The Road to Salina (La Route de Salina, 1970)

US Kino Lorber Studio Canal Blu-Ray edition - Region A


Text written 2021-10-28


This film is a very fine art thriller drama shot in a desolate volcanic landscape (by cinematographer Maurice Fellous) with haunting images.
I remember once seeing it on Swedish TV sometime in the 1970's when a youngster, and it was the images of the sand, and also the beauty
of Mimsy Farmer and the feeling of mystery that stayed with me until this day.
The film is supposedly taking place somewhere along the Pacific Mexican coast with this empty moon landscape (that can't be found in
México for sure) and the film was shot on the Spanish Canary Islands (on which island i don't know).
The acting was also uniformly great from the Hollywood celebrity child Robert Walker, Jr., Mimsy Farmer and legendary Rita Hayworth.

This is the story of Jonas Armstrong (Walker) soon to be known as Rocky Salerno and what happened to him on the road to Salina.
He was out drifting around and without any money he thumbed rides. When seeing a house at the side of the road in the desolate desert
landscape he stops and asks for water. A friendly middle-aged woman greets him warmly as her since 4 years lost son Rocky. She's Mara
(Hayworth) and she invites him to stay and to not make her unhappy again.
Jonas/Rocky is very tired and hungry and decides to play along, for a while that is, and the lost son is back.

An old man and friend of Mara turns up, Warren (Ed Beigley) and he also tells Jonas to stay and to not make her unhappy again. Apparently
she has called every young man passing by for her son Rocky.
Then "his" sister Billie turns up and she plays along too. She seems to be too "intimate" with her brother though and Mara warns them for
It to happen again. But, Jonas Rocky falls in love with her at first sight and they soon is having a lot of Sex, incestuous sex if he really would've
been her brother .... and, yes, Mimsy Farmer is nude a lot in this film (and Robert Walker, Jr. too) but, is there a crime mystery also ?

I've seen Mimsy Farmer in some gialli, and especially then in Argento's "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" and she's gorgeous, but can also be a
bit scary if she wants to, when she's showing too much of her teeth in a smile that could turn disturbing and Argento made her the psycho.
She's great in The Road to Salina, and Walker and Hayworth too. All cudos to the director who made the actors perform so natural and real.
Robert Walker, Jr. R.I.P. 1940 - 5th december 2019

The film is presented in widescreen 2.35:1 ratio and with french or english audio with english subtitles, region A edition.
Audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson .... The Bores, Zzzzzzz .... and a trailer

 

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