Gianni Garko
This muddled thriller reminiscent of Mil Gritos Tiene la Noche stars Joanna Pacula as a widow in peril. Pacula's bisexual husband Abe had a lover named Tim Bell, who apparently lost his mind when Abe died in a motorcycle accident. Being that Abe was an organ donor, Tim begins murdering the recipients in order to rebuild his dead lover. The gruesome murders include an incredibly bloody slashing of a baker, a woman's hand cut off with an axe, and a lifeguard emasculated in a public pool. The most startling scene has a cornea recipient murdered in front of a class of blind children, one of whom gets a gout of blood right in the face. The preposterous ending involves both split personality and the expected reappearance of the quite healthy Abe. Misteria is a long, dreary film which makes no sense whatsoever, and adds to its annoying qualities by blaring "Night on Bald Mountain" at high volume in every other scene. Most viewers should avoid this film like the plague, but some horror fans will enjoy it for the gory murders, a campy performance by cult favorite Giovanni Lombardo Radice as an epicene homosexual, and cameos by Gianni Garko and Erika Blanc. Luigi Kuveiller) provided the slick cinematography. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1984
In this moronic genre hybrid, at least seven credited writers -- including Luigi Cozzi, Sergio Martino, and Dardano Sacchetti -- throw Jaws, Piranha, and anything else they can find into a hopeless amalgam of hackneyed story, dull subplots, and terrible effects. Michael Sopkiw and Valentine Monnier are the typically dedicated scientists who try to avert ecological disaster while pawing each other like overheated teenagers. The monster, which is supposed to be a genetically-created hybrid of an octopus and a prehistoric proto-shark (instead resembling a toothy starfish with leprosy), spends most of its time just floating through the water. To compensate for this lack of movement, the victims flail about frantically while pulling the creature's inert tentacles over their bodies. Dr. Davis, the mad scientist behind the "Seakiller Project," gets to babble endlessly while his henchmen run around killing everyone in sight, including a woman who is beaten, stripped naked, and thrown in a bathtub before being electrocuted with a hair dryer. The filmmakers seem to enjoy the sight of women getting beaten up, because all of the female cast members get pummeled at one point or another while wearing very little clothing. Most viewers will find that even the appearance of such Euro-film favorites as Gianni Garko, William Berger, and Dagmar Lassander aren't enough to make this awful mess worth enduring. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Sopkiw, Valentine Monnier, (more)
- 1983
- PG
The 12 labors of Hercules were not the objective of this film starring Lou Ferrigno as the semi-divine son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Hercules must rescue Princess Cassiopea from her kidnappers, fight off grotesque laser-breathing monsters and in one case, jettison a giant bear up into space where it becomes Ursa Major, the Big Dipper or "Great Bear" constellation. Off-color (many scenes are in dim, bluish stage sets) and low-budget, this incarnation of Hercules may find unconverted viewers a difficult, 13th challenge to conquer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Ferrigno, Mirella D'Angelo, (more)
- 1980
This autobiographical drama is a captivating look at the ambiance of a strong family and a small provinicial town in times gone by. Based on a book by Mario Tobino, who also wrote the screenplay, the story centers on his mother (Anna Maria Gherardi) and her memories of childhood. The elderly woman goes back home to the town where she and her extended, wealthy family lived for many years. She revisits her early period in the town during the weeks preceding her death: eccentric villagers come and go, she and her sisters interact, and she revels in trips to the countryside with her children. Interspersed with her memories are her son's own remembrances of his childhood and how he viewed the same villagers, the same family, and his mother. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna-Maria Gherardi, Luigi Diberti, (more)
- 1980
- R
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In yet another sexploitation horror spoof of Count Dracula and his nasty incisors, the infamous count (Gianni Garko) and an often naked Countess Olivia (Betty Vergès) live and dine in the castle's basement on whomever they can find, while the Count's grandson Stan (Garko in a dual role) photographs erotic views of some buxom models on the floors above. The photography of the film also offers some stunning views of the Bavarian landscape, but the dubbed English and failed humor, along with so-so acting, leave only the visuals to be appreciated. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gianni Garko, Betty Verges, (more)
In this Italian thriller, a woman is tormented by morbid premonitions heralding the deaths of people she knows. As she tries to understand the terrifying phenomenon, she remembers her childhood when her mother jumped off a cliff and seemingly died. As the visions continue, she not only sees her own upcoming death, she also gains insight into the truth about her mother's demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer O'Neill, Gabriele Ferzetti, (more)
- 1973
- PG
Stephen Boyd spent the latter stages of his career in foreign actioners, of which Those Dirty Dogs is a prime example. Boyd plays a soldier of fortune, hired to stem the activities of Mexican revolutionaries. He is aided and abetted by bounty hunter Gianni Garko, who like Boyd is no more trustworthy than he has to be. A blood-splattered gunfight climaxes this outing. Those Dirty Dogs wasn't exactly art, but it paid its way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
A group attempts to embezzle and hide a fortune of 2,000,000 pounds while outwitting the British Intelligence during World War II in this action movie. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Brasseur, Rod Steiger, (more)
A Mexican revolutionary offers four marauding outlaws a million bucks to destroy an arsenal owned by the Mexican army. The arsenal gets blasted, but the million bucks doesn't get delivered in this "outsmart the outsmarters" and "double-cross the double-crossers" western saga. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Van Cleef, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
- 1972
Night of the Devils is an Italian vampire thriller with a remarkably good pedigree. The script is based on The Wurdalak, a short story by no less than Leo Tolstoy. The central character is the patriarch of a wealthy family who fears that he will show up one day in vampire form. Should this happen, he warns his family not to let him back in his house, no matter how much he begs or cajoles. Not surprisingly, his warnings are to no avail. The filmmakers "improve" upon Tolstoy by adding liberal doses of sex. An earlier cinemadaptation of The Wurdalak, starring Boris Karloff, was incorporated into the omnibus 1963 melodrama Black Sabbath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Two teenagers looking for love find each other in this tragic and cruel story of romance, co-dependence and psychological torment. Pierre (Frank Grimes) is the French boy who saves the British girl Sarah (Carole Andre) from suicide. Despondent over a broken affair, Sarah soon becomes fond of Pierre and agrees to stay with him. The twisted girl puts him through a series of humiliations before she intentionally blinds him so he will never leave her. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Grimes, Carole Andre, (more)
- 1970
A crackdown on drugs leads a burned out cop (Michel Bouquet) to take the law into his own hands and seek revenge against villainous drug dealers. Word comes down from above that the United States feels French authorities have been lax on their arrests of the dealers. A violent action feature finds the harried inspector battling his colleagues as much as the criminal element targeted for extermination. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Bouquet, Françoise Fabian, (more)
- 1970
- R
Inspired by the spaghetti westerns, Giuliano Carnimeo's Buon Funerale Amigos, Paga Sartana concerns a tough man who cleans out the bad guys in a town with the help of his trusty rifle. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Prolific filmmaker Giuliano Carmineo directed this fourth sequel to Se Incontri Sartana Prega per la Tua Morte (1968) under the pseudonym "Anthony Ascott." Gianni Garko is Sartana, the mythical, almost supernatural avenger whose gun is his justice. This time, Sartana helps a gambler named Grand Full (Piero Lulli), who claims to have been wrongly accused of murder. The avenger breaks Grand Full out of jail and the pair escapes to the site of the crime -- the town of Mansfield -- where they battle bounty hunters and a wicked boss (Massimo Serato) before the gunslinger figures out that he's been had. Needless to say, Sartana does not take kindly to having been fooled. Nieves Navarro (a.k.a. Susan Scott) co-stars in this grim Italian-French spaghetti western with Frank Brana and Bruno Corazzari. One of the genre's best-known composers, Bruno Nicolai, did the soundtrack. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This lavishly costumed historical epic had an estimated $100 million price tag. Spectacularly photographed battle action contrasts with often plodding individual scenes that bog down the plot. Fearing his growing power, European monarchs force Napoleon Bonaparte (Rod Steiger) to abdicate as Emperor and retire to Elba, and the French are concerned they will be outnumbered by a force of combined armies from many countries in Europe. Napoleon no sooner says goodbye to his loyalist troops than he begins to rally his men and prepare for another takeover. King Louis XVIII (Orson Welles) sends Marshal Michel Ney (Dan O'Herlihy) and his men to counter Bonaparte, but upon seeing his old commander (and ally), Ney thrusts his sword to the ground and takes up arms with the deposed emperor. They all return to Paris by popular demand, defying the orders of Louis (who flees from the palace) and running the monarchy tout seul. Soon England, Austria, Prussia and Russia unite to try and stop the dictator. Wellington (Christopher Plummer) readies his troops near Waterloo, refuses to retreat anymore, and waits for Prussian Marshall Blucher (Sergei Zakhariadze) and his army to join up with the British as the only hope to stop the French juggernaut. Jack Hawkins and Michael Wilding portray key military commanders Picton and Ponosby, respectively. Napoleon and his troops cut into the Prussian and British forces dramatically, weakening their power, but three problems arise. First, Ney refuses to lead his segment of the troops onward; and second, Bonaparte's men are plagued by the wet weather, which causes
the cannon brigade to become immobilized in mud (when Wellington strategically gives Bonaparte's troops the lower ground) rendering it ineffective until late in the day. And even more calamitously, Bonaparte - growing increasingly ill -- insists on leading his men from the rear, which causes the information to become outdated as soon as it gets to him. The Russian version of this film was nearly four hours long, while western audiences saw an edited version slightly over two hours long. Unfortunately, Waterloo bombed at the box office. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, (more)
- 1968
In this western, an engimatic stranger stops a stage from being robbed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garko, William Berger, (more)
- 1967
During WWII, the army chooses five of its most courageous and coldhearted soldiers to infiltrate German lines for a suicide mission to secure enemy plans. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1966
A bounty hunter is hired by a wealthy man to rescue his kidnapped daughter. But the bounty hunter likes the prospects of the kidnapper better--the two team up. After the kidnapper betrays him, though, the bounty hunter throws his lot back with the wealthy landowner, resolving to bring the girl back to her father. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1965
Don Camillo (Fernandel) is a priest who travels to Moscow in this comedy culture clash. Don accompanies his archival communist mayor Peppone (Gino Cervi) and his wife (Leda Gloria) on a goodwill trip to the Soviet Union, and the priest is helped by the beautiful guide Nadia (Graziella Granata). Faithful fans of Fernandel and the Don Camillo series should not be disappointed. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Gino Cervi, (more)
