cinema history class: the mad executioners

Session: Krazy Krimis -- Get Your Krimi On, Week 1
Movie 1: The Mad Executioners (1963)
Directed by Edwin Zbonek
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A mysterious secret society is trying, convicting and executing people who they believe have escaped the justice system. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
Watching this movie, I couldn't help thinking of some people -- Al Sharpton, George Zimmerman, Bernie Getz, OJ Simpson...

There's something appealing -- in a purely fantastic sense -- to the thought of vigilantes serving justice where the system can't. That was a big reason for the success of the Death Wish movies and The Punisher (in its various incarnations) -- though the action did, admittedly, help. The problem, of course, is that society can't actually condone vigilantism; if it does, then it falls into chaos. Who gets to decide who is truly guilty? The four names above are the subject of some controversy over their parts in, uh, disputed events. But we have courts to adjudicate these things, and as a society we live with their decisions.

But this topic is the main issue underlying The Mad Executioners. And we see in it police feeling torn about whether the vigilantes are performing a service or tearing the fabric of society.

But enough of this philosphizing...

MadEx was, I believe, the first krimi I've seen, so it's hard for me to put it in context. I think the rest of the class was in the same boat. But, all things, considered, it was very entertaining, and you could see how these were stylistic precursors of the giallos. We see the murders happening -- there's no real mystery there. But the killers are all masked, so we don't know who they are, and that's where the mystery is. That's very similar to a lot of the giallos I've seen.

It did a good job of keeping us guessing, and the red herrings were well-done. I do have to wonder why a movie such as this never gained more widespread popularity. Hell, it doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page. Oh well...

Ratings:
Me: 9
Dave: 9.7-9.8
Ethan: 8
Joe: 9.8
Sean: 2 out of 4