'THE 10TH VICTIM'......BACK TO THE FUTURE OF 1965....POP GOES THE REALITY SHOW

The 10th Victim (1965)   If you look past all the snazzy, jazzy ultra-mod Euro-Pop trappings of this movie, it's a way, way ahead-of-its-time satire on where we are right now.......

              Not that we'd ever want to look past those trappings.........we live for snazzy, jazzy, ultra-mod Euro-Pop.....

              Long, long before "The Purge" and all its sequels and variations came along, this movie, tongue firmly planted in cheek, envisioned a not-too-distant world in which everyone could sign up for 'The Big Hunt' to vent their frustrations......

             Two big-ass computers (spitting out punch cards, naturally) designated Big Hunt participants as either hunters or victims.......and off they'd go for legally sanctioned stalking and death hunts......(you could shoot your assigned victim in the middle of a public street, but you might risk getting a parking ticket, thereby incurring more of a penalty for an expired meter than an expired person)

             So it's a world-wide reality show, complete with corporations signing up Big Hunters for sponsorship.......(the more civilized European countries have imposed restrictions on the contestants as to where they're allowed to off each other - no plazas, no restaurants, etc)....but in America, God Bless Us, you can feel free to shoot anyone, anywhere, anytime...)

             Just like today........

             Which brings us to our star participants played by Ursula Andress and Marcello Mastroianni.

             For any of you who hold some vague memories of this movie.......yes, it's the one where Ursula murders her victim with guns hidden in her bra. The poor sucker lies dead, but the mammaries linger on......

              Andress has polished off her 9th victim........one more and she can retire from the game with the grand prize of.......(wait for it, while we rev up our Dr. Evil pose)  ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!

               Hey, for 1965....big bucks.  As for Mastroianni, coiffed like Steve McQueen with short blonde hair, he does a sly send-up of the persona moviegoers assigned to him......the languid lothario, bored to tears and too cool for school.

             Director Elio Petri puts a lot on the plate here.......a brutally funny Battle Of The Sexes in which actual lives are at stake, some nasty comic swipes at religion and big business.......and all of it scored by Piero Piccioni to a typically pulsating, nervous, pop-jazz score, complete with wah-wah vocals.

              To the disappointment of some, the movie settles for a finale that's all too familiar to anyone who followed Italian rom-coms of the 1960's........but for us, the damned thing is so much fun to sit through, we didn't mind at all......(how could we possibly not like a film loaded with cute girls dancing around in futuristic mini-skirts.complete with tinted plastic hats?)

              Everyone feel free to have a ball comparing the state-endorsed madness of "The 10th Victim" to everything going on today......on second thought, it might make you queasy.  4 stars (****).....or converted to 1965 superlatives.....ONE MILLION DOLLARS!