LGM Film Club, Part 381: Kidnap Syndicate

Fernando di Leo was one of the premier B-movie Italian directors of the 1970s. He did a lot of crime movies and some of them are pretty entertaining at least. If you aren’t familiar with them, think spaghetti westerns but about the corrupt nature of Italian society at the time. Last night, I watched Kidnap Syndicate, from 1975. The story, a ripped from the headlines deal, is that a bunch of kidnappers steal a kid, but then they steal his friend too when the friend tries to help. The targeted kid is the son of a billionaire (played by James Mason who I guess must have needed the money). The other kid is the son of a motorcycle mechanic and former racer (this will later prove useful in chase scenes). Mason is an evil cheap bastard and he won’t pay the level of ransom that the kidnappers want. So they kill the mechanic’s son. The cops sort of care but don’t have the resources or wherewithal to do anything about it. So….our mechanic friend is going to raise hell in the classic revenge thriller way. It’s not a bad movie at all. In fact, I’d say it is pretty good, especially considering the production values.

It’s also a good moment to discuss the Italian tradition of dubbing voices, because isn’t the entire point of James Mason in a movie like this his voice? I mean, you could hire anyone to do that role. He’s not even the target of the revenge. He just disappears in the second half of the film. But by dubbing him into Italian, he just becomes another guy wearing a cravat. To each cinema tradition their own, but I don’t get the argument they often make that by having to read subtitles you aren’t able to watch the acting.