Scott LeBrun William Dorn (Chuck Connors) is an angry and disturbed man. Frustrated over the drug overdose of his daughter, he decides to strike back at anyone whom he's imagined was responsible for her death. But what he really wants to do is punish society at large. He'll even leave bombs at feminist gatherings. Determined to nail this paranoid villain is grouchy, hard nosed detective Geronimo Minelli (!) (Vince Edwards), the kind of guy who does anything it takes to get his man. That includes working with the one man who can identify Dorn, and HE turns out to be a rapist! George Fromley (Neville Brand) is loathe to cooperate with Minelli until he realizes what the cop is capable of.Producer / director / screenwriter / cinematographer Bert I. Gordon (a.k.a. Mr. B.I.G.) is better known for his "giant monster" flicks of the 1950s, but this endlessly amusing pile of garbage that he's created deserves to be just as well known. He brings the sleaze in a major way; his movie is slow at times and crude, but undeniably a real hoot. Fans of 1970s exploitation will be delighted to note the abundance of nudity (provided by Ilona Wilson as Fromley's wife) and the wonderfully graphic gore. Of course, it's the acting that really brings this one to life. Edwards is good as the unrelenting protagonist, and Brand is a very effective creep. Hank Brandt, Christina Hart, and Ted Gehring co-star, but it's Connors who will command most of your attention. With an array of truly priceless facial expressions, he's a hysterically nutty bad guy. The icing on the cake is a music score by Michel Mention that's sometimes entertaining but is also hilariously AWFUL at other times. The movie establishes Dorn in a great way right up front, as he chastises a stranger for littering on the sidewalk.Well worth seeing if you like your cop thrillers to be on the trashy side.Seven out of 10.

Theo Robertson This film called THE MAD BOMBER tells you all you have to now . The title sums it up . He's a bomber and he's mad and he ain't gonna take it anymore . It's rather sleazy exploitation which is something of a shame because one would have hoped for more along the lines of a DIRTY HARRY or a TAXI DRIVER type of film This is a shame because you can empathise to an extent with Chuck Connors anti-hero who sees the world collapsing and become a strange place and sets about setting the world to rights via dynamite . Come on people we've all been there and some people don't listen to reasonable arguments unless they've been blown to bits . Let's not judge the anti-hero of Geronimo Minelli . Having a name like that couldn't have been easy and if not excuses his behaviour at least explains it Or does it ? You can find yourself identifying very easily with Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER if you're honest but Scorsese's film was a journey through the alienated male psyche . Here it isn't the case because Heronimo is a sociopath played and written to the hilt . Just because Geronimo rants and raves then quickly changes his tone and asks for a cheese sandwich doesn't make him multi-layered it just makes him something of a cypher or plot device Everything about THE MAD BOMBER is over done which isn't surprising . It isn't helped by the fact that there's two bad guys , one being the bomber and the other being a serial rapist and for a relatively mainstream film with a well known lead in the shape of Chuck Connors some of the violence is rather disturbing

thecynictheratandthefist Far and away the best film Bert I Gordon ever put his name to, THE MAD BOMBER is, on the surface, a routine police thriller that's uninspired as far as music, photography, etc goes. Where it's made much better than it had any right to be is with three great performances by the main leads - none of whom are . In an even better twist, it's the rapist who's probably the most 'sane' of the three! Vince Edwards is a bitter, almost Hitler-ish detective who routinely abuses his authority - where it be threatening witnesses at gunpoint, breaking and entering, or beating them half to death. He's out to catch a broken-down madman (Connors) who starts blowing buildings up out of revenge. And the only person who can provide any clues to finding the bomber is a rapist (Brand).Edwards is great as the unhinged cop who falls slightly to the right of Judge Dredd. Brand - well-versed in dealing with gruff, sleazy characters - gives another memorable turn as a gruff and sleazy rapist. But it's Connors that steals the show (this is definitely his best performance!), and every scene he's in are the highlights of the movie. His villain is actually quite sympathetic, even though for a criminal, his behaviour isn't exactly low-profile - he can't even leave the house without attacking or arguing with somebody.Gordon keeps things nice and fast-moving, and there are very few slow spots in the movie. And there's a good deal of suspense to be had in the last 15-20 minutes, where the bomber hopes to right the wrongs done to him, and he's going make the whole of L.A listen! How come movies like this don't get made now? Though it's well worth seeing even in its cut version, THE MAD BOMBER is much more effective in its entirety and actually emerges as one of the more violent and sleazy thrillers to come out of the 1970s. As one reviewer has already pointed out, it has more gore, more nudity and more profanity (there's about five minutes extra footage) than most releases. For those who are curious to seek it out, the versions to get are either the American 'Program Hunters' tape or the Canadian 'Marquis' tape (which has quite a dark print) under the title THE POLICE CONNECTION. Every other video release - Stateside or no - and ALL DVD releases are the cut version.

tavm 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.