Super Bitch (1973)
Directed by: Massimo Dallamano
Written by: Massimo Dallamano, Sandy MacRae
Starring: Ivan Rassimov, Patricia Hayes, Stephanie Beacham, Verna Harvey
HCF REWIND NO.77. SUPER BITCH AKA BLUE MOVIE BLACKMAIL, SI PUO ESSERE PIU BASTARDI DELLI’ISPETTORE CLIFF? [Italy, 1973]
RUNNING TIME: 94 mins
REVIEWED BY: Dr Lenera, Offical HCF Critic
A man is shot in Beirut from a distance by a man with a rifle. The culprit is Cliff, supposedly a gangster but actually working undercover for the police. The next task he is given is to infiltrate a London escort agency run by Morell. This establishment has a particular scam that it likes to play; secretly filming its VIP clients in potentially embarrassing situations and then blackmailing them into carrying narcotics across the border. The main purchaser of their goods is Marco, the representative of an American outfit which is involved in a complex turf war with another gang led by Mamma the Turk. Cliff has already began a relationship with Joanne, one of the women working in the escort agency……
If you think of Italian commercial cinema of the 1970’s, one automatically thinks of horror films and thrillers, especially that unique subgenre the giallo where black gloved assassins slashed their way through convoluted and sleazy plots. The county also turned out quite a few gangster and police thrillers which were popular at the time but and also comprised their own subgenre called the poliziotteschi , but which are not much known nowadays except by really dedicated fans of Italian films. These pictures usually dealt with organised crime, corruption up to the highest levels, graphic violence, vigilantism and lots of gun fights. Fernando Di Leo and Umberto Lenzi were probably the masters of the form, but most [if not quite all] Italian directors of the time had a go, and Super Bitch is one of two efforts by Massimo Dallamano [the other being Colt .38 Special Squad]. It’s an enjoyable movie which keeps the attention throughout and has a few interesting quirks, though there’s little outstanding about it and it isn’t really amongst the best of its genre.
It opens with a superbly staged killing in Beirut, with some fine camerawork and good use of the locations, then continues with a car chase which is simple and straight forward compared to the similar sequences we see in films today but is quite refreshing in its lack of gimmicks and it’s editing that ensures you can properly see what is going on. And of course, you know people are doing all the driving for real. The film soon switches to London where it then stays, and I personally always love seeing old films set in a city which I know so well and has in some ways changed so much over the years and in some ways is almost the same. The locales often seem shot through a mist or a fog with colour minimised, giving London a rather mysterious and sinister feel. This often seems to be the case when European directors film in the city, such as Lucio Fulci with A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin.
The story of Super Bitch gets complex quite quickly and to be honest, a little hard to follow. The plot is actually not that different from A Fistful Of Dollars [or, if you like, Yojimbo], which Dallamano had actually been the cinematographer on, but it soon becomes hard to work out who is working for who. There were a couple of times the plot ‘lost’ me and I was doing my damndest to concentrate, but it’s all nicely explained at the end. A number of bloody shootings keep things ticking over nicely and there is one in particular which is especially well done, as a guy reading a newspaper is shot on a bench in Regent’s Park, the blood drenching the paper in the red stuff and us not seeing the bullet hole until a few seconds later. There is another bit during a shoot out where one man is shot and seems to take ages to die, the audience being asked perhaps too feel his agony and have pity perhaps, even though this is a violent man we are watching dying. Overall though this is a less vicious film than many others of its ilk.
It’s not really the confusing plot or the meagre action which saves Super Bitch from being a mostly mundane thriller. It’s the many crazy details. There’s the gang which runs an escort service which it uses to film powerful men in compromising positions with girls (and boys) and then blackmail them into helping out with the narcotic trafficking via a scheme involving art auctions. Got that? Okay, so I’ll now move onto the other gang which is led by an old lady called “Mama” hilariously played by Patricia Hayes in a part that for me far outshines her role in A Fish Called Wanda, and who are not only aspiring musicians but could be her children. Scenes where the gang sing a song beginning with the lines ‘Mamma, Mamma, Mamma, Mamma, You can handle guns better than any man’, and one where one of the gang, who fancies himself as a mariachi, tortures the heroine with music, have to be seem to be believed. This guy even sings and plays when the others are beating someone to death. Then there’s the brothel which has a huge TV screen in the reception room with shapes moving around in psychedelic fashion, and if you think Stephanie Beacham seemed out of place in the bondage scenes in The Nightcomers, then wait until you’ve seen her with an elderly client playing at being rabbits, replete with carrot!
Fans of Ms Beacham will be pleased to know that she sheds her clothes a few times especially during a real tease of a scene where co-star Ivan Rassimov is in the foreground and she is having a shower in the background, but you have to strain to see it! Like the violence, the sexual content is actually quite tame. Rassimov’s ‘hero’ is rather interesting. He’s mid way between being the archetypal tough cop who does things ‘his way’ and a real unscrupulous sod with no morals whatsoever. Not perhaps a stretch for Rassimov really but a juicy role nonetheless though as usual the actor seems to be more concerned with just looking cool. Beacham, by contrast, seems to play one of the ‘happiest’ hookers in history and her role is not convincing in the slightest. I should point out that, unlike on Arrow’s DVD of The Night Child which I reviewed this morning, the dubbed version of Super Bitch is not too good and the Italian version is preferable even though you don’t hear Beacham’s voice. As before, Arrow have restored some footage unseen outside Italy, though it’s makes so little difference it’s a wonder it was cut in the first place.
Super Bitch, which is set to some great groovy soundtrack stylings by Riz Ortolani, has the typical caricatured 70’s homosexual characters, and the fashions are atrocious, but isn’t that part of the fun of movies like this? A touch dull at times but with something amusing or exciting coming along every now and again to perk things up, plus a rather surprising ending, this is certainly worth a look if, in the end, not quite as good as it promises to be. Look out for four J&B whisky sightings in this one, including one guy going out to his car and bringing in a whole box of the stuff!
Rating: 
Arrow’s DVD includes:
* New widescreen transfer in the original ratio
* Newly translated optional English subtitles
* Optional English and Italian audio tracks
* BULLETS, BABES AND BLOOD: THE HIGH OCTANE ACTION OF THE ITALIAN POLICE FILM – Legendary directors Ruggero Deodato, Sergio Martino and Brit filmmaker Darren Ward and critic Paolo Zelati, discuss the sex, style and shootouts that typified the Italian crime-caper
* RUGGERO DEODATO REMEMBERS IVAN RASSIMOV – An affectionate look back at the veteran Italian exploitation actor and SUPER BITCH leading man
* Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Calum Waddell; Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
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