Ursula Andress Movies
Born in Switzerland to German parents, Ursula Andress first sought out film work while on a holiday to Rome (she later insisted that the producers came to her first). After a string of cheap films, Andress was brought to the U.S. as the New Dietrich, although the only things she actually had in common with Marlene Dietrich were German heritage and a magnificent legs. In 1957, Andress married American actor John Derek, who supervised every aspect of her career in much the same way that he'd later mold Bo Derek. The marriage ended unhappily, although the couple remained friends. She became an international sensation through her bikini-clad appearance as Honey Rider in the first James Bond movie Dr. No (1962), a role for which she was paid 10,000 dollars. Within a year, Andress was sharing billings with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in Four for Texas, and Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (both 1963); she also posed for a now much-sought-after nude layout in Playboy magazine. After this her burst of super-celebrity, Andress settled into a series of increasingly humdrum films. During the making of 1981's Clash of the Titans, she linked up with the film's much younger leading man Harry Hamlin, who became the father of her child. Although Andress continued to make movies in the 1980s and '90s. In 1985 she appeared as Marie Antoinette in Liberte, Egalite, Choucroute, and the next year she was cast in the made-for-TV biopic Peter the Great. A late-career highlight was her appearance in Matthew Barney's ongoing Cremaster project. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2002
First screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the 60-minute documentary Bond Girls Are Forever made its cable TV debut a mere 16 days before the premiere of the newest James Bond theatrical feature, 2002's Die Another Day. (Coincidence? We don't think so) Through vintage film clips of past Bond movie epics, and with the participation of several former "Bond Girls" as interviewees (among them Dr. No's Ursula Andress and Diamonds Are Forever's Jill St. John), the documentary traced the evolution of the typical James Bond heroine from decorative damsel in distress to gutsy (but still decorative) participant in the action. In addition to the provocatively named romantic partners enjoyed by the various movie Bonds over the past 40 years, the viewer is treated with the input of Judi Dench, the most recent actor to play 007's no-nonsense superior officer, M. Bond Girls Are Forever was co-produced and narrated by Maryam d'Abo, who appeared opposite Bond number four, Timothy Dalton, in The Living Daylights. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maryam D'Abo, Jill St. John, (more)
- 1998
The five in-progress avant-garde Cremaster films have been made out of sequence for a Guggenheim Museum showing of all five in the year 2000; Cremaster 5 is actually the third to be filmed (released in 1998 when number two and number three had not yet been made). In number five, the Queen of Chains (Ursula Andress, with the singing voice of Adrienne Csengery), wearing a glass dumbbell on her head, moves into the restored Budapest Opera House where she sings passionately of her lost love (writer-director Matthew Barney), later seen as a half-man/half-fish surrounded by pink mermaids. Her aria is in Hungarian, minus subtitles. The 51-minute musical fantasy, with a vid-to-film transfer, was made on a $200,000 budget. Also of note: The title refers to the set of minor muscles in the male anatomy that raise and lower the testes, in order to accomodate for temperature. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ursula Andress, Matthew Barney, (more)
- 1989
A nearly forgotten accident (or was it murder?) takes on new life when a 50th year class reunion is convened at the remote Alpine mountain chalet of one of the students. During an excursion in the mountains many years before, just after their graduation, one of the least popular of students fell to his death from a high waterfall. We find out that the hostess of this reunion was the dead boy's lover and was pregnant with his child. In this Agatha Christie-type story a series of deaths ensues, some accidental, some not, en route to a surprise ending. The cast of this Swiss production includes nine of the their most prominent native actors, including international star Ursula Andress, who had never before appeared in a Swiss film. Anne-Marie Blanc, who plays the hostess, is one of the great stars of Swiss theater. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anne Marie Blanc, Paul Hubschmid, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
- Add Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders to Queue Add Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders to top of Queue
An L.A. policeman (George Peppard) works with several partners to destroy the prostitution ring run by Chinatown's version of the Mafia. The film was originally produced for television. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Peppard
- 1985
This is an often wilted, occasionally flat spoof of the French Revolution by Jean Yanne, France's answer to Mel Brooks. The revolution, used as a foil for politics in the 1980s, has Robespierre Roland Giraud) in love with Charlotte Corday (Mimi Coutellier) who works for Marat (Jean Yanne) and unsuccessfully tries to stab him one day. That only makes him worse, causing him to stoke up the population and establish himself as a dictator, with the assistance of the Caliph of Baghdad (Jean Poirot). It seems the Caliph is in Paris to check out the new guillotine at a trade show of implements of torture and execution. Eventually, Robespierre and Charlotte, along with Louis XVI (Michel Serrault) and Marie Antoinette (Ursula Andress) make their way to Baghdad, where life is less revolutionary. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Poiret, Michel Serrault, (more)
- 1982
In this, the first of a two-part Soviet-made historical epic, the life of journalist John Reed is chronicled. Much of the story centers around his love affair with a wealthy woman as he endeavors to write about the Mexican labor riots and revolutions from 1910-1915. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Franco Nero, Ursula Andress, (more)
The eschewing of modern optical effects techniques in favor of the classic stop-motion animation work of special effects legend Ray Harryhausen was a delightful highlight of this action adventure that attempted to give Greek mythology the Star Wars (1977) treatment. Harry Hamlin stars as Perseus, a mortal who, due to the interference of the mighty god Zeus (Laurence Olivier), finds himself in the city of Joppa, far away from his island home. There, he falls in love with Andromeda (Judi Bowker), an imprisoned princess. To free her, win her hand, and thus half of the kingdom, Perseus solves a riddle, but Joppa's enraged ruler orders Andromeda fed to the Kraken, a towering sea monster that's the last of the powerful Titans. In his quest to save Andromeda, Perseus must endure a series of trials with the help of the winged horse Pegasus and a friendly playwright, Ammon (Burgess Meredith). His ultimate goal is to secure the head of the grotesque Gorgon named Medusa and use it to turn the Kraken into stone, but dangers await, including the hideously deformed Calibos (Neil McCarthy). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, (more)
- 1979
- R
In this standard but toned-down sex comedy, seven different vignettes starring female leads like Monica Vitti, Ursula Andress, Laura Antonelli, and Sylvia Kristel portray various questionable exploits headed by women with minds of their own. Antonelli, for example, plays a dynamic businesswoman who picks up a young orchestra conductor and both yearn to spend some quality time together -- but to no avail. As the patient conductor follows her around like a footnote on a text, she continues to finish up dealings with other businessmen, lawyers, and various agents while her romantic interlude seems to be left cooling on the back burner somewhere. In another vignette, Monica Vitti and Michele Placido are in competition (and disguises), trying to con the pricey necklace off an unsuspecting woman at a casino. Other vignettes involve some nudity, but viewers looking for X-rated material will have to look elsewhere -- this sex comedy has more emphasis on the comedic than the lustful side of life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ursula Andress, Laura Antonelli, (more)
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, Rovi
- 1978
Marcello Mastroianni plays the downtrodden Bruno Baldassare, a murder-squad investigator in Rome who gets no respect from his peers, who give him the least interesting cases. His bumbling aide, Cantalamessa, gets even less respect. While a lightning strike could have caused the deaths of two people, the circumstances of their deaths arouse his suspicions. In this satirical detective comedy, among the suspects he must question are the victim's widow, Princess Dell'Orso (Ursula Andress) and a seedy screenwriter named Harry Hellman (Peter Ustinov). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Agostina Belli, (more)
The story in this lavish cinemadaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Man in the Iron Mask remains faithful to the original novel: the right heir to the throne of France is imprisoned in a dungeon by his evil twin brother, his identity kept secret with an uncomfortable iron mask. It's up to the aging D'Artagnan and his three Musketeer companions to set things aright. Though the action takes place in France, the film was rather obviously lensed in Austria, adding an exotic touch to the proceedings. Beau Bridges does double duty as the "right" and "wrong" King Louis, while Beau's dad Lloyd Bridges plays Aramis. Alan Hale Jr. essays the role of Porthos, just as he'd done in 1951's At Sword's Point; also carried over from the 1951 film is Cornel Wilde as D'Artagnan. Other seasoned veterans in the cast include Jose Ferrer (Athos), Ursula Andress (Mme. De la Valliere), Olivia DeHavilland (Queen Anne) and Rex Harrison (Colbert). The Fifth Musketeer was also released as Behind the Iron Mask. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sylvia Kristel, Rex Harrison, (more)
In this Italian sex comedy, a wealthy, widowed count has a heart attack and must have bed rest and no stress to recover. His avaricious relatives would rather see him dead. Knowing that he is a lusty fellow unable to resist a woman's charms, they hire a bombshell of a sexy nurse to meet his every need and cause a fatal coronary. Things don't go as planned when the nurse falls in love with her patient. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1976
- PG
In this comedy, Scaramouche (Michael Sarrazin) and his friend Whistle (Giancarlo Prete) are members of Napoleon's army, and through a series of adventures, become embroiled in the intrigues surrounding Napoleon (Aldo Maccione) and his Empress, Josephine (Ursula Andress). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Sarrazin, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1975
A secret agent goes undercover as a flight attendant to crack a drug ring. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1975
- R
Wallach and Testi rob a jewelry store, and when Wallach suspects a double cross, he goes to the Stateline Motel to collect the jewels. An Italian The Postman Always Rings Twice ~ Rovi
- 1975
- R
In this African adventure, a greedy fortune hunter endeavors to get his hands on the untold riches lying buried in Central Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1971
In what was billed as "The First East-Meets-West Western," Toshiro Mifune plays Kuroda, a samurai warrior who accompanies a Japanese diplomat to the United States. The diplomat has brought with him a golden, jewel-encrusted sword to present as a token of good will to the president, but as they travel by train through the west, they're ambushed by a pair of outlaws, Gauche (Alain Delon) and Link (Charles Bronson). Gauche and Link steal the sword, but Link leans the hard way about his partner's trustworthiness when Gauche double-crosses him and makes off with the booty. Since both Kuroda and Link have a grudge against Gauche, they warily join forces to track him down and return the sword to its rightful owner. Along the way, they have to deal with cultural conflict, Indian attacks, and encounters with beautiful women (played by Capucine and Ursula Andress). Given its cast and theme, Red Sun was predictably enough a major box-office success in Europe and Japan, but it passed through with little notice in the United States. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1970
- R
A trio of aspiring crooks plan to steal a million dollars in this crime comedy. Lord Nicholas (David Warner) and his Swiss wife Britt (Ursula Andress) are the jet-set couple who have spent all their money and seek a loan from the bank. She asks Graham (Stanley Baker) for a loan, but the mid-level manager has plans of his own to pad his retirement account by means of larceny. Graham approaches both Nicholas and Britt to help him in his plan. Britt sleeps with both men, willing to take off to Rio with the first one who gets his hands on the money. Nicholas and Graham both are under the assumption they are the masterminds of the plot that is highlighted by amusing twists. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ursula Andress, David Warner, (more)
- 1969
- PG
In this comic adventure, an impoverished Yankee geologist and his cohorts band together with a group of fortune hunters to search for the priceless "Southern Star," an enormous diamond. The geologist has a double stake in the hunt as he not only hopes to earn much-needed cash, he also hopes to marry the daughter of the financier who hired them. It is the geologist and his partner who find the diamond first. During the party the businessman holds to celebrate, the lights suddenly go out. When they flick back on, the diamond and the geologist's partner has disappeared, leaving the geologist to shoulder the blame for the crime. To prove his innocence the geologist sets out after this thieving partner. He is pursued by a group of crooks who want the valuable rock for themselves. In the end, the geologist triumphs and the businessman allows him to marry his daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Segal, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1967
Yet another entry in a long series of 1960s Italian sex comedies, this one has some clever moments in its study of four beautiful women (Ursula Andress, Marisa Mell, Virna Lisi, and Claudine Auger) who cheat on their husbands to relieve their marital discontent. Jean-Pierre Cassel also stars in this typical anthology written by Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ursula Andress, Virna Lisi, (more)
Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, (more)
Based on a novel by Jack D. Hunter, The Blue Max is a World War I aviation drama, told from the German point of view. Low-born infantryman George Peppard becomes a pilot, almost deliberately stepping on the sensibilities of his aristocratic comrades in the process. A national hero, Peppard wins the Blue Max, the highest award that can be bestowed upon an aviator. His fame is exploited by general James Mason, who tolerates Peppard's affair with Mason's wife Ursula Andress. The canny Mason knows that, eventually, Peppard will be expendable, and a "heroic" death can be arranged. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Peppard, James Mason, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.