{"id":29936,"date":"2024-11-02T01:05:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-02T08:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29936"},"modified":"2024-11-02T01:05:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T08:05:06","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-mad-bomber-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29936","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE MAD BOMBER (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Severin Films is\ncurrently available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If the name Bert I. Gordon sounds familiar to you, then\nyou\u2019ve no doubt watched your share of genre movies from the 1950s through the\n1980s. This independent writer\/producer\/director made a name for himself making\ndrive-in flicks and is known for horror and fantasy B-movies like The\nAmazing Colossal Man, Beginning of the End, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack\nof the Puppet People, The Magic Sword, Village of the Giants, The Food of the\nGods<\/em> and Empire of the Ants<\/em>, to name but a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of his pictures were genre films, but in the early 70s\nhe tried his hand at something a bit different. The Mad Bomber<\/em> (1972)\naka The Police Detective<\/em> aka Geronimo<\/em>, is a cop movie in the Dirty\nHarry<\/em> (1971) mold, featuring a detective using any means necessary, be it\nlegal or illegal, to catch his target. Unlike the over-the-top silliness of his\nother pictures, this effort did emulate hard-nosed vigilante pictures of the\nera and had a much more vicious tone. Severin Films is now presenting the\nmovies as a \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray with some crackerjack bonus features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his daughter dies of a drug overdose, William Dorn\n(Chuck Connors) separates from his wife and becomes increasingly angry and\nbitter. Furious at those he blames for his offspring\u2019s passing, he begins\nbuilding bombs and terrorizing individuals throughout Los Angeles. Police\nDetective Geronimo Minelli (Vince Edwards) is tasked with tracking the killer\ndown. He\u2019s so driven and brutal in his quest that his actions aren\u2019t much\nbetter than the criminal he\u2019s hunting. When rapist George Fromley (Neville Brand)\nand one of his victims (Christina Hart) see Dorn in the lead up to a bombing,\nMinelli seizes the opportunity and uses Fromley to help lure and catch the\nmaniac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the tone here is grim and there are no real\nheroes in the story. All of the characters, including the protagonist, are\nnasty in the extreme and the film makes no bones about showing them commit\nhorrible acts. After targeting specific individuals, Dorn begins bombing just\nabout anyone he crosses paths with, from rude drivers to feminist activists,\nadding to the unsettling vibe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s definitely an ickiness to the picture, particularly\nwhen it follows the Fromley character, but the film somehow still manages to\nmaintain one\u2019s attention. This is because the actors are all very good (in\nparticular, Connors) and the elaborate explosions and violence is put together\nin a disturbing manner. When one of the main characters gets his comeuppance,\nit\u2019s achieved in a shocking way. All the character\u2019s attitudes are far, far\nout-of-date, but the movie does show the simmering tension and fury that was\npresent during this time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The picture quality here is much improved over previous\neditions. I can recall first seeing this movie on VHS, and it looked pretty\nterrible. I imagine later DVDs weren\u2019t much of an improvement, but this Blu-ray\nmarks a significant uptick in quality. Of course, it\u2019s a low-budget drive-in\npicture, which means that nighttime shots are grainy and that the movie is\nnever going to be reference-quality material. However, the daytime exteriors,\nas well as several interiors, look surprisingly crisp. The explosions themselves\nand the damage caused are horrifyingly sharp and detailed. This is definitely\nas good as the movie has ever, and perhaps will ever, look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The numerous extras are also fascinating. House of\nPsychotic Women <\/em>author Kier-la Janisse delivers an excellent commentary.\nShe immediately notes some of the outdated characters and how unlikable\neveryone is. However, the critic makes a compelling argument that these types\nof movies were made for public consumption and were playing to their target\naudience. She suggests that films like these are bluntly honest in presenting\ncommon views about subjects at this time, giving a sometimes more accurate\nsnapshot of people during the era.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also has Los Angeles retired Bomb Squad Detective Mike Rigby on with her, and he gives incredible insight. In addition to knowing far more about the subject than anyone involved in the film, he lays out what is accurate and not-even-close-to-accurate in great detail. Rigby reveals that Connors actually visited the Los Angeles Bomb Squad in preparation for his role and that he is quite convincing. The manner in which he puts devices together is fairly close and his general demeanor is correct. While one might expect bombers to skulk in the shadows, the expert notes that they actually tend to be impulsive, outwardly angry and eager to get into confrontations. Amusingly, the office he worked at actually still has a prop from this film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rigby also suggests the Dirty Harry<\/em>-style detective\nis completely exaggerated and borrowed from popular titles of this era. The way\nMinelli behaves, the actions he takes, and his efforts in teaming up with a\nrapist are absurd. The officer tells fascinating stories of working during this\nera and it becomes clear that the vigilante picture really was born out of a\nheightened period of criminal and terrorist activity. Bombings and hijackings\nwere very frequent and there was a great deal more crime during the period than\nthere has been since. The public was scared, hence the introduction of\nvigilante cop movies. It\u2019s an excellent track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, an archived audio interview with director Bert\nI. Gordon is included and also plays over the film. It\u2019s an 80-minute career\noverview in which Gordon talks about starting in the industry, getting early\nfamily-friendly projects off the ground and eventually turning to horror. It\nseems that he quickly realized that if he focused on making creative products\nfor the young, drive-in movie crowd, he could have a very successful career.\nThey don\u2019t talk about his picture for very long (and it\u2019s well over an hour\ninto the track), but all the stories of working with celebrities on various\nproductions are absolutely incredible to listen to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is another audio discussion with Patricia Gordon, the\ndaughter of the filmmaker. She details her experiences working on set with her\ndad and eventually taking on the role of script supervisor on several features.\nListeners learn about some of the dangerous elements of making these pictures,\nas well as how much fun they had. She believes that Attack of the Puppet\nPeople<\/em> is probably her dad\u2019s best work and the one that is closest to his\nheart. The speaker even sounds a little teary-eyed towards the end, thanking\npeople for enjoying her father\u2019s work and knowing he would be honored that\npeople still watch his pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll also get an interview with supporting actress Cynthia\nMacAdams, who became a noted feminist not long after production on the film.\nShe is very dismissive of the movie and the attitudes presented in the story,\nbut comments that it did help her to find and follow a career path that she is\nvery proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If that wasn\u2019t enough, there is a featurette showing\nlocations used in the film and what they look like today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disc also features a TV cut of the movie. Since there is\na lot of nudity and violence in the theatrical release, there are additional\nscenes added to this version. One includes a frustrated Minelli hassling a\nmovie theater owner and citing him just to let off steam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Television commercials for the picture are also included.\nAnd the Blu-ray also comes with an excellent insert booklet with extra writing\non the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mad Bomber<\/em> is an unusual title in the Bert I.\nGordon catalog, mainly because it\u2019s a detour from horror into a violent, cruel\ncrime picture. It isn\u2019t for everyone, but there are striking and impressive\nmoments thanks to the unusually talented (for this kind of a film) cast and\ncrew. This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Severin Films is phenomenal, giving\nplenty of background information about why it was made, the era in which it was\ncreated, the real history of bombers, and other interesting stories about the\nproduction. It is another outstanding Blu-ray from the distributor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Severin Films is currently available for purchase. If the name Bert I. Gordon sounds familiar to you, then you\u2019ve no doubt watched your share of genre movies from the 1950s through the 1980s. This independent writer\/producer\/director made a name for himself making drive-in flicks and is known for horror and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[103,697,2588,2933,2939,2945,3073,3269,4400,4910,14698,18083,21464,21465,21466,21467,23799],"class_list":["post-29936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-103","tag-action","tag-bert-i-gordon","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-mad-bomber","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-bomber","tag-chuck-connors","tag-crime","tag-neville-brand","tag-severin-films","tag-the-mad-bomber","tag-the-mad-bomber-blu-ray-review","tag-the-mad-bomber-film-review","tag-the-mad-bomber-review","tag-vince-edwards"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}