René Kolldehoff Movies

Jack Noah (Richard Dreyfuss) is all actor: Self-possessed, obsessive, vulnerable, and an addict for praise, his soul burns with "the craft." Having just finished a grade-Z straight-to-cable crime thriller in the fictional South American country of Parador, he gets the ultimate acting challenge (though it's more like an offer he can't refuse) from Roberto Strausman (Raul Julia), the Paradorian dictator's chief advisor. The challenge: impersonate the country's dictator, whose just died. Strausman knows just how to manipulate Noah: He takes him to a meat locker, shows him the director's body (actually Dreyfuss' brother, Lorin), threatens to kill him, and he brings clips of Noah's best reviews. Thus enticed, and bearing a striking resemblance to the man, Noah accepts the job. Under the exacting direction of Strausman, he follows the script precisely. Noah immediately enjoys the job's perks, not least of which is the dictator's scorching mistress, Madonna (Sonia Braga), but of course cannot conceal his real identity to her. A close call with Parador's revolutionaries and Madonna's brimming social conscience push Noah to take command of the role. He starts pushing a kinder, gentler social agenda, and incurs Strausman's wrath. It begins to look like Noah will play the dictator's last act, but a chance meeting with a stunt man friend (Michael Greene) inspires a caper that will change all of the characters' fates. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide

In the third episode of the seven-part, eighteen-hour miniseries The Winds of War, President Roosevelt has dispatched Naval Commander "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) to Germany, there to try to reason with the power-mad Adolf Hitler (Gunter Meisner), whose army has just invaded Poland. Henry also confers with Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini (Enzo Castellari), who proves to be as stubborn as Hitler is obsessed. Also figuring in Henry's foredoomed negotiations is anti-semitic German banker Wolf Stoller (Barry Morse), the proverbial "smiler with the knife", at whose sumptuous dinner party Henry's wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) almost forsakes her common sense. The Winds of War was adapted by Herman Wouk from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This historical drama is the story of Jacob Paul von Grundling (Wolfgang Kieling) and his fluctuating, turbulent relationship with King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (1713-1740). This period was one of wars and of intellectual debate and literary accomplishments. It is that setting that is embodied in Grundling, a professor of literature, history, and law, and a court historian of sorts. When King Friedrich Wilhelm I first comes to power, he dismisses Grundling from his university position in disagreement with his views. Grundling then writes a treatise against certain widely-held religious tenets that attracts the king's attention and his favor. Soon Grundling is back at court, parrying his wit and knowledge against his detractors -- though since he will not compromise on his strict ideals, his stays at court are punctuated with exiles or with disfavor. This up-and-down relationship with the king and the hardship it imposes on Grundling have inevitable bad effects: he begins to drink more heavily, vacillating back and forth on some of his ideals, but never giving up on them entirely. Since Grundling's very existence depends on the good will of the king, his viewpoints often put him in serious jeopardy -- and his fate will be determined by whether or not he can compromise either his beliefs or his intellectual acuity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The West German Just a Gigolo has little to do with the popular song of the same name. Its central character, played by David Bowie, is a World War I-era Prussian aristocrat. Living by his wits throughout Europe, Bowie uses his sexual prowess with beautiful women (and powerful men) to advance himself. The leering lothario eventually comes to grief in the decadent Berlin of the 1920s. We don't know how he did it, but director David Hemmings managed to corral some of the most stellar sex goddesses in film history to play cameos in Just a Gigolo: Kim Novak, Maria Schell, and even Marlene Dietrich. The film was originally released as Schoner Gigolo, Armer Gigolo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A retired football great heads back to the gridiron to coach a fledgling team and prove he still has that magic touch in this classic Bud Spencer sports comedy. "The Bulldozer" (Spencer) was a football giant with an ego the size of Texas. Refusing to believe that he could ever be defeated out on the gridiron, "The Bulldozer" eventually turned his back on the sport lest he risk being proven wrong. While the former star did prove successful at ducking out of the limelight and beginning a career as an anonymous fisherman, things took a turn for the worst when his boat was destroyed by a submarine. Subsequently unemployed, "The Bulldozer" reluctantly accepted a position coaching a minor-league team. Regardless of his "has been" status, however, "The Bulldozer" still knows that he's the best football player there is, and he's prepared to prove it to the entire world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

During a business trip to Morocco to finalize a deal to build an ugly modern tourist village on the site of a lovely local town, Jean-Luc (Jean-Claude Biraly), the bank representative, is called on by the architect's wife. She has, it seems, accidentally killed her husband during a spat and needs his help to hide the body. Incredibly, he gives it. Then he returns to Paris with the architect's murderous spouse (Marlene Jobert), who proceeds to turn his life upside down with her blithe spirit and joie de vivre. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Peter R. Hunt directed this World War I action-adventure, based upon the novel by Wilbur Smith. Roger Moore and Lee Marvin team up as Sebastian, a witty and cosmopolitan Englishman, and Flynn O'Flynn, a boozy and ornery Irish American, who decide to blow up a German battleship that has been hidden away for repairs in Southeast Africa. Helping the two in their quest to sink the battleship is Sebastian's wife Rosa (Barbara Parkins), who has her own reasons for seeing the ship is destroyed -- the Germans took the life of her only child. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Tom Stoppard and Thomas Wiseman's intricate script for The Romantic Englishwoman credibly explores the notion that a writer can manipulate the people in his life as deftly as he can manipulate the characters in his imagination. The title character Elizabeth, played by Glenda Jackson, is the wife of Lewis (Michael Caine), a novelist. At this point in his life, Lewis thinks in nothing but literary terms: Elizabeth is vacationing in Europe alone, ergo she must be having an affair. Half out of frustration, she confirms her husband's suspicions by romancing German drug dealer Thomas (Helmut Berger). Things get even dicier when Lewis invites Thomas into his home, requesting his technical advice on a screenplay he is working on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This quirky French film examines a series of events during the German occupation of France and shows what might have happened if one thing had gone differently in each instance. The first story given this treatment concerns the assassination of a German officer by a young member of the Resistance. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Italian action star Terence Hill aims for the breadbasket while playing for laughs in All the Way Boys. Hill and his frequent filmic cohort Bud Spencer play a couple of what-the-hell flyboys, working for a ramshackle air freight line. Ordered to navigate the treacherous Andes, Hill and Spencer grimace and groan as they narrowly avert sudden death. Prominent Irish performer Cyril Cusack is brought in for acting relief as "Mad Man". Yes, All the Way, Boys is funny, so long as you aren't expecting Noel Coward...or even Neil Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite the fact that most of the westerns made at this time (early '70s) were "deconstructionist" westerns, which either spoofed or subverted the themes of this genre, occasionally a traditional western got filmed. The Revengers is a traditional western. John Benedict (William Holden) returns to his ranch, only to find all his cattle stolen and his family murdered. He vows to exact revenge on Tarp (Warren Vanders), the varmint who did this to him. He recruits a treacherous gang of convicts, bribing the warden for their release, and makes his move. When the attack fails, the convicts aren't interested in making another try. Instead, they shoot him and, leaving him for dead, head off to follow their own concerns. On her way to a new landholding, Elizabeth (Susan Hayward) stumbles upon the injured man, and nurses him back to some semblance of health. She begs him to drop his revenge plan, but he resumes his quest, receiving unexpected help along the way from Hoop (Ernest Borgnine), one of the renegade ex-convicts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In 1969, The Damned (La caduta degli dei) was director Luchino Visconti's most controversial film to date. Set in the 1930s, the film zeroes in on a Krupp-like family of German munition manufacturers. The Essenbeck clan is headed by the Baron (Rene Kolldehoff), but daughter Sophie (Ingrid Thulin) wants her Nazi boyfriend to take over the business. Soon the Baron is dead and Bruckman (Dirk Bogarde) becomes company president. Son Martin (Helmut Berger) is the dope-addicted teenager who sleeps with his mother and drags her into her own dependence on drugs. Ever in pursuit of more millions to add to their already bulging coffers, the family plays along with the Nazis, descending into corruption, betrayal and murder all along the way. The film was originally released in the U.S. with an X rating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide