Luis Barboo Movies
Previously filmed in 1922 with Rudolph Valentino and in 1940 with Tyrone Power, Vicente Blasco Ibanez's mystical bullfight novel Blood & Sand was given a third big-screen treatment in 1989. Though filmed in Spain by a Spanish director, the 1989 Blood & Sand casts American actor Christopher Rydell as the bullfighter hero. Also hailing from the USA is a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone, playing the vamp role previously essayed in 1922 by Nita Naldi and in 1940 by Rita Hayworth. The story remains the same: a dirt-poor youth rises to fame and fortune in the bull ring, forgets his roots, cheats on his wife, has a last-minute change of heart, and pays for his sins in grotesque fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Rydell, Sharon Stone, (more)
- 1987
- PG
Appleton Porter (Donald Sutherland) is an inept international secret agent sent by the U.S. to the island of Ibiza in this uneven spy comedy. His mission is to secure the secret recipe for a truth serum to use on enemy agents. Appleton miraculously avoids being killed on several occasions as suspicions point to various hotel guests. Hotel owner Mona Smith (Lucy Gutteridge), Harry Lewis (Ned Beatty), and Mrs. Arkwright (Ruth Gordon) soon make addle-brained Appleton feel that someone, if not everyone, is up to no good. The movie was shot in 1984 and shelved for three years --- explaining the presence of Gordon, who died the following August. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Ned Beatty, (more)
- 1986
- R
Scott Youngblood (Michael Pare) is a vengeful marine who goes after the slimy crooks who murdered his sister Kim (Lynda Bridges) in this uneven action drama. Driven to a life of drugs and prostitution, Kim dies at the hands of the druglord's evil enforcer Silke (Eddie Avoth). With the help of his military-issue Colt 45 and the kind-hearted prostitute Virginia (Tawny Kitaen), Scott resigns his commission and plans his revenge on the gang. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Paré, Tawny Kitaen, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
A couple of med-school wannabes (Steve Guttenburg and Julie Hagerty) can't get admitted to any U.S. medical schools so they end up in a small Central American school run by a dictator director (Alan Arkin). When the students become aware of the medical needs of the local peasants, they swipe drugs and pills from their college lab and set up an underground clinic to serve the needy. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Guttenberg, Alan Arkin, (more)
- 1983
In a curiously undefined story about a macho-man who roughs up his very attractive but submissive wife and feisty teenage daughter just because he cannot relate to them in any other way, director Gustav Emck has created interesting characters with no apparent motivation for their behavior. In the end, the situation deteriorates so much that the daughter convinces her mother they had better get out for their own good health, and the two escape into an uncertain future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Manz, Walt Davis, (more)
- 1982
- R
John Milius's jingoistic direction and pulpy screenplay fit perfectly into this film version of the Robert E. Howard fantasy story of the sword and sorcery hero, Conan the Barbarian. Complementing Mulius's heavy metal production is Arnold Schwarzenegger's leaden acting, which in any other context would be deadly, but here (as in The Terminator) corresponds nicely with the whole sonorous project. The story begins when a horde of rampaging warriors massacre the parents of young Conan and enslave the young child for years on The Wheel of Pain. The Wheel of Pain seems to have as its only purpose the building up of Conan's muscles, so it's no surprise that one day Conan grows up to become Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the sole survivor of the childhood massacre, Conan is released from slavery and taught the ancient arts of fighting. Transforming himself into a killing machine, Conan travels into the wilderness to seek vengeance on Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), the man responsible for killing his family. In the wilderness, Conan takes up with the thieves Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and Subota (Gerry Lopez). The trio comes upon a weird snake cult, linked to Doom, and Conan wants to trek off to Doom's mountain retreat to kill him. But he is prevented from doing that by King Osrik (Max Von Sydow), who wants the trio of warriors to help rescue his daughter who has joined Doom in the hills. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, (more)
Cult director Jesus Franco's adaptation of John Willard's oft-filmed The Cat and the Canary is a fairly routine mystery about the residents of a Louisiana castle being murdered by a masked killer. Alberto Dalbes appears in a dual role as Maj. Brooks and the castle's doomed owner, Lord Marion, the first victim. When the family arrives for the reading of Marion's will, his wife is strapped to the face of a cliff and drowned by the tide. More murders follow, and as Inspector Bore (Vicente Roca) investigates, he discovers some dark secrets in the family's past, leading him to suspect that the motive may be revenge for a terrible transgression. Evelyn Scott, William Berger, and Lina Romay co-star in this muddled but passable thriller. Franco appears as Maj. Brooks' alcoholic assistant, and bit players Luis Barboo and Ramon Ardid also appear. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1978
- PG
Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon (Pieces) took elements of current box-office hits like Superman and Star Wars and came up with this campy adventure-fantasy. Michael Coby is Kronos, a strange visitor from another planet who, disguised as a mild-mannered private eye, fights crazed mad scientist Dr. Gulk (Cameron Mitchell) and flirts with Lois Lane-manque Diana Polakow. Much of the film resembles those old Mexican wrestling movies, with some mildly impressive special effects to spruce it up. It's not really campy enough to be fun, but there is enough action to keep kids and undemanding genre fans interested. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Coby, Cameron Mitchell, (more)
In the early 1900s, an American businessman was kidnapped by a rebellious Arab chieftain, principally as a means to embarrass the sultan of Morocco. This abduction sparked the threat of armed intervention by President Theodore Roosevelt, which was never carried out. In The Wind and the Lion, the unattractive male captive is replaced by the gorgeous female Mrs. Pedecaris, an American widow played by Candice Bergen. The ruthless but essentially decent Arab chief Raisuli is portrayed by Sean Connery, while Teddy Roosevelt is depicted as a jingoistic blowhard by Brian Keith. The film's main theme -- that of America's emergence as a world power -- is largely secondary to the growing mutual-respect relationship between Mrs. Pedecaris and Raisuli. After releasing his hostage, Raisuli is himself captured by German forces, who at the behest of the Kaiser are seeking out methods of laying the groundwork for what would evolve into World War I. Mrs. Pedecaris must then help Raisuli escape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, (more)
This erotic vampire film from cult filmmaker Jesus Franco concerns the mute Countess Irina Karlstein (Lina Romay), who lives in the hills of Madeira and preys on passersby. Austrian novelist Baron Von Rathony (Jack Taylor) follows the Countess, knowing that she is his destiny, even if it means death. Monica Swinn, Marie-France Broquet, and Luis Barboo co-star, while Franco appears as a forensic surgeon and Jean-Pierre Bouyxou (in an outrageous beard) is featured as Dr. Orloff, Franco's blind colleague. Several different versions exist, including a horror version of 72 minutes, an 82-minute version dwelling on oral sex, and a 96-minute edit which includes both sex and horror elements as well as some hardcore inserts. Complicating matters is the fact that some scenes of vampirism were filmed twice, in graphic and traditional styles. Whatever the version, La Comtesse Noire is erotic, melancholy, and benefits from a haunting performance by Romay as the cursed vampire. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lina Romay, Jesús Franco, (more)
- 1973
At first glance, we were prepared to designate B Must Die as a hybrid TV feature, consisting of two episodes of either The Outsider or Night Stalker. That's because the star of this obscure entry is Darren McGavin, who also headlined the two aforementioned weekly series. Further research revealed, however, that McGavin's character name in B Must Die is "Pal", which doesn't jive with either Outsider or Kolchak. Then we discovered that the film was a tax-writeoff action drama, boasting a convoluted storyline about a political/industrial rebellion in an unnamed South American country. Patricia Neal and Burgess Meredith costar in B Must Die. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
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This action adventure is based on Jules Verne's The Light at the Edge of the World. It takes place in 1865 on the chilly tip of Argentina in a lighthouse set up to guide ships around the extremely dangerous and turbulent waters of Cape Horn. The lighthouse keeper (Fernando Rey) and his assistant go out to investigate when a strange sailing ship comes too near to the island the lighthouse is on. Denton (Kirk Douglas), the lighthouse keeper's North American apprentice, is left behind. For their pains, the lighthouse keeper and his assistant are killed, and Kongre (Yul Brynner), the ship's pirate captain, goes to the lighthouse and captures Denton. Kongre shuts down the real lighthouse and sets up a false one so that his pirates can prey on the busy ships that must pass nearby. Denton, set loose by his captors on a nearby island, eventually begins to fight back. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner, (more)
In this comedic horror film from cult director Jesus Franco, Jonathan Seward (Alberto Dalbes) tracks the evil vampire Count Dracula (Howard Vernon) to his castle and kills him with a stake through the heart. The nightmare has hardly begun, however, as the mad Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) revives the vampire using the blood of a nightclub singer (Josiane Gibert). The pair then join forces, along with Frankenstein's monster (Fernando Bilbao) and a mutant assistant named Morpho (Luis Barboo), in an attempt to create a vampire army to rule the world. This parody manages to deconstruct traditional legend without saying anything remotely interesting or clever, and the special-effects are strictly of the bargain-basement variety. Paca Gabaldon (appearing as "Mary Francis"), Britt Nichols, and Anne Libert co-star. Franco returned to the Frankenstein theme the following year with La Maldicion de Frankenstein. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Vernon, Dennis Price, (more)
