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Director: Elio Petri, Screenplay: Ennio Flaiano, Tonino
Guerra, Elio Petri, Giorgio Salvioni, Based on the story "The Seventh
Victim" by: Robert Sheckley, Producer: Carlo Ponti, Original
Music by: Sergio Bardotti, Piero Piccioni, Cinematographer: Gianni
Di Venanzo, Film Editor: Ruggero Mastroianni, Production Designer:
Piero Poletto, Set Decorator: Giovanni Checchi, Dario Micheli,
Makeup Artist: Giuseppe Banchelli, Hair Stylist: Lina Cassini,
Production Supervisors: Claudio Mancini, Alfredo Melidoni,
Production Manager: Jone Tuzi, Assistant Director: Berto
Pelosso, Sound Recordist: Carlo Palmieri, Sound: Emilio Rosa,
Ennio Sensi, Script Supervisor: Renata Clerici, Camera Operator:
Pasqualino De Santis, Dialogue Consultant (English Language Version):
Mickey Knox, Camera Assistant: Mario Masini, Soloist:
Mina, Production Secretary: Adriano Pagani, Conductor:
Piero Piccioni, Production Secretary: Giorgio Russo, Assistant
Costumer Designer: Enrico Sabbatini, Choreographer: Gino
Landi
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni (Marcello Polletti), Ursula Andress
(Caroline Meredith), Elsa Martinelli (Olga), Salvo Randone (Professor), Massimo
Serato (Lawyer), Milo Quesada (Rudi), Luce Bonifassy (Lidia), George Wang
(Chinese attacker), Evi Rigano (Victim), Walter Williams (Martin), Richard
Armstrong (Cole), Antonio Ciani, Wolfgang Hillinger (Baron Von Aschenberg, the
second victim), Mickey Knox (Chet), Anita Sanders (Relaxatorium
Girl)
OT: La Decima Vittima
Sometime in the not too distant future, war and violence have been eradicated, but in order to satisfy the bored public’s brutal instincts a new kind of game show - very much inspired by the ancient gladiatorial matches - has been invented: Everyone can legally go out killing provided they register for the show and publicly hunt their victims. If you survive five attempts at being the prey, five further attempts at being the hunter, prize money of $1.000.00 is theirs.
Ursula Andress plays Caroline Meredith, one of the game’s participants, who is just one match short of turning into a champion and winning the big prize. Her last victim was ingeniously killed via two guns hidden inside her bra. Hmm, where might Mike Myers have got his idea from for the opening scene of The Spy Who Shagged Me?
Her next victim is supposed to be Marcello Mastroianni. His character has his hair dyed blond and both of them fall in love with each other. Will they be able to cheat the system, take the money and survive the cruel match?
This film is based on the story The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley. He elaborated more on this subject in a further novel, The Prize of Peril, that has – sometimes officially, sometimes unofficially – been filmed. That novel was the basis for Das Millionenspiel, a very controversial German TV production from 1970 that remained unseen for legal reasons after its initial broadcast, or the excellent French movie Le Prix du danger/ The Prize of Peril (1983) with Michel Piccoli in the role of an egotistical show master. And guess who was the real inspiration behind The Running Man (1987)? If your answer is Stephen King, you’re just going for the bleedingly obvious. And let’s not even mention Lucio Fulci’s Rome 2033 – The Fighter Centurions (1983).
The Tenth Victim is a thoroughly entertaining satire on modern game shows that is now more on the mark than ever before. It has a good number of comedic elements, none of them of the intentional kind.
Rumour has it that a remake is being planned with Brendan Fraser and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos under the direction of John McTiernan.
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Further Reading:
A review by the Roogulator.
Spinning Image's review.
Buy:
