Blind Rage (1976) User Reviews

A '70s Anti-Masterpiece

[ReelCheese · 5/10 · 29 December 2006]

Ever see a film that you knew deep down was bad, but you were able to suspend your usual beliefs about what a good movie should be and enjoy it anyway? Meet BLIND RAGE, a low-budget '70s anti-masterpiece.

The plot is highly original, if not ridiculous. Five blind men are assembled to rob a bank in broad daylight. Why? Because who would ever suspect blind men of robbing a bank? (Well, there's a bit more to it than that, but I won't spoil it for you). The group of visually-impaired thieves (no, you've never heard of any of the actors) is carefully trained in a mock bank by the lovely Sally (Leila Hermosa, who later landed a coveted role in the highly acclaimed BONGGA KA DAY). But can they pull it off? Well, this is a dumb '70s movie, isn't it?

BLIND RAGE isn't rife with so-bad-it's-good humor, but it certainly has its moments. I'll never forget the badly-dubbed scene where one of the blind dudes breaks up an attempted sexual assault by another. In a voice with about as much emotion as Eeyore before coffee, our hero orders the aggressor to "Get off her... sex hungry bastard." Then there's the hilarity of desperate producers trying to pass this off as a Fred Williamson actioneer. They don't tell you that Freddy doesn't show up until about the last 20 minutes (though he is vintage cigar-chomping Williamson once he finally arrives).

If this review has at all piqued your interest in BLIND RAGE, you're definitely a candidate for enjoying it. (Though you'll probably have to scour eBay to find it).

Relatively painless viewing.

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 25 July 2014]

In the wake of the Vietnam war, the United States plans to send millions of dollars in aid to Southeast Asia, in order to prevent a feared "domino effect" of instability in the region. For some reason, the U.S. government didn't foresee that a criminal mastermind named Johnny Duran (Davao) has hired a woman named Sally (Hermosa) to corral a group of blind men to stage a robbery on the bank where the money is being held. BLIND MEN ROBBING A BANK. That's pretty much it. That is, until Jesse Crowder (Williamson) shows up to get to the bottom of the heist and get justice. Will the blind indeed lead the blind...to a multi-million dollar payoff? Find out today...? The original Blind Fury (1989), Blind Rage is the original vision impairment-based action movie. While we absolutely fell in love with the concept of the film: namely, a group of multi-racial blindies getting together for a bank heist, a couple of things weigh down the movie as a whole. The main detriment is the slow pace. There are long, extensively detailed scenes of "robbery practice" where Sally teaches the blind boys of Alabama how to properly execute the heist. The other thing is a mixed blessing. It's the inclusion of Fred Williamson. His appearance towards the end of the film rescues the movie from the doldrums, but the problem is, Fred should have been involved the whole time. Let's not forget this is from the same director as Ninja Assassins (1978), the movie where Cameron Mitchell didn't appear until the third act. Maybe that's director Pinon's idea of playing his last ace.

There are plenty of things to admire about Blind Rage, however. The 70's style we all know and love is in evidence, best exemplified by the massive cars that are roughly the size of aircraft carriers. The funk on the soundtrack and the rotary phones reinforce the vibe as well, not to mention the loudly patterned shirts and wood-paneled rec rooms. Speaking of the soundtrack, there's this one annoying high-pitched note that appears at least twice in the movie, and it's so ear-shatteringly irritating, and is held for such an interminably long time, we actually had to hit mute. Hopfully that wasn't Pinon's idea of suspense music. But that one note (not to be confused with the movie's idea) is washed away by the funk, as well as the presences of Fong and Williamson.

Fong plays a guy blinded during a fight with the triads, and Fred is just cool (he even exits a car in an extremely cool manner), but the rest of the acting is hilariously stilted and packed with funny pauses. That alone makes Blind Rage worth seeing, despite its flaws. And let's not forget the immortal credit "Golay as Chan". Yes, there is a man (?) out there simply named Golay. He's obviously the Cher or Madonna of the Philippines. And he played Chan. So now you know. Golay, we hardly knew ye.

Featuring a song we think is called "The System" by Helen Gamboa (Manila's answer to Shirley Bassey?), Blind Rage does have some dull moments and is flawed, but the overall concept and some of the sillier moments make for relatively painless viewing.

A great yet awful grindhouse flick

[dinkyvision · 6/10 · 26 September 2022]

Caught a double feature of this & The One Armed Executioner at the New Beverly Cinema last week and what a treat it was. Both films are very cheesy, yet seeing them on 35mm film at a theater as awesome as the New Bev was an absolute delight. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is terrible, the production is hokey... but in all of that lies the charm. It's a total throwback 70s exploitation flick worth of a Tarantino grindhouse vibe. The print shown was fairly rough, and the color was often quite warm... a few choppy edits... but it totally works for this kind of film. The audience totally got into it and it was enjoyed by all. Definitely recommend for a good bad movie. The freeze frame as the credits roll is just perfection.

International House of Pancakes?

[BCattivabrutto · 3/10 · 29 December 2009]

I can't disagree with any of the above reviews. There's never any real attempt to explain why using blind guys to rob a bank is such a great idea. Yes, no one would suspect blind guys of robbing a bank, but really, wouldn't a sighted electronic expert be more useful? At one point one of the cops posits that the blind men wouldn't be able to identify the "mastermind" (which seems an extremely generous description of Willie Black) because they are blind. Wouldn't it just be easier to kill the thieves after the crime. Dead men can't identify anybody either.

My favorite part of the movie though has to be the chase scene that starts at an International House of Pancakes and then ends up on the roof of an International House of Pancakes! The International House of Pancakes is also where the crime is planned at the beginning of the movie (a great place to plot a international crime).

That's really too much International House of Pancakes for one movie.

A silly (but irresistable) premise wasted

[Wizard-8 · 20 March 2003]

Of course, the idea of hiring five blind guys to rob a bank is pretty ludicrous. Though the movie DOES at least go to the trouble to show the men training for an extended period of time, and admit it - who could resist that premise? Sadly, the movie pretty much wastes it. It's slowly paced, and lacking excitement, even in the actual bank robbery. And Fred Williamson doesn't even appear until the last ten minutes! I'm curious as to why he is playing his Jesse Crowder character, since he made that character for his personal projects. Anyway, Williamson does provide a little spark (even though he seems to be sleepwalking here), though it's not enough to save things. I won't be surprised if Hollywood eventually remakes this movie - whatever the results, it will have to be better than this.

Jaw droppingly awful heist film is a must see for bad movie lovers and those wanting a unique viewing experience

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 28 July 2009]

Incredibly unique, though not remotely good story about syndicate of gangsters who stage a bank robbery using blind men. Give them points for the unique plot, take away a good many more for poor acting, bad dubbing and some of the most bizarre jaw dropping twists in a film. This is truly a bad movie lovers delight and the sort of thing to inflict, er, share with friends of a similar mind. Amazing, in a mind bending sort of way. Come on, can you really take a movie seriously who has the wonderful line of dialog "All Units its all going down at the International House of Pancakes". Even Fred Williamson, touted as the nominal star walks through his scenes (he's only in the last 10 minutes) in such away that he makes it clear it's a pay check job. (Williamson's scenes appear to have been shot in one day and you can watch as the sun's shadows lengthen as the sequences go on). The back of the DVD called this film a must see, I would add only for those wanting to see cinema of the strange, all others stay away.

If not for Fred Williamson in the last 6 minutes...

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 8 March 2021]

... This would be unwatchable. Hongkongsploitation at it's utter worst. Terrible story, acting and dialogue along with one of the top ten stupidest plots - blind guys robbing a bank - this is just trash from beginning to end. Now I've watched some bad movies in my time, the creeping Terror comes to mind, but this is just not even funny!

Blind

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 19 May 2023]

Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Manila, Mexico and Los Angeles. These are the cities that director Efren C. Piñon takes this action-packed film to. Those are the cities where a gang of blind men has been recruited to become a bank robbing team, all trained by Sally (Leila Hermosa). All working for Johnny Duran (Charlie Davao), they're being tracked down by Jesse Crowder (Fred Williamson).

The gang of blind men is made up of blinded mobster out for revenge Willie Black (D'Urville Martin), doublecrossed gangster Lin Wang (Leo Fong), former matador who lost his eyes to a bull Hector Lopez (Darnell Garcia), blind from birth magician Amazing Anderson (Dick Adair) and safecracker Ben Guevara (Tony Ferrer). The wild part of this scheme is that the money that is being taken is meant to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam when the criminals take it from under the government's nose.

There's one great reason to watch this all and it's a line of dialogue that made me laugh more than any other so far this year: "Unit Two to Unit One-it's going down at the International House of Pancakes!"

Williamson would play the same character in Death Journey and No Way Back, but you don't need to see either of those movies to enjoy this. I mean, what other movie has a bunch of multiracial blind men all training over and over for a big heist like it's a lights out Ocean's 11?

Exactly ZERO coercions or negotiations needed!!

[selfdestructo · 4/10 · 20 June 2023]

And there are like ten scenes that would qualify! Literally, show me an envelope of money, and I'll agree to ANYTHING, sight unseen. I'm out... (Walks away). Two seconds later... Alright, let's do this. The guy who gets caught after the heist folds like a pyramid of cards, spills all the beans, with the promise of "I can't promise you anything!," by some crooked no-good cop.

This might be the dumbest idea for a heist movie I've ever seen, and I try to watch them all. "Mastermind" assembles 5 blind guys, with axes to grind, to rob a bank of millions of dollars. Why is it a brilliant idea to hire and train 5 blind men? YA GOT ME. They give a couple reasons in the movie. 1. Who would suspect it?! (Only the people in the bank don't realize they're blind?! Ok, scratch that one), and 2. The robbers can't identify who is pulling the strings (Watch the movie, and discover this point is moot as well). What you've got is an original idea, problem is, it makes no sense. And judging by the fate of the criminals, it's a colossally dumb idea.

Considering the diversity, characteristics, the fact that they're in a foreign country, AND the number of people present for the robbery, you'd ASSUME these guys would be highly recognizeable. No, they question... ONE witness. And the, uh, brains behind the operation uses his real name and ID leaving the country. Everyone else stupidly seals their own fates. What a buncha maroons.

I know, I know, I'm missing the point. This is a prime, albeit idiotic, slice of 70's grindhouse (er, Rated R, only I can't think of anything to push it beyond a 1976/78 PG), replete with print flaws, bad dubbing, Grade-A 70's grindhouse soundtrack, and starring... exploitation icon Fred Williamson?! Hmm, he's top-billed, is the focus of the international trailer, and, wait for it (I mean really WAIT), yeah, he pops up in the closing 11 minutes. He follows a perp around, and hides clearly in plain sight (I mentioned criminals sealing their own fates). He chases, gets in one brief fight, pulls out a bent cigar for laughs, THE END. #1 billing!

Blind Rage is dumb, clunky, slow, and low-rent enough to make for a great Rifftrax treatment.

"No one would ever suspect blind men of robbing a bank!"

[udar55 · 7/10 · 23 March 2010]

Banker Johnny Duran (Charlie Davao) gets in on a bank job offer from criminal Lew "My friends call me Wilbur" Simpson (B.T. Anderson) that is too bad to be true. Simpson wants to have five blind men rob a bank of $50 million dollars. Why? See the above quote. Well, I guess that settles it. They assemble the global blind crew - Triad member Lin Wang (Leo Fong), US gangster Willie Black (D'Urville Martin), magician Anderson (Dick Adair), Filipino Ben Guevara (Tony Ferrer) and blind matador (!!!) Hector Lopez (Darnell Garcia) - and get trained by teacher for the blind Sally (Leila Hermosa) in a bank mock up. Seriously. The job goes off perfect before Ben is suspected ("Hey, I've got this blind guy in my files") and provides cinema's quickest ratting out of partners ever. Everyone expect Duran is killed in a huge explosion (their next grand idea was to sneak into the airport by hiding inside a gas tanker actually carrying gas!). Duran makes it to Los Angeles at the 70 minute mark where Jesse Crowder (Fred Williamson) is waiting to take him down.

Makes the bank robbing dogs concept in THE DOBERMAN GANG (1972) look credible in comparison. You have to love any film that adopts such a ridiculous concept and follows through on it. I mean, there is seriously a line where Duran says, "Alright, let's start by synchronizing your Braille watches." The crooks could have had the same success rate and saved some time if they just barged in with guns a blazin' rather than take the time to train a bunch of blind guys. The film is all over the map - literally, as they shot in the US, Mexico, Japan and the Philippines. I'd love to hear the financing stories on this. Williamson shows up as an afterthought, only appearing on screen for about ten minutes. Director Efren C. Piñon also worked with Leo Fong on ENFORCER FROM DEATH ROW (1978).

You can watch it with your eyes closed.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 16 March 2022]

What a damn exploitation gem from Manilla...Underrated and not for intellectuals, but rather single blue collars after work or for sundays matinees. Lousy directing, laughable dialogues as in a cartoon album for ten years old kids, corny script, where sub characters are so unusual, where there is no real lead role and a topic for which the audience never gets bored. Every one watching this film wishes the gang to suceed in his task: rob the bank. The most unexpected heist film I have ever seen and of course improbable too, except DOBERMAN GANG, where a bank heist was pulled not by blind men but dogs; you can confound both movies, at least put them on the same scale. I highly prefer this to any Hollywood one hundred million dollars budget crap. I repeat, tha main thing to remember is that there is NO LEAD, MAIN character in this movie. And that's the first time in my moviegoer life that I see a film where the "should be main character" appears in the last seven minutes of the feature. All the rest of the crew, the cast have already "disappeared". Sooo unexpected, and hat's precisely what I like. I love.

Gloriously ridiculous 70s grindhouse trash

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 2 August 2009]

Five blind guys -- erstwhile assassin Lin Wang (chubby wonder Leo Fong), bitter electronics expert Ben Guevara (solid Tony Ferrar), suave former mobster Willie Black (a divinely hip D'Urville Martin), magician Anderson (Dick Adair), and matador Hector Lopez (Darnell Garcia) -- are rounded up by shifty criminal mastermind Johnny Duran (a nicely slimy portrayal by Charlie Davao) to pull off a daring bank heist. Our sightless quintet are whipped into shape by sultry trainer Sally (fetching Leila Hermosa). Competently directed by Efren C. Pinon, with a deliciously silly script by Fong and Jerry O. Tirazona, a steady pace, a funky-throbbing score by Tito Sotto, a ludicrously serious tone, plain, no-frills cinematography by Benjamin L. Lobo, a welcome last reel appearance by the great Fred Williamson as rugged private eye Jesse Crowder, and a perfectly grim nobody wins bummer ending, this endearingly absurd item certainly does the trick as an entertainingly inane piece of chintzy low-grade schlock. The story blends nifty elements of chopsocky and blaxploitation into a tasty synthesis while the globe-trotting locations which include Tokyo, Manila, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas add an extra exotic flavor. Among the hilariously campy highlights are the grueling and extensive training session the blind guys undergo for the big gig, Willie Black attempting to rape Sally, the positively sidesplitting (and pretty exciting) bank robbery, and the blind dudes choking on fumes and drowning in petrol while trapped in a gas tanker. A complete cruddy riot.

Amusingly nutty action caper

[lor_ · 25 January 2023]

My review was written in March 1983 after a screening at Selwyn theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

Filmed with the more appropriate title "Steal 'em Blind" in 1977, "Blind Rage" is a funny, inept action film as yet undiscovered by connoisseurs of camp.

Filipino production (with American guest actors) was filmed in globe-hopping locations amounts to an unwitting cheapie parody of the international (superimposed card: "Paris 5:30 p.m.") thriller genre.

"Foolproof alibi" gimmick has five blind men, led by familiar blaxploitation actor D'Urville Martin, rounded up to execute a bank robbery in the Philppines. A pretty, poorly-dubbed FIlipino heroine (Leila Hermosa) trains them, with funny dialog, such as the caper run-through beginning with her saying: "Let's begin by synchronizing your Braille watches".

Adequate tension is maintained during the robbery, though the blind quintet's movements often resemble sighted people merely disguised in dark glasses. Poor continuity has a bright, daylight robbery, yet the police cars arrive at the bank in the dead of night.

After an hour's running time devoted to standard recruitment, training and caper execution (plus periodic martial arts outbursts), story premise is suddenly unraveled as the Filipino police immediately (through the aid of an informer) hunt down blind suspects. The heroes escape, hidden in the vast tank of a gasoline truck (a la "White Heat"), which suddenly crashes explosively into a jet plane to end the main narrative.

For the tacked-on final reel, the local crime mastermind flees to Los Angele, where CIA agent Jesse Crowder (Fred Williamson reprising his tough-talking, stogie-smoking screen character from his own films such as "No Way Back") has a showdown with him at the International House of Pancakes. Zipping breezily in and out of the film, Williamson (only his stogie is mussed during some hectic chasing and fighting) gets a tagline which sums up the film's philosophy: "Next time you want some of Uncle Sam's money, ask for it".