Top Line — Top Line(Blu Ray)
On paper, Top Line sounds like a hell of a lot of 1980s euro cult fun- seemingly a mash-up between action, adventure, and sci-fi. We have Franco Nero as a booze washed-up writer in Colombian- who after being offered some local treasures discovers an alien ship in a cave- then gets chased by the C.I.A., the K.G.B., the mob, Nazis- with a dodgy-looking humanoid henchmen & body morph alien thrown into the mix. The thing is the pacing is all over the place, the dialogue is often presented in a deadpan manner, and really much of the film is fairly repetitive- meaning while there are moments, it just does work as a constantly entertaining/engaging venture.
This is a new locked region A from Cauldron Films. It takes in a new 2k scan, a commentary track, and a few interviews including one with Mr Nero. With a reversible cover with alternate artwork.
Top Line ( aka Alien Terminator) is from 1988. It’s an Italian production filmed in Bolívar, Colombia. It was helmed by Adria, Veneto-born Nello Rossati- under the name of Ted Archer. He has fourteen feature credits to his name- these went from erotic ‘family’ comedy La Nipote (1974), Horror/ sex comedy about four zombies who run a hotel Lo Zombo, Tu Zombi, Lei Zomba (1979), and 80’s Spaghetti western sequel Django Strikes Again(1987) which finds Nero reprising his role of Django.
The film kicks off with Ted Angelo( Nero) being awoken in the morning on a booze bottle-crowded table. We find out he’s somewhat of a washed-up author, and fairly soon he gets dropped from the US publishing company- been given a plane ticket to get back to his native Italian from Colombia- but instead, he has ‘plans’. These regard going with one of the often undressing female staff members of the hotel, to look at a selection meant to be gold artifices.
From here he lands up trekking to a cave( seemingly completely cured of his alcoholism) where they find a spaceship- which looks like an earthbound gallon, with silver plate-like stacks on top. And thus begins the selection of various folks trying to get hold of Ted- most of those chasing are fairly bland/ or cliched. It only really gets interesting in a ridiculous/ good-bad movie manner in its last quarter when we get a red-shirted cyborg chasing them who has a dodgy/cheap-looking handing eyeball, and a shape-shifting & green goo-dripping alien.
Franco Nero feels like he’s phoning it in, and clearly doesn’t want to be here. The rest of the cast is fairly dull/ uninspired- yes we get a power-dressing female baddie- who camps/ hams it up well enough- but nothings really great. The mix of the film( when playing it in English) is often muffled- with the dialogue coming out the worse.
I’d say if you do have a penchant for 80’s euro cult fare- you may enjoy Top Line more than I did, but it certainly doesn’t live up to the promise of the plot/ set-up, with a large chunk of the film feeling somewhat flat/ bland.
This locked region A disc takes in a 2k scan of the film- visually this looks good/ well defined, though dialogue-wise ( certainly on the English dubbed version) it’s a little difficult to define/ hear in places.
On the extras side we have a good/ most worthy selection of new extras. First out of the gate, we have a commentary track from film historian Eric Zaldivar including audio interviews from cast members, Deborah Moore and Robert Redcross, with additional insight on Italian cult films with actors Brett Halsey and Richard Harrison. This is a wonderfully researched, well-observed, and at points rather amusing track. He begins by talking about the film's title- which he says is rather meaningless, and its alternative title Alien Terminator is much better. We find out Frano Nero played a boozed-up writer early in his career, 1978’s The Firth Cord. He talks about how he personally knows Nero- since he made a doc with him back in 2008, when the actor was most impressed by his knowledge of his work. He points out actors as they appear- giving biographies, as well as discusses the locations. Later on, he discusses the often stilted look of Italian fight scenes. We find out the film didn’t get a theatrical release and much more.
Otherwise, we have Black Top ( 22.17) which is a recent English language interview with Franco Nero- and as usual, he gives a great/interesting interview. The Strange Case of Ted Archer( 33.04) An interview with Eugenio Ercolani. And Alien Terminated ( 12.37) which sees Para politics researcher Robert Skvarla talking about the Alien theories of Top Line.
I’d hoped to like Top Line more than I did, as I’m normally a fan of trashy Euro cult mash-ups. But the simple thing is it’s just a bad film- which sadly more tried my patience than entertained. Nevertheless, this Cauldron Films release certainly offers up interesting/ worthy extras, and as said earlier if you are a fan of these types of films, who knows this may do more for you.