The Tenth Victim
Director: Elio Petri
Year Released: 1965
Rating: 1.5
Post-Orwellian (if not simply "Orwellian") depiction of future in which people kill each other as a part of some contest to win a million dollars and be on TV - it can be viewed as a precursor to everything from Man Bites Dog to Battle Royale to the increasingly dangerous "real-life" television hits. But it becomes more and more tedious as it progresses, leaving interest far behind - when Petri dispenses with the flashy sets and out-there color design, leaving Marcello and Ursula talking or Marcello sulking, the film becomes bogged-down, and it's only until the flamboyant ending that it regains any lost attention.
