The Mad Bomber (1973)

The Mad Bomber (1973) - aka The Police Connection - is, in many ways, an exploitation version of Dirty Harry (1971), with its tough, rule breaking, rogue police detective hunting down an equally obsessive and ruthless adversary.  In this case, the adversary is the 'mad bomber' of the title, an embittered professional man whose daughter's death while in care has triggered him into seeking revenge against everything and everyone he feels has contributed to his troubles.  As can be seen from the trailer, this involves a lot of big explosions.  Very well staged big explosions at that,  In fact, The Mad Bomber as a whole is a pretty decently made movie which, despite a limited budget, features good production values, an excellent cast and some well staged action.  It is also fast paced with a plot that takes some interesting twists.  Which might make it somewhat surprising that it was produced and directed by Bert I Gordon, 'Mr BIG' himself, best known for his cheap monster movies with bargain basement effects in the fifties and sixties.  While his penchant for giant creatures, achieved via bad back projections, dodgy matte work and unconvincing puppets and miniatures, continued into the seventies, (Food of the Gods (1976) and Empire of the Ants (1977)), Gordon also produced a number of somewhat more conventional films.

Gordon's virtues as a director are well showcased by The Mad Bomber, but it still remains very firmly an exploitation picture.  Where Dirty Harry was tough and gritty, The Mad Bomber is tough and sleazy.  Really sleazy.  The only witnesses to the first bombing who might be able to identify the bomber are a rapist and his victim.  At which the point the film goes off into a tangential sub-plot with the police setting up decoys, both police women and policemen in drag, on the streets at night, hoping they'll be attacked and that their attacker will be the right rapist.  As it turns out, there are a lot of would be rapists on the streets of LA, most of whom find themselves getting beaten up by cops.  Eventually the 'right' rapist is apprehended and coerced into co-operating.  For his troubles, though, he gets blown up by the bomber while he's jacking off to a porn movie. Yeah, it's that sleazy.  The Mad Bomber also features three of the decade's busiest exploitation actors, with Vince Edwards as the cop, Neville Brand as the rapist and the great Chuck Connors as the bomber,  All are excellent, pulling out all the stops to deliver suitably over the top performances.  Connors is especially impressive in his role, bringing an impressive air of menace to the character, while still retaining a degree of humanity.  Interestingly, his performance calls to mind that of Michael Douglas, who played a similarly embittered character with a grudge against society in Falling Down (1993), made some twenty years after the Mad Bomber.  You can't help but wonder if the writers of Falling Down had ever seen the earlier film and Connors' performance.  Anyway, The Mad Bomber is a terrifically enjoyable slice of action packed seventies' sleaze that any exploitation lover should see.  Indeed, how could you not want to watch the whole movie after seeing that trailer?