Shadows in an Empty Room

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Audience Member This movie is hilarious. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member A relic from Canada's "Tax Shelter" film days, this movie was filmed in Montreal, directed by an Italian director with a lot of Americans in the cast and Canadian, Italian, and Panamanian money invested and then it was distributed by AIP. Stuart Whitman stars as a tough Ottawa police Captain Tony Saitta who comes to Montreal to search for search for the murder who poisoned his sister Louise (Carole Laure). We can tell that Whitman's character is tough when he dispatches a gang of submachinegun-toting Ottawa bank robbers with his S&W .44 magnum revolver. Hey, it was the 1970s and the spectre of Dirty Harry loomed over police procedurals. The film is sometimes called Blazing Magnums but that title is misleading, as Whitman's character in a heavy-handed and sometimes brutal fashion carries out a search for his kid sister's killer in a plot that seems to combine elements of the popular Italian Polizziottesco Eurocrime genre with the Giallo Horror/Thriller genre. The killer's identity is unknown, there are a lot of red herrings, Tisa Farrow's character Julie, a blind college instructor, is often imperiled. All that is missing in the black gloves and you would have a great Giallo. But Whitman (sometimes aided by John Saxon who always seemed to play cops in these movies) plunges through the sleazy side of Montreal in search of clues regarding a necklace stolen in Toronto and encounters sex shop owners, tough transvestites, and all manner of seedy lowlife fences that seem to belong in a Polizziottesco thriller. Along the way he discovers things about his sister that are troubling. Martin Landau plays Dr. George Tracer, who is one of the many suspects in this film. I like sleazy low-budget 1970s genre films so I enjoyed this one. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Kerrassaan mahtavuutta! Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Even though based in Canada & (the verison I saw) had all its credit in French I don't know if Canadian tax dollard were used to finance this so I don't really know if it would fall under Canuxploitation. There are moments where it looks like an exploitation film w/ transvestites duking it out, casting a midget for no apparent reason & a baby being held by knife point. Stuart Whitman is even a little rough as an Ottawa cop. Sorta like a Canadian Dirty Harry. This is actually quite a find thanks to a good cast (just about anything w/ John Saxon in it is good in my books), moves along @ a good clip & has a nifty little car chase. Check it out if you can find it. Im sure you will come across it under one of its over half a dozen titles Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a bit of an oddity. Blazing Magnums is part Poliziotteschi and part Giallo. And it works enough to keep one entertained for an hour and 1/2. This is definatly not the best Euro crime flick out there but its certainly not the worst either. There is one hell of a car chase thats nothing short of spectacular! Staurt Whitman plays a Dirty Harry wannabe and Martin Landau is an uncomfortable looking sleazy Doctor. John Saxon is well John Saxon. I love him and always find him entertaining in a Shatner kinda way. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member fan's of b movies this one is for you quenten tarantino would not be dissapointed by that one and if you happend to see the thriller of that movie you will be suprised when you see this film for real after Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Shadows in an Empty Room

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