Adrienne Larussa Movies
The longest (26-1/2 hours), most expensive ($25 million) and most complicated (four directors, five producers, five cinematographers, almost 100 speaking parts, several hundred extras) project made for television up to that time, Centennial was shown in two- and three-hour installments over a period of four months. An adaptation of James Michener's best-selling novel, it told the story of the settling of the American West by looking at the founding of the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, from the settling of the area in the late 18th century to the present. Emmy-nominated for film editing and art direction, it boasts of sterling performances from Richard Chamberlain as frontiersman Alexander McKeag, Robert Conrad as the French-Canadian trapper Pasquinel, and a surprisingly powerful performance from former football star Alex Karras as compassionate but iron-willed immigrant farmer Hans Brumbaugh. ~ Brian Gusse, Rovi
Based on a novel by Walter Tevis, The Man Who Fell to Earth achieved cult film status for David Bowie's performance as Thomas Jerome Newton, aka "Mr. Sussex," and the imagery of director Nicholas Roeg, a former cinematographer. In this deeply allegorical science-fiction drama, Newton is an alien from a planet that is dying for lack of water, and he has been sent to earth to find a way to ship some of the earth's plentiful supply to his home planet. He arrives with a human-looking disguise, his knowledge of unusual technologies, his despair, and little else. Using his knowledge, he takes out patents on "his" inventions, aided by patent lawyer Oliver Farnsworth (Buck Henry). He skillfully parlays the money from these inventions and becomes a financial/industrial tycoon. These inventions, and others like them, along with his political and financial power, should make possible the transfer of water to his planet. But instead of pressing forward with plans to save his home planet, he becomes enamored of Earth's low-down ways and of his strange, passive relationship with his elevator-operator girlfriend, Mary Lou (Candy Clark). Meanwhile, his phenomenal rise from anonymity to power, and his eccentric behavior, spark the government's interest. Chemistry professor Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn) also comes calling, fascinated by the alien's history. As gin and despair slowly cripple him, he becomes consumed by memories of life on his doomed planet. The longer (140 minutes) and sexier British version of this film was toned down for its American release. Roeg, whose work has received polarized responses, also directed such distinctively stylized movies as Walkabout (1971) and Don't Look Now (1973). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Bowie, Candy Clark, (more)
- 1974
Surrounded by the authorities after a bungled attempt to break through a police checkpoint, five terrorists take several people hostage. Unless they are given safe passage out of San Francisco, the terrorists will detonate a bomb, killing themselves and their prisoners. Making the situation personal for investigating detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden) is that one of the hostages is his own partner Steve Keller (Michael Douglas). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1971
- R
Sexual situations abound throughout this Italian/English language film, which uses many quickly shown images (montage) to further the mood and the story. Nino Castelnuovo is Mario, the boyfriend from hell, who consigns his girlfriend Licia (Adrienne La Russa) to a whorehouse for an evening in order to get the photographic goods with which to blackmail her father (Rossano Brazzi). To get her out of the way, Licia is then consigned to a mental hospital by her father. When she goes genuinely insane, she is released. Revenge for all this mistreatment is the order of the day. No one escapes Licia's tricks as she uses sex, psychological torture and murder to get even. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1968
This comedy concerns identical twin brothers who have a very different way of looking at life. Filippo makes a living selling nude photographs and engaging in forgery and petty crimes, much to the consternation of his brother Mario, an honest law man employed by the government. Mario is driven crazy by Filippo, who eventually sleeps with Mario's wife and becomes a respected member of Parliament. Filippo excels, in spite of his sordid background, while the virtuous Mario loses everything and is unrewarded for his strong convictions of morality and law and order in this offbeat comedy.Vittorio Gassman stars in the double role of the disparate identical twins. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Lisa Gastoni, (more)
