American Tiger (1990)

AKA American Rickshaw (American risciò)

While never strictly a horror director, having worked in various genres since the very beginning of his career, the paths taken by Sergio Martino after the end of the 70’s are nonetheless interesting when compared with some of his contemporaries who made names for themselves in the realm of the giallo and Italian horror. Martino closed out the 70’s with several high notes, namely the esoteric spaghetti western Mannaja: A Man Called Blade (1977) and Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978). Throughout the 80’s however, Martino would only sporadically dip his toes in genre material with films like the underrated giallo/supernatural horror hybrid Scorpion With Two Tails (1981), the post-apocalyptic actioner 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983) and Hands of Steel (1986), a marvelously 80’s sci-fi/action popcorn flick clearly inspired by The Terminator (1984), whereas the majority of the decade saw Martino helming multiple comedies. The 90’s saw Martino throwing his hat into the ever popular at the time erotic thriller ring with Smile of the Fox (1992) and Craving Desire (1993), the later one of his best films and Martino even returned to giallo at the end of the millennium with Mozart is a Murderer (1999). Prior to all that though, Martino kicked off the 90’s with American Tiger, one of the most unusual titles in his filmography and certainly one of the oddest examples of Italian cross genre pollination.

While working the night shift as a rickshaw puller, young Miami college student Scott Edwards (Mitch Gaylord), is invited onto a houseboat for a rendezvous by exotic dancer Joanna as a form of payment, however Scott soon discovers he’s being filmed and promptly leaves after roughing up the cameraman and taking the videotape. Scott’s world is soon turned upside down when he discovers the cameraman has been murdered and he becomes the prime suspect. To make matters worse, Scott finds himself being perused by a hitman obsessed with retrieving the videotape Scott took from the boat, forcing Scott to go on the run, recruiting a reluctant Joanna to help clear his name. Things take a turn for the even more bizarre when Scott is drawn to Madame Luna, an elderly Chinese witch who informs Scott that the conspiracy he finds himself wrapped up in is centered around Reverend Mortem (Donald Pleasence), a televangelist who’s public persona masks a demonic altar ego determined to possess a powerful ancient stone, which Scott’s destiny, as told by Madame Luna, calls upon him to protect.

Movies don’t come any more eccentric than American Tiger. Taking genre hopping to an entirely new level with its fusing of B-movie action and crime elements with supernatural horror, tossing in everything ranging from rickshaw pulling, conspiracy, witchcraft, destines as determined by the Chinese horoscope, cats with the gift of second sight and demonic TV preachers, American Tiger is unquestionably in a league of its own when it comes to sheer originality and quirkiness. Clearly there is a lot going on storyline wise and it was inevitable that the film becomes more and more nonsensical, yet its all so oddly compelling that even when its not making any sense at all its difficult to not be wondering just how sharp the next left turn Martino is planning on taking will be. The initial crime story set-up would have probably made an interesting film in itself as there’s certainly enough intrigue that comes with such material, but the film wouldn’t have been nearly as offbeat as it is and its when Martino introduces the otherworldly into the mix does the film go completely off the rails. The tonal shifts will no doubt be jarring to many seeing as how the witchcraft angle feels thrown in at random, but what’s especially refreshing about the film is how willing not just Martino is to go with it, but the characters as well with little to no skepticism about the increasingly bizarre directions the story is heading and that even includes one of the police officer characters!

Leading man Mitch Gaylord certainty followed an interesting career path, going from Olympic hero to B-movie actor. Gaylord first gained international fame by taking the US gymnastics team all the way to a gold metal in 1984 along with winning a silver metal and two bronze metals for himself. If that weren’t enough he also gave two gymnastic moves, the “Gaylord flip” and the “Gaylord two” their namesakes and was chosen by Ronald Reagan for the President's Council for Physical Fitness and again by George H.W. Bush. Gaylord turned to acting in the mid-80’s beginning with a starring role in the sports themed American Anthem (1986). American Tiger was next, followed by a supporting role in Gregory Dark’s erotic thriller classic Animal Instincts (1993) and a leading role in yet another direct to video/late night cable erotic potboiler, Sexual Outlaws (1994). Why American Tiger isn’t more well known is almost as mystifying as its plot as an oddball film like this should have “cult appeal” written all over it. Perhaps it was the original box cover, making it look like any other DTV action/thriller of the day which it couldn’t be more different from. American Tiger may be worlds removed from Martino’s more celebrated 70’s output, but then again its worlds removed from most other genre films. There’s literally nothing else even remotely like it in the annals of both action and horror.

Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)

AKA Suspected Death of a Minor

Along with giallo and spaghetti western, one of the most popular branches of the Italian genre family tree would be Eurocrime, or “Poliziotteschi”. Taking their cues from the gritty American cop thrillers of the late 60's/early 70's, particularly films like The French Connection (1971) and the Dirty Harry series as well as films like Death Wish (1974) and their ilk, the Italian's turned up the grit, violence, nihilism and due to various events sweeping Italy at the time, sociopolitical commentary and thanks to repeat appearances in many films, actors like John Saxon, Thomas Milian, Franco Nero and Maurizio Merli became synonymous with the genre. Given how lucrative the Italian genre film boom of the 70's was, several genre specialists turned to the poliziotteschi, with two of the most memorable being Ruggero Deodato's Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) and Lucio Fulci's Contrband (1980). The poliziotteschi is also where several of Umberto Lenzi's most revered films are found, titles like Gang War in Milan (1973), Almost Human (1974), and The Rat, the Cynic and the Fist (1977). Being a jack of all genres, of course Sergio Martino would dip his toes into the Eurocrime pool a few times, 1975's Suspicious Death of a Minor being one such example, standing out as one of the most unusual and off the wall approaches to the poliziotteschi genre with touches of giallo as well.

When the body of Marissa, a young woman revealed to be the niece of Gaudenzio Pesce, a wealthy and powerful banker, is discovered slashed to death in a seedy apartment building, Paolo Germi (Claudio Cassinelli), a police inspector whom had previously been following the woman begins to suspect there is much more to a case he had already been investigating. Putting his unorthodox methods to use, Germi enlists the help of Giannino, a petty thief to assist him in getting information from Marissa's circle of friends. The more Germi discovers, the more he begins to uncover the inner workings of a teenage prostitution and drug trafficking ring. Much to the chagrin of Germi's police chief, all clues lead to Pesce and with more women turning up dead, Germi begins to find himself in both a professional and personally dangerous predicament.

There's poliziotteschi, there's giallo, and then there's Suspicious Death of a Minor (Morte sospetta di una minorenne), a lunatic fusion of the two that's also a comedy? Indeed, this is an incredibly bi-polar film that switches moods without warning, making for one head scratching, but unique and rewarding viewing experience. Part of what makes the tonal shifts seem so extreme is that the serious parts of the film are dealing with some pretty dark material in teenage trafficking, while the more frivolous bits in the film are so over the top loony they come across as even more jarring. Ultimately though, it ends up working due in part to the film succeeding at both ends of the spectrum. Martino starts the film off on a somewhat odd foot with the first 40 or so minutes playing out like an almost stream of consciousness succession of random scenarios, with Martino planting various seeds of a mystery yet with little to no context or character motivation. Slowly but surely however more bits of said mystery begin to unveil themselves, becoming more complex and involving, thus making the main crime portion of the film one of the most intriguing out of any film in the Eurocrime cannon. Then there's the comedic bits, most of which fairly ridiculous, such as a car chase where the doors are ripped off the car as a defense mechanism and a shootout on a roller coaster, a good example of the film being both serious and absurd at the same time.  

By 1975, leading man Claudio Cassinelli was already an Italian genre veteran having appeared in films like Damiano Damiani's The Devil is a Woman (1974), Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974) and Gianfranco Mingozzi's Flavia the Heretic (1974). Suspicious Death of a Minor was his first Martino film, although he would go on to become a reoccurring player for Martino with roles in Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978), Alligator (1978), Island of the Fishmen (1979) and Scorpion With Two Tails (1982). His last film ended up being Martino's Hands of Steel (1986) after an accident on set resulted in a helicopter crash, killing Cassinelli at the age of 46. Suspicious Death of a Minor was Martino's third poliziotteschi type film, having first tried his hand in the genre with The Violent Professionals (1973) and he would subsequently helm two more films under the Eurocrime umbrella prior to Suspicious Death of a Minor, Silent Action (1975) and Gambling City (1975). Clearly when compared to to other films in the poliziotteschi genre, not to mention giallo as again, the film has both feet planted in both, Suspicious Death of a Minor probably seems as far removed as possible, yet its the entirely singular nature of the film that makes it a genre highlight as well as showcasing Martino's originality, approaching the material in such an out of left field manner.