Verdict
Summary
A half-baked comic strip of a movie with sexy women, exotic locales, great music, a super villain, bad guys by the dozen, and stylish lighting, The Girl From Rio tries to be an “R”-rated 007 movie but without the grandeur or the budget (or the plot), and it succeeds as a mild diversion in the vein of a smutty men’s adventure novel, but fails as a film without the weight to be substantial.
Plot:
A cult of women plans to take over the world … but first they need a cool 10 million!
Review:
Somewhere on a private island, a cult of women warriors trained in combat and in lethal seduction plans a takeover of the world. Their leader is a sexy bisexual babe named Sumuru (Shirley Eaton, the Bond girl who got painted in gold in Goldfinger), and she sets her sights on a stolen briefcase with 10 million bucks that a handsome thief named Jeff (Richard Stapley) is carrying around with him. Where did the money come from? He’s mixed up in romance with maybe the wrong woman, and he’s now tied with a crime lord (played by George Sanders who spends a lot of time getting massages) who thinks that by sending some masked goons to rough Jeff up that he’ll persuade Jeff to simply drop the money off, but Jeff is no pushover, even when Sumuru kidnaps him and has her women throw themselves at him as a means of sexual torture. What could break him is when the women torture his woman, but Jeff might be Sumuru’s match in strength, cunning, and sexual prowess!
A half-baked comic strip of a movie with sexy women, exotic locales, great music, a super villain, bad guys by the dozen, and stylish lighting, The Girl From Rio tries to be an “R”-rated 007 movie but without the grandeur or the budget (or the plot), and it succeeds as a mild diversion in the vein of a smutty men’s adventure novel, but fails as a film without the weight to be substantial. Director Jess Franco concerns himself with the nudity and the sex with unintentionally funny close-ups of nipples or gun barrels, and while I sort of enjoyed the exotic nature and beauty of the locations and the women, the movie is never really exciting or involving enough with a plot to sustain its outlandish premise. Fans of 007 riffs and sexy comic strips may enjoy it, while a select audience will also appreciate the Euro sexploitation elements, but it may be a struggle for everyone else.
Blue Underground has just released a stacked 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray combo pack of The Girl From Rio, and it has never looked or sounded better on home video. Loaded with bonus commentaries, interviews, additional scenes, a trim reel, and the RiffTrax edition, plus more material, this release is geared for its fan base big time.
Bonus Materials
- Ultra HD Blu-ray (2160p) and HD Blu-ray (1080p) Widescreen 1.66:1 feature presentations
- Audio: 1.0 DTS-HD MA (English)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Francais, Espanol
- NEW! Audio Commentary with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth
- NEW! Rocking in Rio – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco”
- Rolling in Rio – Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers and Star Shirley Eaton
- NEW! Additional Scenes from German Version
- Trim Reel
- Poster & Still Gallery
- NEW! RiffTrax Edition – THE GIRL FROM RIO Riffed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett & Kevin Murphy (78 Mins.)
