Cani arrabbiati (1974)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Alessandro Parenzo (screenplay)
Alessandro Parenzo (story)

Release Date:

25 February 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Lock the doors, rollup the windows, and buckle up ... for the ride of your life!

Plot:

Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean getaway.

Plot Keywords:

Robbery | Criminal | Hostage | Grindhouse | Urination

Cast

Riccardo Cucciolla	...	Riccardo
Don Backy	...	Bisturi (Blade) (as Aldo Caponi)
Lea Lander	...	Maria
Maurice Poli	...	Dottore
George Eastman	...	Trentadue (Thirtytwo) (as Luigi Montefiori)
Maria Fabbri	...	Maria Sbravati
Erika Dario	...	Marisa
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	Employee (as Luigi Guerra)
Francesco Ferrini	...	Gas Station Attendant
Emilio Bonucci	...	Taxi Driver
Pino Manzari	...	Toll Collector
Ettore Manni	...	Bank President

Also Known As:

Kidnapped (Italy) (restored version) (USA) (DVD title)
Rabid Dogs (USA) (literal English title)
A Man and a Boy (International: English title)
Semaforo rosso (Italy) (alternative title)
Wild Dogs

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 | Canada:16+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

International Media Films

Trivia:

The film was seized by the courts when the producer went bankrupt in 1974, during the final stages of production. Tied up in legal wrangling, it wasn't released theatrically until 1997.

Movie Connections:

References Grand Hotel (1932)

Soundtrack:

Hold on to Me

A gritty, realistic masterpiece.

It is ironic that Mario Bava, master of Italian fantasy, should make a gritty, realistic thriller as his last film. Gone are the atmospheric lighting that made films as Lisa and the Devil and Kill, Baby, Kill! so unforgettable. The claustrophobic scenes in the getaway car are expertly handled. The increasing hysteria of the gangsters and the anxiety and despair of the kidnapped woman are, in true Italian fashion, slightly over the top. It works, though. Bava never loses his grip on the situation and one is kept on tenterhooks throughout. This, then, is classic 70's low budget filmmaking and it is a shame we had to wait for more than 20 years to finally see it. Rabid Dogs is up there with Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour and Ida Lupîno's The Hitch-Hiker as one of the best examples of this exciting subgenre.