Search - Stateline Motel on DVD

John N. from DECATUR, GA
Reviewed on 4/13/2010...

"Stateline Motel" is a pretty solid B-grade, Italian-made thriller. Eli Wallach may be slumming, but Ursula Andress and Fabio Testi are in good form, especially in a steamy love scene. Barbara Bach has a small, but pivotal, role.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Pretty good crime drama -- but avoid the DVD

Thomas M. Sipos | Santa Monica, CA | 10/10/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This video may have been released in 1994, but the film itself was released in 1975. An Italian-Canadian co-production, shot on snowy Canadian locations and inside a Rome studio.Story concerns a criminal just released from prison; actor Fabio Testi, I think (although the star, Testi gets no billing on many of the video and DVD boxes, the billing reserved for bigger international stars such as Ursula Andress, Eli Wallach and Barbara Bach.)Right out of prison, Testi robs a jewelry store with partner Eli Wallach. They split up, the plan being for Testi to take the jewels across the border while Wallach awaits him in Vermont. But Testi's car breaks down, and he winds up in the Stateline Motel, populated by sleazy people who've guessed that he's the jewel thief, and plot to steal the jewels themselves. Ursula Andress is the love-starved, and possibly crazy, wife of the motel owner, who seduces Testi. Bach is the main squeeze of a police officer.The story sounds like classic film noir, but the style is not. It's very much a 1970s Italian crime drama, filled with 1970s clothing, lots of zoom-ins and zoom-outs, and hyperkinetic music.It's a decently entertaining film, but AVOID the DVD. The DVD didn't sync up the sound properly, so the entire soundtrack is off-sync, the dialogue, gunshots, everything, occuring after the picture. In some scenes, one character's voice comes from another character's mouth. Dreadful.I checked my VHS copy, and it's all properly synced. Although this is an Italian film, the lips are perfectly synced to the English dialgue. It appears the actors spoke English. So there's no excuse for the poorly synced DVD."

Great little film.

Amazon Pro | USA | 05/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The other reviewer was referring not to the DVD but a bargain basement one that was available a long time ago. The sound and visuals on this one are perfect."

"Everything Goes From Bad To Worse"

Carlos Burning | North Syracuse, USA | 12/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In a few obvious respects the storyline of this somber film recalls the classic film noir "The Postman Always Rings Twice" which starred Lana Turner and John Garfield. "Stateline Motel" follows the adventures of a career criminal named Floyd (played by Fabio Testi). On the same day that he is released from a Montreal prison where he was held for car theft, he and his murderous accomplice (Eli Wallach) stage a daring daylight jewel heist. After evading the police in a high-speed car chase, they take off in separate directions, intending to meet later in the U.S. where they will split the loot. With a fortune in stolen jewelry in his sole possession, Testi gets involved in a car accident, which leaves him stranded at the dreary backwater "Last Chance Motel" run by gorgeous Michelle (Ursula Andress) and her middle-aged husband (Massimo Girotti). Irresistibly drawn to each other, Andress and Testi embark on a passionate affair, while the police seem to be drawing ever closer. Though Testi's car is badly damaged, beyond the local mechanic's competence, he becomes trapped by a far more overriding circumstance: somehow, someone at the motel manages to steal his ill-gotten gains! Meanwhile, Testi's drawn-out sojourn in the boondocks brings down the wrath of his partner-in-crime Eli Wallach, who seeks out his former accomplice with gun in hand. To paraphrase Ursula, things rapidly go from worse to worst...
As the pessimistic Michelle, Ursula Andress gives the performance of a lifetime. While her fantastic beauty is literally breathtaking, her characterization is nearly heartbreaking: though she is an absolute Romantic (passionate, lonely, and adventurous) she seems to be dying piecemeal of the sheer dead-end banality surrounding her. When rugged, lawless Testi arrives on the scene she seizes the opportunity to escape monstrous ennui, and thus shows all the courage and resourcefulness of a fairy tale princess under duress! Unfortunately her opponent seems to be fate/the great status quo itself.
Nearly as memorable as Andress is the film's overall atmosphere: the cold, harsh hinterland of rural Canada, which seems to press down on the human spirit like a leaden weight. Perhaps this cruel ambience can be regarded as a metaphor for the "real world." If so, Ursula's desire to evade it is classic: such is the way of a tragic heroine.


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