Cold Eyes of Fear (1971)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Powerful

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura, or Cold Eyes of Fear as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, starts on a dark night in 70's London as lawyer Peter Flower (Gianni Garko) picks up a prostitute named Anna (Giovanna Ralli). Peter takes her back to his uncles house who happens to be the prominent & high powered Judge Juez (Fernando Rey). Once there Peter & Anna begin to get down to business but are rudely interrupted by a gunman named Quill (Julian Mateos) whom has already shot Hawkins the servant. Quill holds them both at gunpoint until his accomplice arrives, Arthur Welt (Frank Wolff). The whole situation leads back to Judge Juez but is this as simple a case of revenge as it first appears? Unfortunately it's really not worth watching to find out...This Spanish & Italian co-production was co-written & directed by Enzo G. Castellari & in my humble opinion is a really boring film. The script by Castellari, Tito Carpi & Leo Anchoriz starts off quite well with the initial plot set-up but once Welt makes an appearance it slows down to an absolute snails pace & becomes as dull as dishwater as it's just annoying character's spouting inane badly dubbed dialogue. Anna really got on my nerves, she keeps on facing up to the gunmen & telling them to kill them, excuse me love but these guys are murderers & have guns. I mean squaring up & provoking them really isn't the way to make it out alive, is it? I'd have shot her for just being so irritating. The final 'twist' revelations are far from surprising & in fact are quite obvious. I must admit I found some of the cockney dialogue rather amusing. Am I the only one who thinks Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura resembles The House on the Edge of the Park (1980)? The two are extremely similar in tone except that The House on the Edge of the Park is far more explicit.Director Castellari gives the film a nice visual look throughout & during the scenes in London it really captures the era. Unfortunately the film has zero tension, scares, atmosphere, shocks or surprises. The violence is virtually non existent, there's a fight at the end with some blood but apart from that forget it.Technically the film is well made & has a nice look & feel throughout with detailed production design. The acting wasn't up to much especially the two gunmen who were, in my humble opinion, awful.Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura had potential & starts out pretty good but goes absolutely nowhere. Very tame, very boring & very disappointing Euro sleaze, there are so many better films out there. One more thing, am I alone in thinking that this shouldn't be described as a Giallo? Giallo's are murder mysteries & Gli Occhi Freddi della Paura has neither murder or mystery...

Dull and truly disappointing early 70's Italian film that can never seem to decide whether it wants to be a typical giallo or an ordinary crime thriller. The opening is very promising, showing a girl assaulted by a man with a knife whose face we do not see, but that quickly turns out to be a totally unrelated theater performance and that REALLY upset me! The actual story of "Cold Eyes of Fear" revolves on the pampered nephew of an eminent judge who is, together with a random prostitute he picked up earlier, held hostage by two criminals in his uncle's giant villa. One of the crooks is out for vengeance against the corrupt judge and the other merely hopes to find money in the house. What follows is a totally uninteresting and overly talkative showdown between the two parties without not even the slightest bit of action or excitement. There's some very stylish and creative giallo-camera-work to admire, but the sub genre's most appealing characteristics (nudity, graphic violence, absurd plot-twists…) are regretfully neglected. Everybody else around here seems to love the jazzy music but I personally found it very annoying and it totally doesn't fit the tone of the film. It's definitely one of Ennio Morricone's worst scores ever. During the pretentious yet hilarious opening sequences, London is portrayed like a swinging city, in the trend of Las Vegas, with colorful billboards, casinos and wild nightclubs. What the hell was that all about? Enzo G. Castellari's directing is rather uninspired and he's no competition for other contemporary Italian filmmakers like Dario Argento, Mario Bava or Sergio Martino. He did return in the 80's with one of my favorite "Jaws" rip-offs, namely "The Last Shark".

Spanish, Italian co-production, set in London and already we are wondering if all will be well. We certainly get some strange accents and if this is giallo influenced, it is not drenched in the genre. What we don't get is lots of gore and nudity. On the plus side there is some Morricone soundtrack, great night shots of late 60's London and some unusually serious discussion of bribery and corruption in high places. Actually these suggestions of a totally corrupt judiciary might be references to Italy rather than England but hey.. There are some nice twists and if the piece is a little wordy it never stops being interesting as the characters change their stance and help to keep us on our toes. Meanwhile Fernando Rey spends the film sitting at his desk waiting for a bomb to go off, which it does and it doesn't!

By no means the best giallo I've seen, this Enzo Castellari tale of ___ drags horribly and maintains little suspense. Set in Swinging London (but filmed primarily in Rome), the movie finds young lawyer Gianni Garko about to seduce prostitute Giovanna Ralli at his swank house. They stumble upon the butler's dead body, undoubtedly a victim of temperate ruffian Julián Mateos, who then terrorizes the couple with his gun and leather suit. Judge Fernando Rey, who keep a cat on his desk, calls nephew Garko to ask for legal assistance and sends constable Frank Wolff over with a missive. The sleazy couple assumes the cop to be a deus ex machine, but he proves to be in on the racket. After sending Rey a secret plea for help (in Latin no less), our hopeful gets haughty and gives the sneering tough guy a good pounding. While Ralli fails to seduce Mateos with a shower, Rey puzzles out the message and sends some genuine although ineffectual police. Some may wonder what will happen to the unlovable couple besieged by this complicated plot; others may not. Castellari fills Cold Eyes with similarly absurd post-nouvelle vague editing, and I suspect this was a strictly commissioned affair for the veteran writer, producer and actor who can claim over 40 films to his credit. His failure as director really displays itself in the overdone, montage-heavy finale. Despite its lack of flesh and gore, Cold Eyes is shockingly exploitative. Wolff murders a policeman in flashback during a gratuitously cruel story diversion, only to illustrate his already obviously violent side. The violence throughout comes off as unnecessarily brutal, as well as distinctly European in flavor. None of the male characters treat the unimpressive prostitute much like a human, her unsurprised response perhaps suggesting they're correct to do so. Easily the best part of the movie is Ennio Morricone's amazing score, would fit better in a well-paced environment. If you want to see a decent film with Rey, who doesn't actually appear in shot with any of the main cast and probably only showed up for a day's worth of filming, check out the same year's French Connection.