Where to watch Blind Rage
3 1/2 Stars
The Americans are planning to send five million dollars to Southeast Asia for relief work. They plan to send it to a bank in Manila and the President of the bank goes to the U.S. to work out the details. He is later approached by someone who wants him to steal the money and turn it over to them. He learns that they want him to use 4 blind men to get the money. So he recruits them and brings them to Manila and recruits a woman who teaches the blind to train them. Eventually they recruit a local bank robber who is also blind to help them.
Back in the days of the Video Store, I recall seeing the oversized MGM box for Blind Rage on the shelf. The catchy title got my attention, and the cover art, advertising an appearance from genre icon Fred Williamson, promises an action-packed romp. But the images on the back looked cheap and dull, and even worse, it had a Bruce Lee wannabe prominently featured. After being burned for $3 on inferior products with exciting box art, I didn’t take a chance on Blind Rage.
In fact, I forgot the movie existed until Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery spoke about it on their Video Archives Podcast. Instantly, the mental image of the black and silver box reappeared. Their enthusiastic discussion led me to search out the movie, which is fairly easy to find in both its VHS and Beta incarnations but also on Youtube. And it’s worth seeking it out. In fact, I’m mad at myself for waiting nearly forty-years to give the movie my time.
You can’t really blame me for being hesitant; the combined filmography of Fred Williamson and Leo Fong is very shaky, and cinema from the Philippines is inconsistent at best. Yet, Blind Rage is a mini-classic hiding in plain sight all of these years with a plot so ingenious that I’m amazed no one has offered a modernized retelling or full-out reboot. There is nothing flashy about Blind Rage; it has a guerrilla filmmaking aspect that feels like 1970s Roger Corman, but the movie is so entertaining that it overcomes the lack of a professional sheen.
Directed by: Efren C. Piñon
Written by: Jerry O. Tirazona, Leo Fong, Leonardo Velasco Uy
Starring: Tony Ferrer, Leila Hermosa, Leo Fong