Ottavio Jemma Movies

Viewers familiar with the 1973 film with a very similar name will recognize many of the characters in this light comedy, which is set over twenty-five years in the future. In the earlier film, a saucy and gorgeous country girl was hired to keep house for a widower and his three sons and ran into difficulties when the middle son selected her as the object for his romantic obsessions. In this movie, the housekeeper has married her old employer, and the sons have moved away. However, the villa they live in is built atop an archaeologically interesting site, and she and her husband invite an archaeologist and his son to visit them to investigate it. Before long, she is receiving mash notes and flowers from the antiquarian's son, which she efficiently brushes aside. When evidences of romantic intent keep coming, she begins to wonder just who is sending them to her. It could be the boy, his handsome father, or even her own husband. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This ineffably bizarre drama stars Ben Gazzara as an American cartoonist who sees a beautiful woman named Nicole (Ornella Muti) being saved from drowning while he draws on the beach. He offers her a blanket, beginning a strange relationship with the obviously unbalanced woman which ends when she shaves her own head and walks into the ocean to die. Muti carries the film with an engagingly peculiar performance as the disturbed Nicole, who strips for bellboys, exposes herself to passing tourists, hallucinates insects in her bathroom, and goes into a coma after being raped in a mental institution. Mimsy Farmer co-stars as Gazzara's ex-lover and William Berger appears briefly as a bartender. Despite being blighted by a distracting Riz Ortolani soundtrack and a fundamentally lurid approach, Muti and director Pasquale Festa Campanile imbue this film with enough interesting touches to make it worthwhile. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

A daring idea gets an ambivalent treatment in this typical Italian comedy about an unfunny subject. The teaching and events in the life of Christ are presented here from the viewpoint of the Palestinian thief who was crucified next to him. Among the miracles that Christ performs is curing the leprosy that afflicts poor Deborah (Edwige Fenech), a prostitute. Given the nature of the comedy, Deborah's attractive hide gets a lot more exposure than Christ's miracles, as the film vacillates between sexual innuendo and parody. Viewers unaccustomed to free-wheeling Italian spoofs may take offense at the way religious subjects are used for comic fodder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

After becoming a minor cult figure with his role as Krug Stullo in the notorious Last House on the Left, actor David Hess found himself typecast in minor variations of the role for the rest of his career. In this bloody thriller from director Pasquale Festa Campanile, Hess stars as Adam Kunitz, ringleader of a group of vicious bankrobbers who terrorize bickering vacationers Franco Nero and Corinne Clery. There's action, violence, and hard-edged sexual tension aplenty, although Hess' famous fireside rape of Clery is optically censored in some versions. The film, based on Peter Kane's novel The Violence and the Fury, and well scored by Ennio Morricone, still comes across as an attempt to capitalize on Hess' cult status, prefiguring his even more violent Italian films such as La Casa Sperduta nel Parco and Camping del Terrore. Ignazio Spalla and Monica Zanchi also appear. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

A widower falls in love with the new housekeeper (Laura Antonelli) he has hired for his three sons, but later realizes he's not the only man in the household wishing to have an affair with her. The film, originally released in Italy as Malizia, appears in dubbed English. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Italian horror legend Lucio Fulci jettisons goes from scary to sexy with this blasphemous erotic comedy about a possessed politician who simply can't keep his hands to himself. After years of dedicating himself exclusively to the cause of politics, Italian senator Gianni Puppis finds his long-suppressed libido suddenly transforms him into a rampaging sex maniac. When a keen eyed photographer captures the potential future president fondling the posterior of a visiting female dignitary, a Dominican monk attempts to cure the politician with a relaxing retreat to a countryside nunnery. Once in the company of twenty-one stunning sisters, however, the senator quickly discovers that the word of God holds little sway over the urges of man. A sacrilegious sex-romp starring Laura Antonelli, Anita Strindberg, Agostina Belli, and Lionel Stander, The Eroticist offers a side of Lucio Fulci rarely seen by his many stateside fans. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In this comic sequel to When Women Had Tails, a group of prehistoric men and women experiment with the recently discovered phenomenon of sex. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The love-hate relationship between a poet and his mistress provides the basis for this metaphorical drama. The trouble seems to come from the fact that the two have very different approaches to their relationship. The poet is interested in a more traditional romance while his hot-blooded lover would rather spend all their time having sex. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This biblical epic chronicles the rocky relationship between David the giant-killer and Saul, King of the Israelites who listens to the subversive whispers of his jealous wife and ultimately loses his life. This is one of a series of Bible tales. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide