Gigi Ballista Movies

Midnight Express is a harrowing tale of a naïve American caught in a nightmare of his own making thousands of miles from his home. Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is an American tourist visiting Turkey with his girlfriend Susan (Irene Miracle) when he's caught by customs officials trying to smuggle a large amount of hashish out of the country. The crime would normally carry a sentence of four years, but officials decide to make an example of Billy, and he draws a 30-year sentence despite the promises of his Turkish legal counsel. While Susan and Billy's father (Mike Kellin) pledge to do everything they can to speed Billy's release, in fact there's little than can be done. Billy quickly finds himself in a hellish prison that's a nightmare of filth, violence, rape, inedible food, and unspeakable health conditions. However, Billy gains a few confidantes behind bars: Jimmy (Randy Quaid), an American in a constant state of emotional overdrive; Max (John Hurt), an intelligent, drug-addicted Englishman; and Erich (Norbert Weisser), a gay Scandinavian who is attracted to Billy but accepts his gentle refusals of sex. Before long, Billy is convinced that he can take no more, and he makes plans to take the "midnight express" -- jailhouse slang for escape. While his friends are willing to help, they also make clear that almost no one who has tried to escape has lived to tell the tale. Based on a true story, Midnight Express was a box-office hit which won wide acclaim for the performances of Brad Davis and John Hurt; and the screenplay, by Oliver Stone, won an Academy Award. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This film by French director Alain Resnais (Last Year in Marienbad) is loosely based on a true story from the 1930s about financier, con-man and swindler Stavisky who was arrested in 1934 for selling phony stock but was never brought to trial. While in jail, he continued to engage in doubtful monetary transactions. As the rumors that he was being protected by high-ranking members of the government of the French Third Republic were undoubtedly true, the scandal had a profoundly unsettling effect on the French nation, already suffering from poor government handling of the Depression, and this incident nearly brought down both the government and the Republic. Stavisky's death in prison (an apparent suicide) triggered widespread unrest and rioting. In the movie, when Stavisky (Jean-Paul Belmondo) goes to jail as a young con-man, his embarrassed father commits suicide. Ruining countless lives in his stellar career as a big-money swindler, including that of his nobleman friend Raoul (Charles Boyer), Stavisky is shown to be a pawn in a still bigger swindle, one which will destroy the Left and open the way to fascism. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Told entirely through flashbacks, this Italian film tells the story of a priest who, in the 1930s, believed he had a call to cure people through the laying on of hands. At the beginning of the movie, two old women meet at his gravesite, and reminisce. As word of his activities spreads, he is forbidden to continue them, and he suffers a shattering loss of faith. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This comedy is in the Italian language. In Italy, shoe salesman Rossario runs the risk of being killed by outraged relatives if he has a brief affair with an unmarried woman, or by outraged husbands if he has an affair with a married woman. So when Rossario gets an opportunity to do his job in Copenhagen, where everything is legal (and reasonably non-fatal), he jumps at the chance. On arrival, he is shown gawking at the huge variety of sexual opportunities Danes take for granted. Eventually he falls for a lovely young Danish woman, and they get married. Things get tense for a while when he discovers that she is a famous porn film star, but he gets into the swing of things by the end of the movie. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The first color film by writer/director Salvatore Samperi is this grim family melodrama, a modern-day reinvention of the tale of the Prodigal Son. Upon hearing of his father's death, Enrico Merlo (Jean Sorel) leaves his boarding school in Switzerland and returns home to Padua. There he overhears a conversation between his older brother Cesare (Maurizio Degli Espositi), who has taken over the profitable family business, and Verde (Marilù Tolo), Cesare's cousin and lover. Their words persuade Enrico that the two have murdered his father; he obtains proof when he discovers that his father's death certificate post-dates his death. But Enrico becomes gravely ill with pneumonia, all the while refusing to return the incriminating death certificate to the killers, and so Verde makes sure he is denied his needed medication and lets him die. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Somewhat overshadowed by Joseph Losey's 1975 film on the same subject, the 1968 Italian/Bulgarian biopic Galileo is a worthwhile picture in its own right. Irish stage and screen actor Cyril Cusack is well-cast as Galileo Galilei, famed astronomer and unintentional icon-buster. Stirring up controversy with his theory that the Earth is not the center of the Universe, Galileo is given a going-over by the Vatican legal system. The highlight: "Nevertheless, it does move!" A bit too verbose in its climactic courtroom scenes, Galileo nonetheless does full justice to its protagonist. The musical score is by Ennio Morricone, of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A philandering violinist must witness the consequences of his actions in this Italian comedy. Not only does the concert violinist have a wife and kids, he also has two mistresses, all of whom he dearly loves. Whenever he goes on tour, he is sure to give them all a loving call. Just as his newest mistress is about to give birth, the musician goes to confession to talk about his situation. The priest suggests he divorce his wife, but the fiddler refuses, asserting that the women all need him. Unfortunately the stress of maintaining three lovers causes him to have a fatal coronary while he tries to call his wife. As he goes to heaven and gets to watch his own funeral, he wonders if his wife ever knew of the others. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This melodramatic Italian and French anthology is comprised of four unrelated short films directed by four different directors. The first vignette, "Queen Sabina" (or "The Hitchhiker") chronicles the sexual misadventures of a teenage girl on the road home. "Queen Armenia" (aka "The Room with a Juke Box") centers on a self-serving opportunistic gypsy babysitter who uses her employer's kids for her own gain. The third episode, "Queen Elena" (aka "The Digestive Tablet") centers on a husband who learns a lesson about the perils of infidelity after he succumbs to the wiles of the seductive wife next door. The last vignette, "Queen Marta" (aka "Giovanni") centers on a wealthy woman who, when drunk, uses her butler as an outlet for her lust. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide