The Fifth Cord

THE FIFTH CORD (Giornata nera per l'ariete) from 1971 is one of my new favorite giallo films. (This blog is rapidly becoming a giallo blog!)  Like STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER, it represents things all giallo films should have. Featured here are beautiful women, a strong crime mystery element, a dashing investigator, and of course J&B whiskey which is a personal favorite of mine now that I've seen it in so many films. :::grin:::

The plot is classic gialli. A woman is killed and the search is on for her killer. But then more and more bodies start piling up and the search becomes more frantic as the awesome Franco Nero's drunk reporter character tries to solve the goings on before more deaths occur.


Nero is great in this. I've been a fan for a while and really need to track down more of his performances. He's like the Italian Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry era. Something like that. He has this machismo that always has me thinking, "I really should aim to be more like Nero in life." heh

But, the wondrous Silvia Monti really set me spinning here. She's striking. She has that classic Italian beauty that makes her look like she's been crafted out of bronze. But...I digress. :) She's fantastic in the film and the tensions between her and Nero are fun to watch play out.

The pace of the film and the writing really keep this film rolling along. Characters are introduced in interesting ways and, as the events play out, I was really making an effort to figure out was was going on and why. It didn't disappoint!

Luigi Bazzoni's direction was super solid. I was actually rather surprised to see that he only had 12 film credits to his name - two of which were shorts and 5 others documentaries. He seemed to really know his stuff. I need to seek more out.

The film has a great style to it overall. Things are very interesting visually, but not over the top and overdone. It just seemed like there were some real thinkers on set and that they wanted to take some risks and make an effort to make something that stood out.

And they did! THE FIFTH CORD is well worth a viddy!