Overview
Rabid Dogs is an Italian thriller-noir film directed by Mario Bava, starring Riccardo Cucciolla, Don Backy, Lea Lander, Maurice Poli, George Eastman and Erika Dario. Taking place largely in real time, the film follows a trio of payroll robbers who kidnap a young woman and force a man with a sick child to be their getaway driver, all while trying to avoid being caught by the police.
An adaptation of the Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine short story "Man and Boy" by Michael J. Carroll, Rabid Dogs was a departure for Bava, as its emphasis on realism sets it apart stylistically from his colourful horror films. Following three weeks of principal photography, producer Roberto Loyola declared bankruptcy, resulting in the then-incomplete film being shelved due to his ownership of the rights. Rabid Dogs remained unseen for over two decades, but following an acquisition of the rights by Lander, it has since been released on home video in multiple versions, with various scenes being partially re-shot, added or removed for continuity. One of these versions, titled Kidnapped, was supervised by Bava's son Lamberto and his colleague Alfredo Leone.
A Franco-Canadian remake of the same name, directed by Éric Hannezo, was released in 2015.
Plot
Four criminals rob a car carrying company wages. During their getaway, their car is damaged and one is killed. The remaining criminals, Doc (Maurice Poli), Blade (Aldo Caponi) and Thirty-Two (Luigi Montefiori) are forced to flee on foot into an underground car park, pursued by the police. The criminals take hostages, and when Blade accidentally kills one, the police, seeing the other hostage Maria (Lea Lander) in danger, back away, allowing the criminals to escape in her car. Doc knows that a description of their new getaway car will soon reach the authorities, so they hijack another car. The driver, Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), protests that he has to get his young child – a comatose boy in a blanket – to hospital, but the criminals force him to drive them out of the city towards their hideout.
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