Leofwine_draca
KILLING MACHINE is a low budget thriller made as a Spanish/Mexican co-production. It's about an everyday trucker who runs foul of the usual mafia types and suffers the murder of his wife in a burning truck as a result. What follows is a mix of cameos from aged actors (Richard Jaeckel, Aldo Sambrell, Willie Aames) alongside local talent (Frank Brana and Hugo Stiglitz), some gritty action sequences, political subtext, and the usual dubbed performances. The hero of this one is Jorge Rivero, once a muscular beefcake star of the 1970s, now decidedly middle-aged.I actually found KILLING MACHINE better than expect given the resources available. The opening part is slow but keeps you watching, while the action hits hard throughout and there's little sentiment or wishy-washy stuff. Lee Van Cleef plays a lawyer but brings a suitable air of menace to his part. The main problem with it is the lack of availability of a decent print; as it stands it's fuzzy throughout and would benefit from improvement. It's hardly the kind of film you'd want to go to the effort of watching again, but it does the job well enough for a one-off viewing.
simpliciuss
Just some few comments and justifications about the plot.The french unionist are also farmers. Historically, last four or five decades, every time french farmers are in strike or perform any protest about their salaries or because of low prize of their products they use to destroy the trucks and or the fruits from Spain because in their opinion Spaniards are unfair producers (best prices, best weather, more production, best quality). French police use to be absent during these vandalic acts.Under the UE laws there no reasons to make this, but it still happens occasionally. However nowadays it is more usual see French farmers stopping lorries importing farm produce from Spain, Portugal and Morocco, in a border protest over what they call unfair price competition.Sometimes farmers parked tractors to block several roads near the borders. The farmers' protests over food prices have disrupted traffic across France every year.The movie is time-located just in worst years of the Spanish-French farmers relations.
madsagittarian
This minor Euro-actioner was released in the greedy 80's on Sybil Dannings' Adventure Video label in those great big old cereal box video cases. Although this was made quickly and cheaply, and before it becomes a standard revenge action melodrama, this is a fairly absorbing drama as Jorge Rivero seeks revenge against Lee Van Cleef after his cohorts cause a disruption during some labor wars which results in the death of his wife (the lovely Ana Orbregon). These international films are always amusing alone just for the eclectic cast members. Somehow Willie Aames (who collected more than a few cheques in Grade Z Euro-Trash after "Eight is Enough" was cancelled) is Ana's BROTHER. Plus, Rivero gets some assistance from doomed starlet Margaux Hemingway against the diabolical Julot. There is nothing special in the acting or (certainly) directing department (check out the sloppily-edited car explosion sequence), but it does get a few shots in the arm with some scenes of our main man, Lee Van Cleef. Before he goes into court over some misdealings perpetrated by his henchman (Richard Jaeckel!), in his typically dry-voiced demanour and eagle-eyed glance, he says, "You guys are getting too public. I don't like it." You know he means business.
Danno-20
I can't say why, but this is probably (together with the ator films) the worst film I've ever seen. Twice I've fallen asleep while watching it. It's dark and blurry and the story is pathetic. But then again, Lee van Cleef is in it, and he's fun. I don't have so much to say about it, so I stop here.