Rage (1966)

I saw this strange dark film on late night TV when I was a kid and it made an impression on me - certain intense scenes stayed with me - the rickety bridge crossings, the local man getting rabies and being brought in by ropes by the townspeople, Ford's dog mad from rabies, etc. I just saw it again and I really enjoyed it. It is well done, obviously on a low budget as part of an American/Mexican production. Ford is quite good as a depressed, drunk doctor at a rural Mexican mining town who gets bit by a dog and gets rabies - he then has to try and drive through harsh desert to make it into the next town in time to get the serum he needs to survive. Stella Stevens is a "dance hall girl" who is brought in with a troupe of gals to entertain the workers. Stevens is so damn hot in this flick - at the height of her Swinging Sixties sexiness. If you liked this film and the genre - try George Kennedy in the equally good A Cry In The Wilderness - a 1974 TV film about a man with rabies.

With the making of Rage, the Mexican film industry decided to do what the British have done for years. Get a Hollywood name for the lead and set the film in London with a British cast. That extra bounce of a name from the movie capital is good for box office.In this case they got two. Glenn Ford as a dissolute doctor and Stella Stevens as a working girl are in Mexico at a construction site, each practicing their own trade when Ford is bitten by a rabid dog.It's a simple story, they are out in the wilds and Ford has to reach civilization and fast before the case becomes incurable. With Stevens's help he sets out on the journey always as a medical professional looking out for the telltale signs of his condition going beyond the point of medical help.I saw Rage in theater back when it was released and after some showings on television it seems to have disappeared. Peter Ford's biography of his dad tells little about it.Ford and Stevens turn in some fine performances. Maybe this will be unearthed and put out on DVD soon.

Hard-drinking medico, mourning the death of his family in a small Mexican village inhabited by construction workers and visiting prostitutes, is bitten by a dog he later learns was rabid; his journey to get proper medical help from the next town over is fraught with obstacles and calamities. Though low-budget, "Rage" is one of Glenn Ford's best movies from the mid-'60s, a rugged adventure filmed in Durango by a mostly-Hispanic crew. Ford, together with burnt-out prostie Stella Stevens and faithful amigo David Reynoso, digs deep to give us a full-blooded character, and the insanity surrounding him is aptly filmed by cinematographer Rosalío Solano (who does go all-out with the animated camera angles, yet which provides some needed relief). Stevens, as usual, is catty, sarcastic, but with a heart of gold--she's wonderful--and Reynoso is terrific standing by the doctor through the thickest of troubles. Unusual and gripping, this race-against-time is well-written, with peculiar but effective music from Gustavo César Carrión. **1/2 from ****

Glenn Ford was VERY underrated as an actor as one other post has said. He was VERY GOOD in this movie and the story was equally enjoyable. The title says it all. If you've ever lived through the horror of MAYBE contracting rabies, this performance is VERY understandable. I saw this movie many years ago and still remember the performance that Glenn Ford gave. Now that he's gone MAYBE the Academy of Arts and Sciences will see fit to honor a great actor who should have been honored many many years ago. This man had a 4 or 5 decades worth of performances and everyone of them was top-notch. Good bye, Mr. Ford. I know that you're in Heaven and watching us at this very moment!