Rulers of the City (1976)

Rulers Of The City (also known as Mr Scarface) is a basic and violent gangster film. It stars Harry Baer as Tony, a happy-go-lucky young hoodlum very good with his fists... and the ladies. He runs with a mid-level gang but tangles with the big boys led by Scarface (Jack Palance), ripping him off. Naturally Scarface isn't one to laugh off being done over. Tony finds himself targeted by Palance's gang and betrayed by his former boss...

The film is rather predictable and low-rent. Don't expect much depth or shades or grey. Tony is a good likeable character but is a little too cocky and foolhardy to take serious (and yet is some kind of ultimate warrior). The film is very violent but has a light tone despite all the regular killings and beatings which might jar at times but at others it seems oddly just right.

The final showdown is a bit silly and much of the action pointless. The film is entertaining though. The pace is high throughout.

Kill (1971)

Quite simply the weirdest James Mason film I've ever seen. He plays an Interpol agent in this European co-production hunting down a rogue assassin who is killing heroin pushers. Well that sounds straight forward enough.

The thing is the film is rather eccentric, and suggests that copious amounts of recreational stimulants may have been involved in it's production...

The scenes in Pakistan especially involving Jean Seberg and Stephen Boyd score highly on the strange-o-meter. Especially as the latter wanders through Pakistani villages dressed head to toe in leather and no one bats an eyelid.

The film is odd and pretty surreal, and also very violent. Some of the action scenes are pretty good, especially the car-bike chase. But ultimately the film makes little sense and has rather a stereotyped view of life in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Definitely a film of it's time.