The Amsterdam Kill — The Amsterdam Kill
It’s fair to say that along with both Jaws and Star Wars, The French Connection is one of the most influential pictures of the 1970’s. The Amsterdam Kill is one of the many pictures inspired/ informed by the film. It regards a Amsterdam/ Hong Kong Heroin ring, were a Ex-DEA agent- played by ageing Hollywood star/ tough guy Robert Mitchen,is brought into try uncovering the ring with the help of a informant. The late 70’s film also features Leslie Nielsen in a supporting role, and is for the most part a engaging enough/ twist ‘n’ turning plotted crime drama, with touches of action and a few WTH moment. Here from 88 Films is a Blu Ray release of the film, taking in a 2k scan, a commentary track, a interview with one of the films actors.
The Amsterdam Kill appeared in the year 1977- it was a joint Hong Kong, US, Belgium, Netherlands, and French production. Filmed in-between Holland, Hong Kong and London (briefly). It was directed/ co-written by Denison, Iowa born Robert Clouse- who is best known for helming classic Bruce Lee film’s like Enter The Dragon and Game Of Death. In total he had sixteen features to his name- taking in the likes of teenage drama Dreams Of Glass (1970), killer rat sci-fi horror Deadly Eyes (1982), and female martial arts cop thriller crossbred China O'Brien (1990).
The film kicks off in a global darting manner- as we move from nighttime off the coast of Holland, Hong Kong,Amsterdam , and London- in first three locations someone connected with the drug cartel is killed with very loud/ red ticker tape texts over the top. In London living above a pub we get introduced to Larry Quinlan (Mitchen) who was pushed out of DEA some years back for having his hands in the till. On his TV we see a interview with Hong Kong based DEA officially Riley Knight (Nielsen) discussing the recent deaths….then Larry’s phone rings.
On the other end of the phone is the greyly bearded Chung Wei (Keye Luke) a heroin kingpin who wants to get out, get a pay off, get hold of an American passport, and get away from his Amsterdam home.
So, Larry jets off to Hong Kong, and hooks up with US DEA chief Howard Odums (Bradford Dillman). And starts following down tips from Chung- moving from a small smuggling boat, onto a high up drug mule, to a abounded building/ drug factory- but the problem is things don’t go quite as planned.
Mitchen is fine as the films lead- still having a fair amount tough guy swagger/ screen presence, though he’s clearly bulked up a bit/ is often rather sweaty. Nielsen has maybe a total of ten/ fifteen-minute screentime and is fine sitting somewhere between trustworthy & shifty. The blend of Asian and America support cast is largely good.
I’d say the film did take a little time to fully pull me in- as aside from globetrotting, we get a fair few rather flat dialogue scenes. But as we go on the tension/ interest builds up as Larry follow down one tip after another. In its last twenty minutes things really take off with chasing on foot through a flower market, and a great OTT shoot up/ digger smashing through a huge greenhouse final.
Oh, and we do get a memroble WTH scene- where Larry awakes to find himself topless and gaged lying on table. He’s meant to be having a lie detector test done….but I’ve never seen one done like this!. It has very homo-erotic/ S & M undertones and really comes as a shock in both films flow and tone.
The 2k scan looks good- with well defined clarity and colours. With largely a even balance between the dialogue and score- though the ticker tape sounds are way too loud in the mix.
On the extra side we get two things. First off we get a commentary by Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) & Michael Worth- this is ok, as it’s a largely chatty/ laid back affair, though I’m not sure I learned/ gained much. We find out this was the first ever English language film from Hong Honk studio Golden Harbor. It had it’s worldwide premiere in Denmark on the 26th of December 1977. It only played in Hong Honk cinemas for a week, and landed up been 48th in that years box office. Later on they discuss locations as they appear, and give brief bios of actors. They point out interesting shots, and comment quite a lot on the action on the screen. We get also get a new shot of film interview with actor George Cheung (27.49) who played the character of Jimmy Wong, who comes to bodyguard heroin kingpin Chung Wei.
In conclusion, if you have a penchant for crime drama influenced by The French Connection, a fan of latter day Robert Mitchen films, or enjoy watching aging Hollywood tough-guys strutting their stuff( so to speak), The Amsterdam Kill will appeal.