Osiride Pevarello Movies

This time, Italian soft-core maestro Tinto Brass doesn't even try to masquerade his opus as a political drama or social criticism. A young country girl (Debora Caprioglio) comes to town and works in a brothel in order to help her fiance get the money to start his own business. "Paprika" is the name given to her by the madam. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

In this low-budget actioner, Conrad Nichols is Rush, a superhero, a kind of jungle Rambo, determined to free the slave laborers who work for a villainous ruler (Gordon Mitchell) in a combination oil refinery and greenhouse. The difficulty he faces is that the laborers are afraid to return to the outside world -- a nuclear holocaust happened just 10 years earlier, and they worry about radiation sickness. It does not matter, apparently, that the oil refinery and greenhouse are already in the open air. Rush explains that everything is green again and radiation-free (an interesting concept), but between their doubts and the ruler's minions out to get him, life is not easy. Budget restrictions kept special effects and costuming to a minimum, making the choices for a "futuristic" look somewhat strange (the workers wear plastic over regular clothes, Rush wears body gloss), but most fans of this genre are willing to overlook these typical drawbacks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This lavish big-budget epic was the pinnacle of a uniquely Italian subgenre, the historical hardcore gore/porn extravaganza. The star-studded cast, perhaps lured by the high-profile involvement of producer Bob Guccione and screenwriter Gore Vidal, includes such luminaries as John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, and Helen Mirren. Director Tinto Brass, whose similar treatment of Nazi Germany in Salon Kitty won him the job, did his best with the mammoth enterprise, but numerous production problems and re-edits took their toll on the finished product. When Caligula works best, it works because of Malcolm McDowell, whose crazed portrayal of the title Emperor is the embodiment of villainous corruption. McDowell raises his performance level to match the gaudy spectacle around him, which led to charges of overacting, but there are moments when he is absolutely riveting. Some of the cast doesn't fare as well, as O'Toole makes a particularly unsubtle Tiberius. The sex is graphic and steamy, particularly a feverish lesbian interlude between Penthouse Pets Lori Wagner and Marjorie Thorsen (using the pseudonym "Anneka di Lorenzo"), and the various carnival freaks used as atmosphere imbue the film with a grotesque, Fellini-like opulence. There are many memorable scenes and a magnificent score by Paul Clemente, but the heady brew of historical epic, hardcore sex, and gory violence proved overwhelming to many viewers. Still, Gore Vidal's script is surprisingly accurate, and manages to be entertainingly vulgar while bringing a rather loathsome slice of human history to vivid life, warts and all. The more explicit scenes were directed by Bob Guccione and Giancarlo Lui, causing both Vidal and Brass to remove their names from the credits. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Clay McCord (Alex Cord) is a former outlaw determined to live the life of a law-abiding citizen. Colby (Arthur Kennedy) is the town marshall who keeps law and order. Not far from the peaceful town is a haven for criminals led by Kraut (Mario Brega), a trigger happy outlaw who welcomes those who are wanted by the law. McCord worries that he may have the epilepsy that plagued his father and hastened his demise. He battles the sadistic gunman while hoping for a pardon from the sympathetic governor (Robert Ryan). He also falls for the lovely Laurinda (Nicoletta Machiavelli) as he walks between the two worlds of the law and the lawless in this action-packed and often bloody western adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi