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The 10th Victim
[Blue Underground]
1965; color
Directed by Elio Petri
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress & Elsa Martinelli
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The 10th Victim is set in the 21st Century which looks, to quote Selma Bouvier-McClure, like "the not too distant future" - at least the way the future was envisioned in 1965. Visually the movie is styled like a comic book mod-pop explosion, with uber-hip clothing, inflatable furniture and architecturally wild sets. The only thing that looks distinctly mid-'60s are the cars but, then again, there are limits to everything, including filmmaking. The plot revolves around a crazy worldwide game that's basically a human hunt. The rules are fairly simple: those who sign up are randomly assigned to be either hunter or victim; whoever kills their opponent is the winner, and if you survive 10 challenges, you get a million dollars. (PS: Only 15 people have made it that far.) The hunter knows who his or her target is; the victim only knows they're being hunted but not by whom. Usrsula Andress plays Caroline, a super-sexy super-killer who's survived playing the game nine times so far, so a rock star-like level of publicity is swelling around her in anticipation of her tenth go-round. Marcello Mastriani is Marcello, a cold and calculating player who's just scored his fifth kill when he finds out, much to his dismay, he's been assigned to be a victim… and guess who his hunter is? Caroline flies to Rome to hunt down Marcello, whose killing she and her support team hope will be a huge television event. Once they arrive things begin to spin in an entirely different direction, as she becomes enamored with Marcello once she gets to know him. He's eternally suspicious of her, and susses out fairly quickly that she's his hunter. Their relationship becomes a cat-and-mouse game all it's own that begins to supersede each one's commitment to the game as they begin to fall in love. By the time they both try to kill each other, neither one is too happy to have to pull the trigger. Nevertheless, the ending (which I'll admit had me scratching my head a bit) leaves many questions unanswered and an open door for a sequel. Despite it's occasionally confusing storyline, The 10th Victim is a real treat for fans of pop art filmmaking; the eight-minute opening sequence alone is practically worth the price of admission, and it only gets better from there.
—the Kommandant
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