The 10th Victim

In a future where wars have been replaced by a televised killing game, volunteers buy licences to take part in the Big Hunt. Each player alternates between hunting and being hunted across ten rounds, and anyone who survives all ten receives a large cash prize and financial security for life. The Italian Marcello needs the money but finds himself cast as the prey, while the American Caroline is the hunter closing in on her tenth and final target. What begins as a straightforward contest between the two becomes complicated by the attraction that develops between them, even as the rules of the game require one of them to die.

Elio Petri directed this Italian-French production, which followed his 1964 film High Infidelity and preceded Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion and The Working Class Goes to Heaven. Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni and Ennio Flaiano wrote the screenplay, Carlo Ponti produced, and the film was based on Robert Sheckley's 1954 short story. Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress star as the two leads, with Elsa Martinelli, Salvo Randone, Massimo Serato and Milo Quesada among a credited cast of 23.

Released in 1965, the film holds a 6.6 rating on IMDb from around 5,700 votes and a 6.7 on TMDB from roughly 244 votes, while a film critics' rating of 7.6 from 11 reviews is noticeably higher than either audience figure.