MICKEY HARGITAY’S CAREER PERFORMANCE AS THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER IN BLOODY PIT OF HORROR
Mickey Hargitay (Mr. Jane Mansfield) had made a couple Italian schlock films, including Hercules vs. the Hydra, when he made 1965’s Bloody Pit of Horror ( Il Boia Scarletto – The Crimson Executioner) with director Massimo Pupillo (called Max Hunter on the posters I saw). The movie is a must see for lovers of “bad movies” (not bad as in Pearl Harbor or Bonfire of the Vanities bad, but as in Astro Zombies and Invasion of the Saucermen bad) and predates much of what would come to known as the real Eurosleaze of the 70’s. Hargitay is simply (and thankfully) over the top running around in revealing (is that a cat of nine tails in his pants or is he just happy to be acting?) red tights and a Lone Ranger mask ranting about his perfect body as he knocks off a group of impure house guests on a photo shoot for a sleazy pulp magazine. The movie would not be worth watching really except for Hargitay’s fantastically campy performance as well as the often very brutal torture and death scenes. I found a batch of memorable quotes at IMBD. I hope these make you run right now and get this camp, sleaze classic (or you can see it online at http://www.flickbyflick.com/) and learn why Mickey must protect his perfect body from these decadent house guests.
Quotes from Il Boia Scarletto (The Crimson Executioner, Bloody Pit of Horror and at least a dozen other AKAs)
- Nancy: Gosh, I’m stiff from that long ride.
- Travis Anderson: I insist that you leave my castle immediately.
Max Parks: Could you make just one exception? - Edith: You met the owner of the house. What’s he like?
Rick: It’s difficult to say, really. He was half-hidden behind a table. - Nancy: Yeah, but he’s dead, and I want to go on living.
Max Parks: I’ll double your salary.
Nancy: My life’s worth more than that.
Max Parks: Triple it.
Nancy: Okay, it’s a deal. - Nancy: I’m not just a dumb blonde, you know.
Annie: Who says you’re a blonde? - Rick: [viewing Suzy's mutilated body] No one can dare say that THIS was an accident.
- Max Parks: Oh, now what’s gotten into you? You mustn’t hide those beautiful legs of yours.
- Rick: Just as I thought: The rope wasn’t worn; it was cut. At this point, there’s only one explanation: Deliberate murder.
- Travis Anderson: Mankind is made up of inferior creatures, spiritually and physically deformed, who would have corrupted the harmony of my perfect body.
- Travis Anderson: My perfect body… in the poisonous clutches of The Lover Of Death!
- Rick: What’s this? What’s that strange shadow near the frame of the door? That almost looks like a man’s head.
- Dermot: Yes, it does. That’s exactly what I thought, but it just can’t be. Still, it does look like a man’s head, with a hood on it.
Rick: The man that said life is stranger than fiction made no mistake. - The Crimson Executioner: You fools! All of you! I am the Crimson Executioner! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! This day shall be written in blood! No man can judge me! I am the supreme law! I shall have my REVENGE!
- Narrator: On this fifth day of December in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and forty-eight, by the power vested in us by our noble sovereign, this tribunal of Artena sentences you, the Crimson Executioner, to death. You will die by one of the very instruments you devised to torture and kill your innocent victims. You dared to take into your own hands the laws of both God and man. You set yourself up as both judge and executioner. You caused inhuman suffering, and took life not from any sense of justice, but from hatred and self-gratification. You showed no mercy to your victims, and no mercy will be shown to you.
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