Blazing Magnum (1976)

Another of those films I caught back in the days when ITV used to show exploitation films in a late night slot, usually on a Thursday or Friday, I finally caught up with Blazing Magnum (1976) - also released in English as Strange Shadows in an Empty Room - again recently, courtesy of a DVD copy.  When I first saw it, I wasn't aware that it was actually an Italian made film - it had recognisable US actors in the lead roles and was clearly shot in Canada.  I just assumed that it was a Canadian Dirty Harry knock off, something backed up by its UK release title.  But, while the hero is indeed a tough city police detective and does, indeed, wield a magnum revolver, the film itself refuses to fit neatly into a single genre.  The alternative English language title hints at it being a giallo movie and it does contain some touches that might have come from such a film - the stalking of the blind woman springs to mind, here.  It also has sequences that might have come from a tough cop thriller - the opening, for instance, with the hero foiling a bank robbery and a lengthy (and extremely well staged) car chase around Ottawa.  Ultimately, though, all of these elements are merely trimmings to the main plot, which is, in effect, a who-done-it mystery, as the hero tries to find out who poisoned his younger sister.  Not that it is a genteel Agatha Christie-type who-done-it, as solving the case involves the main cop trawling through the city's sex shops and gay and transvestite scene - which embroils him in a memorable fight scene with a bunch of transvestites.  

The collision of these elements from different genres does give the film a somewhat uneven feel although, arguably, this, along with a main plot that constantly twists one way, then another, contributes to giving Blazing Magnum an enjoyably off-kilter sense of unpredictability.  Things frequently don't wind up in line with genre expectations: the car chase, for instance, doesn't end with the cop beating up or shooting the suspect, or with the latter dying in an exploding car, but instead with the main cop simply asking the suspect the questions he had intended to before the latter fled, before walking away.  Likewise, the fight with the transvestites is the result of a misunderstanding and their suspicion of the police.  Again, it culminates with the cop finally sitting down and talking with one of them to get his answers.  Most surprisingly of all, it doesn't end with some grossly homophobic comments on the cop's part.  But frustrating audience expectations seems to be one of the film's main intents - not in a negative way, but instead to keep them guessing as to the outcome not just of individual sequences, but the plot as a whole, mirroring the experience of the main character as all of his assumptions about his sister's life unravel in the course of his investigation.

Directed by Alberto De Martino, a specialist in knock offs of popular Hollywood hits, whose output included my favourite Italian  Bond knock off, OK Connery (1967), The Antichrist (1974) and The Pumaman (1980), is, on a technical level, very professionally put together, with excellent action sequences and its locations well employed.  It also manages a good degree of suspense in the stalking sequence and features an effective, dream-like, flashback sequence.  While the dialogue is never going to win awards, an above average cast for this sort of film does their best to breathe some life into it.  Stuart Whitman, a perennial 'not quite first rank star', makes for a surprisingly effective leading man, pulling off the tough guy cop business, while still giving the character a more reasonable and sensitive side.  Martin Landau is suitably shifty as the plot's main red herring, a doctor who is prime suspect for the sister's murder, while Gayle Hunnicutt and Tisa Farrow do the best they can in somewhat underwritten roles.  Exploitation fixture John Saxon turns up as Whitman's partner and delivers his usual professionalism, perfectly pitching his performance at the right level for this kind of movie.  There's no doubt that Blazing Magnum is a decidedly odd film, its cross genre nature meaning that it is neither fish nor foul, cop thriller or giallo, but its hybrid nature results in a curiously enjoyable and memorable film.  Well packaged and decently paced, it still makes for an entertaining watch.