Star Pilot (1977)

Unusual mid-sixties science fiction story about three crash landed aliens who "recruit" a scientist and his team to make repairs on their ship, and pilot it back to their home planet. Reasonable effort, although slightly drawn out and uninteresting, still has moments of suspense and character drama. The usual Italian glamour is provided by the sexy wanna-be actress, who goes along with the team, and wears increasingly outrageous outfits, and flirts with one of the male aliens. The lead alien, a fire haired female begins to see the error of her emotionless ways, and at one point exhibits romantic inclinations towards Kirk Morris. Acting is fine, effects average, storyline meandering but rarely fatally dull, with a few good bits, such as a rather weird attack by a group of alien gorillas. Slightly lacking in traditional Italian high octane liveliness, but compelling, and not without a few interesting twists.Pros; -Interesting basic storyline-Most of the film's acting is consistently competent and believable-Good imagery – especially the pair of skeletons at the cockpit of the other spaceship Cons; -Ends rather abruptly -Some of the movie's logic is questionable-Quite a few characters are simply left as cardboard cut outs -The alien race appear completely human and aren't especially convincing as such -Main room of the spaceship set gets claustrophobic after a while -A very long sequence where the characters are in space, changing an arial, kills the pace for a bit and is un-necessarily tedious -A child-like robot is killed early on, and after only a minute's screen time, although its' design was not especially interesting -Plot stretches thin in some places, as it is a fairly basic idea with little deviation to carry the film along -A terrible voice over at the start

Aliens from the planet Hydra crash land their spaceship on Earth. The ship's occupants kidnap a scientist and force him to fix their damaged craft. However, the scientist, his daughter, several technicians, and two untrustworthy Oriental spies who all have been taken hostage band together to mutiny against their captures. Writer/director Pietro Francisco relates the entertainingly asinine story at a snappy pace and treats the gloriously ludicrous premise with hilariously misguided seriousness. The game acting from the enthusiastic cast keeps everything humming, with especially commendable work from ravishing redhead Leonora Ruffo as formidable alien leader Kaena, Mario Novelli as the handsome and dashing Paolo, Roland Lesaffre as the no-nonsense Prof. Solmi, Kirk Morris as the stolid Belsy, and the luscious Leontine May as the spunky Luisa Solmi. Legendary muscleman Gordon Mitchell has a regrettably tiny part as gruff alien Murdu. The cruddy (far from) special effects, dodgy dubbing, clumsily staged action set pieces, a welcome appearance by a savage tribe of grunting'n'leaping primitive apemen extraterrestrials, and the totally unexpected from out in left field surprise bummer ending all add immensely to this picture's considerable campy charm. The garish cinematography by Giulio Albonico and Silvano Ippoliti gives the movie an eye-popping bright look. Nico Fidenco's neatly varied score alternates between groovy swinging lounge and more generic spacey stuff. A complete kitschy hoot.

This film has it all: spandex suited space aliens who will remind you of the brain gobblers from Monster Zero, neurotic robots who look like mummies, oriental (not Chinese) secret agents, terrible special effects, worse fight scenes, an incomprehensible intergalactic language, and the incredibly yummy Leontine May. In the pantheon of Italian science fiction, 2+5 Mission Hydra is perhaps only outdone in the cheap 'n cheesy stakes by those Argoman movies, but there's so much going on that it's hard to get bored with the proceedings. As for the Star Pilot reissue: did this really happen? Does anyone remember paying to see it in 1977? If there's an IMDb user out there had the misfortune of seeing this in expectation of more Star Wars style thrills, I'd love to hear your tale of woe!

This motion picture is interesting to watch, if for no other reason, then for analysis. It purports to have taken upon itself a complicated history. One fact is known, that of the original release date in Italy of 1966, although a website or two will show 1965. What happened since then is anyones guess. Yes, there was a 1977 release in the United States under the Monarch Releasing Corporation. The titles, "Star Pilot" and "Star Pilots" are given. Yet in the video release by Sinister Cinema the title is shown as "2 + 5: Mission Hydra" although the Monarch Releasing Corporation credit is also listed seemingly indicating this is the same version as the 1977 US dubbed release. The real confusion starts with the footage from other movies spliced in at some points. Another website claims the movies "Kaiju Daisenso(1965)" and "Yusei Gorasu(1962)" are interwoven with the plot. This may very well be, but Casey Kasem is also clearly seen. This would appear to be from "The Doomsday Machine" which had a checkered history of its own, being made in 1967(a year after "2+5"), but released in 1972. So therefore this footage must have been added only in the US release, though "2+5" premiered in West Germany in 1967. Various running times(84, 89, 90 + 92) are given as well depending on what source you refer to. The bottom line on this former late night favorite is, for the male viewers there is Leontine May(who dominates) and for the female viewers, Kirk Morris(pseudonym of Adriano Bellini) and Gordon Mitchell. It should also be mentioned for the classical music crowd, that although the credit is given on the IMDb for "theme from Toccato & Fugue in D Minor by JS Bach", it is not mentioned that it is under the direction of Leopold Stokowsky.