The Mad Bomber — The Mad Bomber( Blu Ray)
The cinematic exploitation trope of bringing together/ pairing of notable characters- be they superheroes and supervillains, classic monsters vs classic, or Mexican wrestlers- has been long held/often successful ruse. In this cheap ‘n’ sleazy crime-action caper this trope is at its all-time bad taste high- as we get a serial rapist and crazed bomber being brought together. The Mad Bomber ( aka Confessions of a Dirty Cop, The Police Connection) is a shocking, fleshy, at points down-right ridiculous example of 70’s exploitation, which you can almost smell/ taste. Here from Severin, those resurrectors of cinematic tack ‘n’ oddity- is a singing 'n' dancing Blu-ray release of this grimly entertaining curio, taking in six hours of extras.
The Mad Bomber is from 1973 and was filmed in and around LA. It was written, directed and produced by Bert I. Gordon- a Kenosha, Wisconsin-born filmmaker who got affectionately named Mr B.I.G. Between the mid-50s and early 2010 he had twenty-two features to his name, which went all over the exploitation map. These went from zero-budget-when-monsters attack fare like King Dinosaur (1955), onto giant attacking folks Sci-fi/ action of The Amazing Colossal Man (1957). From the cheap sword & sorcery of The Magic Sword (1962), to the sexy comedy of How to Succeed with Sex(1970). Though to the folk-horror of Necromancy (1972), and softcore romantic comedy of The Big Bet (1987).
From the off it's clear the film wants to offend/ shock- as within the first ten minutes we get two decidedly shocking/ bad taste scenes. A high school is blown up, with bloody & battered bodies shown. And a deaf-mute is attacked, her mouth tapped & dress grown pulled down- as she helplessly grabs for her comforter.
As things unfold we get to know are two lead ‘criminals ‘ a little better- there’s the tightly button-up and thick pebbled glassed William Dorn(Chuck Connors) who builds & packs his bombs in his green & misted glass apartment- before setting them off to explode. Then there’s the heavily side-boarded and gruff George Fromley (Neville Brand), who when he’s not at home in his poolside mancave whacking himself off to homemade footage of his glasses-wearing wife- is out blouse ripping ‘n’ mouth taping raping women.
Tracking these two down is blank-eyed ‘n’ doesn’t play by the rules cop Geronimo Minneli (Vince Edwards), who spouts lines such as ‘let's blanket the city with policewomen who are just asking to be raped’. And threatens to kill preps that won't pull that ball.
The film runs at the one hour and thirty-one-minute mark, and boy does it have an eventful/ rapid-fire pace, which tonally shifts all over the place. Going from darkly amusing street put-downs by our bomber, though to troubling a rape ‘n’ murders in dark/ creepy woodland. There are more than a few bomb-blustered bodies, weird flash-backs some featuring shooting-up with family, and a tone of bad taste 'n' sleaze.
Added to all this we have a soundtrack by Michel Mention that shifts all over the place- from angular/ creepy harpsichord unfolds, onto avant string atmospherics with rubbing ‘n’ saw wood percussion/textural detail, though to very sleazy ‘n’ cheap jazz-funk. All in all, if you’re a fan of whacked-out/bad-taste exploitation The Mad Bomber is a must.
This recent Blu-Ray features a 4k scan- this brings the 70’s colours to life very well, yes some of the blood looks a tad overly bright- but this of course was fairly common in films of the time.
On the extras side, we get a commentary track from House Of Psychotic Women Author Kier-La Janisse With Retired Bomb Squad Detective Mike Digby- the latter comes in at the twenty-one-minute mark, with the track shifting more to an interview- with the focus being bombs & bombers. Before this Janisse covers a fair bit of ground- talking about how this was the director's most downbeat/ misanthropic film. We find out that at the time of filming Connors was in discussion with Gordon, about setting up a production company to re-cut low-budget foreign films- with forty minutes of new footage featuring Connors- this never came about. She talks about the film's writer Marc Behm- who worked on the likes of The Beatles' 1965 film Help. She discusses when she first saw the film in its TV cut, briefly touching on how the versions differ. We find out the bomber character in the film was roughly based on real-life bomber George Metesky, who bombed New York during the 40s and 50s- remaining uncaught for sixteen years- ironically he got released from prison the year of the film's release. She mentions how the film is compared to 1993’s Falling Down. She talks about a few of the careers of other actors in the film, and a few more things- as I say she crams in a lot of information.
Otherwise, we have the following: an audio Interview with Director Bert I. Gordon conducted by David Del Valle( one hour twenty minutes). Patricia Gordon Remembers Her Father(26.59) which is another audio interview. To Be In The Moment( 11.03) on-screen interview With actress Cynthia MacAdams. On The Trail Of THE MAD BOMBER( 10.17) – Locations Featurette. Isolated score, the TV cut of the film which runs a few moments less than the uncut version, and TV spots.
The release comes with a sixteen-page inlay booklet featuring an essay by Andy Turner with exclusive images from still photographer Carol Gordon. And the version we were sent for review came with slip, recreating the OTT/exploitation poster work from the film.
Put simply The Mad Bomber is a bad-taste-lined and highly sleazed slice of 70’s exploitation cake….that they most certainly couldn’t/ wouldn’t make today. And it’s wonderful to see this new Blu-Ray release of the picture- with a bold/ well-defined scan, and a good selection of extras.