"The Mad Bomber" is a very adult suspense film....so adult I am surprised it didn't earn an X rating back when it debuted. After all, "Midnight Cowboy" was rated X and only had a tiny bit of nudity...and that came out only four years before this film. Yet, in "The Mad Bomber" you have some graphic rape scenes, tons of violence as well as full frontal nudity...all which shocked me as the film progressed. Even today I think you'd have a hard time getting an R for this one because of the rapes....something that did NOT need to be this graphic. So, please, please, please...be careful with this one. It's not for kids and perhaps you might wanna be sure you are looking at one of the edited versions (and they are apparently quite common).

The film is about a psychopath (Chuck Connors) who has a variety of gripes about the world. Tons of things tick him off and now he's going to show the world by planting a string of bombs as retribution. At the same time, a rapist is running amok...and the two might have seen each other. So, if you catch one, you might just be able to catch the other. Lt. Minneli (Vince Edwards) is the cop investigating these cases.

So is this any good? "The Detective" is a super-gritty X rated cop film...and I loved it...so there is a place for tough crime films. The film is very exciting and in some ways well made. However, one portion of the film made zero sense. The rapist (Neville Brand) is eventually caught in the act of raping a woman and later the Lieutenant's boss tells him to release the suspect...no charges...nothing!! On what planet would this make sense?! The Lieutenant later trumps up a traffic charge in order to bring him in for questioning. Shouldn't the fact that he gagged a woman and ripped her clothing off be enough to merit bringing him back in for questioning?!?! Another dopey moment was late in the film when the bomber was driving about on a motorcycle. He COULD he have possibly escaped?! Odd that the film was so sloppy here and there when it was otherwise exciting (though quite sleazy!).

By the way, I noticed that one reviewer seemed surprised that director Bert I. Gordon would make a 'sick' film like this. Considering he made the god-awful "Food of the Gods", "Empire of the Ants" and "How to Succeed With Sex", I certainly am not surprised by this movie! It seems pretty much in keeping with his output at that time, though the quality is a tad better than usual.

Bitter and hard-nosed Lt. Geronimo Minelli (a terrifically tough performance by Vince Edwards) requires the assistance of scuzzy no-count rapist George Fromley (gruffly essayed with growly gusto by Neville Brand) in order to identify and arrest vengeful mad bomber William Dorn (a marvelously cantankerous portrayal by Chuck Connors). Writer/director Bert I. Gordon keeps the entertaining story moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a resolutely gritty, sordid, and cynical tone throughout, and delivers several scenes of gruesome violence as well as a pleasing plethora of tasty gratuitous female nudity (special props to Ilona Wilson as Fromley's eager to please wife for happily letting it all hang out in her creepy hubby's skeevy home stag movies). Moreover, the three leads all have a field day playing their colorfully wacky characters, with Connor's furious tirades against obnoxious folks who make him angry in particular providing the film's most hysterically campy moments. Michel Menton's right-on funky score hits the get-down groovy spot. A real trashy treat.

I've just seen on Google Video what-according to the other comments I've read-was the edited version of The Mad Bomber. Chuck Connors plays the title character who's trying to avenge his daughter's death from a drug overdose on the city of Los Angeles. Vince Edwards is the cop trying to stop him. And Neville Brand is the rapist who witnesses Connors at the mental hospital he sneaks into. Supposedly there were actual scenes of nudity, graphic rape, even more intense explosions. What I saw seemed sufficient. While there are some slow spots such as Brand's having to identify Connors through various face recreations with Edwards in the police headquarters, there is enough tension to keep things going. Writer, producer, director Bert I. Gordon does seem a bit heavy-handed in his approach and many of the minor characters are mostly stick figures for plot contrivances. Still, fairly good performances by Connors, Edwards, and Brand. Update:6/23/13-I just watched on YouTube one of the cut scenes from this movie, a scene when the Brand character is watching film of a nude woman doing flirty poses that he gets off on. The rating stays.