Cane arrabbiato

My review was written in June 1986 after watching the film on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

"The Manhunt" is a competently made but uninteresting drama of a man wrongly sent to jail who stubbornly tries to settle accounts. Italian production filmed in April 1984 in Arizona laughingly tries to palm itself off as all-Americanwith anglicized credits, except (as usual) for the musical composer billed correctly as Francesco De Masi, since soundtrack collectors love and respect Italian cleffers.

Following in the family footsteps, John Ethan Wayne toplines as a never-named stranger who buys two horses at a Tucson racetrack and heads home. On the way, he stops off on land owned by a rancher played by Ernest Borgnine to water them and is accosted by Borgnine for trespassing. Borgnine nastily pretends the horses are his and, with no receipt for sale, Wayne is sent packing without them. Borgnine scoffs at future efforts to regain the horses and has Wayne sent to jail on a three-year rap when he tries to steal them back.

Resembling innumerable earlier and much better rustic prison films such as "Cool Hand Luke" and "Mean Dog Blues", "Manhunt" degenerates into a routine series of escape and chase scenes. Filmmaker Fabrizio De Angelis' gutess approach is evident in a sappy conclusion. After starting off effectively as a nasty villain (like he used to play early in his career), Borgnine improbably turns into Mr. Nice Guy to help Wayne out in the final reel.

Wayne is okay in action scenes, but evolves little personality here. Technical credits are good, with sound recording virtually up to U. S. standards, but De Angelis overuses slow motion at every opportunity.

This movie probably represents the peak of John Ethan Wayne's film career and it gives him a chance to play the tall man of few words but firm convictions that his father often played in earlier westerns. Unfortunately, though a likeable and attractive fellow, John Ethan Wayne simply doesn't have the screen presence of his legendary ancestor. He seems a bit bland and vacant. There's little sense of substance or toughness beneath his rarely-changing expression. The scene where he's thrown into a prison cell and beats up the hulking con who threatens him is in no way convincing.

Still, this modern-day western is an entertaining diversion with bursts of action, (of the car chase variety), and with a solid supporting cast headed by Henry Silva, Bo Svenson, and Ernest Borgnine. Acting honors probably go to Borgnine but his character's transformation from villain to father-figure seems merely like a script contrivance. One also wishes more could have been done with the character of his daughter.

Just as John Wayne received a whipping in "The Conqueror," so too does John Ethan Wayne feel the sting of leather in this movie. Borgnine's men hang him from his wrists inside a barn and give his bare back half a dozen or so lashes. (Judging from the pleased look on their faces, these men may be enjoying the whipping just a bit more than they should be.) As is usually the case in the movies, our hero seems to suffer absolutely no ill effects from this beating because, on the very next day, he's as good as new.

A young man (John Ethan Wayne) makes the mistake of stopping his newly acquired horses at a watering hole on the land of Ben Robeson (Ernest Borgnine). Robeson and his men claim the horses are theirs and when the kid raises a fuss they have him falsely arrested for theft. After a quick trial, he ends up in a prison run by a strict warden (Henry Silva) and his right hand tough man (Raimund Harmstorf). Naturally, we gets lots of harassment and torture before he breaks out hellbent on clearing his name. Fabrizio De Angelis loved him some Arizona around this time and this plays like a rehearsal for THUNDER WARRIOR II (1987), right down to the car stunts, prison fights and Bo Svenson as the sheriff (I like to think he is the same character in this as the THUNDER WARRIOR flicks). I love that the film ends with the law overlooking all the damage Wayne has caused after he produces a bill of sale showing the horses were his. Wayne has zero personality so he is coasting on looks (and name) here. He also did OPERATION NAM with De Angelis after this. He did get one smile out of me when he is on the phone and tells someone to call him back at 867-5309. That probably flew over the heads of the Italians.