Catherine Spaak Movies

In this sympathetic biography of Claretta Petacci, Benito Mussolini's mistress of 10 years, the Petacci family is a primary source of information -- which introduces a definite bias on how she is viewed. Claretta met Mussolini in the mid-'30s and remained with him after he was dismissed in 1943 by King Victor Emmanuel (American and Allied forces invaded Sicily and started north to Rome at that time). Claretta's family also fled to the north, where Mussolini was set up in a puppet dictatorship by the Germans until the end of the war. Photographs of Mussolini and Claretta hanging from a gas-station pole in 1945 while crowds stare at their bodies were disseminated worldwide, yet information on them has been kept in the classified files of the Italian government. In this docudrama, Claretta is played by Claudia Cardinale and Claretta's younger sister Miriam Petacci, still alive in 1984, plays herself as she "meets" with a television reporter (Catherine Spaak) at Claretta's tomb to talk about her famous sister's life. Claretta and Mussolini (Gabriele D'Annunzio) first get together on the estate of a poet who supported Mussolini and were not separated once they became lovers. U.S. Army newsreels add verisimilitude to the story, but the script is too superficial and the treatment too overtly sentimental to sustain interest and may even alienate some viewers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Alberto Sordi directs this light comedy, and also stars as its mechanically challenged hero, a wealthy male chauvinist named Enrico who deals in wine better than he handles women. On a trip to the great land of America, Enrico discovers the wonders of a trained household robot named Catherine who outperforms any of the disgruntled women back at his home. When these women -- his wife (Valeria Valeri), his mistress (Catherine Spaak), and his maid -- decide to dump him, he immediately thinks of the marvelous robot he saw on his trip. Before anyone has time to plug in a battery, Enrico has acquired his own robot, named her Catherine, and is on his way to serious trouble. The metallic Catherine may be made of steel, but her robotic interior takes a shine to Enrico. Little does he know that a robot scorned hath more fury than any woman, and when he brings home Elisabetta (Edwige Fenech) for a romp in his cavernous bedroom, the clanking Catherine loses it. Enrico's problems with women were nothing by comparison. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Sunday Lovers is a fitfully amusing study of weekend romantic techniques as practiced in four different cultures. Each episode was filmed by a separate unit in the country where the story was set. "The French Method" (directed by Eduoard Molinaro) finds a businessman (Lino Ventura) trying to secure an important contract through the sexual allure of his secretary (Catherine Salviat)--only to give up the whole enterprise when he discovers that the secretary would be more valuable as a business partner. "An Englishman's Home" (directed by Bryan Forbes) is all about a chauffeur (Roger Moore) who poses as his boss in order to impress a series of sexy stewardesses. "Armando's Notebook" (directed by Dino Risi) finds a middle-aged Italian husband (Ugo Tognazzi) arranging an affair when his wife leaves town. And "Skippy" stars Gene Wilder (who also directed the segment) as an American psychiatric patient who falls in love with the equally neurotic Priscilla Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Elisa (Catherine Spaak) is an aristocrat whose graduate studies keep her in Madrid during the summer break. There, she encounters Pablo (Frederic de Pasquale), a sad, disillusioned photographer who has suffered disgrace under the Franco regime due to his political allegiances. His 12-year-old son is living with him, and neither of them is much interested in starting anything with her, but her fascination with them results in a brief affair. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Dede (Lando Buzzanca) has some problems in this Italian sex comedy. His wife is very domineering, his mistress is sexually insatiable, and he is the proud "keeper" of a very athletic young woman who is his sex slave. The problem? Even with all the variations on sexual hierarchy (submission, equality, dominance) available to him, his attentions wander to yet more women. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

It was "tax shelter" time when Hollywood's Robert Blake and Ernest Borgnine headed to Italy to star in Counter Punch. Slimmer and lighter on his feet than he'd be in his Baretta days, Blake plays a young boxer, accused of murdering his crooked manager. Escaping from detective Borgnine, Blake sets about to uncover the real killer on his own. Expect a lot of heavy duty fisticuffs, with Blake doing most of his own stunt work. Adding spice to the proceedings are distaff co-stars Gabrielle Ferzetti and Catherine Spaak, the latter cast as the murder victim's daughter. Originally titled Un Uomo dalla Pelle Dura, Counter Punch was also released as Ripped-Off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The literal translation of this title is Certain, Very Certain, As a Matter of Fact...Probable. This indeed was the title by which this trivial Italian comedy was known during its limited American release. The star is international glamour plate Claudia Cardinale, improbably cast as a telephone switchboard operator. It is believable that Cardinale is using her job as a means to trap a man for herself. When she is stood up by her first conquest, Cardinale teams with Catherine Spaak to romance and fleece eligible rich bachelors (and a few wealthy husbands) up and down the European continent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A mid-1960s TV documentary special (and a New Yorker cartoon before that) was the inspiration for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. The film is a likeable satire of "packaged" European tours, where the nonplused tourists are expected to rush from one landmark to another in a breathless 18 days. Ian McShane stars as the amorous tour guide, with Suzanne Pleshette as the American department store buyer he falls for; their romance ends when Pleshette decides that the supposedly worldly McShane is too immature for her. An all-star cast, including Murray Hamilton, Peggy Cass, Pamela Britton, Marty Ingels, John Cassavetes and Vittorio De Sica, pops up in comic cameo roles. Our favorite bit: an American and German tourist, simultaneously regaling their respective wives with wildly divergent accounts of the same wartime confrontation. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium was reworked in 1987 as a made-for-TV movie, cleverly title If It's Tuesday, It Still Must be Belgium. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The literal translation of this Italian title is "He's My Husband, I'll Kill Him When I Please." A young woman is married to a man in his 70s. To make sure his wife is taken care of after his death, the husband tries to arrange her marriage to a friend of his. When the young bride discovers this, she plans to hasten his imminent demise. She takes up with a beatnik and goes about planning her husband's murder as if she were merely making out a grocery list of needed items at a convenience store. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Made in Italy is a multistoried film, set...in Italy, of course. An all-star cast appears in brief seriocomic vignettes about rich and poor, tourist and native. Director Nanni Loy exhibits the realistic and somewhat earthy technique he'd used on his earlier documentaries, with heavy emphasis on ironic punch lines. Filmed in 1965 by a Franco/Italian production team, Made in Italy received the best possible exposure upon its 1967 American release when clips were showcased on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Best bit: The "give to the poor" poster in an impoverished Italian mountain village. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Italian romance, a young woman with a love for loving begins masquerading as her roommate so she can have more affairs. Her roomie is a stewardess and is seldom at home, so her ruse works well. One of her lovers is a high-ranking official at the Vatican and another works as a dentist. To keep from having an embarrassing overlap of lovers, she has created a special schedule in which she allots three days a week for each of the lovers. The final day she reserves for her college sweetheart. Mayhem ensues when the men discover the truth. Fortunately, the charming girl is able to convince each one that she loves him and him alone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide