Noche de los sexos abiertos, La (1983)
*** (out of 4)
Film noir from the Spanish director has a stripper (Lina Romay) getting involved in the murder of a woman. A P.I. (Robert Foster) soon tries using her to track down the killer and the plot behind it. Sadly I had to view this in Spanish without any subtitles but even though I couldn't follow the plot too well this turned out to be one of the best films I've seen from this period in the director's filmmography. For those who have never seen a "well made" Franco movie then you might want to check this one out because it's very well done and features a terrific score by Daniel White and some fine performances. The film noir qualities aren't the same as you'd expect from those classic RKO films because Franco's usual touches of nudity and sex are on full display. The woman who gets murdered is first tortured with a hot iron to the crotch so this will certainly let you know you're watching a Franco film. The style of the film is also very good as Franco doesn't do as many of his zoom shots. The film also features an incredibly surreal opening ten minutes, which are among the greatest thing I've seen from the director. This sequence includes one of the most erotic scenes I've seen from Franco as well. Romay does a strip tease on top of a classic American car and the way Franco shoots this and teasing us with the nudity is extremely well done and becomes highly erotic before it's over. Both Romay and Foster turn in good performances that help the film as well. I've never been a big fan of Foster's but he actually played the role of a cool, no nonsense P.I. very well. If this ever gets released with English subtitles I'll be the first in line to pick it up.
