Enzo Robutti Movies
- 1998
In this Italian road comedy, three pals (Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini, Valerio Mastandrea) all are attracted to miniskirted Viola (Asia Argento) and attempt to help her elude both the law and the gangsters out to nab her bag of rare coins. Asia Argento (B Monkey) is the daughter of horror director Dario Argento (Deep Red), and her mother, Daria Nicolodi, also has a role in this film. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Massimo Ceccherini, (more)
- 1998
Veteran talent Alberto Sordi, famed for his memorable performance in Federico Fellini's The White Sheik, has created a throwback to Italian comedies of the 1950s. Engineer Armando Andreoli (Sordi) is making a train trip from Rome to a Bologna conference. Beautiful blonde Federica (Valeria Marini) is a nurse who cares for elderly patients, but when she enters his private train compartment, the suspicious Armando thinks she might be a prostitute or thief. The notion persists when she follows him to the conference. Armando fails to find a hotel room for the night, so Federica says he can share her pensione bed. The following morning, her fiancé enters the room, misunderstands, and ends their engagement. Back in Rome, Federica and Armando become a twosome, despite his marriage and a 50-year difference in their ages. This film played at the 1998 Venice Film Festival as a tribute to Sordi. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Valeria Marini, (more)
After a break of more than 15 years, director Francis Ford Coppola and writer Mario Puzo returned to the well for this third and final story of the fictional Corleone crime family. Two decades have passed, and crime kingpin Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), now divorced from his wife Kay (Diane Keaton), has nearly succeeded in keeping his promise that his family would one day be "completely legitimate." A philanthropist devoted to public service, Michael is in the news as the recipient of a special award from the Pope for his good works, a controversial move given his checkered past. Determined to buy redemption, Michael and his lawyer B.J. (George Hamilton) are working on a complicated but legal deal to bail the Vatican out of looming financial troubles that will ultimately reap billions and put Michael on the world stage as a major financial player. However, trouble looms in several forms: The press is hostile to his intentions. Michael is in failing health and suffers a mild diabetic stroke. Stylish mob underling Joey Zaza (Joe Mantegna) is muscling into the Corleone turf. "The Commission" of Mafia families, represented by patriarch Altobello (Eli Wallach) doesn't want to let their cash cow Corleone out of the Mafia, though he has made a generous financial offer in exchange for his release from la cosa nostra. And then there's Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia), the illegitimate and equally temperamental son of Michael's long-dead brother Sonny. Vincent desperately wants in to the family (both literally and figuratively), and at the urging of his sister Connie (Talia Shire), Michael welcomes the young man and allows him to adopt the Corleone name. However, a flirtatious attraction between Vincent and his cousin, Michael's naïve daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) develops, and threatens to develop into a full-fledged romance and undo the godfather's future plans. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, (more)
- 1987
In one popular Spanish-English dictionary, "picaro" is defined as "roguish; scheming, tricky; low, vile; mischievous," and when used as a noun it refers to a rogue, a schemer. Yet the word also harkens to the kinds of novels (picaresque) that came out of Spain in the 17th century, including Don Quixote, stories that recounted the wanderings of vagabonds of one kind or another. This film by the esteemed director Mario Monicelli is set in the 17th century and concerns the picaresque adventures of two amusing "picaros." Lazarillo and Guzman (Enrico Montesano and Giancarlo Giannini) first met when they were slaves rowing on a prison-galley ship, and they strike up a friendship based on their having endured similarly horrific childhoods. While escaping from the slave ship during a mutiny (they chose the wrong side) they narrowly escape drowning and are separated. Guzman becomes an impoverished Baron's (Vittorio Gassman) personal servant and puts his thieving ways to good use in that capacity, while Lazarillo joins an acting troupe. When they meet again, they immediately decide to pull off a con-job they call "the cannoli trick." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Enrico Montesano, Giancarlo Giannini, (more)
- 1986
More a collection of characters and scenery in the region of Parma than a drama with a hefty storyline, this film focuses on three main protagonists. Anna (Valeria D'Obici) is a waitress who develops an interest in Tom (Thom Hoffman) who rolls into town on his jeep to photograph the peasants and townies. The young Andrea (Andrea Puglisi) is also in town visiting his aunts. The three young people meet and decide to go do things together; they fish, they banter and scamper about, and in general are supplemented by a wide range of local color that is just a tad over the top. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thom Hoffman, Valeria D'Obici, (more)
- 1985
Carefully side-stepping a full condemnation of Italy's notorious, 1980's cult leader Ebe Giorgini, this docudrama tells the story of her rise to religious power from the point of view of a distraught father of one of Ebe's cult members. The father was never around to develop much of a relationship with his daughter, and for that reason she has taken up as a novitiate with "Mamma Ebe," whose dubious lifestyle includes two husbands, at least one probable lover, and champagne cruises on her yacht. Worse than these private details of her life are the examples of sadistic physical abuse that millionaire "Mamma Ebe" meted out to her charges when she was displeased by their actions, or the fact that she makes her novitiates work 18-hour days. After this docudrama wrapped, Ebe Giorgini was sentenced to serve time for her activities, a sentence later commuted to house arrest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Berta Dominguez, Stefania Sandrelli, (more)
- 1982
Like his more famous loin-clothed tree-swinging, yodeling counterpart, Bingo Bongo was raised in the jungle by apes. This Italian comedy follows his lively adventures after he is captured, caged and sent back to civilization. There he begins working with a pretty anthropologist who teaches him all he needs to know about speaking, eating correctly and falling in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adriano Celentano, Carole Bouquet, (more)
- 1981
The time is the mid-14th century --- the Pope is now residing at Avignon, the Black Death is killing millions across Europe, and civil wars are adding to the turmoil and chaos. In this story adapted from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, a young teenage couple is sent to live in a nearby town by the man's uncle, in an attempt to keep them safe from harm. She is from the lower classes, and he comes from a noble family -- a family that opposes his choice of a future bride. While en route to the town, the couple's horses are stolen and they are forced to continue through the forest on foot -- at a pace that introduces them to a kaleidoscope of Boccaccio's characters, from masters of mysticism, to soldiers of the warring Papal armies. Somehow, the couple manage to get through this gauntlet of sorts, and they do marry. Just as they are ready to go back to Rome (where they came from), they hear that there is an insurrection in the offing, and suddenly, their brief spate of stability is threatened again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Guerritore, Rodolfo Bigotti, (more)
- 1979
A daring idea gets an ambivalent treatment in this typical Italian comedy about an unfunny subject. The teaching and events in the life of Christ are presented here from the viewpoint of the Palestinian thief who was crucified next to him. Among the miracles that Christ performs is curing the leprosy that afflicts poor Deborah (Edwige Fenech), a prostitute. Given the nature of the comedy, Deborah's attractive hide gets a lot more exposure than Christ's miracles, as the film vacillates between sexual innuendo and parody. Viewers unaccustomed to free-wheeling Italian spoofs may take offense at the way religious subjects are used for comic fodder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Enrico Montesano, Edwige Fenech, (more)
- 1978
Famed scholar, writer and rogue, Giovanni Giacomo Casanova de Salingalt (1725-98), known as "Casanova," is best known for the romantic exploits he claimed for himself in his memoirs. In this film, he is waiting to find out whether the authorities will allow him to spend his final years in Venice, the city of his birth. While he waits, the penniless late-middle-aged lover is approached by an acquaintance who invites him to stay at his country estate. Adding piquancy to the invitation is that his host's wife was one of his many conquests in earlier years. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulio Bosetti, Mirella D'Angelo, (more)
- 1977
A comeback film of sorts for director Marco Vicario, Mogliamante stars Laura Antonelli as the wife of political activist Marcello Mastrioanni. When her husband has to go into hiding from the authorities, Laura consoles herself by going through his private papers. Curiously, discovering the length and breadth of Mastrioanni's activities-including his extramarital affairs--sparks a sexual reawakening in his wife. More curious is the personality change undergone by Laura: formerly meek and subservient, she literally "becomes" her firebrand husband in his absence. As for Mastrioanni, once his role in life has been usurped, he is reduced to little more than a sidelines observer. This diverting domestic drama was also issued under the titles Wifemistress and Lover, Wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Antonelli, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
