"They Committed Murder, Rape, Arson and One Mistake...They left The Farmer Alive"
"He doesn't get mad. He gets even."
After decades of being unavailable and morphing into one of
the great holy grails of '70s exploitation revenge cinema, THE FARMER has finally (sort
of) escaped out into the wild. Long
teased by Bill Olsen at Code Red for a DVD release going as far back as 2006 (the
trailer popped up on several of his releases) and in addition several screen
grabs from the restoration were posted. Since then, he's talked of music rights, unpaid IRS
tax liens on the film, etc., and claiming that only "23 people would buy it".
Recently it showed up on YouTube posted by Van Lukassen in a
transfer from a bootleg VHS he had purchased. The upload was removed about a
week later due to copyright infringements (reportedly instigated by Bill Olsen)
but not before it had been downloaded and since then has shown up on the Internet
Archive (although it seems to be gone from there as of this writing), but has appeared on "that" torrent site.
Obviously derived from a multi-generational tape source (see the screengrabs) with
several instances of tape roll and audio/video dropouts although far from
pristine it's watchable and back in the pre-DVD days of VHS collecting, I paid
$20.00 for bootleg VHS tapes (usually with burned in Greek subs or such) at
Chiller Theatre Conventions or via mail order that looked on par or worse than this.
Produced by and starring Gary Conway (I WAS A TEENAGE
FRANKENSTEIN 1957) it was directed by editor David Berlatsky (THE DEEP 1977) in
his only directorial credit. Filmed in the summer & fall of 1975 around Atlanta GA., according to the AFI Catalog website the film went through financial difficulty
during production before being picked up by Columbia in 1976 for distribution and
had its world premiere in Detroit, MI. on Feb. 25, 1977. It seems to have had a limited theatrical run (sometimes titled BLAZING REVENGE or THE KILLER FARMER), although allegedly it ran at Marine Corps bases throughout the country. According to Variety (via the AFI website),
the film had to be reportedly trimmed to avoid an X-rating for violence from
the MPAA. TV Guide called it "A totally negative film of violence that barely avoided an X rating".
Of course, the big question is - does the film live up to
its decades-long quest and hoped for status as one of the great revenge
exploitation films of the era? The answer is yes and no. Falling into the
category of "decorated returning veteran seeks vengeance" genre, the
film is interesting in that it sets its timeframe in post-WWII rather than the
usual Vietnam era '70s, and to its credit, it does attempt to address the issue
of race and prejudice. On the downside, there is a highly convoluted &
drawn-out plot that takes much too long to get where it needs to go and to what we're
all waiting for.
Conway plays Kyle Martin a decorated WWII Sgt. who upon
returning home to his family farm finds it destitute and in dire financial shape after the death of his father. It's been looked after by an African American caretaker, Gumshoe (Ken Rendard TRUE GRIT 1969) and with whom Kyle seems to have a close relationship (which will play out in the film climax) Immediately Kyle runs into problems with the local bank who demands payment for the back taxes owed.
In the aftermath of a road accident near his farm, Martin rescues gangster Johnny "O" (Michael Dante THE BIG SCORE 1983) from his wrecked car, and as a reward, Johnny gives him $1500.00 which is still short the amount needed for the bank. There is also Betty McCrail (Angel Tompkins THE TEACHER 1974) a former girlfriend of Martin's, who now works for Johnny "O", and she rekindles her relationship with Martin. Later Johnny is blinded in a gangland altercation and offers Kyle more money if he will take vengeance for him on those responsible. Kyle waffles initially but is soon forced into a bloody vendetta when the gangsters violently attack those close to him.
The movie works as expected (you basically know which characters are destined to die the moment they're introduced) but because the film takes almost an hour to get both the reason for and the actual instigation of the title character's vengeance it seems rather meandering for that first hour and the ending is highly implausible which is a shame as the film would end nicely without that last scene.
The film does have some interesting moments including Martin hanging his uniform and Silver Star on a scarecrow and the action sequences are terrifically brutal and live up to the hype (Martin is particularly effective with his shotgun) along with being well-edited (which makes sense as the film's director is an editor). For a low-budget film, there is an excellent feeling for period detail including clothing & vehicles, and an actual parade is neatly integrated into the plot.
Conway does a good job as the title character often wears aviator sunglasses which hide his eyes and give him a blank expressionless stare. As mentioned, the violence is extremely brutal including acid thrown in a face, a man burned alive, non-flinching close-ups of shotgun blasts to bodies, point-blank shootings to the groin & face, and an especially harrowing & brutal rape in a barn.
The music is by Hugo Montenegro (I see the soundtrack pop up occasionally in used bins as it's much easier to find than the film itself) and features a song by ex-Byrd Gene Clark titled American Dreamer which was also used in the Dennis Hopper film AMERICAN DREAMER in 1971.
Since the film's appearance on YouTube Bill Olsen has made statements yet again concerning a possible release at some point, now with "only 26 people wanting to buy it" (which at least is three more than before).
Here are some screengrabs that Code Red DVD posted back in 2006 showing their restoration work:
