOTEL is pretty much a borefest in the middle of the frigid Canadian countryside. When first hearing about this Maurizio Lucidi crime drama, and the fact that it was filmed here in Canada, I had visions of another BLAZING MAGNUMS. The first letdown though was that after the indication that this was filmed in and around the Toronto area and finding out that that was in fact not the truth. That indeed it being filmed in Montreal instead. Don’t get me wrong, that’s great, but it would great to see some of the Toronto area during the 70's and through the eyes of an Italian director such as Lucidi (THE EXECUTIONER, THE DESIGNATED VICTIM). That and of course the thought of some legendary euro-cult stars such as Wallach, Testi, Bach and Ursula roaming the streets here as well. As for the BLAZING MAGNUMS reference, STATELINE MOTEL never did break out into a full blown actioneer.
Though there are some gunplay, most of which is pretty tame and uneventful at best. Same goes for any real car chase action or fighting. Though Lucidi had great intentions here, there was simple no real possible outcome with this film. Even Barbara Bach is used sparingly, rendering her quite ineffective, not that she’s the strongest actor, but none the less dead weight barring her surprise ending. One that is pretty much predictable and done to death. Eli Wallach was another sad victim of being out of place here. Well, at least that is my opinion given that fact that this guy made his mark and living starring in some classic spaghetti westerns and comedy. He stuck out like a sore thumb.
Testi is pretty much at home here in his role as Floyd, one that is all to familiar to his career really. The beauty of Ursula Andress is displayed often, but wasted at the same time. STATELINE MOTEL has a great idea attached with it, but like mentioned before it seems that Lucidi was unable to either handle the talent or it was completely mismanaged. Maybe if the disc’s presentation was a little more complete, there might have been a different outcome, but I hardly think that. Once again this was a letdown somewhat given the several aspects that attracted me to this rare little flick, even if some of them are mis-represented, even on the disc itself.
This fairly new release from Blackhorse Entertainment is pretty much as low as they go. As bare as a baby’s bottom with it’s lack of offering up any extras at all. The film presentation itself is poor, a full-screen aspect, one that seems to be ripped from a VHS source with zero upgrading. Both sound and picture suffer the same fate was the film’s over drawn drama. Not to mention the poor framing of the disc as well. This is one release I would have to recommend only for those who seek this to see for the first time and at a very low cost. Other then that, wait to see if it’ll ever get a proper face lift on R1, which I highly doubt will happen anytime soon. As the cover says "Revenge, Lust, Greed and Jealousy......" all of which are far and few between and even in each of their moments of fame, you’ve been ripped. "Trust nobody....not even yourself!" Once again, trust your instincts and avoid this release...but then again do you trust my word?
STORY/FILM-2/5 BITCH SLAPS PICTURE-2/5 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO-2/5 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS-0/5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL DVD-1.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
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