Gerard Herter Movies
- 1970
- PG
Captain Turner (Rock Hudson) is the American paratrooper who employs Italian children to blow up a strategic dam controlled by the Nazis. He is the only survivor of his unit gunned down during the jump. Rescued by the moppets, he slaps and rapes German medico Bianca (Sylva Koscina), which implausibly leads her to trust Turner and help in the clandestine mission. Aldo (Mark Colleano) is the youthful leader who helps Turner carry out the bombing in exchange for an attack on his village. When the Nazis control the small town, their allegiance quickly changes as they fight the Germans they once considered allies. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Sylva Koscina, (more)
Adiós Sabata is rather odd entry in this spaghetti Western series. It continues the story of Sabata and boasts a plot that closely replicates the first film's key elements, from the cool and mysterious gunslinger hero down to the stunts, the gimmicky weapons, and the presence of a potentially traitorous sidekick for Sabata. However, Adiós Sabata introduces a new actor with an entirely different persona into the role of Sabata: Yul Brynner is as terse with his dialogue as Lee Van Cleef was in the first Sabata, but he brings a brooding, ominous undercurrent to the role that gives the film an added bit of tension. Thankfully, this tension between the familiar elements and Brynner's intense presence works in favor of Adiós Sabata instead of against it. Other highlights include a fun supporting performance from Pedro Sanchez as a mouthy revolutionary-turned-bandit and a rousing finale packed with plenty of stunts and gunplay. On the downside, Frank Kramer's direction, while stylish, is erratic in its pacing, and this leads to the occasional dull stretch, but the film's sense of color and lighthearted tone keep it from going off the rails. In short, Adiós Sabata might not be an obvious first choice for a spaghetti Western novice, but it is solid, engaging fare for someone already into the genre. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Dean Reed, (more)
- 1969
- R
Two German spies and a woman physician (Suzy Kendall) are taken by submarine to Scotland where they enter the country at nightfall. Their mission is to assassinate the British Field Marshall Lord Kitchener. The woman's male companions are captured, but she escapes with the knowledge of what boat the Marshall is on. Boarding the submarine, the Germans make plans to bomb the boat with a series of strategically placed land mines. She travels from Russia to Germany to Britain and Spain as she double-crosses double agents in a cat-and-mouse game of espionage. A gruesome scene shows a German gas attack that peels off the flesh of the Allied soldiers as they writhe in agony. James Booth, Capucine, and Kenneth More also star in this World War I drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Suzy Kendall, James Booth, (more)
- 1968
During the twilight of World War II, American forces battle their German counterparts to find a noted Austrian atomic scientist who is marked for death. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Gilbert Roland and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes star in this spaghetti western. Bounty hunter George Hilton is dispatched to track down a wily criminal. Hilton decides to wait until the crook leads him to a fortune in buried gold; at that point, the so-called hero intends to stake his own claim. Naturally, not everything works out as planned. Go Kill & Come Back features a Francesco De Masi musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Byrnes, Gilbert Roland, (more)
- 1963
In this Italian WW II comedy, an Italian colonel leads the invasion of Montegreco, a small town on the Greek-Albanian border. British troops also try to take over the village. The townsfolk are unconcerned as the two sides have "invaded" them more than threescore times already. The townies care nothing about the war and freely associate with soldiers from both sides. When the story begins, the Italians are currently holding the town. The trouble begins when the British colonel heads back to the pub to retrieve a forgotten pipe and ends up taken prisoner. His soldiers retaliate and take two Italians. They then trade hostages for two cases of whiskey. The two sides continue their little tug-of-war until the Nazis attack and order Montegreco destroyed. The Italian colonel attempts to arrest the German officer in charge, but he is captured by the SS who order his execution. Fortunately, the British officer again saves him and the two decide to join forces and stop the real invaders. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Totò, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1961
- 1961
In this WW II drama, six soldiers end up separated from their units behind enemy lines in Italy. As they make their way back to safety, they pick up a wandering fellow. The man is a Nazi spy assigned to assassinate an important resistance leader. Soon the soldiers begin to suffer mysterious, fatal mishaps. Still they continue on until the remaining four and their conniving companion make it to the underground camp. There the Nazi captures the leader. Fortunately, the remaining soldiers stop him and he ends up running back towards the German lines. Unfortunately, his compatriots mistake him for the enemy and shoot him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alex Nicol, Frank Latimore, (more)
- 1960
Under Ten Flags is a fact-based British maritime epic set during World War II. Allied ships are being victimized by a German surface raider, which sails under friendly flags until moving in for the kill. Since so many nationalities were involved in making this film (both before and behind the cameras), it is difficult at times to determine whose side one is supposed to be on. On screen, the Germans seem the cleverest and most resourceful of all the combatants; at times, one hopes that they'll get away with their high-seas perfidy--especially since the captain is played by charismatic American actor Van Heflin. Under Ten Flags has a minimum of war action, but this didn't prevent an enterprising home-movie firm from excerpting nine minutes' worth of highlights for an 8-millimeter version--which did better business than the original 92 minute feature! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Van Heflin, Charles Laughton, (more)
- 1960
Once branded himself by the House Un-American Activities Committee, award-winning director Martin Ritt focuses on the cruel branding of five women in this standard wartime drama. Some of his better-known films (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Norma Rae) also deal with the question of social and ethical choices in the face of pressure. In this story, the savagery of the Yugoslav partisans as they fight off Nazi occupation forces is also vented on five women accused of Nazi sympathies because of their sexual association with one German officer. The women (played by Silvana Mangano, Vera Miles, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jeanne Moreau, and Carla Gravina) have their heads shaved in order to brand them as traitors. What the partisans did to the German officer (Steve Forrest) in revenge for sleeping with these women was much worse. Intermittently shocking, the film with its excess cruelty and hatreds stands as a good indictment against war and its causes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Silvana Mangano, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1959
Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi don ill-fitting military uniforms in this anecdotal Italian service comedy. They play a couple of World War I soldiers, adept at sidestepping duty and responsibility, but courageous to the core when in a pinch. The film strives for the boisterous feel of What Price Glory, but at 118 minutes the material wears rather thin. Still, the reputation of director Mario Monicelli helped this uneven production win a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Originally released in Italy in 1959 as La Grande Guerra, The Great War was distributed in the U.S. two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi, (more)
Although this uninspired Italian adventure film is loosely based on Leo Tolstoy's tale about a 19th-century clash between Czarist Russia and several ethnic groups in the Caucasus, Tolstoy's original talent is buried. Ponderous and quickly put together, the story stars Steve Reeves as the muscular hero known as the "White Warrior" who leads the defence against the Russians. ("White" in this case refers to his warrior's garb.) His defence strategy would be an easier task if there were not political intrigue and romantic hurdles to overcome within his own camp, obstacles which provide grist for the narrative mill. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Giorgia Moll, Steve Reeves, (more)
- 1959
Two members of an expedition into the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal go into a hidden groto -- only one, Nieto (Arturo Dominici), returns, raving about the ancient Mayan goddess Caltiki. The expedition leader, Dr. John Fielding (John Merivale), follows their trail and finds the missing man's camera in the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple, along with high radiation readings -- the film shows the two men suddenly threatened by something out of the camera shot. A diver (Daniele Vargas) goes into the one unexplored part of the temple, the sacred lake within, and finds its floor littered with human remains and ancient treasure -- on a second dive, he is attacked by something that burns most of the flesh from his body. Suddenly, a huge shapeless, writhing mass rises from the lake, nearly killing Max Gunther (Gerard Herter), whose hand is caught by the creature. Fielding hacks off the fragment holding Max and destroys the main body of the monster by incinerating it. The scientific community is astonished by the fragments of the creature retrieved from Gunther's arm, which is revealed to be a single-celled animal at least 20 million years old; additionally, the fragments, though seemingly inert, are still radioactive and dangerous to the touch, and they react to the presence of atomic radiation by growing at an alarming pace. Gunther gradually loses his sanity as the tissues in his body deteriorate, and he goes on a murderous rampage that takes him to Fielding's home. Meanwhile, the doctor establishes a link between the legends surrounding Caltiki, the Mayans' abandonment of Tikal in the year 607, and a comet that passed the Earth that same year. He learns almost too late that the same comet is making a return visit, putting all of humankind in danger from Caltiki. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
