The Police Connection AKA The Mad Bomber 1973

"It Will Blow Your Mind !"

   Recently unleashed on DVD by Code Red this almost forgotten 1973 production was originally released by Jerry Gross's Cinemation and is produced & directed by Bert "Mr. Big" I. Gordon (Village of the Giants 1965 & The Beginning of the End 1957 among others) . In fact Bert out does even Orson Welles here as along with the above credits , he also wrote the screenplay and was the director of photography ! Not having to contend with such plot points as giant teenagers & grasshoppers and such, Bert pretty much just has to rely on plot and characterization (along with some gore & nakedness) to move this one along.
   Here we have LAPD Detective Geromino (!?) Minelli played by Vince Edwards ( here in full tilt Dirty Harry mode) chasing down mad bomber William Dorn played by Chuck "The Rifleman" Conners (in full tilt psycho mode).  Mad bomber Chuck is on the rampage after the death of his daughter by overdose and starts taking it out on all the places that had something to do with her death and/or life including school, sorority house & hospital , plus a women's lib meeting.

   Dorn builds his bombs in the kitchen while listening to plaintive folk songs sung by said daughter and spends time when not blowing stuff up by confronting litterbugs, rude drives and non-attentive waitresses by yelling at them "Your what's wrong with the world today !". With thick glasses, buttoned up double breasted suit & permanent sneer he strides around clutching his bomb laden paper bag, partically screaming "Hey, Look at me, I'm a mad bomber !"

    The plot twist here is that serial rapist George Fromley (Neville Brand) while attacking a women in the hospital saw Dorn and can identify him, which leads to the authorities having to track down the rapist to identify the bomber. As the exploitation norm the police are portrayed as pretty ineffectual with Edwards standing around uttering cop catch phrases, driving around dictating Dragnet like dialogue into a tape recorder, blowing the odd criminal away here & there and ignoring the bill of rights. Also with gratuitous nudity about every 15 min. courtesy of attempted rapes, Edwards having to visit a nudie bar and Neville Brand hanging out in his guest house with huge naked photos of his wife plastered all over the walls and watching homemade porn movies starring the wife (but thankfully not Neville).

    The special effect explosions range from decent to non-existent (in other words - off screen), but there is some pretty effective make-up effects on the blast victims with a particularly cool looking chewed up corpse at the movies climax. A fun nights entertainment and Bill Olsen at Code Red did an excellent job restoring the long lost uncut version.