Paola Pitagora Movies
- 2001
In this drama, Malena (Beatriz Spelzini) was born and raised in Argentina, where she fell victim to violence and abuse by government-backed right-wing forces. In time, Malena was able to escape to Italy, where she became involved with a group of political radicals and later married a man named Nanni (Emilio Bonucci). After the group became involved in a conspiracy to murder a judge, a few of their number informed on them to the police, and as a result several ended up behind bars. One of Malena's former associates, Roberto (Franco Castellano), has just been released from prison after serving 18 years for his part in the assassination plot. Roberto wants Malena to join him in a plan to get revenge against those who informed against him. Malena, however, is torn; all these years later, most of the former radicals (including the informers) are now respectable members of the community and she's loathe to disrupt their new lives, and while she feels a loyalty to Roberto, they were once lovers as well as comrades, which complicates matters in her relationship with Nanni. Riconciliati was shown in competition at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franco Castellano, Emilio Bonucci, (more)
- 1999
Mariano Lambeerti debuts with this satire about the Italian bourgeois. The protagonist (Mariano D'Amora) is a depressed law student who can't be bothered to study for his exams, annoying his lawyer father and distracting his mother. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paola Pitagora, Nello Mascia, (more)
- 1994
In this Italian comedy, eight lifelong friends attending their annual dinner party/reunion must re-evaluate their lives after they read a provocative letter from a group member who recently died. All of the remaining eight are retired. The letter suggests they all move into an empty convent and live the rest of their lives together. Though the eight seem outwardly comfortable and happy, the proposition becomes more enticing. As the evening wears on their truths are revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giorgio Albertazzi, Paolo Bonacelli, (more)
- 1992
Roberto is understandably distressed. While he was taking a relaxing sauna, he witnessed a murder. As an upstanding (if cynical) lawyer and officer of the court, he reports the crime to the police, but when they all return to the sauna there's no corpse and the police don't believe him. The murdered man's body is found elsewhere, and the police call it a suicide. The murderers, however, are not as easily fooled as the police, and Roberto's life is seriously in danger. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Piero Natoli, Paola Pitagora, (more)
- 1983
The slow disintegration of a group of friends in their 30s is the subject of this equally slow-paced film set in the Emilia-Romagna coast of Italy. A local folk singer (Andrea Mingardi) is trying to make a go of his chosen profession, but is frustrated by the fact that everyone would rather listen to American rock than Italian folk songs. Meanwhile, his troubles are only beginning because his wife is starting to get interested in the local loco, and her friend Aida has a penchant for wanting to express herself, if she can only find herself first. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paola Pitagora
- 1981
The time is WW II in the Emilia-Romagna countryside in Italy, and an American pilot's plane has just broken down near the farmhouse of a middle-aged widow, Francesca (Mariangela Melato) and her three young daughters. The widow has recently come back to her family's land and is picking up where she left off with long-lost friends and neighbors. The downed pilot, Ray (Anthony Franciosa), finds a safe refuge in the widow's farmhouse -- he needs a place to hide until the war ends and it is safe for him to join his military unit. Ray's presence brings out the wild dreams Francesca and her daughters and friends have had about a magical America, a country celebrated in song and dance -- not just in American films, but right there in the farmhouse and its vicinity. Ray is regaled with hearty interpretations of "Pennies from Heaven" and "Jeepers Creepers", and the neighbors and daughters have a riotous good time with the dancing and singing. In-between the light-hearted portrayal of America and its image, Francesca begins to fall in love with Ray, while suffering her own personal anguish as she tries to hide the death of her husband from her three daughters by saying he is in America. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariangela Melato, Anthony Franciosa, (more)
- 1980
Though boasting a British star and director, The Devil's Advocate was essentially a West German production; it was released in Germany in 1977, three years before its bow in English-speaking theatres. John Mills tops the cast as a dying priest who has been summoned to Rome for one last assignment. A dead wartime partisan is being considered for Sainthood. Mills is instructed to investigate the partisan's growing cult following and learn if the man is truly worthy of canonization. Morris West adapted the screenplay of The Devil's Advocate from his own bestselling novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The luridly titled Italian/French/German thriller Blood in the Streets went into production under the more restrained cognomen The Revolver. Oliver Reed plays a prison official whose wife is kidnapped. The price for her return is the release of incarcerated criminal Fabio Testi. When it becomes obvious that Testi's former cohorts plan to murder him once he's set free, Reed and Testi team up to foil the baddies. Blood in the Streets poses as an anti-gun tract, but its plot is still resolved by Oliver Reed wielding a weapon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Reed, Agostina Belli, (more)
In this convoluted spy thriller, a Russian ambassador places his life on the line when he steals classified documents and defects to the U.S. The papers he carries could rock the free world. Unfortunately, the C.I.A. must first prove that they are real. The film is also known as The Serpent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1971
- R
Sexual situations abound throughout this Italian/English language film, which uses many quickly shown images (montage) to further the mood and the story. Nino Castelnuovo is Mario, the boyfriend from hell, who consigns his girlfriend Licia (Adrienne La Russa) to a whorehouse for an evening in order to get the photographic goods with which to blackmail her father (Rossano Brazzi). To get her out of the way, Licia is then consigned to a mental hospital by her father. When she goes genuinely insane, she is released. Revenge for all this mistreatment is the order of the day. No one escapes Licia's tricks as she uses sex, psychological torture and murder to get even. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In France, the position of "magistrate" resembles that of the American district attorney; those in either post have broad investigatory and prosecutory powers. In this French language drama, Magistrate Level (Jacques Brel) is one of the rare few who will prosecute the police for abuse of power. He begins reluctantly, forced to make a pro forma investigation of three policemen who are implicated in the death of a suspect during questioning. After all, he is already late for his long-scheduled vacation. As he gets deeper into the investigation, he becomes more motivated. At the same time, he begins to receive threats from those who want him to stop. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Brel, Catherine Rouvel, (more)
- 1970
- PG
In this psychological drama, Catherine (Julie Christie) is an attractive young woman living in Rome who is infatuated with a man named Gregory, whom she's never actually met. When her father informs her that he intends to remarry, Catherine is not interested in attending the wedding until she learns that Gregory will also be a guest. She flies to Geneva for the ceremony and imagines Gregory to be an athlete in an advertising poster she sees at the airport; she's lost in fantasies about him, even as her brother Daniel (John Hurt), with whom she once had an incestuous relationship, attempts to seduce her. While she misses meeting Gregory, she does run into the sports star from the poster (Michael Sarrazin); they soon repair to a hotel where they make love. However, Catherine discovers that his chiseled looks don't match his drab personality, and she soon leaves him behind. Before returning to Rome, Catherine makes a last attempt at finding Gregory, whom she's been told is also looking for her. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, Michael Sarrazin, (more)
- 1969
When Maria Mancuso dies suddenly before the expiration of her life-insurance policy, the insurance company sends lawyer Nanni Brà (Philippe Leroy) to investigate. He seduces Cinzia (Paola Pitagora), one of the late woman's daughters, in order to obtain more information. When he falls in love with the girl, he confesses to her his original intentions and she tries to take her own life. Nanni discovers that Maria Mancuso was murdered; Cinzia admits to the crime, then crashes the car with herself and Nanni into a truck, killing them both. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paola Pitagora, Philippe Leroy, (more)
- 1969
Childhood sweethearts Jolanda (Virna Lisi) and Franco (George Segal) meet once again after a separation of nearly 15 years. The two immediately rekindle the romance on an adult level. Franco is a dedicated physician working hard to have a successful career and longtime security, while Jolanda is a free-spirited woman who embraces radical causes and lives from day to day. Comedy ensues when this odd couple experiences life from each other's point of view. Jolanda releases animals from a research hospital in protest over their capture. Franco is always chasing the fast-moving Jolanda around in order to extricate her from the consequences of her many activities in this convulsively funny romantic comedy. The exasperated Franco is torn between the love for Jolanda and the stoic professionalism of his medical career. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virna Lisi, George Segal, (more)
- 1969
- PG
In this comedy, a medical assistant and his strange childhood friend fall in love. Unfortunately, the girl is unable to make a permanent commitment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this explicitly violent espionage drama, spies and counterspies collide in Athens as they endeavor to lay claim to a vital piece of microfilm that contains info regarding the identity of several key agents. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Considered one of the great lost classics of Italian neo-realism, this bleak drama was the debut feature of filmmaker Marco Bellocchio. Lou Castel stars as Alessandro, an epileptic from a large family of similarly afflicted siblings, headed up by a blind matriarch (Liliana Gerace). The only healthy member of the family is Alessandro's brother Augusto (Marino Mase), who wants to marry his girlfriend but refuses to saddle a bride with the enormous burden of helping to care for his ailing relatives. Sympathetic to Augusto's plight, Alessandro decides to murder the rest of the family so as to set his brother free and assure him of an inheritance. After hurling his mother into a ravine and drowning his little brother, Alessandro returns home to suffer a seizure. Long hailed by critics and historians as an unjustly ignored film, I Pugni in Tasca (1965) was one of 15 titles selected by New York's Museum of Modern Art for its "Second Act" retrospective of post-war Italian cinema in the spring of 2000. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora, (more)
- 1960
The original Italian is La Viaccia (the name of the family farm which motivates the plot). The death of a wealthy patriarch in 1885 sets off an interfamily power struggle. Son Ferdinando buys out his other relatives in order to gain full control over the dead man's property. But Ferdinando's country-bumpkin nephew Amerigo holds out. Amerigo's stance is weakened when he heads for the city and meets prostitute Bianca. To support her in the manner in which she is accustomed, Amerigo steals from his uncle. Disgraced in the eyes of his family, Amerigo decides to stay near his beloved Bianca by becoming a bouncer in her brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
