Tarak Ben Ammar Movies

Jim Bishop's minute-by-minute account of the events leading up to the Crucifixion was the basis for the three-hour TV movie The Day Christ Died. Chris Sarandon plays the Hebrew "blasphemer" known as Jesus, who is brought before the beleaguered governor Pontius Pilate (Keith Mitchell). To avoid an insurrection, Pilate washes his hands of the matter by offering the Hebrews a pardon either to Jesus or the thief Barabbas during Passover. "Give us Barabbas!" is the answer, sealing Jesus' fate. The screenplay by James Lee Barrett and Edward Anhalt is for the most part objective and dispassionate, though there are some unsubtle parallels between Pilate and such future political "heavies" as Nixon. Also appearing in the cast are Colin Blakely as Caiaphas, Barrie Houghton as Judas, Jonathan Pryce as Herod, Eleanor Bron as Mary, and Hope Lange as Claudia. The Day Christ Died premiered -- not without protest from certain circles -- on March 26, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

Tenor Plácido Domingo and soprano Teresa Stratas star in director Franco Zeffirelli's lushly cinematic version of Verdi's opera La Traviata ("The Woman Gone Astray"), a story of doomed love in 1840s Paris. Violetta (Stratas), who is the mistress of a wealthy baron, hosts a lavish party to celebrate her improved health after a bout with tuberculosis. There she meets Alfredo (Domingo) and becomes smitten with him as he, she, and the guests join in the famous "Drinking Song." Violetta leaves the baron, and she and Alfredo move into a secluded country villa together, where they live happily for a while. But unknown to Alfredo, his father (baritone Cornell MacNeil) convinces Violetta that continuing her relationship with Alfredo will prevent Alfredo's sister from making a good marriage. With great sadness, Violetta decides that she must not only break permanently with Alfredo, she must keep him at a distance by returning to the baron. Misunderstanding her motives, Alfredo goes into a jealous rage that leads to tragic consequences. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Considered more as a vehicle to display Jean-Paul Belmondo than as an independent, wartime action story, Les Morfalous rides the crest of the French actor's popularity and delivers a tale that highlights his persona. Belmondo is a member of the French Foreign Legion sent with others to Tunisia in 1943 to recover a fortune in gold from a certain French bank before the Germans get to it. Then the Legionnaires are ambushed by German troops and the few left alive manage to get hold of the treasure but they cannot agree on what to do with their booty. Between their disagreements and the surrounding German army, the action heats up. Belmondo fans will be disappointed that he does not perform any of his famous stunts in this film -- always a drawing card -- and some viewers may find the humor too crude. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In Misunderstood, Henry Thomas ("Elliot" in E.T.) co-stars with Gene Hackman as a son-and-father duo who through no fault of their own fail to communicate their mutual affection. Ned (Hackman) is a shipping magnate living with his family in a villa in Tunisia when he suffers through the death of his wife Lilly (Susan Anspach). It is an agony for him to tell his older son Andrew (Thomas) that his mother has died, and from that moment on, he is so overcome by his own grief -- drowning it in work -- that he unwittingly hurts the feelings of the two boys. He was always inept in relating to them, and now it is even more difficult. The two brothers compensate by inventing their own pastimes, though a visiting relative chides Ned for expecting his sons to handle themselves like adults. So just as Ned begins to realize what he has been doing, the sons try harder to keep up a good facade -- and then Andrew has a serious accident, causing all the undercurrents to suddenly emerge on the surface. Loosely based on a 1967 Italian film, Incompreso, this story first emerged as a turn-of-the-20th-century novel by Florence Montgomery and is here told by director Jerry Schatzberg, but the dialogue and plot do not reach the level set by the good interpretations of the lead actors, who transform a predictable story into an emotional experience. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Complex and more cerebral than a wartime action-thriller, this espionage drama focuses on the relationship of two former buddies who were fencing masters before the war and in love with the same woman. Now Delancourt (Bernard Giraudeau) is apparently living a good life managing a gym in a Paris hotel under Nazi control, where he meets his former friend Pierre (Christophe Malavoy), who is on a secret assignment to mislead the Nazis on the date of the Normandie invasion. Pierre, alias Augustin, cannot figure out if Delancourt is a real resistance fighter or if he is a double agent. Circumstances create a larger and larger gap between the former friends while the plot goes through several twists and turns before Pierre's doubts are resolved. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Like many uninsightful fathers, Nicola is very ambitious and hardworking and perceives himself to be a failure. He has persuaded himself that the only good thing his thirteen-year-old son can possibly do is to work harder and smarter than he himself did, so that he, at least, can fulfill his father's dreams. This end justifies any number of beatings and scoldings, along with constant admonitions to study hard and work hard. As might be expected, this abuse has no effect whatsoever, as it is not based on the boy's own ambitions, which include becoming a championship runner. Despite his mother's attempts to protect him from his aggressively insensitive and stupid father, he gets shipped off to work with some rope manufacturers, who can be counted on to work him like a dog. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this fairy tale, Hassan is a young man who occupies himself with the study of ancient manuscripts, the better to improve his calligraphy. One day he runs across a portion of an old text which convinces him that it holds the secrets to love. With the help of an impudent young boy and the boy's monkey (whom the boy thinks is an enchanted prince), Hassan sets out to find the rest of the manuscript. What he finds instead is the beauteous Aziz, and he learns as much as he cares to about love from his love for her. Despite their being separated by war, they are soon reunited. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this romantic melodrama, the rejected but cosseted wife of an important sheik lives in splendid isolation and travels around accompanied by her chauffeur/prison guard. She has become somewhat crazed by her isolation, and perverse and angry schemes are constantly boiling in her mind. She sees the possibility of escape in one of these imaginings. She advertises for a woman librarian to come to her desert palace. When the young Lebanese woman arrives, she is sadly surprised to discover that the residence contains no books in its library. Anything other than the Koran would be dangerous to own. Now at least one other woman is as frustrated as she is, and the sheik's wife can begin to craft more elaborate plans for escape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A French boy goes to Virginia and finds love with an intelligent black girl in this nostalgic French drama set in 1955, and based on the popular 1986 novel by Philippe Labro. The movie was filmed in both Paris and Virginia. The film contains many references to blues and jazz, Faulkner, Chandler and Salinger. The French student Phillippe Le Clerc meets many interesting characters when he becomes a foreign exchange student in a Virginia college. Of all the people he meets, the one he loves the most is April, a highly educated "Negro girl," who must clean faculty houses when she is not in school. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A handful of young knights are given the grave responsibility of rescuing one of the most sacred relics in Christianity in this lavish historical epic. In the year 1272, the bloody swath of the Crusades has swept much of Europe, and King Louis IX of France dies after a battle in Tunisia. After the king's demise, the Holy Shroud (the cloth with which Jesus' body was believed to have been wrapped following his crucifixion) goes missing, and four young knights who served under him -- Simon of Clarendon (Edward Furlong), Rainiei di Panico (Marco Leonardi), Vanni delle Rondini (Thomas Kretschmann), and Jean de Cent Acres (Stanislas Merhar) -- take it upon themselves to find the shroud . Travelling with the knights is Giacomo (Raoul Bova), an assistant to Rondini who learned from a wicked blacksmith a valuable secret -- a method for making magical swords that cannot be broken. As the knights scour the land in search of the shroud, they encounter Delfinello (F. Murray Abraham), another searcher attempting to find the shroud, who persuades the knights to join him as he sets sail to the Holy Land in his quest. I Cavalieri Che Fecero L'impresa was shot in Italy with an international cast and crew; while the original version was filmed in Italian, an English-language version of the film was also shot with an eye towards an American release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Brian De Palma blends the emotional netherworld of film noir with a stylish portrayal of life among the wealthy and powerful in Paris in this glossy thriller. Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) is a beautiful but mysterious woman who has aligned herself with a small ring of jewel thieves, led by a man known as Black Tie (Eriq Ebouaney), who has planned a major score during the Cannes Film Festival. Sexy model Veronica (Rie Rasmussen) is scheduled to make a spectacular entrance for the screening of director Regis Wargnier's picture, wearing a body-hugging piece of jewelry worth a cool ten million dollars. Laure approaches the sexually adventurous Veronica and is able to seduce her, while at the same time stealing her diamond-studded outfit and replacing it with a carefully constructed counterfeit. Veronica, however, also makes off the loot without giving her partners their cut, and must go into hiding in order to avoid the wrath of Black Tie and his cohorts. Fate allows Laure to make her way to the United States, where in time she marries a powerful politician. Photographer Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas), however, had snapped a picture of Laure while she was on the lam years before, and when he takes an assignment to get a photo of the camera-shy woman, Laure realizes Nicolas is in a position to reveal her new identity to the world -- and put the bloodthirsty Black Tie back on her trail. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide