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Too Hot to Handle<\/strong> (1977)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New World\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexual content and full frontal nudity, violence, rape, language, drug material)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Don Schain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: J. Michael Sherman and Don Buday\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Hugo Montenegro\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fred Conde\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 27, 1977 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Cheri Caffaro, Aharon Ipale, Vic Diaz, Corinne Calvet, John vanDreelan, Jordan Rosengarten, Butz Aquino, Subas Herrero, Grace Lee, Paquito Salcedo.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The Philippines was a mecca for exploitation filmmakers in the 70s. If you needed exotic but affordable locations or cheap labor, that\u2019s where you went. Many classic non-classics were made there- e.g. The One-Armed Executioner, Vampire Hookers, TNT Jackson, Firecracker and several women-in-prison movies with Pam Grier. Another one is Too Hot to Handle<\/strong>, a silly James Bond knock-off starring sexy Cheri Caffaro (of the Ginger trilogy) as hitwoman extraordinaire Samantha Fox. The character predates both the pop singer and the porn actress, so no lawsuits were ever filed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Fox may not be a spy, but that doesn\u2019t stop her from leading a life of secrecy. A woman of great wealth, she goes from place to place on her private yacht. She attends society functions and lounges by pools in a series of outfits designed by the actress herself. What most people don\u2019t know is she kills for a living. She\u2019s one of those contract killers that kill only bad people like the S&M freak (vanDreelan, 13 Ghosts) who invites her to his place to see his collection of \u201cmedieval sporting devices\u201d. He ends up with a plastic bag over his head after a bit of foreplay (i.e. bondage). You see, Fox likes to watch her targets die up close. She\u2019s kinky that way.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Her next job consists of three targets, criminals all of them. A new crime syndicate is moving into Manila and they want their predecessors eliminated. The first to go is Stockwell (Rosengarten), a pimp who lives in a big mansion and collects art. He\u2019s a nasty piece of work, this guy. Fox visits him in the guise of a magazine reporter doing a story on his art collection. Obviously, she\u2019s really there to collect intel. She returns later, this time disguised as a new maid (wig, fake nose and brown-face makeup), and kills him by pouring a powerful paralytic into his bath causing him to drown, but not before she unveils her true identity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0By now, local cop De La Torres (Ipale, Fiddler on the Roof) is on to Fox. He knows she\u2019s the killer he\u2019s looking for, but can\u2019t prove it. Not that he really wants to. They become involved, romantically and sexually. Let me put it another way. He\u2019s more successful at nailing her in the sack than for any kind of illegal activity. For her sake, it\u2019s a good thing he\u2019s bad at his job. Otherwise, she wouldn\u2019t be able to complete her assignment. She has two- well, three actually- more targets. The second name on the list is Madame Ruanda (Calvet, Peking Express), a beauty product queen (and lesbian) who runs a spa that\u2019s really a front for a white slavery operation. Fox infiltrates and catches Ruanda\u2019s attention enough to earn an invite to her room for a late-night drink. Long story short, she kills the Madame with one of her own beauty treatments, one involving a mud facial mask and electrodes. ZAP!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The final job involves two rival drug lords, Rossimo (Aquino) and Calderone (Herrero). How she handles them is obviously the inspiration for Death Wish 4. Why do the work when you can get somebody else to do it for you? It\u2019s a quick and easy solution that absolves the orchestrator of any provable culpability.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Directed by Don Schain, who also worked with Caffaro on the Ginger movies, Too Hot to Handle<\/strong> is a fun and entertaining little B-movie that doesn\u2019t tax the brain. Of course, that goes without saying. These movies, by and large, are dumb. In this case, dumb is good. To be honest, I\u2019d rather watch a dopey B-movie than some pretentious art film. They might provide brilliant insights into the human condition or some such BS, but do they have kung fu, shoot-outs with machine guns, explosions, stick fighting, car chases, S&M, sleazeball characters, cockfighting, pedal funk guitar music, bad 70s fashions, dopey dialogue and a femme fatale heroine who\u2019s naked half the time? Too Hot to Handle <\/strong>has all that and more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Caffaro is HOT! She\u2019s a pretty decent actress too. This is the first time I\u2019ve seen her in anything, but now I\u2019m curious to check out the Ginger trilogy- Ginger (1971), The Abductors (1972) and Girls Are for Loving (1973). Apparently, it\u2019s a big deal in the world of exploitation movies. I\u2019m actually surprised I haven\u2019t heard of her until now. I have to say, I like what I see and we get to see EVERYTHING! She\u2019s not shy about doffing her clothes. She also has a way with dopey dialogue like \u201cIt\u2019s much more of a turn-on to watch something die slowly. Even then, the greater the distance, the less the fun.\u201d She drops this bon mot during an avocado-shooting date with De La Torres. That\u2019s right up there with her come-on line to the cop, \u201cAs long as you promise if you rape me, you\u2019ll work the case.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Ipale is okay as De La Torres. He\u2019s another one I\u2019m not familiar with. He\u2019s not Olivier, but he gets off at least one good line when he says, \u201cWatch out, she\u2019s a killer on the dance floor.\u201d to a guy who asks her to dance at a disco. His character might not be too bright, but he\u2019s good in a fight. He\u2019s better than the undercover he sends to check out Fox on her yacht. She kicks his ass without breaking a sweat. Popular Filipino character actor Vic Diaz (Vampire Hookers) shows up in a rare good guy role as De La Torres\u2019 partner. Him I\u2019ve seen before. I like him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0It may not be the best B-movie I\u2019ve ever seen, but I enjoyed Too Hot to Handle<\/strong> quite a bit. The score by Hugo Montenegro is pure 70s; it sounds like something from a cop show on TV. It has a fair amount of action and some nice location shooting. The plot is simple and predictable, even relying on the ticking time bomb device in the climax. Since it\u2019s the 70s, it\u2019s a clock with hands instead of a red digital read-out. Still, it\u2019s a pretty good choice for a Saturday matinee.<\/p>\r\n Too Hot to Handle (1977)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New World\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexual content and full frontal nudity, violence, rape, language, drug material)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Don Schain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: J. Michael Sherman and Don Buday\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Hugo Montenegro\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fred Conde\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 27, 1977 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Cheri Caffaro, Aharon Ipale, Vic Diaz, Corinne Calvet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Too-Hot-to-Handle-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Too-Hot-to-Handle-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C940&ssl=1\")
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