Let's be realistic.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

"Roma Drogata" is a disaster on every level. The film as aged terribly, where most Italian crime films from that era look better now than they did then. Tired story centers on the son of a wealthy family, who for some reason has plucked eyebrows more severe than Joan Crawford, and is wearing more makeup than a clown, who wants to get his hands on some hard drugs. He wants to throw a party and provide the party favors, so a bunch of ugly, drugged out hippies can hang out at his house and use him for drugs. Bud Cort, looking seedy and creepy is a drug pusher along with his girlfriend. There are some hallucination scenes which are hilariously dated and cheesy, and the rich boy's father is a rabid right winger who feels that all drug dealers, addicts, and thieves should be burned at the stake. And this features the worst soundtrack ever. The cheesy, dated songs made me nauseous. Complete drivel. It doesn't help that the cast is so damn unattractive either. Don't bother with this one. If you want to see a good drug-themed film from Italy, search out "Amore tossico." Now that is a well-made and serious film about the drug scene.

A somewhat offbeat, not uninteresting portrait of Italian youth culture of the 1970s, "Hallucination Strip" stars then-popular young American actor Bud Cort. Bud plays Massimo Monaldi, a hippie type who's just as much into juvenile delinquency as he is into political protest. He buys trouble for himself when he steals a valuable "snuff box", or tobacco box, and gets caught between the investigating detectives - led by Inspector De Stefani (Marcel Bozzuffi) - and the local Mafia. He is also approached by his friend Rudy (Settimio Segnatelli) to procure drugs for a party that Rudy hopes will be a life changing event for him.The advertising makes this seem as if it will be bizarre and trippy throughout. Such is not the case, as most of the time, "Hallucination Strip" tells a fairly conventional story. It isn't until the film is more than half over that we get a true set piece of psychedelia. The "dream" sequence goes on for a few minutes, and is very striking with its use of colour, makeup, and choreography. Overall, this is a very well made film that looks glorious on Blu-ray. It also serves as a 93 minute snapshot of a particular place at a particular time. Buffs should appreciate this for being a reasonably provocative combination of art and exploitation; there's sufficient female (and male) nudity to hold a viewers' attention.Bud makes the most of the material, and his role, which was definitely different from others he'd played during this time. The rest of the cast is equally fine, with an especially effective turn by Bozzuffi as the detective on a mission.This is entertaining enough to make one glad that there are home video companies that see fit to resurrect obscure items like "Hallucination Strip".Six out of 10.

L.A.'s New Beverly Cinema recently held an ultra-rare screening of the Italian obscurity, HALLUCINATION STRIP (on screen title, HALLUCINATING STRIP). This is a very odd, but, interesting half-breed between a police procedural (it's original Italian title is: ROMA DROGATA: LA POLIZIA NON PUO INTERVENIRE) and post 60's youth drug film. It's an odd hybrid and you can see why it's drifted into obscurity despite having had a full English track translation, a cult actor (Bud Cort) and a decent 70s Italian Rock score ( Alberto Verrecchia) with accompanying RCA soundtrack release (ironically, that well-done score actually works against the film ever getting a proper USA DVD release with all the song rights issues).Influenced by films like BLOW UP and EASY RIDER on one side, and THE FRENCH CONNECTION and HIGH CRIME (aka LA POLIZIA INCRIMINA LA LEGGE ASSOLVE) on the other, HALLUCINATION stars off slowly. We are introduced to Massimo (Cort) and his rich girlfriend Cinzia (Annarita Grapputo). Massimo steals an antique box from the house, which brings in the police to the situation, including rogue but honorable cop De Stafani (Marcel Bozzuffi).Massimo and his youthful friends (supposedly high school students) are involved in drugs (and revolutionary politics). One of his friends is spoiled pampered rich kid named Rudy. In one perverse scene, he is bathed by his mother and a maid. Rudy is planning a "happening" and needs drugs for his party so he gives money to Massimo to buy them. But, Massimo uses the cash to hide away a pair of his co-revolutionary comrades. So, his only collateral is the antique box he stole and he fences it to a drug dealer, code-named "The Sicilian" At the "Happening" drugs (including acid) are freely taken and Rudy has a long trip which gives the film it's American title. Being a policier (or the Italian equivalent, a Poliziotteschi) you can probably guess the morally "justified" ending.But, it isn't plot that makes HALLUCINATION interesting. It's the vibe. Cort was probably lured to Italy not just because he could have a paid vacation in Rome, but, because of the political and social milieu the film takes place in. The 1968 student protests are explicitly referenced as is the beginnings of the pro-worker and communist movements in Italy. What hurts here is the script's insistence that they are High School students. Cort was 27 when this came out. There's a scene where he tells Cinzia about an experience with a hooker when he was 15 - he's supposed to be around 17, but, he talks about this experience like it happened closer to ten years earlier, not TWO. Perhaps, the Italian version has them as University students?The acid trip sequence is both visually interesting to look at (and Verrecchia's music is solid) as well as amusing. Let's face it, it's pretty difficult to accurately depict what is in one's mind on screen. The writhing naked body-painted bodies reminds me of those 70s Playboy pictorials where they would hire someone like Salvador Dali to "imagine" his sexual fantasies into an "artistic" porn spread.HALLUCINATING STRIP is an interesting relic of the 70s, but, you can see why it is so little seen. As a cop film, it's just OK. And, young people attracted to the nudity, drugs and music are, in the end, beaten over the head with a downbeat finale a la EASY RIDER, JOE or PSYCH-OUT. Even, the rare Pro-Drug experience film like Corman's THE TRIP had a shock ending imposed upon it. Can't a hippie just have a Hallucination in peace?

Aka "Hallucinating Strip" or "Hallucination Strip" (English title). Being a huge Bud Cort fan, I was able to track down a copy of this film on VHS. To my surprise it was dubbed in Italian--with no subtitles, but, as a fan of silent films, where you can learn a lot about a story by watching how the actors react to one another, I think I have a fair understanding of the plot of the film to tell you about it.The story is about a youth named Massimo Monaldi, who, living in Rome, is a part-time college student who has some involvement in the protests that occur at his university. Massimo is also involved with drugs and he sometimes steals to make a living and support his habit (the theft of a tobacco box is very important to the story). Among his associates are his girlfriend, Cinzia, who comes from a wealthy family, and he has a wealthy male friend named Rudy who is very naive as well as strangely pampered by his overly-doting mother. Both families don't approve of their relationship with Massimo.After the theft of the tobacco box from Cinzia's home (she's an accomplice), and after encountering a certain man, a mafioso-type wanted by the police, Massimo soon finds himself in trouble with the police. The man, who has some dealings in the drug trade, befriends Massimo, but this association brings about Massimo's downfall; first leading to a crisis regarding his girlfriend and his best friend, when they attend a drug party with him; then finding himself on the wrong end of his association with the mobster. Who, at the end of the film, will get to Massimo first: the police or the mobster?I found this film to be very weird and the plot a little disjointed, but interesting, especially as it's so obscure, and is very '70's-ish in the way it was filmed. It was a side of Roman youth culture I had never seen before. However, I felt that the director, Lucio Marcaccini, who it seems, fell off the face of the earth after this film, was a lousy director and didn't fully take advantage of the talent that he was working with. Maybe he was on something himself when he was making this film, as I began to feel that I would have done better directing this film myself! I also take to task the theme song, "We Got A Lord," which was also used in a love scene and at the closing credits. Its use in the film made absolutely no sense to me.However, I thoroughly enjoyed Bud Cort as Massimo Monaldi, which I thought was a welcome change from the "crazy, demented youth" roles he had been given around the time he did "Harold and Maude". I have read that he took off a few years from acting after that film because of the typecasting he was going through. I am sure that this is the first film he did when he returned from his acting hiatus.In "Roma Drogata" he was allowed to be more versatile as a leading man: he was sometimes romantic; sometimes cool and crafty; sometimes naive; sometimes sweet and romantic; or sexy and intense in the role. I wish that he had been given a chance to do more roles like this one! I also enjoyed Marcel Bozzuffi, best known in this country as the hit man, Pierre Nicoli in "The French Connection," who played the police inspector.