Director - Christos Kefalas (Snoken, Hemresa)
Starring - Hristos Politis (To the Last Man, Hell in the Aegean), Franca Parisi (Atom Age Vampire, The White Angel), and Stephanos Stratigos (Proud Eagles, Fire and Blood)
Release Date - 1970
Genre - Drama/Romance
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I had a bad taste in my mouth after watching The Wild Pussycat. I love exploitation and all the creative sub-genres that spawned from it but I can quickly tell that Greek exploitation was something in it's own right. The double feature from Mondo Macabro had a second Greek exploitation film titled The Deserter. This 1970 film was another first time watch for me but I would be lying if I said I was excited to see it. If The Wild Pussycat was the main attraction I could only imagine the quality of film the second billed film was going to be.
The film follows a military deserter who is running from the horrors of war. After running for what feels like forever he decided to stop by a small pond to cool off. A woman that lives nearby spots him and the two immediately get a sexual attraction. The woman is too shy to make her move so she decides to steal his clothes and run away. The man wonders to a farm nearby where a lonely housewife takes him in and hides him in the barn where a relationship blooms. Her husband often neglects her sexual needs for work so she seeks it out with the deserter. However, the young girl from earlier is the housewife's cousin and a love triangle begins with the woman fighting for his attention. The young, shy woman refuses to let go of him and turns to a witch to make him love her.
I really do dislike writing negative reviews for movies sent to me for review. I always try to remain respectful and find positive things within the film but I can't like everything sent my way. The Deserter was a step up over TWP but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. The acting in this one is a step up over the other film. The characters are a little more detailed and the cast has something to work with. They do a great job at taking those characters and taking them off the paper. With that being said, they are still rather clichéd and their scenes are very predictable. The story for this one does flow like a day time soap but tosses in a few twists here and there. I really enjoyed the dark atmosphere centered around the witch but this aspect was not fully explored. There is so many amazing possibilities with this and the film did itself a disservice by not fully exploring it. The film movies at a slow pace and mostly hits like a romantic drama. There is several scenes that are just too long and the interactions between the characters is just all wrong for the tempo of the scene. Finally, if you want blood and gore you will need to seek it elsewhere. However, if you want a character driven romance with some dark moments then you are in luck. Overall, The Deserter is not an amazing film but it does deserve at least one watch. It does have it's moments but no replay value what so ever.
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