The 10th Victim

The 10th Victim (1965), AKA La Decima Vittima, is a futuristic SciFi comedy, where violence has been legalized and organized. Each person who signs up with "the hunt" must engage in 10 hunts, 5 as hunter and 5 as hunted, alternating roles. Anyone who wins 10 hunts gets $1m, and there is money for each victory. The hunter gets complete info on their prey, and the hunted only knows that they are being hunted. If you kill the wrong person, it is 30 years in jail.

As the film opens, Ursula Andress is the hunted in her 9th hunt, and we watch her finish off the hunter with a double barreled bra. She is assigned Marcello Mastroianni as her 10th and final hunt. She is offered big bucks by a tea company if she can do him in at a particular temple while they are filming a commercial. Marcello suspects her, and makes arrangements to kill her in a special place as well. Along the way, they fall in love.

NUDITY REPORT

none, see commentary

DVD info from Amazon.

Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1

The DVD marks the first time this film has been available for home viewing, to my knowledge. 1965 is a little too soon for nudity in a mainstream film, even in Italy, but Ursula poked through and peeked out of most of her costumes. The DVD has little in the way of special features, and the transfer quality leaves much to be desired, but there are audio and sub-title options enough to satisfy anyone.

The Critics Vote

Maltin 3/4

The People Vote ...

With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 7.0

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, I would call this a C+, were it not for Ursula. Her presence makes it B.