Nothing Underneath (1985)

Nothing Underneath (AKA The Last Shot) is a 1985 ItaIian erotic thriller that can be considered as a very late entry in the giallo cycle. It’s a giallo with a dash of the paranormal. It was directed by Carlo Vanzina and written by Carlo and his brother Enrico.

Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) is a forest ranger in Wyoming. His twin sister Jessica has just hit the big time as a fashion model in Milan. The twins have some kind of psychic link and Bob becomes convinced that Jessica has been murdered. He believes the murder occurred in her hotel, the Hotel Scala. He hops on a plane for Italy (one assumes he’s an independently wealthy forest ranger).

Bob goes to the police. It’s obvious to Commissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasence) that Bob’s crazy story cannot possibly justify an investigation but despite himself Danesi is interested. He is much less sceptical of psychic phenomena than the average cop, he likes the young American and his policeman’s instinct is aroused. He has a hunch that maybe the case might be worth looking into.

When it transpires that Jessica has indeed disappeared Danesi becomes a lot more interested. He’s not sure exactly what it is that happened but he does agree with Bob that something certainly happened. Danesi is now as anxious as Bob find Jessica.

The life of a fashion model like Jessica is glamorous but can be dangerous, a life fuelled by sex and cocaine. This was the 80s, the decade of cocaine. It was also a decade in which Milan was at the height of its economic and cultural influence. And for Milan it was a decade dominated by fashion, money, glamour, sex, drugs and decadence.

Bob is out of place is such a world. To some extent so too is Danesi. He’s about to retire and he isn’t entirely comfortable in the brash new world of 80s Milan. The investigation plunges both Danesi and Bob into this world. Bob befriends a model named Barbara (Renée Simonsen) who knew Jessica.

Danesi discovers that other models have disappeared or been found murdered and the Hotel Scala seems to be a common thread.

Danesi and Bob discover that the key to the mystery is a bizarre event that occurred shortly before Jessica’s disappearance.

The violence and sex in this movie are quite mild by giallo standards but Vanzina pulls off some fine suspense scenes. There’s a solid giallo plot. As a giallo it works extremely well. It has plenty of giallo trademarks including a black-gloved killer and unhealthy sexual obsessions.

Nothing Underneath was based (very loosely) on a novel which was a sensational and scathing account of the intrigues and excesses of the Milanese fashion world. Surprisingly enough the movie was originally going to be directed by Antonioni. That would have been a very different but possibly extremely interesting movie, a kind of Blow-Up for the 80s. Antonioni wrote a treatment based on the novel. When Antonioni dropped out of the project producer Achille Manzotti had a re-think and eventually brought in Carlo Vanzina to direct.

Vanzina scrapped Antonioni’s treatment and decided to do the film as more of a giallo, although retaining the novel’s focus on the decadence and corruption of the Milanese fashion world.

The movie was also inspired by a notorious real-life murder involving a model.

It wears its influences on is sleeve and a very major influence was clearly Brian De Palma (especially Body Double) although Enrico Vanzina was also a huge fan of Klute.

Nothing Underneath has at times almost a bit of a Miami Vice vibe.

A lot of real models appear in the movie and many of the actresses were models as well. It certainly helps that the models look like models.

The main criterion for choosing cast members was that they had the right look but they give good performances with Renée Simonsen as Barbara being particularly good.

Nothing Underneath was a huge hit at the time. It’s an effective giallo and a fascinating time capsule of 1980s Milan. It has sex, drugs, glamour, murder and decadence and it’s hard to go wrong with those ingredients. Nothing Underneath is highly recommended.

The Nucleus Films Blu-Ray looks great and is packed with extras including two audio commentaries. The movie was shot in English and, unlike most earlier Italian movies, was not post-dubbed so the English soundtrack really is the original.