I was only eleven when my family went to see this film and another foreign one (I think it was JULIETTA OF THE SPIRITS, but I'm not sure). The film is simple - in a futuristic world there is an international competition that one can join, where if you succeed in killing ten competitors (all trained assassins) you can get permanent immunity and you can live at ease with 10 million dollars. The murders you commit are shown on a program on international television. The winners become instant celebrities.
The anti-hero and anti-heroine in the story are Marcello Mastrianni and Ursala Andress. They find that they are the next target in each other's way - Marcello is only one away from victory, and Ursala is on her way up. Unfortunately they fall in love. So what will they do - how will they get their points to win the game and how will they settle with each other.
It is a pretty movie - among other things I recall Marcello's hair was blond in this film. Very unusual and striking (he usually is wearing dark sun glasses and the affect makes him rather threatening looking).
Despite the grimness of the situation, it is a black comedy - on par with John Huston's PRIZZI HONOR two decades later. But Huston's film ends with the lovers (both Mafia hit "men") having to confront each other in a real battle to the death. It is not a televised contest that ends with a killing.
There are some great moments of mayhem - we see Marcello at the start working as a valet for a man who is an equestrian. He helps the man get dressed for a ride. The man has just put on some well polished boots (Marcello had been polishing them when we see him). The man is suspicious, but when Marcello leaves the room the man preens himself before a mirror - he clicks his heels, and is blown to smithereens.
THE TENTH VICTIM was set up as a science fiction tale of the future. It is one of the few that managed to predict a trend of the future - one that has not reached it's conclusion yet. The concept of the televised contest has reached the screen with such "reality shows" as THE APPRENTICE and SURVIVOR. Nobody has died in any of these shows as part of their attractions, but THE SURVIVOR has contestants voted off the island every week. One hopes they won't try to get that last drop of realism in the future - too much blood involved, and not (perhaps) done with the style that Marcello and Ursala brought to the screen forty years ago.
The anti-hero and anti-heroine in the story are Marcello Mastrianni and Ursala Andress. They find that they are the next target in each other's way - Marcello is only one away from victory, and Ursala is on her way up. Unfortunately they fall in love. So what will they do - how will they get their points to win the game and how will they settle with each other.
It is a pretty movie - among other things I recall Marcello's hair was blond in this film. Very unusual and striking (he usually is wearing dark sun glasses and the affect makes him rather threatening looking).
Despite the grimness of the situation, it is a black comedy - on par with John Huston's PRIZZI HONOR two decades later. But Huston's film ends with the lovers (both Mafia hit "men") having to confront each other in a real battle to the death. It is not a televised contest that ends with a killing.
There are some great moments of mayhem - we see Marcello at the start working as a valet for a man who is an equestrian. He helps the man get dressed for a ride. The man has just put on some well polished boots (Marcello had been polishing them when we see him). The man is suspicious, but when Marcello leaves the room the man preens himself before a mirror - he clicks his heels, and is blown to smithereens.
THE TENTH VICTIM was set up as a science fiction tale of the future. It is one of the few that managed to predict a trend of the future - one that has not reached it's conclusion yet. The concept of the televised contest has reached the screen with such "reality shows" as THE APPRENTICE and SURVIVOR. Nobody has died in any of these shows as part of their attractions, but THE SURVIVOR has contestants voted off the island every week. One hopes they won't try to get that last drop of realism in the future - too much blood involved, and not (perhaps) done with the style that Marcello and Ursala brought to the screen forty years ago.