Sergio Amidei Movies

Ben Gazzara delivers a gutsy, four-barreled performance as skid-row poet and storyteller Charles Bukowski (rechristened Charles Serking onscreen) in Tales of Ordinary Madness, blackly comic Italian director Marco Ferreri's adaptation of Bukowski's roman à clef Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness. Half soused, with a 2 a.m. shadow and street urchin rags, Serking waltzes through the scummiest neighborhoods of the City of Angels, soaking up booze, poetry, and copulation, and lounging in flophouses and on grimy public buses. His bedmates are a midget, a string of seedy whores, and various earthy L.A. denizens, played by Susan Tyrell, Ornella Muti, and others; he eventually falls for a prostitute who can express her affection only via self-mutilation. Ferreri lets Bukowski's ribald humor flow throughout and exposes the dark erotic currents at the heart of the author's narratives. Laced with perverse, shocking imagery, this unbridled celebration of life's dark underbelly has been praised by critics such as The New Yorker's Pauline Kael and Playboy's Bruce Williamson for its "genuine audacity and risktaking." ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Giovanni Vivaldi (Alberto Sordi) doesn't have many ambitions in life. As far as he is concerned, things are pretty good just as they are. He has a wonderful son, whom he is grooming for a place in the civil service, and a weekend hideaway which he loves fixing up. His wife Amalia (Shelly Winters) is also a happy sort, and she adores their son. However, when the boy, an innocent bystander, is killed by some bank robbers, Giovanni's fuse is finally lit. Soon he is consumed by the need to get revenge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This film marks the final performance of the notable French film star Pierre Brasseur, who died not long after the film was shot. One of his better-known films is Children of Paradise. In this film, an Italian industrialist (Alberto Sordi) who has made his fortune using some shady tactics, unwittingly becomes the victim and entertainment for four retired jurists. These four men (Pierre Brasseur, Michel Simon, Charles Vanel and Claude Dauphin), though retired, make it a practice to keep their legal skills sharp. Whenever a suitable villain stumbles across their path, they conduct a trial with all the trimmings. It is a form of play, but these virtuoso lawyers are quite serious about it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Before settling on a career as a photojournalist (which apparently cost him his life in 1970), Errol Flynn's son Sean enjoyed a brief career in international espionage films. The best of this lot was Stop Train 349 (64), though the subsequent Five Ashore in Singapore also had its pleasurable moments. In the latter film, Flynn plays a CIA agent, in search of five American marines who have disappeared while on leave in Singapore. Also known as Singapore, Singapore, Five Ashore in Singapore was based on a novel by Jean Bruce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Caught in an unhappy marriage, Piera Fabbri (Giovanna Ralli) leaves her physicist husband Andrea (Paul Guers) and runs off with her lesbian lover, Luisa (Anouk Aimee). However, Piera soon discovers that her new-found relationship may not be the answer to her problems. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A light frolic at the beach with sun and sex both foremost on the scene, this standard comedy by director Giulio Petroni is that much better for the comic work of Ugo Tognazzi and Raimondo Vianello as Benito and Adolfo, two undertakers who enjoy a bit of fun at the beach before they have to go in and punch the clock. Also along for the ride are Jean-Pierre Aumont as Valerio and some very attractive women, involved in a series of episodic vignettes about classic situations -- such as mistaken identity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The 1800s sees the emergence of a hero-statesman Italian who works to unify his country. ~ All Movie Guide

Five romantic and funny vignettes comprise this Italian anthology that is set amidst the beauty and fun of the famed French coastline. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cronaca di Poveri Amani (Chronicle of Poor Lovers) was based on the novel of the same name by Vasco Pratolini. The scene is the Vico de Corno, a well-populated alleyway in the low-rent district of Florence. Set in the 1920s, the film recalls the tinderbox political climate of the era. The eponymous "poor lovers" include Milena (Antonella Lualdi), whose husband dies at the hands of the fascists; cynical prostitute Elisa (Cosetta Greco); and lonely but comparatively well-off invalid Gesuina (Anna Maria Ferrero). Marcello Mastrioanni also appears, though the emphasis is clearly on the women of the piece. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Franciolin) FI An all-star lineup of actors and directors was responsible for the omnibus feature Secrets D'Alcove. The film is made up of four separate playlets; the only "character" common to the four stories is a huge bed. The characters whose behavior is governed by being in close proximity of this bed include a soldier (Richard Todd), a philanderer (Vittorio de Sica), a professional co-respondent (Dawn Addams), a couresan (Martine Carol) and a truckdriver (Mouloudji). Naturally, the screenplay contrives to have the film's female characters appear as underdressed as possible, none more so than the curvaceous Martine Carol. The basic premise of Secrets D'Alcove was later adopted, after a fashion, by the American TV anthology series Love American Style (1979-72). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide