Cross Current (1971) User Reviews

Nothing special, but just about worthwhile Giallo

[The_Void · 6/10 · 19 August 2007]

Cross Current features all the things that usually make Giallo's successful, but somehow it just doesn't gel together well and in spite of the gory murders and twisted plot, the film always feels like it isn't really going anywhere and that unfortunately harms it. Tonino Ricci directs with flair and style and this is a definite asset to the film. Cross Current has a lovely foreboding atmosphere and the way that the director keeps the focus on the lead characters helps to build claustrophobia and this helps to make sure that the film always remains interesting. The plot focuses on Marco, a boat racer who has an accident. He wakes up in hospital and finds out that he has to have brain surgery. After the operation, he begins recovering at home and is cared for by his wife Monica, his friend Tommy and a woman named Terry. Shortly into his recovery, people around his home start to get murdered; beginning with the gardener who had previously requested a private meeting with Marco. More murders follow and the police get involved...

It's a shame that this film wasn't better as some of the murders rival the best of the genre. The intestine spilling scene is excellent, while a slow motion sequence in which a woman is shot oozes coolness. But unfortunately it just doesn't gel together well and feels obvious that the director was trying to make a film that emulates the successful Giallo's of the time. The acting isn't bad, with experienced Italian film actor Philippe Leroy taking the lead role and doing well with it. Rosanna Yanni and Elga Andersen look nice as the female leads, while the always excellent Ivan Rassimov rounds off the central cast. The house in which most of the film is set dominates the atmosphere of the film and proves a good location for a film like this to be set in. It all builds down to a nice twisted ending which just about makes the rest of the film worthwhile. The final ten minutes are really well put together, and this may have been a classic if the rest of the film were as good. Overall, I can't really say that this is essential but, if you can find it, it's just about worth seeing.

Cross Current

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 12 May 2022]

A Perfect Murder Under the Law is also known as Cross Current here in America. It's directed by Tonino Ricci, who you may know from Rush, Panic or Encounters In the Deep. Story writer Aldo Crudo also was behind War of the Robots and the ensuing script was written by José María Forqué and Arpad DeRiso (Death Steps In the Dark).

Marco (Phillipe Leroy, The Possessed, The Laughing Woman) is a rich man injured in a speedboat accident so rough that he needs brain surgery, which wipes his memory clean and makes him depend on his wife Monica (Elge Andersen, who retired from acting to explore the Andrea Doria wreck with her rich husband Peter R. Gimbel, who was the first diver to explore that doomed ship; together they made two documentaries The Mystery of the Andrea Doria and Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter; their ashes are now interred in the ship's wreckage), business partner Tommy (Franco Ressel) and a girl named Terry (Rosanna Yanni, Count Dracula's Great Love, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror).

You know what happens next. Marco falls for Terry, Monica gets shot, Terry talks him into dumping her body but then he becomes convinced that he's also killed his partner, the gardener and the gardener's mother. Now they can be alone, right? Well, that's when Monica shows up, back from the dead, which makes Terry drive his car right off a cliff.

We should have been clued in that something bad is about to happen because Marco's business manager is played by Ivan Rassimov. He's been behind the whole scheme, working with Monica to make the money while sleeping with Terry. This revelation upsets Monica, who kills them both.

See? A perfectly serviceable giallo. But wait...

Who is the black gloved person now following Monica?

Ah, it's always nice to be surprised.

Bottom of the barrel but not quite worthless

[nick121235 · 5/10 · 17 July 2021]

Not that great but not that bad either. The plot is somehow both extremely simple and confusing at the same time, and it is halfway incoherent- something which is said about giallo as a whole, but unfortunately it's missing that trait which redeems other works with that same quality: beautiful visuals. Many (not all) gialli are style-over-substance; that is to say that the plot takes a backseat to the visuals and the atmosphere that bestows. They focus on gorgeous, luscious sets, artistic camerawork, and beautiful locations. Other gialli are tight thrillers, plot focused and over the top works that take hitchock and amplify his tendencies to the 10th degree, creating a campy but coherent 70s erotic murder mystery. This is unfortunately neither. It means to be plot focused, but doesn't do enough. The story is both simple and convoluted, there are things which aren't explained, and it's a slow burner without the atmosphere or visuals to justify that pacing. If you're looking for a giallo to watch you can do a whole lot better than this.

On the flipside, if, like me, you are a giallo fanatic and have eaten up all of the main dishes, this one isn't one you must avoid entirely. It still has enough there to scratch the itch, it isn't completely useless. It's enjoyable as a piece of camp with that giallo feel and the storyline isn't fully worthless, you'll still be interested to know what's happening.

Currents of unexplainable madness, Italian style

[prohibited-name-1142 · 25 April 2004]

This rare giallo visibly has a bad reputation all over the planet, and I can't really understand why; probably because no one has seen it...

Here we have a rich playboy doing boat races, and at one of them he has an accident - his boat shatters and explodes, but he's thrown in the nearby water and rapidly picked up by the medical crew, and after an operation to the brain returns home safe and sound, with some memory loss and a prescription of calm, peace & love for recovery. However, his surroundings - including luscious Rossana Yanni, constantly mini-skirted and looking ready to seduce - stick to his incredibly designed villa, and the killings begin.

First the gardener, and then some other individuals whom I won't name not to spoil anything. The deaths aren't spectacular and we never get to see the killer, so that's a change from other well known gialli... but the plot doesn't really make sense here.

Especially when the end credits roll, we're left with a huge question mark : "What the hell just happened ?" With about 5 writers working on the script, I guess it's just unexplainable. Or it perhaps can be the horrible english dubbing that made me lose some parts...

Confusion aside, this movie is visually gorgeous, with amazing architecture + actors + landscapes. Ivan Rassimov plays his usual self, evil eyebrows included. And there's never a dull moment. In trying to include twists so often, the writers may have forgotten that in the end, it all needs to make at least a bit of sense, but they're forgiven for carving a real impressive mood for the ensemble of the movie. Highly recommended !

Mostly bad.

[dopefishie · 3/10 · 16 July 2023]

Ivan Rassimov has been in some of the best giallos ever made. And after watching this disappointing giallo, I can say that he has also appeared in some of the worst giallos ever made. What a career! But seriously, he also appeared in The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh which was released the same year as this film. Talk about ups and downs!

The actors are not to blame here. I recognized many of the actors here from other films, and they can all act (with the exception of the doctor who was utterly unconvincing). This film is primarily so bad because of the director - Tonino Ricci. Many shots feel like this is a made for TV movie or a soap opera. The overuse of zooming almost had me unintentionally laughing. I think in another director's hands this could have been a middle of the road giallo. But as is, it's a pretty bad one.

Another sea-based Tonino Ricci film

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 18 September 2017]

I never thought I'd get to see this one! Tonino Ricci injects the genre with a welcome dose of daftness, nonsensical events, and a general half- arsed approach to storytelling that he would also bring to the Rambo-rip off genre (with Days of Hell), the horror genre (Panic – the one with the mutant guinea pig) and worst of all, The Close Encounters of the Third Kind rip-off Encounters in the Deep.

This time we have Phillipe Leroy as a super-rich power boat pilot who crashes during a race (one that drags on forever as this is a Tonino Ricci film), gets some brian surgery, then comes home having forgotten just about everything about anything. Except that tree outside…that tree…there's something about that tree…the tree…something…something about the tree…that tree, plus his wife, business partner (Ivan Rassimov), potential possible mistress, and the combover guy from Sabata! Don't forget the tree as Phillipe spends an awful lot of time staring at it, and Tonino spends an awful lot of time showing us the tree from various angles.

So apart from all the times where Phillipe is staring at the tree (that tree….something about it…) or scaring the crap out of people with his remote controlled hi-fi system, he's also got to contend with the strange phone calls from ex-employees who then show up dead instead of meeting him as planned. But who is the black-gloved killer going around killing folks and how is Phillipe supposed to recover from his surgery while all the killing is going on?

Tonino throws in a bit of everything to keep you going – a punch up, a car chase, some gore (cheap and fleeting), an arse, and a disco scene (dancing to "Yellow River" by Christie!) – these were the days where the lady would do the dancing in a mini-skirt while the man sat smoking and drinking whiskey, until the slow song came on and the guy could get up close and rub a semi on.

As you can imagine, not everyone is as friendly as they seem and things start twisting all over the place in the last half hour, including a slow motion gun-slaying which was rather good, and an ending that had me scratching my head as I was presented with a harsh "FINE" all of a sudden. Good stuff.

glorious last half hour

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 6 October 2013]

When I learned that this giallo featured a speed boat racer, I was less than enthusiastic and when the film opens with a prolonged speed boat race, my mind is already wandering. The music and strange sounds that make up the soundtrack are very good, the crazy architectural weirdness that is the villa where most of the subsequent action takes place, is great and once Elga Andersen and Rosanna Yanni appear things are starting to look up. The ever reliable Ivan Rassimov also helps and yet having got over the rather slow start the film begins to throw up confusion. Maybe it was the dark print and misleading English dub but I certainly became confused and when later we begin to realise what we are supposed to believe it is no wonder! But almost as I began to despair, the picture improves, clothes become loosened, murder is to the fore and things generally brighten up for a glorious last half hour or so.

Hot Cross Bun

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 25 October 2013]

Despite it being one of the first Gialli that I picked up when I started to take a look at the sub-genre,I have somehow always ended up leaving Cross Current to become "lost in the shuffle" against,other more recent Gialli titles that I have picked up.

Searching round for a Mario Bava title which I had misplaced a few days ago,I was thrilled to stumble upon the DVD of the film by pure chance,which led to me deciding that it was finally time to discover the river that the current originated from.

View on the film:

Keeping the violence smartly limited to the moments where Marco (and the other character's) get a hard jolt of the mystery that they have found themselves caught up in,the screenplay by co-writer/director Tonino Ricci/Aldo Crudo/Arpad DeRiso/Rafael Azcona and Jose Maria Forque gradually builds the story into a slowly unravelling psychological Giallo,with Marco's fragmented memories being slowly put together piece by piece,so that along with giving this Giallo a dream-like quality,they also help to reveal the character's unsettled nature on the psychological effects of Breda's accident,and also the desperation felt by the mysterious stranger in stopping Marco from fully remember the "lost days".

Although the full screen print of the film was sadly not the greatest quality that I have ever seen,Tonino Ricci's and cinematography Cecilio Paniagua (who also worked on Mario Bava's Lisa and the Devil) excellent work was thankfully still able to shine,with Ricci and Paniagua making the appearance of the indoor scenes transform from atmospheric darkness into a bright,hazy nightmare world which is being infected by the surreal,ultra stylised brightness of the dream like outdoors.

Along with showing terror as the fragmented memories begin to join up,Philippe Leroy also gives Marco Breda a tremendous world-weary feeling,which along with showing how desperate Breda is to not be pulled into the strange events taking place around him,also gives the character a refreshingly realistic edge.Contrasting Leroy's world-weary performance,Elga Anderson and Rosanna Yanni give the movie some real sparks as Monica Breda and Terry Povani,with Anderson showing real uneasy as Marco's uncomfortable wife,and Yanni (who also appears naked in the movie) setting the movie alight by wearing a short skirt in stylishly done disco scenes,that along with a delightfully kitsch performance by Ivan Rassimov make this crossing Giallo one very much worth taking.

Not the best of its kind, but I'd still recommend it

[lazarillo · 25 August 2008]

A speed-boat racer suffers amnesia after an (apparent) boating accident and goes to his isolated villa to recuperate. His relationship with his wife (Elga Andersen) is troubled, so he starts an affair (sort of) with the another woman (Roseanne Yanni), which results in one of the three of them being shot (in a catfight gone horribly wrong). But there are several more twists--and more murders--to come.

The Italian giallo is generally believed to have originated entirely with the work of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. But there was another parallel strain of the genre, which was a little more subtle and mannered (especially compared to the often bloody, over-the-top Argento films), that was clearly inspired by the seminal French thriller "Diabolique". These gialli, which include pre-Argento films like "Death Laid an Egg" and "The Sweet Body of Deborah" and director Umberto Lenzi's influential trilogy ("Orgasmo", "So Sweet, So Perverse", and "A Quiet Place to Kill"), all involve decadent members of the European "la dolce vita" jet-set crossing and double-crossing each other in ridiculously complicated sex and murder plots. This film is in that vein (even having a "Diabolique"-type twist where a character previously thought to be dead comes back to life).

The giallo genre of that time was blessed with many talented directors, including most notably Bava, Argento, Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, and Massimo Dallamano. The director of this is clearly not in that exalted company, but his work is certainly adequate. The ambiance of the isolated villa with one eerie, gnarled tree that seems to provoke hallucinations in the mind of the protagonist is very effective. And a scene at a modern disco where Rosanne Yanni shimmies to groovy music in a ridiculously short mini-skirt ensemble is definitely memorable. Some of your more horny and/or bloodthirsty giallo fans may be a little disappointed. The murders are not particularly effective and are hard to make out (at least in the dark, muddy print I saw). Andersen (or her body double) has nude scenes, but Yanni, while she nevers wears a lot of clothes, never takes them off either. Still, the plot is pretty entertaining, and the great Ivan Rassimov appears in an important supporting role. Not one of the best gialli, but still recommended.