Relja Basic Movies
- 1992
- PG13
After a scientist creates superhuman warrior Red Skull for the Nazis during WW II, she defects and does the same for the U.S.-- injecting a polio victim to transform him into the titular heroic beefcake. Forty years after a confrontation which left Captain America frozen in Alaska, he is found and thawed and must take on Red Skull once again. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Salinger, Melinda Dillon, (more)
- 1991
- R
A priest discovers that being the leader of the Catholic Church can be hazardous to your health in this satiric comedy. Cardinal Rocco (Alex Rocco) and Monsignor Vitchie (Paul Bartel) are two high-ranking Vatican officials who have been using the church's business dealings to launder funds for Vittorio Corelli (Herbert Lom), a crime boss involved in illegal arms trading. After the death of the aging and infirm Pope, Rocco and Vitchie plan to nominate a successor who will go along with Corelli's schemes, but quite by accident, small town priest Giuseppe Albinizi (Robbie Coltrane) is named the new Pontiff. Albinizi is a reluctant spiritual leader who prefers cars, women, and rock & roll to church business, but when he discovers the level of Rocco's corruption, he has him removed from the Vatican. Rocco and Vitchie are not taking Albinizi's plans to clean up Vatican finances lying down, and they discover that the new Pope's has a not-so-little secret. Before he joined the priesthood, Albinizi fathered a son out of wedlock with Veronica Dante (Beverly D'Angelo); the boy grew up to be Joe Don Dante (Balthazar Getty), a rock star who's romancing Corelli's daughter. After complaints from Catholic groups in the U.S., the distributors of The Pope Must Die changed the title to The Pope Must Diet. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robbie Coltrane, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
Music and a changing culture provide new expressions for teen angst in this insightful story of the aspirations of several teens living in Belgrade in the 1950s. Four young men and their friend Esther (Gala Videnovic) form a band, hang out, and try to adjust to their changing lifestyle. Given their class backgrounds, they do not support a Communist or Socialist point of view. When Rile (Milan Strljic ), a slightly older teen and loyal Party member, romances Esther, he gets her pregnant and leaves town in a hurry. Esther's four friends take desperate measures to help her out, and unknowingly lock in their future into place with their decisions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gala Videnovic, Milan Strljic, (more)
- 1985
In this cerebral love story, a music professor who is unhappy in his own marriage tries his best to seduce a married woman while he is in the hospital -- though the results of his efforts are not exactly what he expects. After a traffic accident, the professor regains consciousness in a hospital bed and the first thing he sees is the beautiful face of a woman who is visiting her husband in the next bed. Transfixed by her persona, the professor takes to writing her illicit, unsigned love letters and then watches for her reaction. As his fantasies about her are confronted with reality, the time quickly approaches to declare himself as the secret admirer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irina Alferova, Zlatko Vitex, (more)
- 1983
This disappointing, pretentious farce by writer and director Peter Ustinov, who also stars as the incompetent but powerful Abki Aga, is based on a novel by Yashar Kemal about Memed (Simon Dutton) a man who escapes into the Turkish hills with the woman he loves (Leonie Mellinger), a woman already betrothed to the nephew of the region's governor (Aga). Even though Memed joins a band of brigands he is not successful when he first tries to kill Aga, who lords it over five different villages and has a sizeable army, and so he tries again. Unfortunately, Turkey is not only the setting, but an apt descriptive term for this 105-minute film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Herbert Lom, (more)
- 1982
As the horror of World War II is about to descend on Yugoslavia, a young intellectual in Zagreb is struggling with the meaning of life, his life in particular. He has a tendency to fall in love with women who are not likely to stay with one man for long, but his romantic interludes are cut short when the military calls him up for induction into the army. Completely against the whole idea of military service and a possible early death, he feigns insanity and it works -- he is released from serving his stint. Once back in a relationship with one woman, he takes a closer look at the crisis building around him -- and experiences an awakening, spawned, in part, by the suicide of a friend. With the realization that pending disaster is at hand, he turns around to enlist in the army again -- if he can convince them that he is "recovered" from his mental condition. Mira Furlan won "Best Supporting Actress" at the 1982 Pula Film Festival for her role as one of the lovers in this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frano Lasic, Ljuba Tadic, (more)
- 1981
This historical drama is about the turbulence in Yugoslavia between 1946 and 1956 when Tito instituted his own version of socialism, thereby alienating both East and West. The political climate and divisions at that time are reflected in actual documentary footage within the narrative itself. The story is about the installation of a high-voltage generator and what happens when people unite to work for their own common cause (either a generator or national autonomy) - if only people could agree on what the common cause is. A young dissident is arrested, imprisoned, escapes, and is shot by a border guard. A woman who supports Tito speaks up for him at the factory where the generator will be installed, and later manages to smuggle the plans for the generator into Yugoslavia. Another white-collar worker opts for residing in Austria where all these troubles do not exist. In these images of a nation at odds with itself and the world, a vague foreboding is bound to affect viewers who know that civil war in the 1990s would destroy whatever fragile unity was promoted by this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bozidarka Frajt, Vanja Drach, (more)
- 1979
Having been forced to leave professional soccer because of a bad knee, a former sports star takes a job as a hotel receptionist. It is an ironic career choice, because he has never had to attend to other peoples' needs to any great extent before. In order to get his career off to a rousing start, he seeks out schoolmates whom he barely remembers for a class reunion party at the hotel. At the same time, he is organizing a party for local wealthy people, just to eat, drink and enjoy themselves. Meanwhile, he ends an affair with an older woman, who commits suicide as a result. His "people skills" clearly need polishing: not one of his classmates shows up for the anniversary celebration, but the other party goes off without a hitch. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vlatko Dulic, Ivica Vidovic, (more)
- 1978
A young man is sent to enter the Austrian army by the village headman. The headman has done this because the girl the headman has marked out for his son's marriage is in love with the young man being sent away. Years later, he returns with the army to prevent the villagers from celebrating a pagan ritual which predates the Austrian conquest of the region. Tragedy springs from the efforts by everyone to do what they believe is right. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Relja Basic, Zvone Hribar, (more)
- 1978
Ljubica (Bozidarka Frait) is an attractive early-middle-aged woman. Her husband works outside the country, and their son is staying with her husband's parents. Only her job, working with deaf children, offers her much solace. When she briefly has a love affair with a younger man, it boosts her spirits. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bozidarka Frajt, Relja Basic, (more)
- 1976
In this science-fiction tale, set in Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1931, a penniless writer, evicted from his home, discovers that a species of rats has banded together to impersonate humans and supplant them unnoticed, in a manner reminiscent of the transformations in Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, or the covert conspiracy of pod-people in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Whether his perceptions are hallucinations due to his hunger or not, by the end of the film, he is the only one left standing. This film's story is based on a book by the Soviet writer Alexander Greene. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mirjana Majurec
- 1973
This Yugoslavian epic depicts the World War II military exploits of Marshall Tito (played here by Richard Burton), who later became the unrivalled ruler of that troubled country. During that war, he was instrumental in resisting Nazi efforts to exterminate the Yugoslav partisans. The film details the events surrounding the climactic battle with the Germans along the Sutjeska River. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This gentle, simple drama is directed by Yugoslavian Kreso Golick, who afterwards became a professor of film direction at Zagreb's Academy of Theatre, Film and Television. It is told entirely from the point of view of a couple's six-year-old son. At a picnic, the family makes the acquaintance of a flashy character who seems to be making eyes at the boy's mother. His father arranges for their new acquaintance to marry the boy's aunt, and that marriage takes place even though they discover that he is not a rich American. Even by the end of the film, however, it seems to the boy that their picnic acquaintance is still trying to charm his mother. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
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A man is found one morning in the bushes of a city plaza in Prague. He is taken to a hospital where the doctors confirm that, although his eyes are wide open, he is dead. There is no heartbeat or sign of life, except, strangely enough, his body temperature is normal. No matter, he's certified as dead and sent into cold storage to wait for an autopsy. "I'm alive," the man thinks, "can't you see I'm alive?" The man, Gregory (Jean Sorel), isn't dead but he's paralyzed and helpless to alert his condition to anyone. As the doctors prepare for the autopsy, Gregory thinks back to yesterday, when he was making plans to help his girlfriend (Barbara Bach) get out of the country. Gregory begins piecing together the mystery of what happened to him in fractured bits of memory -- but will solving the puzzle do him any good? ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- PG
In this Cold War comedy, a handsome American rake falls for a communist female athlete in Greece. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
In this thrilling war drama set during WW II, a pair of courageous commandos endeavor to kidnap an important German general. The film is also known as American Cross Eagles. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- PG
Michael (David Warner) is an independent businessman and a happily married man with two children. Traveling to the market one day, he is victimized by a nobleman who demands compensation for crossing his land. Michael leaves two horses and a caretaker on the noble's land after he has paid for passage. He returns for the horses when he discovers that the landowner has no legal right to demand the compensation. Michael discovers his caretaker has been beaten and the horses are near death. A court rules he must take back the horses in their pitiful condition, and he refuses to accept the verdict. His wife Elisabeth (Anna Karina) is killed by a stampede, pushing Michael over the edge. He succumbs to a life of crime, when he torches the nobleman's castle, but the evil count escapes. Michael becomes a hero as people join the cause in rebelling against the unpopular judgment, but he really only wishes to take back his horses and have the nobleman held accountable for his actions. He tracks the nobleman to another town and his rebel army kills the soldiers protecting the cowardly count. A rapist is hung for his crimes, and Michael agrees to turn himself in when officials promise his case will be heard again in this brutal tale of political crimes and reprisals of the common man. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Warner, Anna Karina, (more)
- 1969
A group of small-town idlers wander around one Sunday. Critical of older people and the Establishment, the cynical youths steal a bus for a joyride to the seashore. They contemplate a fatal demise by going out in a blaze of glory, but the end of the journey finds them frolicking in the waves. What was to be a dead-end trip leads to renewed hope for the future as they review their life situations and decide to continue. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Relja Basic, Goran Markovic, (more)
- 1969
This internationally produced war flick represents actor Richard Conte's only directorial effort. Conte casts himself as the leader of a band of Yugoslav partisans. He links up with American officer Rory Calhoun, ostensibly for the purpose of setting up an exchange of prisoners. When it becomes obvious that there's a traitor among the partisans, Conte is forced to reveal Calhoun the true purpose of his mission. American Cross Eagles was also released as Operation Cross Eagles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Rooney (Don Gordon) is the career card shark who is set up by Del Isolla (Massimo Serato) for a big loss in this fast-paced gambling story. Traveling on a luxury liner, an international group of gamblers conspire to turn the tables on each other. Rooney wants to win but is more than satisfied to take Candace (Suzi Kendall) as the beautiful consolation prize. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzy Kendall, Pierre Olaf, (more)
- 1968
Children of divorce are forced to deal with two sets of authority figures when their parents remarry. Seen from the perspective of the children, boys from each family observe the changes in their lives during visits to two different homes. An older boy gets excited over his young and beautiful stepmother. Another woman bemoans her economic fate when she loses her mind and marries a musician in this unusual family comedy drama. She goes from her high-energy ex-husband to a much-too-laid-back type, as the eternal search for happiness continues. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Relja Basic, Vera Cukic, (more)
- 1968
Two Yugoslavian patriots try to scuttle a seized warship from World War II rather than let it fall into the hands of the Germans. They contemplate sailing to England to use the boat in the fight against the Nazi invaders. The captain is bound to follow orders while a Nazi collaborator on board secretly plots to take over the vessel. The two friends vow they will take the ship apart one piece at a time rather than give it up. When their alternative plans fail to materialize, they succeed in wrecking the ship in this routine war drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Barray, Claudine Auger, (more)
