Folco Lulli Movies
In Italy, as in America, there are whole legions of actors whose faces are more familiar than their names. Folco Lulli was one of that proud breed. Stage-trained, Lulli made his film bow in 1946's Il Bandito, released in English-speaking countries in 1947 as The Bandit. Lulli worked skillfully if somewhat anonymously in European productions from 1946 through 1968, playing character parts in such films as Flight into France (1949), An Eye for an Eye (1960), Lafayette (1963) and Marco the Magnificent (1966). It was for a French film that Folco Lulli is best remembered: he was costarred with Yves Montand, Peter Van Eyck and Charles Vanel in that classic nail-biter about nitroglycerin truck drivers, The Wages of Fear (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1970
Eric (Robert Dhery) is the beleaguered husband of a harridan wife who works as a writer of advertising slogans. When he develops an uncanny ability to select the winner of the daily horse races, local gamblers take a sudden interest. Eric is cornered by the gamblers who find it hard to believe he does not use his unusual talent to place bets for himself. He eventually wins over the hard bitten thugs with good humor in this comedy taken from the play by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1969
A peasant woman worries when her husband does not return from a livestock sale. With her young son, she consults a fortune teller and the local priest. Selling her home, they set out to discover why her husband has mysteriously disappeared. She questions two men who were with her husband the last time anyone had seen him alive. They deny ever seeing her husband on that day, which she knows is not true. She finds the family dog who leads her to the remains of her husband and his equally unfortunate horse. Inviting the suspected murderers to the burial dinner, the determined woman is able to implicate the killers and ultimately find justice. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Margarita Lozano, Folco Lulli, (more)
- 1968
A bunch of anxious men attempt to track down the treasure stolen from a Texan church, and few are left standing. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- 1967
In this campy actioner an American operative is assigned to find the identity of those who have been monkeying with the moon rockets at Cape Kennedy. Eventually he discovers that the mastermind behind the mayhem is an insane villain with a powerful, world-wrecking laser cannon. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Eisley, Diana Lorys, (more)
- 1967
This sweet coming-of-age film concerns a pair of Italian teenagers, Gabriele (Jacques Perrin) and Giovenella (Rosemarie Dexter), whose parents attempt to keep them apart. Gabriele's father (Folco Lulli) goes so far as to take his son to a prostitute, and when that fails, considers letting the youngster sleep with his own mistress. Gabriele finally rents an apartment, where he and Giovenella consummate their love. A surprisingly prim coda involves a warning by a policeman and the couple's vows to refrain from further physical intimacy until marriage. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rosemarie Dexter, Jacques Perrin, (more)
- 1966
Septime (Louis De Funes) is the owner of a posh French restaurant in Paris who is afraid of his temperamental cooks but who takes his frustrations out on his other employees. When a visiting ambassador is kidnapped from the restaurant, Septime is accused of being an accomplice in the abduction. This sets the scene for some well-staged auto chases over snow-covered mountains. One car flips over but is able to make it down the mountain because skis are attached to the rooftop rack of the vehicle. De Funes adds his own flair of irascible, self-depreciating humor that is the highlight of this comedy spy adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1966
Brancaleone (Vittorio Gassman) leads an inept group of Crusaders to the sea in this offbeat war comedy. The Crusaders hope to find a ship that will take them to the Holy Land to reclaim the area for Christianity. The situation allows for plenty of sight gags and ribald humor. Catherine Spaak co-stars with Gassmann in this amusing effort from director Mario Monicelli. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak, (more)
- 1965
Co-directed by French filmmakers Noël Howard and Denys de La Patellière, La Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo is a star-studded, epic retelling of the story of the famed thirteenth-century Venitian explorer. Filmed on location in France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Egypt and Afghanistan, the film stars Horst Bucholz as Polo, the ambitious young voyager who, along with his faithful servant Akerman (Orson Welles), ventures to China, where he joins Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan (Anthony Quinn) in his fight against rebelling forces. Also starring Omar Sharif, La Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo was released in the United States and Great Britain under the title Marco the Magnificent. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Horst Buchholz, (more)
- 1964
By 1964, the French had turned over their interest in the Vietnam War to the Americans. The heyday of the French Indochinese War was in the late 1940s and 1950s. This movie is set in that period and concerns the relationship between a French soldier and a German plantation owner who must set aside their differences in order to survive the hostility of the local population. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Curd Jürgens, Maurice Ronet, (more)
- 1963
The Organizer (I Compagni) takes a gritty, near-documentary approach to its subject matter: the exploitation of Italian laborers in the 19th century. Shorn of all his studio-imposed glamour, Marcello Mastrioanni plays a Genoan political refugee visiting a friend in Turin. Appalled by the horrible working conditions in the town's textile mill, Mastrioanni stays on to organize the workers in a strike. Though he is nearly killed several times, Mastrioanni survives to set an example for the workers, who rally together into a powerful union. The fact that Marcello Mastrioanni was bearded and bespectacled in the manner of a Bolshevist radical was enough for The Organizer to be condemned by certain extreme anti-Communist elements in Hollywood--to no avail, since the film was nominated for an American Oscar, and even given a commendation by the ultraconservative National Board of Review. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, (more)
- 1963
Duel at the Rio Grande was initially titled The Sign of Zorro, but apparently the copyright police were on the job that day. Sean Flynn, son of Errol, stars in the Italian/French/Spanish coproduction as Zorro, fop by day, masked-and-caped righter of wrongs by night. Danielle De Metz costars as the lovely Spanish-California senorita whose virtue is forever in jeopardy. The younger Flynn continued pursuing an acting career into the mid-1960s, then became a freelance photojournalist. While covering the war in Vietnam, Flynn vanished without a trace in 1970, presumably captured or killed by the Vietcong. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Flynn, Danielle de Metz, (more)
- 1962
In this WW II actioner, an American paratrooper lands behind enemy lines and begins an espionage assignment. He ends up captured and imprisoned. With four Italian POWs, he manages to escape. He then talks them into helping him blow up a strategically important bridge. Mayhem ensues until the only people left are the hero and a lovely Italian hooker. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1962
With a setting in medieval Russia and two top film stars leading the action -- Victor Mature as Oleg and Orson Welles as Burundal -- this otherwise uninspired costume drama has its moments. The Vikings and their leader Oleg are pictured as pacifists, while the Tartars and Burundal are the real culprits, evil and brutal. Both factions hold a coveted woman hostage while they try to work out a deal. That tactic fails and as the slaughter and bloodshed mount, a romance between a young, mixed couple (Viking/Tartar) is beginning to heat up. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Victor Mature, (more)
- 1962
Wearing the veneer of a play on the legendary love of Don Quixote's life Dulcinea, this drama by Vicente Escrivá carries some subtle criticisms of the Catholic Church as well. During the 16th-century, the time of Cervantes, Don Quixote's sidekick, the faithful Sancho Panza (Folco Lulli), comes into the local tavern bearing a forlorn good-bye letter from Quixote to the love he never knew, Dulcinea. The barmaid Aldonza (Millie Perkins) is so moved by the altruistic passion of the letter that she rushes to the bedside of the dying Don Quixote and swears to him that she is his Dulcinea. Inspired by his idealism, she dedicates herself to working for the disenfranchised and the sick -- until the Church accuses her of being a witch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Millie Perkins, Cameron Mitchell, (more)
- 1962
A beautiful warrior queen battles it out with her rivals in this adventure fantasy set in the 1400s. As a girl, the Hun girl was orphaned when her tribe's enemies attack and raze her village. She then is raised by a friendly tribe and with them learns warrior's ways. Complicating her upcoming battle is the fact that she has fallen in love with the enemy leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1961
An undistinguished, low-budget costume drama about a classical topic in Roman history, L'Enlevement des Sabines, by Richard Pottier, chronicles the problem of the men in early Rome. In fact, that is the problem -- there are only men in early Rome. Their leader is the son of the war god Mars and so the tendency is to fight first and ask questions later. But among the Sabine women who do not live so far away are some very attractive females. Needless to say, the Romans see the answer to their problem, though in the end the answer does avert a war between the two sites. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mylène Demongeot, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1961
The story of a Frenchman who fought to liberate the American colonies from British rule is colorfully brought to the screen. Lafayette (Michel Leroyer) is an engaging young landowner who spends his time in taverns drinking and talking politics. When he ends up on the wrong side of the minister's police, he sells his land, buys a ship, and takes off to help the Americans fight the British. He meets up with General Washington (Howard St. John) and earns his rightful place in history as one of the great military leaders. British General Cornwallis is portrayed by Jack Hawkins, while Orson Welles gives a memorable performance as Benjamin Franklin. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel LeRoyer, Howard St. John, (more)
Italian director Mario Bava took a brief hiatus from horror films to make this fairly interesting Viking-themed adventure. Iron (Cameron Mitchell) is a Viking leader whose long-lost brother Erik (Giorgio Ardisson) was raised by Queen Alice of England. Alice's counselor, Gunnar (Andrea Checchi) betrays her and helps the Vikings take over, while the shipwrecked Erik is nursed back to health by Rama (Alice Kessleri), the twin sister of Iron's wife Daja (Ellen Kessleri). Naturally, Erik returns home and must fight Iron and defeat Gunnar in order to save the country. It doesn't quite work out that way, however, as the ruthless counselor kills Iron, leading the Vikings and British to join forces with Erik and take Gunnar down. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Checchi, (more)
- 1960
That fair city on the West Coast of America has almost nothing to do with this one-dimensional, undistinguished tale of a sexually evocative fifteen-year-old girl (Daniele Gaubert) and the man she wants to seduce. The man is a young lothario in her neighborhood, and she is shown doing her best to attract and keep his attention. She also spends illicit time peeking at a man in a shower and generally misbehaving for a teen her age. The father of the womanizing lothario once took off to race in the regattas in San Francisco and never returned, providing only a title but no added substance to the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Folco Lulli, Daniele Gaubert, (more)
- 1960
Under Ten Flags is a fact-based British maritime epic set during World War II. Allied ships are being victimized by a German surface raider, which sails under friendly flags until moving in for the kill. Since so many nationalities were involved in making this film (both before and behind the cameras), it is difficult at times to determine whose side one is supposed to be on. On screen, the Germans seem the cleverest and most resourceful of all the combatants; at times, one hopes that they'll get away with their high-seas perfidy--especially since the captain is played by charismatic American actor Van Heflin. Under Ten Flags has a minimum of war action, but this didn't prevent an enterprising home-movie firm from excerpting nine minutes' worth of highlights for an 8-millimeter version--which did better business than the original 92 minute feature! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Van Heflin, Charles Laughton, (more)
- 1960
In this Italian costume adventure, a brave hero falls in love with an aristocrat's daughter and then incites the peasants to revolt against the aristocracy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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