Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Why so much hype?

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Don't Believe the Hype

We threw out the Television and broke its picture tube in the middle of this film.I'm not kidding.In my life I have only been fully repulsed by the theme, story, acting and directing of a movie a couple of times. Orca, the Killer Whale comes to mind....Not just bad, but disgusting and disturbing. The mixture of sexual violence and mayhem/murder, a combination I have reported on before, is below any line any film-goer can draw. Coprophagia and cannibalism are all that's left to sink to, and there's no bottom to hit.

This film was "big" news in 1974 when first released and got some bad press ostensibly because of the supposed excessive violence ,which is not the case. The real reason this film was "bagged" by the critics is the same reason Clint Eastwood (for his Dirty Harry movies) and Charles Bronson (for the Death Wish movies)were rubbished. That is because film critics tend to be left wing, bleeding heart liberals who have for decades put down any film that tends to support a person taking law and order into their own hands, irrespective of the provocation and the circumstances. "Open Season" is not overly violent but the violence is cleverly constructed and has real impact. The characters in the film are well drawn and believable (except perhaps the male victim who is abducted and held captive)particularly Peter Fonda who, like his Dad, can really come across as sleazy on-screen. The film is gripping and builds consistently towards the end and it really packs a punch in the final 30 minutes. I bought the VHS video many years ago and it is still worth watching.Try and see it.

Again I have to put things right. This film is really 'just' an 'eight' but, in order to raise the medium, I give it a 'ten'. Yes, it's something like 'The Most Dangerous Game' but with a twist. Here, it's pretty obvious that it is about some spoiled, upper-class brats doing what they most like to do. You know, evil just stops short to opportunity and there's really not much difference in using factory-workers as slaves and hunting them down as prey. So far the upper-class-twits. Then there is the prey which, in this case, let themselves get fooled, at least the woman. Why does William Holden not intervene earlier? Does he know? Nevertheless, it's not your brainless Hollywood-entertainment and Fonda is excellent! It would have been even better if it was more clear that these boys get away with anything because they are rich and that only a private vigilante therefor can put things right. But I guess You can't have everything.

Once again, we have the tired old cliche of the crazed Vietnam vet (despite the fact that the Second World War produced a higher number of mentally scarred soldiers than Vietnam, believe it or not.) However, that's one of the lesser problems I had with this "Most Dangerous Game" rip-off. To put it bluntly, this movie is REALLY BORING - in fact, it takes about *an hour* before the hunt actually begins! The "action" from that point on is really dull, especially since the so-called protagonists that are victimized have barely anything sympathetic about them. While I can understand why Fonda, Law, and Lynch might have signed on, I simply can't understand why Holden - who barely appears at all - signed up. Even if he needed the money, surely there was another (and better) movie he could have been in! Anyway, this movie is hard to find, though considering the quality of it, I don't think this is an instance of rights problems or the copyright holder wanting a fat advance from a video distributor!