José Guardiola Movies
- 1984
Meant to reflect the harsh realities of segments of society in 1960s, Franco-era Spain, this slow-moving, drawn-out story is about a struggling, impoverished family who work on the estate of a wealthy aristocrat. Paco (Alfredo Landa) is the head of his small family who constantly tries to placate his irascible overlords and also teaches them how to hunt birds. His wife Régula (Terele Pávez) is as subservient as Paco. The family is rounded out by a mute, crippled daughter, a son away at military service, and Azarias (Francisco Rabal), an uncle whose mental stability is in question. These individuals are contrasted with Señor Iván (Juan Diego) who rules over them with a detached incomprehension that brands the family as not much different than the animals he hunts. The señor has no compunction about shooting Azarias's pet bird, or forcing Paco to continue with a bird hunt even though he has fallen and broken his leg. Given the insane behavior of the aristocratic Iván, the half-crazy Azarias might be the only one to get through to him on his own level. The 1984 Cannes Film Festival awarded Alfredo Landa and Francisco Rabal a shared "Best Actor" Award for their roles in this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alfredo Landa, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1966
Franco Nero stars in this Italian-produced variation of his popular "Django" spaghetti westerns. Borrowing a page from the repertoire of Bob Steele, Nero spends most of the film looking for the murderer of his father. The guilty party turns out to be the father of Nero's own half brother. Well, there goes the afternoon! A superb closing sequence and convincing spurts of violence along the way make up for The Avenger's dull stretches. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Continental cast and scenes of intense violence may earmark Texas, Addio as a spaghetti Western, but the plot of this Italian/Spanish production unspools very much like its Hollywood counterpart. Django star Franco Nero's character provides the link; his two-fisted, taciturn Texas sheriff, Burt Sullivan, is cut from the same unwavering in-his-duty cloth as Gary Cooper's lawmen as he crosses the border to bring wealthy and sadistic Mexican crime boss Cisco Delgado (José Suárez) to justice for the murder of his father. Sullivan's body count may be staggeringly high by the film's fade-out, but his kills are strictly in defense of himself, his greenhorn brother, Jim (Cole Kitosch, aka Alberto Dell'Acqua or Robert Widmark), or later, a group of Mexican revolutionaries led by lawyer Luigi Pistilli that attempts to overthrow Delgado's corrupt regime. Director Ferdinando Baldi (whose Western curriculum vitae includes the more European-flavored Blindman [1971] and Get Mean [1975], with American ex-pat actor Tony Anthony) makes excellent use of the Almeira, Spain, locations (well photographed by future Trinity Is Still My Name director Enzo Barboni); and if his pacing is occasionally draggy, he more than makes up for it with a wealth of well-staged brawls and shoot-outs. His script (written with Django co-scribe Franco Rossetti) is lean and solid, with a hint of noir in its central dark secret regarding Delgado's relationship with Sullivan's family. ~ Paul Gaita, Rovi
- Starring:
- Franco Nero
- 1963
Actor Lawrence Harvey made his debut as a writer and director with this downbeat drama. Sean McKenna (Harvey) is awaiting execution in a prison in Tangiers after being convicted of murder. McKenna was trying to prevent the crime in question but was instead made the scapegoat. With his life hanging in the balance, McKenna's girlfriend Catherine (Sarah Miles) and his brother Dominic (Robert Walker Jr.) engineer an escape plan, and McKenna is able to beat his date with the hangman. However, McKenna's reunion with Dominic and Catherine proves not to be as joyous as he had expected when he discovers that they have been having an affair. Harvey was to direct only two more films, the second of which, Welcome to Arrow Beach, would prove to be his final work. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Sarah Miles, (more)
- 1963
Not to be confused with the like-vintage Brazilian film Besame Mucho, the Italian-Spanish Besame is a confusing melange of several genres. Sara Montiel, Maurice Ronet, and Franco Fabrizi are the most recognizable faces appearing on camera during the film's 101 minutes. Per the title, which translates to "Kiss Me", the film spotlights plenty of romantic entanglements. These are subjugated to a dizzying progression of espionage activities, wherein no one is able to separate the good guys from the bad guys. Films in Review magazine used to refer to international spy flicks like Besame as "kaleidescopes"-as apt a description as any for this almost indescribable romp. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1958
A jealous man is confronted with his worst fear in this thriller. Merritt Blake (Richard Kiley) is an architect from the United States who is invited to work on a project in Spain. Since he cannot speak Spanish, Blake is in need of an interpreter, and he hires Mari Zarubia (Carmen Sevilla), a beautiful Spanish woman, to serve as his translator. Zarubia's boyfriend, Antonio (Jose Guardiola), does not trust Blake, and follow him as he travels the countryside with Zarubia, convinced he intends to steal his woman away. Antonio's paranoia becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when Blake and Zarubia find themselves falling in love, which only feeds his violent jealousy. Spanish Affair was shot on location in Spain, with Sam Leavitt's VistaVision camera work making the most of the nation's scenic backdrops. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Kiley, Carmen Sevilia, (more)
- 1957
Director Riccardo Freda does not take this uninspired, turgid spy film very far in its story about a federal agent (Edmund Purdom) and his efforts at blasting apart an international drug cartel. In one of the more unlikely turns of a plotline, the agent falls in love with the daughter of the cartel's head honcho. Needless to say, he is not expecting his future father-in-law to give his blessings at any possible nuptials. Instead, the action pits the agent against his arch-enemy as circumstances plod along (unless racing through an action scene in speeded-up time) to a final and deadly confrontation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edmund Purdom, Geneviève Page, (more)
- 1956
The Spanish-Italian swashbuckler stars Ricardo Montalban as a ruthless Arab chieftan. It is Montalban's mission in life to removed the usurping Gino Cervi from his father's throne, and he doesn't care how many throats he has to cut to achieve his goal. Along the way, he falls in love with Cervi's virtuous daughter Carmen Sevilla. It's curious that Los Amantes del Desierto contains so many torrid love scenes, since these were excised by the Spanish and Italian censors long before the film was distributed to the US as Desert Lovers. The most remarkable aspect of the film is that it was lensed on location in Egypt at a time when that country was engaged in a shooting war with several neighboring states. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ricardo Montalban, Carmen Sevilia, (more)
- 1954
Sierra Maldita translates to Cursed Mountain, a most appropriate title for this mystical melodrama. Legend has it that all women born under the shadow of a certain mountain range in Southern Spain will be rendered barren and thus ineligible for marriage. Young Juan (Ruben Rojo) flies in the face of superstition and marries Cruz (Lisa Rosales) despite the fact that she will ostensibly never bear children. Disowned by his family, Juan endures endless hardships, culminating in an attempt by the film's villain to steal Cruz away from him. Juan's perserverance pays off when Cruz beats the curse by giving birth. Sierra Maldita was released in the Western Hemisphere by Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lina Rosales, Ruben Rojo, (more)
