José Antonio De La Loma Movies
Prolific Spanish director and screenwriter José Antonio de la Loma entered cinema as a script writer for producer Ignacio Iquino the same year he published his first novel, Sin la Sonrisa de Dios/Without God's Smile (1951), based on his experiences as a teacher in one of Barcelona's poorest quarters. In 1955, director Julio Salvador adapted the story into a film of the same title. Loma continued working with Salvador via Laurus films through the decade's end. In 1960, Loma founded his own production company, P.C. Java, and through it produced Le Bourreau Attendra/The Hangman Waits. During the '60s, Loma worked on numerous films as a writer, director, and sometimes assistant director, often without screen credit. In 1971, Loma founded the Zodiáco production company; he founded a new company, Golden Sun, S.A., in 1987. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Largely comprised of a Spanish film from 1959 with additional footage added to it. The story centers on a plot to kill a philandering neighbor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
When the town sheriff backs down from outlaws, he is branded a coward. This melodramatic western follows his efforts to restore his good name, even though he himself was a former member of the gang. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This amusing spaghetti western from prolific director Alfonso Balcazar is set during the American Civil War. Luis Davila stars as Dynamite Jim, a Northern spy smuggling Mexican gold through Rebel territory to an Iowa fort. Jim's journey includes betrayal by a greedy cohort (Fernando Sancho), a showdown with an evil bandit (Aldo Sambrell), and other standard encounters, well-photographed by Victor Monreal. Cult-film fans will be pleased by the lovely Rosalba Neri (as a dancehall floozy) and amused by a particularly ludicrous soundtrack by Nico Fidenco. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Davila, Fernando Sancho, (more)
In this western, a former lawman forces a corrupt outlaw to relinquish his hold upon an innocent town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audie Murphy, Broderick Crawford, (more)
- 1967
In this high-seas adventure, framed by the Napoleonic War, a pirate is sponsored by the government to save those living on the captured islands. In his spare time, he has a romantic fling, and tries to save his fiancee from villains. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Barray, Antonella Lualdi, (more)
- 1969
The night before WW II erupted, the Spanish Civil War was still on. This actioner chronicles an event during the latter in which an elite group of bombers converge upon a strategically important bridge to surprise their enemies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
After a group of outlaws rob a bank, the spoils are stolen by a man who helped with the heist in this spaghetti western. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1974
The real star of this police action/adventure is the "Guardia Civil" or Spanish national police force. In the story, a robber who consistently eludes capture by the police by crossing over the border into France, taunting the lawmen mercilessly, is cornered in a border farmhouse and receives his just desserts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1977
La Redada, a low-budget Spanish language thriller also released as Barcelona Kill, is the story of a female journalist and her boyfriend who inadvertently get involved with murder and mayhem and must run for their lives pursued by the Barcelona Mob. Directed by Jose Antonio de la Loma, La Redada is a typical crime mystery with little new to offer. However, it has its moments, and the cast members, while unknown in the United States, give uniformly good performances. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1982
In this well-acted but very standard action thriller, Spanish police chief O'Donnell Max von Sydow) hires the tough mercenary David (Jorge Rivero) with the code name "Eagle" to infiltrate an international drug cartel. Carmen (Maud Adams), a policewoman, is to be David's contact. The plot thickens as the drug smugglers, headed by McFadden (George Peppard), also plan on selling nuclear materials to countries like Libya. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jorge Rivero, Maud Adams, (more)
Acclaimed horror director Lucio Fulci infuses the sword-and-sorcery genre with gory decapitations, pus-squirting lesions and flesh-eating zombies in this uneven fantasy. The hero of the piece is young Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti), who, along with his bolo-swinging friend Maxz (Jorge Rivero), battles monsters, mutant tribes, and an evil queen (Sabrina Siani) on his journey to manhood. As the evil Ocron, the topless Siani wears a gold mask and bikini bottoms while writhing around on a fur rug covered with live snakes. Siani rules over a risible tribe of people in dog masks who blow narcotics up each others' noses through a straw, and conjures up wolf-warriors from her dreams to shoot poisonous straws at her enemies. The American version is missing much of the gore, but is still far too explicit for the young audiences at whom it is apparently aimed. Terrible special effects, hazy cinematography and inappropriately modernistic music by Claudio Simonetti do not make the film very enjoyable for adults either. Still, it is well-paced and Occhipinti makes a sympathetic lead, making the film worthwhile, if only for genre completists and Fulci devotees. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jorge Rivero, Andrea Occhipinti, (more)
- 1985
- R
With shoddy production values and a plot that seems to be more of an excuse for violence than anything else, this underpar drama focuses on vigilante justice. While trying to cross the border into France, a Spanish truck driver's vehicle is burned by two angry French farmers, killing the driver's wife. Unable to win his case against the men in court, the angry driver vows to avenge the death of his wife by killing the farmers and their sleazy lawyer. It may have helped to know that European farmers were irate at this time about the dumping of their produce. But then, education was not an objective here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaux Hemingway
- 1987
- R
In this actioner, a crack unit of elite mercenaries must protect a recently deposed Middle Eastern leader and his family from assassination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
This bloody, brutally violent drama claims to offer a realistic look at teen-age gang violence and acts of terrorism as it tells the story of one boy who gets entangled with a criminal gang. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In this violent sequel, "The Angel" continues his reign of terror on the streets. Not only does he rob and steal, he also rapes the girl friend of his imprisoned buddy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
Spanish director José Antonio de la Loma helmed this 1988 coming-of-age drama starring Anthony Quinn as an aging retired artist. When Quinn's ambitious daughter leaves her home to seek fame and fortune, she sends her young son to live with his grandfather, who resides on a Mediterranean island. While living together, Quinn fills the awkward and nervous boy in on the ins-and-outs of life, love, and sex. Also starring Maud Adams and Elizabeth Ashley, the original Spanish-language title of A Man of Passion was Pasión de hombre. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, R.J. Williams, (more)
- 1990
Fine Gold was originally made for cable television, where it first aired July 15, 1990. Ted Wass stars as a man falsely accused of embezzlement. In the months that follow, he loses his job, his family, and most of his reason for living. The second half of the film concerns itself with revenge and an abundance of surprise plot twists. Jane Badler co-stars in this torrid melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
