THE PERFECT KILLER

 

This is another Tubi discovery. THE PERFECT KILLER (original Italian title QUEL POMERIGGIO MALEDETTO) is a 1977 Italian-Spanish crime drama starring the legendary Lee Van Cleef. 

Van Cleef plays career criminal Harry Chapman, who in the beginning of the story gets nabbed during a robbery at a dog racing track while his lover Krista (Carmen Cervera) and his partner Jack (Aldo Bufi Landi) get away with the loot. Harry gets out of jail early, due to "The Organization", who springs him so he can serve them as a hitman. Harry decides to get out of the assassination game when he's ordered to kill a friend, but the organization won't let him leave that easily, and the devious Krista still has the power to ensnare him in her web. 

The plot of THE PERFECT KILLER--a tough con betrayed by his comrades and/or a lover--will be quite familiar to movie buffs. THE PERFECT KILLER resembles a number of more famous action movies and film noirs, and it has a lot in common with VIOLENT CITY, another Italian production with an American star (Charles Bronson). Longtime Van Cleef fans might take a while to get used to seeing the actor in 1970s sportcoats and slacks, but the taciturn Harry is a perfect role for him. 

It must be said that THE PERFECT KILLER is not a bullet-riddled thrill ride. There's more character interaction than violent action, and the movie has a measured pace. Van Cleef even gets overshadowed a bit by his co-stars. Alberto Dell'Acqua (who started his film career as a stuntman) plays Luc, a grinning psychopath sent by the mob to deal with Harry. Dell'Acqua has the showiest role, and he makes the most of it. Carmen Cervera makes a sexy femme fatale, with her Krista screwing over--or just plain screwing--every man she has dealings with. The title of this film could easily refer to the characters of Luc and Krista as much as it does Harry. 

John Ireland plays a buddy of Harry's, and Fernando Sancho (like Van Cleef and Dell'Acqua, a longtime Spaghetti Western veteran) has a small role. 

THE PERFECT KILLER was directed by Mario Siciliano. The movie has plenty of attractive European locations, but action fans might be left wanting more. Like a lot of Italian genre films of this period, there's more than a few weird elements, such as the character of Luc getting in a fight with a trio of transvestites, and Harry being chased around by a hot-to-trot model who looks young enough to be his granddaughter. There's also a fair amount of nudity. 

Tubi presents THE PERFECT KILLER in a fine-looking 2.35:1 transfer, and it appears to be uncut. It has an English dub track, but a few lines of dialogue are in Italian, and there's even a few times where it sounds as if someone else other than Van Cleef is voicing Harry. 

THE PERFECT KILLER will be a revelation to those who only know Lee Van Cleef from Westerns. If Van Cleef had gotten better opportunities, he could have easily gone the Charles Bronson route and done all sorts of cops and crime action flicks in the late 1970s. THE PERFECT KILLER gives Van Cleef a good leading role, even though I don't think it made the most out of him.