Vendetta dal futuro
| Vendetta dal futuro | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster by Renato Casaro[1] | |
| Directed by | Sergio Martino |
| Produced by | Luciano Martino[2] |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Sergio Martino |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Claudio Simonetti[3] |
| Cinematography | Giancarlo Ferrando[3] |
| Edited by | Aldo Devgen[3] |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | Medusa Distribuzione[3] |
Running time | 94 minutes[4] |
| Country | Italy [5] |
Vendetta dal futuro (lit. Vengeance of the future[5]) is an Italian science fiction film directed by Sergio Martino. The film stars Daniel Greene, George Eastman and John Saxon.
Plot
An evil industrialist (John Saxon) has created a cyborg (Daniel Greene) who is 70% robot and 30% human.
Cast
- Daniel Greene as Paco Queruak
- Janet Agren as Linda
- Claudio Cassinelli as Peter Howell
- John Saxon as Francis Turner
- George Eastman as Paul Morales
- Roberto Bisacco as Cooper
- Pat Monti
- Andrea Coppola as Eddie
Production
Hands of Steel was filmed in Arizona with some scenes shot at the Grand Canyon and the town of Arcosanti.[6] Actor Claudio Cassinelli died in Page, Arizona during production as he was on a helicopter that crashed into the Navajo Bridge.[7][8]
Style
Howard Hughes noted the film as belonged to a group of Italian film productions that borrowed elements from the film The Terminator, including Bruno Mattei's Shocking Dark and Nello Rossati's Alien Terminator.[6] In his overview of 1980s action films, Daniel R. Budnik described the film as "the hybrid movie to end all hybrid movies", noting not just The Terminator and Blade Runner as influences, but that the plot also borrowed from Over the Top.[9]
Release
Vendetta dal futuro passed Italian censors in 1986.[3] The film has been released with the English titles of Atomic Cyborg and Hands of Steel.[5]
Reception
From retrospective reviews, Hughes described Vendetta dal futuro as "the best example" of the films in-dept to The Terminator, noting its other influeces of Blade Runner with a karate fighting android and praising an action sequence featuring lorries, cars and helicopters as well as the score.[6] Budnik found that the film beginning was boring with its more political elements, but improved after these scenes and that it was "fine, furious desert action with arm wrestling, and some sort of strange cybord woman thrown in to confuse things." [9] Donald Guarisco of AllMovie described the film as a "decent time-killer for b-movie fans" noting that its "southwestern setting gives it a unique flavor and Sergio Martino (using the pseudonym of "Martin Dolman") does a decent job of delivering plentiful action on a shoestring budget: his best moment might be a scene where the hero has to fend off gun-toting assassins while also fighting a pair of disguised cyborgs in close quarters."[4] Guarisco concluded that "The end results are frequently silly (it takes the police a really long time to figure out they're hunting a cyborg) but never dull" and declared the film to be "strictly for the b-movie audience but they're likely to enjoy its low-budget fun."[4]
References
Footnotes
- ↑ "Hands of Steel French 1p '86 cool Casaro artwork". emovieposter.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ↑ Budnik 2017, p. 117.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Vendetta dal futuro (1986)" (in Italian). Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- 1 2 3 Guarisco, Donald. "Hands of Steel (1986)". AllMovie. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- 1 2 3 Paul 2005, p. 299.
- 1 2 3 Hughes 2014, p. 206.
- ↑ "E' morto l'attore Cassinelli caduto con l'elicottero in Usa". La Stampa. 14 July 1985.
- ↑ Enrico Lancia,Roberto Poppi. Gli attori. A - L, Volume 3. Gramese Editore.
- 1 2 Budnik 2017, p. 118.
Sources
- Budnik, Daniel R. (2017). '80s Action Movies on the Cheap: 284 Low Budget, High Impact Pictures. McFarland. ISBN 0786497416.
- Hughes, Howard (2014). The Outer Limits: Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Science-Fiction Films. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 085773475X.
- Paul, Louis (2005). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8749-3.