La preda (1974) User Reviews

Melodrama And Beautiful Zeudi Araya Cristaldi's Boobies

[HughBennie-777 · 22 February 2010]

Misleadingly titled melodrama is actually an Italian production shot in South America about a dysfunctional, sodden ex-patriot couple, straight out of Tennessee Williams, who employ the jaw-droppingly beautiful Zeudi Araya Cristaldi as a maid. The husband is in love with Cristaldi (naturally, as his wife is a shrew and an alcoholic; plus, Cristaldi is unspeakably hot), yet his attempts to finalize their love and a subsequent escape with stolen money fall short after his suspenseful capture for the murder of a pawn shop owner. His money stashed away, he befriends a heavily curled Franco Gasparri in jail, entrusting the released Gasparri to rescue his now split princess-to-be from a filthy plantation, this after making making his own injurious flight from the prison. Believe it or not, this escape takes place in a gigantic cauldron of prison soup(!). Of course, Gasparri is released and after finding the girl they fall in love. A prolific share of boobies on display, as the unearthly Cristaldi wears mostly open shirts and bra-less tops, even when walking around the movie's obviously dangerous locations. One gets the sense that director Domenico Paolella merely made the woman parade around some of the seediest fish markets and loitering holes in Brazil, allowing the mostly male, leering background "extras" to harass at will. Gasparri is charismatic enough in a underwritten role, even beneath his gargantuan head of curly-cues, but boasts a build here akin to a severely undernourished 11 year old boy. Soundtrack boasts plenty of operatic 70s love ballads to serenade the many slow-motion montages of Cristaldi running nude and languishing beneath Gasparri's thrusting backside. The ending threatens to turn into another "Hunting Party" kill-fest, but sums itself up with a fitting sacrifice.