La orca (1976)

La orca: Directed by Eriprando Visconti. With Michele Placido, Rena Niehaus, Flavio Bucci, Bruno Corazzari. A teenage girl is kidnapped by 3 guys and taken to an abandoned house in the country, and make her write her own ransom letter. She soon discovers that one of her captors is infatuated with her and she will use those feelings to stay alive.

“Kidnapping movies were really big in the 1970u0026#39;s, especially after several high-profile cases like Patty Hearst. The Italian exploitation industry is notorious for taking its cues from the US movies, but that may not have been the case here since there was even a bigger kidnapping problem in Italy (eventually leading to the kidnap and murder of a former prime minister by the notorious Red Brigades). The kidnappers in this movie though are pretty low-rent types, barely connected to the Mafia. Their victim is a very spoiled, but perhaps not especially rich, teenage girl (Rena Neihaus) whose parents seem unable–or perhaps unwilling–to get her back (she hints at an incestuous relationship with her stepfather which might have been explored in the sequel to this u0026quot;Oedipus Orcau0026quot;). In this movie the youngest, most handsome kidnapper (Michele Placido) falls for the girl in kind of a reverse Stockholm syndrome, with tragic results for at least one of them. The end of movie, strangely enough, is kind of reminiscent of u0026quot;Last Tango in Parisu0026quot; but with nowhere near the dramatic gravitasu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie is generally lacking in character development. The film at one point follows the creepiest-looking gangster (Flavio Bucci from the u0026quot;The Night Train Murdersu0026quot;) to his home where he is shacking up with another gangsteru0026#39;s wife and her kid, but more than character development this seems to be more an excuse for another sex scene. The Placido character has an interesting flashback of him working on a filthy fishing barge, which is contrasted with a fantasy where he is piloting a yacht. This movie is very class-conscious in the way it has this poor Sicilian boy falling for a rich, northern girl (the Italian title u0026quot;La Orcau0026quot; comes from the designer outfit sheu0026#39;s wearing). Placido is pretty good here, but this handsome, light-complexioned hunk is not too convincing as a lower-class Sicilian ruffian. As for Neihaus, I canu0026#39;t decide if she is a bad actress, or is just playing a really obnoxious character (sheu0026#39;s more Paris Hilton than Patty Hearst). She does get naked several times which, judging from the English, title was the primary consideration.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie has a bit of a bad reputation, but I donu0026#39;t know why. Itu0026#39;s not nearly as brutal as similarly-themed American films like u0026quot;Date with a Kidnapperu0026quot; or u0026quot;The Candy Snatchersu0026quot;. I believe Niehausu0026#39; character is underage, but the actress obviously wasnu0026#39;t (sheu0026#39;d been in u0026quot;Playboyu0026quot; two years earlier). Maybe it offended people that the victim is made so unsympathetic, but that doesnu0026#39;t explain why she returns in a sequel. . . I dunno. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.”