Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent but underrated film

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

An ugly thriller directed with zero flair by Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi. Christopher Mitchum is silently killing off various mafia dons while being pursued by crooked NYPD cop Karl Malden. Mitchum, the uncharismatic son of the infinitely charismatic Robert, has virtually no dialog and virtually no chemistry with either of his leading ladies (a poorly used Oliva Hussey and an underused Claudine Auger). He drives around a lot on a noisy motorcycle while Isasi-Isasmendi's camera follows along. This deadly dull film did little to enhance the careers of any of the players. In addition to Hussey, Malden and Auger, Raf Vallone is in it too. The cinematography by Juan Gelpí is pleasing but really adds nothing. The film is so poorly edited, it's easy to believe there's a lot left on the cutting room floor that may have helped infuse this dog with SOME sort of excitement.

This vendetta story contains suspense , noisy action-packed , gun-play , motorbike racing and lots of violence . Acceptable Actioner deals about a six-year-old boy witnesses gangsters beating and drowning his daddy to death . Twenty years later , we follow the now-grown young called Ray Castor (Chris Mitchum) begins to chase and eliminate the mobsters who did it , determined to wipe out the entire band of hoods . As he systematically pursues and kills these gangs of hoodlums in N.Y. , Rome, and Lisboa . A police inspector named John Kiley (Karl Malden) investigating the murders , and a Mafia chief hires him to privately track down the murderer . A boss named Lazaro Alfredi (Raf Vallone) who heads the band , are just as determined to stop him . Meanwhile , Ray kidnaps his daughter Tania (Olivia Hussey) and things don't always go the way you expect .Stirring film in which there are nail-biting action scenes , drama , intrigue , explosion , suspenseful set pieces and big stars , if not much continuity . Chris Mitchum with his usual stoic acting -similarly his father Robert- , displays amount of weapons arsenal and fists killing nasties . Agreeable all action seventies Euro-nostalgia trip , being fast paced and rightly developed . An action filled European vengeance flick in which the avenger protagonist falls in love for his hostage and there are some thrilling motorcycle pursuits along the way before the final takes a slight twist . Successful crime thriller that follows the Vigilante genre in Charles Bronson/Death Wish style . It's certainly thrilling and exciting , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Chris Mitchum's side . Mid-seventies Lisboa-Madrid come across as very European locations and serve as an excellent backdrop for most of the action . The plot was a satisfying mix of set pieces and unexpected plot twists . A fun and romantic snapshot in time and place in which a kidnapper falls in love with his victim . Varied cast formed by great stars such as Karl Malden , Olivia Hussey , Raf Vallone , Claudine Auger as well as Spanish secondaries such as Jose Nieto , Gustavo Re , Gerard Tichy , Ricardo Valle , among others . Even by today's standards, it would be good, provided someone cared to restore it's brightly colour , perfect editing, and natural sound . Atmospheric musical score by Sergio Barditti , even referenced in ¨Kill Bill. Volume 2 (2004)¨ , as score song "Summertime Killer" is taken from this film, heard when The Bride first enters Bill's hacienda. .The director was defending his name and career , but also his money in more ways than one , as he was one of the producers investing in the project . Antonio Isasi Isasmendi is a good professional , a craftsman who has directed several films in diverse genres , as adventures and action ,especially , such as The dog 1979 , 1968 Las Vegas, 500 millions , 1965 Estambul 65 and 1963 The mask of Scaramouche ."Summertime Killer" results to be a surprisingly solid little film , including some action scenes very skillfully staged Good revenge thriller is worth trying . This is a movie thats both entertaining and enlightening . Certainly worth watching if you're in the mood for something other than typical exploitation fare.

Summertime Killer is a Spanish thriller and would seem to take influence both from the Italian Polizi and mafia genres, as well as the American action films. The film is thoroughly entertaining for the entire duration; but it does suffer from some major story and scripting problems - for a start, the film simply tries to do too much and changes gears too often and at really short notice; we go from a revenge thriller to a kidnap flick in a heartbeat and it makes the film feel rather disjointed. Add in some completely bizarre character decisions and you've got a film that is seriously hard to take seriously. Summertime Killer starts with a scene that sees a bunch of gangsters kill a man, under the nose of his son. We then fast forward a few years and the kid is grown up; the gangsters that killed his father are also being picked off one by one. Naturally, there are people out to stop him from taking his revenge; including the mob boss as well as a police detective who resolves to track the kid down.The lead character is played by Christopher Mitchum; a fresh faced actor who I was surprised to find is the son of grizzled Noir star Robert Mitchum. He actually fits the role better than I thought he would and plays the cold man of few words well. My fellow Dario Argento fans will recognise Karl Malden as the star of Cat O'Nine Tails; the distinctive actor puts in a good performance here, and the stunning Argentine actress Olivia Hussey rounds off the central cast. There's a solid stream of action that runs throughout the movie and thankfully director Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi knows his way around an action scene well enough to keep everything entertaining. The car chase towards the end of the film is a seriously gripping highlight and actually reminded me a lot of the standout car chase in James Cameron's masterpiece Terminator 2. The film has a fair few distinctive elements about it; the way the central character rides around on a dirt bike and lives in a houseboat being the biggest of them. Overall; this is certainly a very flawed film - but it's entertaining enough and I'm sure that anyone who tracks it down won't be too disappointed.

A young boy witnesses the murder of his Father by vicious mobsters, 20 years pass the Kid now a young man (Christopher Mitchum) plots his one man vengeance trail on all those responsible for his Father's death. Hot on his heels is a hard boiled cop (Karl Malden) who has been hired by he Mob to stop the kid, who has already killed a fair few of the Mob, The Kid's ace in the hole, is when he kidnaps the daughter (Oliva Hussy) of the leader of the Mob (Raf Vallone)in order to lure him out to make him an easy target, However things get more complex for the Kid as the two young'ns gradually fall for one another. A great piece of 70's Euro trash exploitation, with nice cinematography,great Motorbike stunts by the master Remy Julian and his posse of stunt men and a great score by Luis Baclov (Django). Both Mitchum and Hussey are excellent in their roles and they seem to develop some sort of surreal chemistry. Karl Malden makes the best of a very sparse script,