Michele Lupo's Escape From Death Row (1973) Review

Yesterday when speaking with fellow Bloody Italiana founder James I learned that he is now watching increasing amounts of French cinema which he assures me is very good. While such a treasonous approach to Italian genre cinema would have been rewarded with a spell in the Tower Of London in less enlightened times I am far more pragmatic so in the interest of good blog relations and to add a further international appeal to the blog I am here going to extend the hand of friendship across the English Channel and review an Italian/French co-production in the form of Escape From Death Row.

The movie begins with gangster Frankie Diomede played by Lee Van Cleef getting himself arrested so he can sneak out of the cell to commit a murder, itself a crafty plan and a great alibi. However Frankie's rivals ensure that he is arrested for real, kill his lawyer and his brother. This is the set up for a breakout aided by Tony Breda played by Tony Lo Bianco.



The movie is classic Eurocrime, with a certain amount of comedy, particularly within a well executed and lengthy car chase that take our heroes across the border from Italy into France where there they lay siege to a fish packing factory that is a cover for a drug smuggling operation combining ideas that would be recognisable to those familiar with The Sicilian Connection and the later Big Racket.

The film features Italian genre stalwart Romano Puppo who receives a tiny billing in this despite playing a significant role and also Edwige Fenech, dubbed by a Cindy Lauper sound-alike, who has less screen time than the mandatory J and B bottles.



The buddy movie and comedy elements do not in any way detract from the violent action of the revenge story but instead perfectly compliment the car chase sequence.

On the downside the DVD is taken from a poor quality original so the picture quality and sound are awful. But I loved this film anyway and since it can be picked up pretty cheaply from sellers such as Amazon I will recommend this as a budget buy.

DVD: Brentwood Home Video
Running Time: 76 mins
Extras: Lee Van Cleef Bio