La orca (1976)

Director:

Eriprando Visconti

Writers:

Roberto Gandus (writer)
Lisa Morpurgo
(more)

Release Date:

1976 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Cruising | Kidnapping | Female Frontal Nudity | Bare Breasts

Cast

Michele Placido	...	Michele Turrisi
Rena Niehaus	...	Alice
Flavio Bucci	...	Gino
Bruno Corazzari	...	Paolo
Adriano Amidei Migliano	...	Complice di Paolo
Livia Cerini
Vittorio Mezzogiorno
Piero Palermini
Jacopo Tecchi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gianni Bortolotti
Miguel Bosé	...	Humberto
Anna Canzi	...	Proprietaria del bar
Enzo Consoli
Piero Faggioni	...	Lucio Garbi
Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Valerio
Agnes Kalpagos
Eleonora Morana
Paul Muller
Carmen Scarpitta	...	Irene
Vittorio Valsecchi

Directed by
Eriprando Visconti

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Roberto Gandus		writer
Lisa Morpurgo		(as Elisa Morpurgo)
Eriprando Visconti		screenplay
Eriprando Visconti		story

Produced by
Marcello D'Amico	....	producer

Original Music by
Federico Monti Arduini

Cinematography by
Blasco Giurato

Film Editing by
Franco Arcalli

Art Direction by
Franco Vanorio		(as Francesco Vanorio)

Sound Department
Massimo Anzellotti	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Mauro Pezzotti	....	grip

Music Department
Luca di Silverio	....	soundtrack album producer

Other crew
Mimmola Girosi	....	assistant director

Production Companies

• Serena Film '75
• Serena

Distributors

• Miramax Films (1983) (USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

Also Known As:

"Snatch" - USA (dubbed version)

Runtime:

90 min | Germany:79 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (re-rating) (2006) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | West Germany:16 (cut version) | Germany:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Pavia, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

Serena Film '75

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Cinema Snob: A Clockwork Orgy (#3.21)" (2011)

Undeserving of its bad reputation

Kidnapping movies were really big in the 1970's, especially after several high-profile cases like Patty Hearst. The Italian exploitation industry is notorious for taking its cues from the US movies, but that may not have been the case here since there was even a bigger kidnapping problem in Italy (eventually leading to the kidnap and murder of a former prime minister by the notorious Red Brigades). The kidnappers in this movie though are pretty low-rent types, barely connected to the Mafia. Their victim is a very spoiled, but perhaps not especially rich, teenage girl (Rena Neihaus) whose parents seem unable--or perhaps unwilling--to get her back (she hints at an incestuous relationship with her stepfather which might have been explored in the sequel to this "Oedipus Orca"). In this movie the youngest, most handsome kidnapper (Michele Placido) falls for the girl in kind of a reverse Stockholm syndrome, with tragic results for at least one of them. The end of movie, strangely enough, is kind of reminiscent of "Last Tango in Paris" but with nowhere near the dramatic gravitas

The movie is generally lacking in character development. The film at one point follows the creepiest-looking gangster (Flavio Bucci from the "The Night Train Murders") to his home where he is shacking up with another gangster's wife and her kid, but more than character development this seems to be more an excuse for another sex scene. The Placido character has an interesting flashback of him working on a filthy fishing barge, which is contrasted with a fantasy where he is piloting a yacht. This movie is very class-conscious in the way it has this poor Sicilian boy falling for a rich, northern girl (the Italian title "La Orca" comes from the designer outfit she's wearing). Placido is pretty good here, but this handsome, light-complexioned hunk is not too convincing as a lower-class Sicilian ruffian. As for Neihaus, I can't decide if she is a bad actress, or is just playing a really obnoxious character (she's more Paris Hilton than Patty Hearst). She does get naked several times which, judging from the English, title was the primary consideration.

This movie has a bit of a bad reputation, but I don't know why. It's not nearly as brutal as similarly-themed American films like "Date with a Kidnapper" or "The Candy Snatchers". I believe Niehaus' character is underage, but the actress obviously wasn't (she'd been in "Playboy" two years earlier). Maybe it offended people that the victim is made so unsympathetic, but that doesn't explain why she returns in a sequel. . . I dunno. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.