Blade (1973)

A homicide detective goes after a woman-hating serial killer, who uses knives to murder his victims.

Director:

Ernest Pintoff

Writers:

Jeff Lieberman, Ernest Pintoff

Stars:

John Marley, Jon Cypher, Kathryn Walker

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Marley	...	Tommy Blade
Jon Cypher	...	Petersen
Kathryn Walker	...	Maggie
William Prince	...	Powers
Michael McGuire	...	Quincy
Joe Santos	...	Spinelli
John Schuck	...	Reardon
Peter White	...	Freund
Keene Curtis	...	Steiner
Karen Machon	...	Connors
Raina Barrett	...	Karen Novak
Ted Lange	...	Henry Watson
Marshall Efron	...	Fat man
Arthur French	...	Sanchez
Steve Landesberg	...	Debaum

Storyline

A homicide detective goes after a woman-hating serial killer, who uses knives to murder his victims.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | detective | liberal | husband wife relationship | jack the ripper | 

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Taglines:

A Psycho-Karate Killer Brutalizes His Victims And Your Emotions!

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

December 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blade - Der Kontrabulle

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pintoff Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 79 min (video release)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

User Reviews

Raw, edgy, entertaining little thriller... a must-see for John Marley fans

BLADE is an impressive and amusing New York police thriller that was clearly made with very little money. It's shot in manic hand-held on grainy 16mm film, which gives the movie a sense of raw immediacy and the bulk of the acting is first rate.

John Marley (star of Cassavetes' FACES) is Blade, a NYPD lieutenant with a reputation for breaking departmental regulations at every turn in order to bring in his bad guy. His latest case concerns the brutal murder of a congressman's daughter and there is a great deal of pressure from the department to bring the killer in; Blade arrests the girl's African-American boyfriend, which angers the black community, but becomes increasingly convinced that he has the wrong man, especially when more women turn up murdered in a similar fashion.

Marley is magnificent in the title role, creating a character who is gruff, fearless, uncompromising, intelligent, noble and sensitive. He's the dream cop, and if every policeman in the world were like him there would be little if any crime. Despite that, he's somehow credible, and Marley deserves the bulk of the credit for pulling such a character off. He was one of the greatest and most appealing screen actors in cinema history, in my opinion, and anyone who shares that sentiment ought to track this film down at all costs.

The aesthetic approach to the material, in addition to the casting of Marley, suggests that the director/co-writer - Ernest Pintoff - was something of a Cassavetes fan (he even cast an actress from FACES as Marley's love interest), so aficionados of Cassavetes' movies should definitely take a look at this one. The plot and dialogue sometimes fall into police drama cliché territory, but much of the interactions are clearly improvised as dialogue is realistically clumsy and at times even badly delivered, which surprisingly adds to the film's heightened sense of realism. While BLADE falters occasionally, it's quite an impressive non-Hollywood thriller and is a compelling time capsule for those who (like myself) are infatuated with '70s cinema; there is an abundance of zoom-shots on parade here, and the characters' clothes are patently of the time (Marley occasionally sports a neckerchief!). I recommend BLADE highly, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, by any means.