Giuliano Gemma Movies

This lavish historical drama was inspired by the true story of Juana the Mad, who became Queen of Spain before her willfulness and jealousy robbed her of her power. During the late 15th century, Juana (Pilar Lopez de Ayala) was born to the Spanish royal family, and as a teenager her mother, Queen Isabella (Susy Sanchez), arranged for her to marry Archduke Philip (Daniele Liotti) of Brussels. The marriage is a matter of politics more than anything else, and Juana is upset that she must leave behind Alvaro de Estuniga (Eloy Azorin), the boy she loves, but from the first time she sees Felipe, she's passionately attracted to him, and he soon awakens her to the joys of lovemaking. While Juana is happy with her new husband, Philip soon reveals himself to be an incorrigible womanizer (and rapidly loses sexual interest in her), leading to much tension between
Philip and Juana. To complicate matters further, her sexual appetite and desire to possess her husband only build, and soon, she is completely out of control on an emotional level - throwing tantrums in the rain, lapsing into arousal while she breast feeds and evincing a spectrum of equally questionable behavior that leads others (including Philip) to dub her "Juana the Mad."In time, Juana becomes the Queen of Spain, but her rise to power is tempered by Felipe' s behind-the-scenes machinations to have her dethroned once and for all. Lo and behold, she falls into the trap of missing this - as she's too distracted by Philip's continued infidelity. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Set in the 1930s, Premier de Cordee begins as Zian (Frederic Gorny), a young man who has traveled from his birthplace in the Alps to Paris, returns to his family home just as his father, a mountain guide, dies after being struck by lightning. Zian has chosen to carry on in his father's work, although he's very much aware of the dangers involved. Along with the death of his father, he's also been confronted with the sad fate of his best friend, who went into the mountains to rescue Ruspoli (Giuliano Gemma), the rich client stranded by the death of Zian's father. When the young man returned, it was discovered he had lost his toes to frostbite. However, Zian is determined to become a guide, and he soon wins the attentions of Ruspoli's daughter, Bianca (Silvia de Santis), even though her socially prominent family is not happy that she's become involved with a poverty-stricken mountaineer. A climbing accident leaves Zian with a chronic case of vertigo that threatens his new career, but with Bianca's help he sets his sights on conquering Mount Blanc. Based on a series of three novels by Roger Frison-Roche (which were previously adapted for the screen in 1943), Premier de Cordee was originally shot on videotape for broadcast by French, Italian, and Swiss television networks, though it was later transferred to film for theatrical screenings. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Echoing a cry frequently heard from the romantically frustrated, Ana, a single mother and professional woman, complains to her friends that there are no good men to be found, and they echo the sentiment. As she contemplates what a good man might be, the figure in her imagination begins to take on a life of his own and intrudes into her conduct of everyday life. She is an engineer, and at work a new situation has arisen: a male Italian engineer has come to Argentina to assess the prospects of the two company's merging. Meanwhile, she is having difficulty determining whether or not he is just a figment of her overheated imagination or if he really is the ideal man she has imagined. Before long, a romantic merger becomes the issue at hand. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Based on a Texas Ranger comic-book hero who first rode into sight in 1948, this routine western is an Italian version of the adventures of Tex Willer (Giuliano Gemma), his sidekick Kit Carson (William Berger), and his Native American buddy Tiger Jack (Carlo Mucari). Predictably, Tiger Jack is nearly mute, and Tex wears a white cowboy hat, just to make clear which side he is on. A series of adventures take the trio into a confrontation with the Yaqui nation, intent on (finally) avenging the near-annihilation of their ancestors. To that end, the Yaquis rob a train, join forces with other Native Americans, and manage to concoct a secret weapon that is capable of immediately transforming their enemies into mummies. The "Lord of the Deep" is an alchemist parked at the bottom of a volcano, who creates a glowing green mummification rock (shades of kryptonite!).
~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Director Claude D'Anna has tried for epic proportions in this less-than-epic film about incest, murder, suicide, and insanity in an aristocratic Sicilian family living in the 1950s. Count Villafratti (Max Von Sydow) has sex one night with his nymphomaniac daughter because he thinks she is his wife, and his wife, who is an operatic diva, hears of this just before she goes on stage. Later on, she commits suicide over the heinous act. In the meantime, their plantation workers are on strike, the communists and Mafiosos are fighting -- and the family's whole inner story (seen through the eyes of a visiting Sicilian-American who has come to bury his father here) is reflected in this outer turmoil. Segments of Verdi and Puccini at the opera house cannot do much to keep the entire scenario from seeming like a parody of itself. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Two opposite military camps, one Italian and one American, are positioned across from each other in Sicily, separated by a river and an ancient Roman bridge, the "Bridge of the Caesars." World War II has almost ended and so perhaps the fighting spirit has dwindled a little in the ordinary soldier. This would explain why each team of demolitionists -- Italian and American -- decide that the historically valuable bridge is worth saving at all costs. The American team is made up of a cowboy, a Native American specializing in smoke signals, a narcoleptic soldier, a Mafia hit man, and an architect. The Italian team is made up of a chamber-music quartet headed by an orchestra conductor and comprised of a lazy Roman, a Southern mobster, and an Alpine mountain climber, among others. The teams assume a proper bellicose stance when they first see each other, but then quickly collude to outwit their commanders and try to save the bridge. When the overzealous American commander is ready to destroy the bridge at all costs, the soldiers connive to bring in a bevy of women from a nearby house of ill-repute to keep the men too occupied to even remember the bridge. Failing any other plan, the leaders of each team then decide to convince the American commander that the war has actually ended, and so there is every reason to leave the bridge alone, in fact, just to leave, period. And if that plan does not work either, well, there must be something else they can do . . . ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The French Foreign Legion intervenes on behalf of 3,000 European and American civilian hostages in the town of Kolwezi, Zaire. Kantangese rebel forces hold the hostages in the small mining town and subject their victims to various ordeals. The military springs into action to save the captives in this uneven adventure that pays homage to military valor and dedication. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The American prints of Battle Force credit the direction to one Humphrey Longan, but in fact the man behind the megaphone of this European war flick was Umberto Lenzi. Orson Welles narrates this crazy-quilt of stock battle footage and hapharzardly staged new scenes. A lot of potent acting talent -- Henry Fonda, Stacy Keach, Helmut Berger, Samantha Eggar -- is squandered herein. Since we know who won the war, it serves no purpose to offer a random series of events leading up to the victory if they aren't going to be interestingly presented. Originally titled Il Grande Attaco, this one was also shipped out as La Battaglia di Mareth, The Biggest Battle and The Great Battle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The mafia has overrun a section of the country so ruinously that a very stern man (Giuliano Gemma) has been sent by the government to be the governor in that region. He has been given wide-ranging power and authority and is not afraid to use it. Indeed, on occasion he finds it necessary to gun down a fleeing felon himself. As he closes in on the true extent of local corruption, and its connections elsewhere, he is promoted to a higher position in the fascist government so that the local mafia head can replace him as governor. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi