Top Line (1988)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Nello Rossati

Writers:

Roberto Gianviti (writer)
Nello Rossati (writer)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

Author Ted Angelo discovers an UFO in the Columbian jungle. When he tries to spread the word, he earns...

Cast

Franco Nero	...	Ted Angelo
Deborah Moore	...	June (as Deborah Barrymore)
Mary Stavin	...	Maureen De Havilland
William Berger	...	Alonso Kintero
Shirley Hernandez	...	Juanita
Larry Dolgin
Robert Redcross
Rodrigo Obregón	...	José / Robot
Steven Luotto
George Kennedy	...	Heinrich Holzmann

Also Known As:

Alien Terminator (UK) (video title)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia

Company:

Dania Film

TOP LINE (Nello Rossati, 1988) **

This film's American title, ALIEN TERMINATOR, suggests that it would be set in outer space - but it's actually a jungle adventure for the best part of the duration! It's silly, cheesy and cheap (particularly the robot effects and the repellent make-up of the alien creature at the end) but oddly watchable.

The cast, however, looks fairly uncomfortable: Franco Nero is amusing as a writer on the skids; William Berger's role is limited to the beginning and is quite brief; George Kennedy is hilariously out-of-place as an antiquarian with a silly German accent and an even sillier laugh - his death is therefore appropriately reminiscent of Dreyer's VAMPYR (1932)!; the three women with whom Nero is involved - among them Deborah Barrymore, not a member of the celebrated American family of that name but actually British, and the daughter of Roger Moore!! - are attractive but add very little to the proceedings (except for the twist ending involving Mary Stavin).

A hilarious scene involves an unstoppable cyborg (in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger), belatedly introduced into the story, which gets into a scrape with a bull and is torn in half into the bargain! Also, the worldwide conspiracy theory brought up in the script - that aliens are already living among us and occupy important civil positions - is not only far-fetched but ludicrous! The film does have an eclectic electronic score (a feature of many a low-budget title from the 80s) which alternates between lounge music and disco-oriented vibes, not that this helps matters much...