Claudio Cassinelli Movies
Cassinelli is an Italian-born supporting actor in Italian films, whose on-screen career began in the '70s. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1986
- R
In a complex sci-fi tale set at some point in the not-too-distant future, an evil industrialist named Francis Turner (John Saxon) has created Paco Querak (Daniel Greene), a cyborg who is 70% robot and 30% human. Paco has been programmed to murder a blind ecologist whose environmental activism does not sit well with Turner's bottom-line motivation. But once he is set up to do his job, the 30% human component in Paco only permits him to injure the ecologist, not kill him. With the local police (and eventually just about everyone else) after him, Paco detours to Arizona to look for his true identity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Greene, Janet Agren, (more)
- 1984
- PG
Mighty Hercules (played by muscleman Lou Ferrigno) returns in this sequel. This papa Zeus sends Herc from Olympus to Earth to find seven stolen thunderbolts. Basically the film is Saturday afternoon kiddy matinee fodder, good for passing the time, but little else. The film is also known as Adventures of Hercules. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Ferrigno, Milly Carlucci, (more)
- 1984
In this made-for-television detective story set in the early 1930s, a missing Swedish millionaire is the target of a journalist who sets out to discover exactly what happened to the man and whether or not he is still alive. The biggest lead he has is the millionaire's attractive mistress, and the story takes off from there. Although the pace is slow and the ending no great surprise, the average TV-viewer would find this mystery entertaining by small-screen standards. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erland Josephson, Brigitte Fossey, (more)
In this futuristic Italian crime drama, 21st-century Romans devise an ingenious way to take care of criminals -- they make them fight each other gladiator-style on national television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jared Martin, Fred Williamson, (more)
- 1983
- PG
The 12 labors of Hercules were not the objective of this film starring Lou Ferrigno as the semi-divine son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Hercules must rescue Princess Cassiopea from her kidnappers, fight off grotesque laser-breathing monsters and in one case, jettison a giant bear up into space where it becomes Ursa Major, the Big Dipper or "Great Bear" constellation. Off-color (many scenes are in dim, bluish stage sets) and low-budget, this incarnation of Hercules may find unconverted viewers a difficult, 13th challenge to conquer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Ferrigno, Mirella D'Angelo, (more)
Sergio Martino directed this strange mixed-genre horror film starring Elvire Audray as the young widow of an archaeologist (John Saxon), who was murdered while working on an Etruscan dig. Dreaming a premonition of his death, the widow leaves New York for Italy to investigate. Before long, she is attacked by bats and is involved in several murders. Her father (Van Johnson) is smuggling heroin in one of 12 crates of Etruscan artifacts, but gets killed in a cave-in. Other victims have their heads twisted around backwards by an unknown assassin as the woman's premonitions continue and people tell her that she may be an Etruscan immortal. The secrets lie in a hidden tomb, and are revealed in a bizarre climax involving undercover narcotics agents, Etruscan zombies, magic stones and a huge anti-gravity crystal. The mystery is a clever one, the supernatural touches are never overdone, and there are a few real jolts in the screenplay by Ernesto Gastaldi and Dardano Sacchetti. The film is relatively bloodless for the time, but features a large number of maggots. Some prints eliminate the score in favor of over-dubbed music from Lucio Fulci's Paura nella Citta dei Morti Viventi. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Il Fiume del Grande Caimano a low budget, monster-on-the-loose Italian horror film provides more chuckles than goosebumps in all but the least-sophisticated viewer. Joshua (Mel Ferrer) is a businessman who allows his greed to overcome his misgivings when he builds a resort on the turf of an alligator god. Alice (Barbara Back) and Daniel (Claudio Cassinelli) come to the aid of the terrorized tourists and help them all escape. This film, directed by Sergio Martino and released under a variety of names including Alligators, The Big Caimano River, and Big Alligator River has bad special effects and poor acting despite its very attractive cast. Fans of horror films should look elsewhere. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Susan Stevenson (Ursula Andress) and her brother, Arthur (Antonio Marsina), travel to New Guinea in the hopes of finding her husband, who has gone missing for three months. The pair encounter anthropologist Dr. Edward Foster (Stacy Keach), who agrees to lead a jungle expedition in search of the missing man. As mantraps and other jungle dangers slowly whittle away the search party, Foster becomes convinced that Susan's husband is somewhere on the tiny coastal island of Roka, home to the sacred island of Ra Ra Me. En route to the mountain, the party is captured by the Puka, a Stone Age tribe long considered extinct. Foster reveals that the tribe is cannibalistic, having been captured and forced to consume human flesh years before. This gruesome news, however, pales before Susan's discovery of her husband's fate -- a fate that will surely befall the entire party if they are unable to escape. ~ Paul Gaita, All Movie Guide
This hokey Italian monster movie -- distributed in the U.S. through Roger Corman's New World Pictures under the title Screamers -- was rescued from certain cinematic obscurity thanks to New World's hilariously misleading one-sheet campaign, which boldly declared "WARNING! You will actually see a man turned inside out!" Caveat Emptor, viewers... there is nothing of the sort on display in the film itself. All that's available is a silly sci-fi story about diabolical mad scientist Joseph Cotten busily turning the inhabitants of a remote island into water-breathing "fishmen" to serve the island's sadistic overlord (Richard Johnson), who is trying to uncover the lost treasures of Atlantis. On hand as the nominal sex interest is Barbara Bach as Cotten's daughter, who possesses some sort of telepathic contact with the fishmen, but mainly just poses as seductively as possible while feeding and tending to the rubber-suit mutants. Corman inserted some new prologue footage with Mel Ferrer for the New World print, as well as a few gory scenes intended to snag some R-rated exploitation appeal, but the end product is still laughable as ever. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Bach, Claudio Cassinelli, (more)
- 1977
After seeing the high ideals of his family and friends subverted by the Italian fascist government, a young man idealistically plans to assassinate Mussolini. He confides his plans to a family friend, himself a fascist, who cynically encourages the boy. He is aware that the government has been looking for some pretext which would permit it to crack down on dissidents and diminish civil liberties. Based on a true incident, this historical drama is set in Bologna the year 1926. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudio Cassinelli, Lina Sastri, (more)
- 1975
A Frenchwoman vacationing with her daughter and a Viennese professor vacationing with his son meet in the Tyrolean Alps of Italy. Of a liberal persuasion, both parents actively encourage the two young people to get to know one another, and perhaps have their first sexual liaison; the two adults have long since gone to bed with one another. With many hesitations and missed opportunities, this is just what the daughter and son eventually do. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Heywood, Claudio Cassinelli, (more)
- 1974
In this psychological melodrama, a nun becomes obsessed with purifying the souls of those dwelling in her hostel-convent. The guests, who inevitably become entangled with one another, include, a reproachable Polish priest and Nazi collaborator, a murderous widow, and a reporter who has come to do a story on the priest. Tragedy ensues and moral corruption abounds until the end, when they realize that the nun was right all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A young girl in the 13th century is sent to a nunnery in Portugal. There she is subjected to torture, rape and whippings, but she escapes with a Jewish man named Abraham. She soon takes on a Muslim lover, who leads an invading army that castrates rapists. Amazingly enough, some of this story is actually based on historical fact. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florinda Bolkan
- 1973
In Allonsanfan, the director/brother team of Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani weave a witty and occasionally melancholic tale of 19th century radicalism in Italy. Marcello Mastroianni stars as Fulvio, a middle-aged man swept up in a extremist political movement. The more he protests that he wants no part of politics, the deeper he becomes enmeshed in the Cause. This film might make an intriguing companion piece to the earlier Mastroianni film The Organizer (63), in which he portrays one of the very radical types that his character in Allonsanfan so zealously repudiates. The title refers to the phonetic spelling of "Alons enfants," the first two words of the French "Marseillaise". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Lea Massari, (more)
- 1967
In this Italian satire a poli sci professor from a large, wealthy family stirs up turmoil amongst his family and friends when he decides to run for office on the Socialist party ticket. His brother the Maoist tries to thwart his endeavors. Other family members get involved in the struggle for political power, sexual gratification, and money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glauco Mauri, Elda Tattoli, (more)
