Bekim Fehmiu Movies
Yugoslav actor Bekim Fehmiu graduated to matinee idol-hood with his starring appearance in the Romany-language I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1966). Almost immediately, Fehmiu was wooed by producers from other countries, including the U.S. His handful of English-language appearances have not exactly set the hinterlands on fire, however. Outside of his faltering interpretation of the Pofirio Rubirosa counterpart in Harold Robbins' The Adventurers (1970), Bekim Fehmiu is best known for his six-billed appearance as Fasil in the 1977 nailbiter Black Sunday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Filmed on location in Tunisia, the four-hour Italian TV production A Child Called Jesus mixes Scripture with Speculation. The film attempts to fill in the "missing years" of $Jesus, from ages 3 through 12. When King Herod (Hatteb Semlali) fearing that the Messiah has indeed been born, orders that all Hebrew male children under the age of three be slain, Joseph (Bekim Fehmu) moves his family near Egypt. Here, Jesus (Matteo Bellina), sensing His divinity, expresses a desire to return to Nazareth. Travelling homeward with His mother Mary (Carmen San Martin), Jesus flashes forward to events that will unfold in his adult life (Alessandro Gassman plays the grown Jesus in these scenes). Originally presented in two parts, A Child Called Jesus was syndicated to American TV stations during the last week of November in 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
This biographical essay tackles the early life of Mother Teresa in her Yugoslavian homeland (she was born at Skopje in 1910). Her mother sent her to care for an aunt who was suffering from tuberculosis, a disease that young Agnes Gongia (Mother Teresa) contracted as a result of her exposure. She angrily turned against her mother for sending her to care for the aunt, but her mother was also responsible for her cure. She put Gongia in a convent in the mountains where she was cloistered with the rest of the nuns, and although she was healed in the process, she came away hating a cloistered life. Until that time, her career prospects had tended toward professional singing -- she had a striking voice and actually sang for awhile with an orchestra conducted by her cousin, someone that aroused her romantic interest. Her true vocation did not come to the fore until she talked to a priest (Rossano Brazzi) who had just returned from India, and she realized that she wanted to help others as a nun, but in a very practical way -- perhaps by handling cases that no one else wanted (not unlike caring for her sick aunt). It would not be long then, before Calcutta was to benefit from young Gongia's calling. (Mother Teresa) died in India on Friday, Sept. 5, 1997. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisa Belli, Bekim Fehmiu, (more)
- 1981
A female reporter (Mira Banjac) travels to a small town to interview the survivors of partisan fighting, and their story is then told in flashbacks as she goes from one interview to the next. At one point, the partisans were hiding in underground caves when Croats began to torture their companions above the caves. Complicating matters for the reporter is the fact that her boss is from the town where these events occurred and has his own agenda that interferes with her story. No matter how the investigative reporting will finally finish up, the woman has come to appreciate the loyalty between the partisan fighters. Mira Banjac won the prize for best actress at the 1981 Pula Festival for her portrayal of the reporter. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Mira Banjac, (more)
Bruce Dern is ideally cast as Lander, a crazed Vietnam veteran, in Black Sunday. Lander joins terrorists Dahlia (Marthe Keller) and Fasil (Bekim Fehmu) in a plot to create a bloodbath at the annual Super Bowl. Piloting the ubiquitous Goodyear blimp, Lander is to ram the aircraft into the capacity Orange Bowl crowd, then fire thousands of poisoned darts into the fleeing spectators. Israeli military officer Kabakov (Robert Shaw) struggles to thwart Lander's plan before it comes to fruition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, (more)
- 1977
A quite young boy, whose mother is a prostitute and who has turned to stealing in order to survive, is caught and sent to a juvenile detention home in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. There, he finds a friend in a nearly mute older boy, and in the new and empathetic instructor who is in charge of both of them. The spunky lad continues stealing on the sly. The teacher feels that occasional thefts are a price that must be paid, for in order to keep open communication with the boys, he gives them an unusual amount of freedom. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Slavko Stimac, Bekim Fehmiu, (more)
- 1975
- R
This epic drama profiles the life of the 18th-century scientist Cagliostro (Bekim Fehmiu) who founded the mysterious Masons in Europe just prior to the French Revolution. He based the secret fraternal order on a philosophy comprised of his ideas on reincarnation, ESP, and alchemy. It was his defiant answer to the domination of the Catholic church. Unfortunately, the Church was stronger and he was captured and sentenced to death by the Inquisition. A new pope reduced his sentence to life in prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1975
Pavle (Bekim Fehmiu) is an honest man, and he has a crusade: he is responding to Tito's Call-to-Order letter which urges that people root out corruption. Pavle knows about some corruption in his own factory; the higher-ups have their own private beaches and resorts in payment for some shady deals they have done. He does not meet with a very warm response when he tries to make these abuses known. Pavle Pavlovic the film, also met with a cool response from Yugoslav officialdom; even though it was inspired by Tito's own crusade, it made the system of "self-rule" look bad. Because of this, the film was barred from competing in the 1975 Yugoslav Film Festival, though it was allowed to be shown. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Milena Dravic, (more)
- 1975
After her father (Adolfo Celi) is exiled to an island off the coast of Italy for his anti-Mussolini politics, Libera (Claudia Cardinale) is increasingly incensed by the fascist government of Italy and makes a number of bold and very personal gestures against it. At first, these only result in her husband's losing his jobs, but they are finally exiled to the same island that her father was sent to. There she develops a passion for Sandro (Bekim Fehmiu), another internee, but is restrained from having an affair by her strong sense of values. After World War II breaks out, the resistance to fascism becomes much more organized and more active. Libera joins them on a number of actions, usually when these coincide with her more personal vendetta against the Brown-shirts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Adolfo Celi, (more)
- 1975
- PG
Yet another in the stable of spy movies which depict espionage as a dirty business. Here, we have Dirk Bogarde heading the "Western Intelligence Liaison" his specific task is to keep the head of a radical third-world organization from returning to his country. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1974
The Adventures of Ulysses is a 1974 feature-length abridgement of the 8-part Italian TV miniseries The Odyssey. In super-spectacular fashion, the project endeavors to cover virtually everything in the Homer original, with a few dramatic grace notes added along the way. Yugoslav heartthrob Bekim Fehmiu stars as Ulysses. The huge supporting cast is headed by Irene Papas as Penelope and Marina Berti as Arete. Never released theatrically in the US, The Adventures of Ulysses was first seen in America as the July 7, 1978 CBS Late Night Movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
A young hoodlum who cannot stay out of trouble is hauled in by the police when he gets too rowdy at a bar. While he is being held in jail, he tells his story to an interested police inspector. The main thing currently keeping him from going straight is constant harassment by the police and his neighbors, who seek to keep him from wooing the girl he loves. The inspector agrees to put a lid on the police harassment, and the young man's prospects seem to be looking up. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1974
After some years of working as a crane operator in Germany, Adam (Bekim Femihu) tires of living as a foreign guest worker and returns to his native Yugoslavia. Despite possessing needed skills, he cannot get work without paying off a particular gang which controls hiring in his region. As he travels around the region in his car, he picks up a young unmarried woman and her child. Some time previously the woman had escaped her lover, the child's father. Adam and the woman develop a relationship. It then turns out that the lover is a member of the gang Adam must pay off for work, and the man is demanding to see his child. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
A captain convicted of deserting his cavalry (Bekim Fehmiu) is released to lead a band of deputized renegades. Together, the force must defeat a band of Apache braves. The film was released to video as Ride to Glory. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
Based on Harold Robbins' bestseller, The Adventurers stars Yugoslav heartthrob Bekim Fehmiu as Porfirio Rubirosa clone Dax Xenos. Having suffered mightily as a child in a fictional South American country due to the political activities of his parents, Xenos grows up to become a sleazy, sexually manipulative playboy. He romances middle-aged widow Olivia de Havilland, then dumps her after he's run through her fortune. He then takes up with heiress Candice Bergen, who bears his child. When the kid is killed and Xenos turns his back on her, Bergen finds solace in lesbianism. All the while, Xenos is fomenting revolutions aimed at toppling the Trujillo-like despot (Alan Badel) responsible for the death of his father. The Adventurers received a lot of magazine coverage due to a poolside nude scene and the "guess who this is supposed to be?" nature of the cast of characters. But it failed to establish Bekim Fehmiu as an international star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Charles Aznavour, (more)
- 1969
The inhabitants of a Yugoslav village are rounded up by the Nazis for their sadistic pleasures. They have all the cloth in town dyed as to upset the burial process that requires a certain shade of fabric to conduct the ceremony properly. A local man who dyes the cloth for the ceremonies is denied the fabric for his own son's burial after he is killed. The Germans fire at will at people for target practice and prey sexually on defenseless victims in this disturbing slice of World War II realism. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Olivera Vuco, (more)
- 1967
Ivo Bajsic (Bekim Fehmiu) is a common laborer who is driven to suicide by social injustice in this somber drama. After the opening scene where Ivo jumps to his death from a skyscraper, flashbacks tell the story that led to his demoralizing demise. The sex scenes are tastefully presented and have not been added simply for exploitation value. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Boris Buzancic, (more)
- 1967
The Yugoslavian leading man Bekim Fehmiu plays a charismatic but mean-spirited gypsy, married to the submissive woman (Olivera Vuco). The gypsy couple's various escapades end up in a desperate flight from the Law. The authenticity of I Even Met Happy Gypsies is amplified by the use of genuine Gypsy melodies on the soundtrack; in addition, the film was shot in a near-extinct Gypsy language called Romany, requiring the film to carry subtitles even when released in Yugoslavia. I Even Met Happy Gypsies was the recipient of an award at the Cannes Film Festival, and was later nominated for a "best foreign picture" Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Olivera Vuco, (more)
- 1966
A couple from the country long for the solitude of a quiet village after working for years in the city. She works as a waitress while he has found employment as a laborer. They eventually leave the city behind for a new life in the country. Underlying themes in the feature are the criticism of the Yugoslav military regime and an appeal to young people to seek their own happiness. Shown at the 1966 Mannheim Film Festival, it is the first feature-length effort from director Dragoslav Lazic. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu, Dusica Zegarac, (more)
- 1964
A female factory worker (Braka Pepric) takes her vacation at a Yugoslavian spa, and the attractive blonde is pursued by a quartet of male admirers. She kisses them all, but even her beauty can't prevent the four young men from being bored out of their gourds by her insipid banality and her delight in telling strange tales. The title refers to the job the woman has in a factory that makes loops and buttons. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bekim Fehmiu
