Enzo Fiermonte Movies

With Peter Sellers as star, Neil Simon as screenwriter, and Vittorio DeSica as director, how could After the Fox miss? Miss it did, however--though the film, patchy and inconsistent though it might be, definitely has its moments. Sellers plays an Italian master thief who can't seem to stay out of jail. His latest scheme involves moving $3 million worth of stolen gold bullion from Cairo to Rome. To cover his tracks, Sellers pretends to be a "nouvelle vague" movie director, filming a crime picture. Britt Ekland, Mrs. Sellers at the time, plays his movie-struck sister. The film is effortlessly stolen by Victor Mature, who is unbearably funny as a vainglorious hasbeen Hollywood star. Director DeSica shows up in the film as "himself"-at least until all his camera equipment is stolen by Sellers and his partner-in-crime Akim Tamiroff. Never as hilarious as it should have been, After the Fox nonetheless manages a few isolated belly laughs. Outside of Mature's performance, our favorite bit in the film is the final gag: "Ze wrong man has escaped!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1959 version of Lew Wallace's best-selling novel, which had already seen screen versions in 1907 and 1926, went on to win 11 Academy Awards. Adapted by Karl Tunberg and a raft of uncredited writers including Gore Vidal and Maxwell Anderson, the film once more recounts the tale of Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), who lives in Judea with his family during the time that Jesus Christ was becoming known for his "radical" teachings. Ben-Hur's childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) is now an ambitious Roman tribune; when Ben-Hur refuses to help Messala round up local dissidents on behalf of the emperor, Messala pounces on the first opportunity to exact revenge on his onetime friend. Tried on a trumped-up charge of attempting to kill the provincial governor (whose head was accidentally hit by a falling tile), Ben-Hur is condemned to the Roman galleys, while his mother (Martha Scott) and sister (Cathy O'Donnell) are imprisoned. But during a sea battle, Ben-Hur saves the life of commander Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), who, in gratitude, adopts Ben-Hur as his son and gives him full control over his stable of racing horses. Ben-Hur never gives up trying to find his family or exact revenge on Messala. At crucial junctures in his life, he also crosses the path of Jesus, and each time he benefits from it. The highlight of the film's 212 minutes is its now-legendary chariot race, staged largely by stunt expert Yakima Canutt. Ben-Hur's Oscar haul included Best Picture, Best Director for the legendary William Wyler, Best Actor for Heston, and Best Supporting Actor for Welsh actor Hugh Griffith as an Arab sheik. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This story from Alexander Dumas is updated to modern times and tinged with graphic nudity and eroticism. Marguerite (Daniele Gaubert) is the tart who sleeps her way up the social ladder to help Armand Duval (Nino Castelnuevo), a commoner who happens to be her boyfriend. The original story has Camille dying from tuberculosis, but in this version she suffers from an unknown ailment. She takes a variety of drugs and becomes a walking zombie (when she can stand up) in this expertly photographed sexploitation feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Unholy Four was originally titled Ciak Mull, L'Uomo Della Vendetta. It's one of those spaghetti westerns in which the heroes and heavies are virtually indistinguishable. Though the outlaw leader (played by George Eastman credited by his birth name Luigi Montefiore) is evil incarnate, he isn't much worse than the four mercenaries hunting him down. Stalwart John Ford-regular Woody Strode is given plenty of screen time, and he makes the most of it. Director Enzo Barboni was billed as "E. B. Clucher" in the American prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A bookish Boston slicker tries his hand at cowpunching on his father's ranch in this violent but humorous Italian western. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

There's a few million dollars' worth of star power and a nickel's worth of plot in the lavish race-car melodrama Grand Prix. Among the participants in this annual cross-continent competition are characters played by James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford, and Antonio Sabato. Interested parties include Toshiro Mifune (his voice dubbed by Paul Frees), Adolfo Celi, and Claude Dauphin, while the women who agonize on the sidelines include Eva Marie Saint, Jessica Walter, and Françoise Hardy. The racing sequences are top-rank, cleverly utilizing those 1960s devices of helicopter angles and multiple screens. Oscars went to editor Frederic Steinkamp (among others) and the sound-effects supervisor Franklin E. Milton. Filmed on location, Grand Prix made back its cost about half a week into its run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this campy Italian sci-fi adventure wicked aliens from outer space abduct and miniaturize Earth's leaders to make it easier to destroy the planet until a courageous hero appears to fight against him and his legion of skintight leather-clad robot women. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Il Cocco di Mamma translates to "Mamma's Boy," a more than adequate description of protagonist Maurizio Arena. On the verge of achieving success as a prizefighter, Arena loses because he's afraid his face will be permanently damaged. Branded a coward by his friends and family, our hero is finally able to find inner reserves of strength through the love of a good woman (Inge Schoener). No longer frightened of facial disfigurement, Arena at last emerges victorious. The story is nothing special, but the handling of the material, combined with the film's realistic depiction of life in working-class Rome, is first rate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dan Vadis plays a very husky, somewhat headstrong Hercules (closer to some aspects of the legend than many other portrayals) in this sword-and-sandal adventure tale, which combines elements from several legends and two interesting twists involving magic. The king of Mycene is murdered by his army commander, Milo (Pierre Cressoy), who seizes power and vows to marry the king's daughter, thus solidifying his rule. The king's dying words send his loyal subjects in search of Hercules, who helps lead an uprising, but Milo has a weapon of his own, given to him by his sorceress mother, a magic dagger that conjures up seven metal warriors who can slay anything in their path. When Hercules bests them in battle, Milo goads him into killing an innocent man, which causes his father, Jove, the king of the gods, to strip him of his god-like strength. It is a mortal but still very powerful Hercules who is captured and must defend the life of the princess (Marilu Tolo) from a horrible death planned by Milo. The denouement is surprisingly similar to that of Terminator 2, with Hercules having to figure out which woman is the princess and which is her enchanted imposter. The script also works in some unusual comic relief as Hercules goes hand-to-hand with the metal-skinned guards, pounding away with weapons that would be unthinkable to use on men, all to a certain humorous effect. Also, part of the plot involves a pair of appealing thieves and pickpockets who are not beneath helping the rebels, thus adding an odd wrinkle or two to the plot where the magic dagger is concerned. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Cult director Massimo Dallamano made this surprisingly tedious thriller about a murder-for-hire plot. Lisa (Luciana Paluzzi) is the trampy wife of a jealous detective named Franz (John Mills), who has underworld connections from his job on the narcotics squad. Lisa's shady background and promiscuous habits drive Franz to a homicidal rage, so he hires a hitman (Robert Hoffmann) to murder her. As so often is the case in films about hired killers, the hitman falls in love with Lisa and helps her to double-cross Franz. Predictable and dull, this standard genre effort is below Dallamano's usual standards, and it features a dreadful musical score by Giovanni Fusco which only adds to the disappointment. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this political drama, the critically acclaimed Russian director Grigori Chukhrai -- who also wrote the script -- focuses on the nature of political persecution through his hero Antonio (Giancarlo Giannini), a taxi driver in the capital of a dictatorship. Running alongside the political theme is a love story between Antonio and María, a waitress in a local café. Antonio was booted out of the military for refusing to fire on a boat carrying women and children during the Angola civil war. His main objective now is to stay aloof and uninvolved -- until he meets María. She has him take a man to the airport one day, and Antonio soon realizes that this fellow is a revolutionary working to oust the dictator. The ride he gave the man is the excuse the Secret Police need to pick up Antonio, and they put him in prison where they abuse him, trying to find out about his passenger. But he truly does not know anything, and he would never implicate María. The other prisoners at first turn against him but change their attitude when they discover he plans an escape, and soon everyone is about to make a break for freedom. Chukhrai's first film, The Forty-First won a special prize at Cannes in 1957, Ballad of a Soldier was also a 1960 winner at Cannes, and Clear Skies a winner in the 1961 Venice competition. Although La Vita è Bella indirectly involves the war themes of these preceding movies, it is not really in their same category. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide