Blood and Bullets

KNELL, THE BLOODY AVENGER, aka BLOOD AND BULLETS, is one of the best in the mixed filmography of director Alfonso Brescia, who is best known today for the trashy STAR WARS rip-offs that he put out in the late 1970s. Brescia is nobody's idea of an auteur but I grant him a certain grudging respect for turning out commercial oddities on what are obviously low budgets. KNELL begins with George Eastman - playing a rare hero - turning up in New York to avenge the death of his father. Straight away we're in the thick of the action as he interrupts a hostage situation at the airport, and the action flows fast from there with shoot-outs and car chases aplenty. Jack Palance co-stars as a vengeful mob boss, and cheap and cheerful is a good descriptor for this one.