Joe di Reda Movies

A young man struggles to hold on to his life with his family against the judgment of those who want to help him in this drama from Italy. Salvatore (Allesandro Mallia) is a thirteen-year-old who has become the primary breadwinner in his family after the unexpected death of his parents. Salvatore has a younger sister and a grandmother to look after, and while at first he tried to juggle school with the fishing and tomato farming that kept the family fed and the bills paid, the youngster has abandoned his studies, at least for the meantime, in the interest of keeping the household together. Salvatore's truancy draws the attention of Laura Valvo (Galatea Ranzi), a social worker who becomes aware of his situation. Laura wants to place Salvatore with a foster family and apply to a Catholic charity to help look after his sister and grandmother, but Salvatore will have no part of this. As Salvatore struggles to keep his family together, he's helped by a most unlikely ally -- Marco Brioni (Enrico Lo Verso), the teacher whose classroom he abandoned to help his relations. Salvatore -- Questa E'La Vita was the first feature film from director Gian Paolo Cugno. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

"The German Air Force is not at all what it used to be," says Anne Bancroft's Countess, about 16 minutes into The Hindenburg, pausing and then adding, "But then, nothing is these days." That seems to sum up the ponderous, irony-laden script and plot of Robert Wise's movie, which is posited -- in true post-Watergate fashion -- upon notions of conspiracy and cover-up behind the destruction of the German airship. The movie opens with a handy Universal newsreel that gives a vestpocket history of lighter-than-air flight, and that carries us to 1937 Germany. Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, finds himself assigned to the flight of the Hindenburg as chief of security; reports and rumors about the destruction of the zeppelin have circulated both in Germany and America, and the Nazi government takes these very seriously. What Ritter walks in on is a "Grand Hotel" of the air, several dozen passengers and crew whose ranks contain enough red herrings to keep Ritter (and us) jumping through hoops for most of the first half of the film, when we're not watching glorious shots of the zeppelin in flight. The answer to the script's presentation of the plot against the airship,and theidentityof the bomber and his motivations, are actually presented in the first 15 minutes, but there are so many false leads, subplots, and blind alleys put before us that the solution will probably pass by unnoticed. In the meantime, Ritter dances around with his ex-paramour (Bancroft), scheming businessmen (Gig Young), and passengers with skeletons in their closets (Alan Oppenheimer), an entertainer (Robert Clary) with a knack for offending loyal Nazis, several officers and crew with known "political" differences with the Nazi Party, a Gestapo man (Roy Thinnes) who's got an agenda of his own, and two genuine mystery men (Burgess Meredith, Rene Auberjonois) who don't seem to have any reason for traveling on this particular voyage. It's all a little tiring, or would be, if the setting and special effects weren't that interesting, and the cast wasn't so entertaining to watch in these relatively thankless roles. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

While the Watergate scandal filled the headlines, Alan J. Pakula's 1974 thriller took its inspiration from the conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination. Journalist Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) misses witnessing the assassination of a senator at Seattle's Space Needle, but his newswoman former girlfriend Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss) was there. Even after a government commission concludes that it was a freak lone assassin, Lee tells Joe that she fears for her life since other witnesses keep dying. After she too turns up dead, Joe investigates, travelling to the small town where another witness has mysteriously expired. Stumbling on a corporate identity for the killers, Joe decides to dig deeper by infiltrating the Parallax Corporation as one of their hired assassins. As Joe becomes increasingly isolated in his assumed identity, he discovers what Parallax is all about -- but Parallax knows all about Joe too. Made between Klute (1971) and All the President's Men (1976), The Parallax View was the second film in Pakula's "paranoia" trilogy; it proved too dark even for a 1974 audience that embraced such other challenging films of that year as The Godfather, Part II and Chinatown, making The Parallax View the sole flop of Pakula's trilogy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

One suspects that this episode was a case of combining business with pleasure for F.B.I star Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) On assignment for the FBI, Inspector Lew Erskine (Zimbalist) grabs his clubs and heads to an expensive golf course. The purpose: to trap a group of affluent thieves who have stolen a diamond worth $300,000. Featured in the cast is Quinn Redeker, who later forsook acting to become a screenwriter, sharing an Oscar for 1978's The Deer Hunter. Much of this episode was filmed on location at various golf clubs along the Monterey Peninsula. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young Army private looks for his first sexual experience before being shipped out for Vietnam. Instead he falls for a young lady, whom he spends a platonic 72-hour leave with. ~ All Movie Guide

A series of truck hijackings has coincided with the appearance of stolen American cargoes behind the Iron Curtain. Investigating, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) follows the trail of clues to Manning Fryes (Peter Graves), an outwardly respectable businessman who is harboring a terrible secret. In a rare American TV appearance, Louis Jordan is unforgettable as a charming but cold-blooded master spy who uses beautiful women and vulnerable men as his helpless pawns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Burns joins the series as Andy's overzealous new deputy Warren Ferguson. Even more of a "letter of the law" stickler than his predecessor Barney Fife, Warren immediately makes his mark by arresting several bingo-playing old ladies for gambling. When he refuses to drop the charges, Andy has to figure out a way to "humanize" Warren. Written by Ben Joelson and Art Baer, "The Bazaar" first aired on October 11, 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ed Nelson is cast as Pvt. Jesse Burgess, one of two survivors of a dangerous reconnaissance mission. Returning from this assignment, Burgess is order to guide Saunders' men back to the German outpost that he has located. But Burgess' sergeant questions the circumstances surrounding the Private's "survival", and does not trust the man. Neither does Saunders (Vic Morrow), who spends the rest of the episode keeping close watch over Burgess, who may very well be a deserter...or a traitor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Victor Buono, who skyrocketed to stardom by virtue of his work in the title role of the earlier Untouchables episode "Mr. Moon", returns to the series in a different characterization. This time Buono is cast as Parnise Surigao, whose booming bootlegging operation is cutting into the profits of Frank Nitti's operation. To put it mildly, Nitti (Frank Nitti) is displeased, and orders an all-out war against Surigeo--who proves nearly impossible to bump off. After an innocent bystander is killed in the crossfire, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) vows to end the war and put both sides out of business, using a "straw man" subterfuge to accomplish his goal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) and the Untouchables close in on notorious gang leader Ma Barker (Claire Trevor) and her brood in their Florida hideaway, a series of flashbacks traces Ma's rise to prominence in the criminal world. Forsaking her hometown of Tulsa and her religious scruples, Ma quickly makes a name for herself with a progression of robberies and kidnappings, assisted by her equally venomous sons. Hardly an shining example of "mother love", Mrs. Barker has no qualms about discarding any gang member who has outlived his usefulness--including her own son Doc (Peter Baldwin), who has defected in the company of his girlfriend Eloise (played by a young Louise Fletcher). This episode originally ran with a closing disclaimer, allegedly added at the insistence of J. Edgar Hoover) stating that, despite the events dramatized herein, it was actually the FBI rather than Elliot Ness who ultimately rid the world of the Barker Gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the Anton Myrer novel The Big War, In Love and War is an entertaining showcase for several of 20th Century-Fox's younger contract players. Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter and Bradford Dillman plays three young San Francisco residents who sign up for the Marines at the outbreak of WW2. The film traces the progress of all three in the Pacific "theater of operations", emphasizing the characters' individual strengths and shortcomings. One of the men is a gung-ho patriot, the second is a perennial goof-off, and the third hopes to prove his worth to his wealthy father. The women in the three protagonists' lives are played by Sheree North, Hope Lange, France Nuyen, and Dana Wynter, the latter delivering a powerhouse performance in an extremely difficult role. Providing comic counterpart to the more serious goings-on is nightclub comedian Mort Sahl, making his screen debut in a tailor-made role as an eternal griper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title is Black Orchid, but the leading lady is a rose--florist Rose Bianco, played by Sophia Loren. Newly widowed, Rose holds herself responsible for the death of her husband, a well-known gangster. Anthony Quinn plays a widower who falls in love with Rose, much to the dismay of his daughter (Ina Balin), who fears that Quinn will be destroyed as thoroughly as Rose's first husband. All ends happily after Rose and her new beau align to find her unhappy runaway son (Jimmy Baird). Black Orchid tries too hard to be a "slice of life;" perhaps it might have fared better with a cast of unknowns, but then who'd go to see it? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actually, this retelling of the life of outlaw Jesse James is only as true as its predecessor, the highly fanciful 1939 Tyrone Power-Henry Fonda starrer Jesse James. Generous chunks of stock footage from the earlier film are reused here, albeit reframed to accommodate the CinemaScope process. Robert Wagner makes an interesting James, though he is upstaged throughout by Jeffrey Hunter as his brother Frank. Adhering to the Canon, the film insists that the James boys were forced into a life of crime by greedy railroad men -- hence, their ongoing vendetta against trains. Director Nicholas Ray adds a few psychological nuances not found in the more prosaic 1939 film. John Carradine, who played "dirty little coward" Bob Ford in the original Jesse James, appears in the remake as Rev. Jethro Bailey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide