Riccardo Garrone Movies

In this comedy, a bungling gang leader and his henchmen attempt to swipe a suitcase full of loot from a soccer pool. The task seems simple enough, but the gang suffers a variety of zany mishaps before the leader finally gets hold of the money. Just as he gets it, he is arrested by the police for jaywalking. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Joseph Losey's turbulent melodrama concerns a phony writer, Tyvian Jones (Stanley Baker), who has recently sold the film rights to his autobiography as a Welsh coal miner (actually penned by his deceased brother). Tyvian is engaged to Francesca (Virna Lisi), an alluring screenwriter, but then Eva (Jeanne Moreau) walks into his life. Eva and her lover had sought shelter from a thunderstorm in his apartment and Tyvian is immediately attracted to her. He follows her to Rome, where Eva demands an elaborate hotel suite, tons of gambling money, and a bonus for sexual favors. When Tyvian assents in gratifying her wishes, Eva just laughs at him. Tyvian then has to rush back to Francesca, since they are going to be married. But Tyvian forsakes her on their honeymoon and takes up with Eva again. Finding Tyvian and Eva together, Francesca is heartbroken and she commits suicide. After the funeral, Tyvian sets his sights on killing Eva, but, when he sees her, he finds that he is still obsessed with her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The title character, played by Claudia Cardinale, is a young woman who heads out alone to the big city after being dumped by her lover. She is befriended and protected by her ex-suitor's younger brother Jacques Perrin, who eventually becomes her new romance, despite the difference in ages (Perrin is 16, while Cardinale is...somewhat older). When Cardinale begins a new relationship with a musician, she tries to let Perrin down easily, but the young man is too headstrong for that. When they finally do part, Perrin gives Cardinale a large sum of money as a farewell gift. Despite the fact that Claudia Cardinale subsists off the kindness of strangers in this film, Girl With a Suitcase (originally La Fille de La Valise in France and La Ragazza Con la Valigia in Italy) treats her character with warmth and sympathy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this unusual offbeat black comedy directed by Ugo Tognazzi, Giuseppe (Tognazzi) is a middle-aged industrialist obsessed with gadgets. When his nose starts to whistle uncontrollably, he checks into a clinic to resolve the problem. What begins as a minor affliction worsens, and Giuseppe is placed on a different floor as his ailments multiply. The sicker he gets, the higher he goes up in the floors of the clinic, until he is near death's door. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this Italian drama, Wilma, an aging dance hall girl, befriends La Cicada, a feisty, free-spirited woman who refuses to have sex for money. Together, they go traveling and on the rode take up with the handsome Hannibal, who dreams of opening up his own truck stop/gas station. The two women end up helping him achieve his dream. The place becomes a nightspot which they name La Cicada and turn into a big success. During this time, Wilma marries Hannibal, but Wilma begins worrying that her husband would rather have the young, sexy Cicada. The younger woman proves that he does not want her. When her lovely 18-year-old daughter comes to call, Wilma really gets worried because like her mother, the daughter has also become a whore. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In one of the most widely seen and acclaimed European movies of the 1960s, Federico Fellini featured Marcello Mastrioanni as gossip columnist Marcello Rubini. Having left his dreary provincial existence behind, Marcello wanders through an ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated, ultra-decadent Rome. He yearns to write seriously, but his inconsequential newspaper pieces bring in more money, and he's too lazy to argue with this setup. He attaches himself to a bored socialite (Anouk Aimée), whose search for thrills brings them in contact with a bisexual prostitute. The next day, Marcello juggles a personal tragedy (the attempted suicide of his mistress (Yvonne Furneaux)) with the demands of his profession (an interview with none-too-deep film star Anita Ekberg). Throughout his adventures, Marcello's dreams, fantasies, and nightmares are mirrored by the hedonism around him. With a shrug, he concludes that, while his lifestyle is shallow and ultimately pointless, there's nothing he can do to change it and so he might as well enjoy it. Fellini's hallucinatory, circus-like depictions of modern life first earned the adjective "Felliniesque" in this celebrated movie, which also traded on the idea of Rome as a hotbed of sex and decadence. A huge worldwide success, La Dolce Vita won several awards, including a New York Film Critics CIrcle award for Best Foreign Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Theophile Gautier, this costume drama by Pierre Gaspard-Huit is set in 17th-century France and centers around De Sigognac (Jean Marais), a nobleman fallen on hard times. The once-wealthy and still-titled gentleman is currently working with an itinerant acting troupe where he comes across Isabelle (Genevieve Grad) a comely maid who tugs at his heart strings. He falls in love with her, but she is unwilling to make a commitment. Meanwhile, another of the titled gentry has been chasing after Isabelle with a little more success, in that he simply kidnaps her. The story takes a surprising turn when Isabelle's parentage is revealed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Jason Fister (Dustin Hoffman) is the Internal Revenue Service agent sent to Rome to investigate the hidden money of the late gangster Mike Madigan (Cesar Romero). Jason meets Vick Shaw ( Elsa Martinelli) and he mistakenly takes her to be the dead mobster's mistress when in fact she is his daughter. Soon underworld thugs converge on the couple in an attempt to steal the stolen loot. This film was completed in 1967 and was subsequently shelved. It was released in the wake of Hoffman's popularity from his roles in The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy. This inept and contrived comedy is Hoffman's first feature film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This Italian drama tells the story of Christ's crucifixion from the viewpoint of the Roman emperor's procurator in Israel who must try to quell a Jewish revolt. In a bizarre twist, John Drew Barrymore plays both Jesus and Judas in the film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide