Jose Marco Movies

Though the kinky characters and aberrant social behavior common to the works of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar are very evident in his Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the film is at heart a door-slamming farce in the grand tradition. The tiny apartment of pregnant actress Carmen Maura is the "Grand Central Station" setpiece for this dizzying tale. Distraught over her recent breakup with her lover, Carmen prepares to overdose on sleeping pills, which she blends into a gazpacho so they'll go down easier. She is diverted from her suicide by her best friend Maria Barranco, a fugitive from justice (her boy friend is a Shi'Ite terrorist) who needs a place to stay. Later, when Carmen's apartment is empty, her ex-lover's grown son (Antonio Banderas) comes to the apartment with his fiance (Rossy de Palma) in answer to Carmen's "room to let" newspaper ad. The wife inadvertently ingests Carmen's "pill sauce," and as she blissfully snoozes, the husband inaugurates an affair with Carmen's friend Barranco. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This epic Spanish biopic chronicles the life of Cervantes, Spain's great novelist, playwright and poet, during the 16th-century, when as a young man he goes to Italy to become a soldier for the Pope. Later he helps the Pope's emissary wage war against the Spanish Moors. His exploits win him great favor. He falls in love with a famous Italian courtesan and she with him. Unfortunately, the Pope splits them apart with his newest decree which demands that all prostitutes leave the city. Upset, Cervantes goes to fight in the famed sea battle of Lepanto and comes back a hero. Later he is captured by Barbary pirates and ransomed by Trinitarian friars. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Writer/director Paul Czinner, who in 1936 adapted Shakespeare's As You Like It to the screen, was the guiding force behind the 1966 feature Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Czinner's earlier Shakespeare film, however, not a word of the Bard's text is spoken in the 1966 production. Rather, this is a filmed record of a performance of Prokofiev's ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, as originally presented at the Royal Opera House. The stars are the matchless Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, who brilliantly overcome the disappointingly bland choreography of Kenneth McMillan. For the benefit of non-ballet aficionados, each of the production's three acts is introduced by a spoken synopsis. Others in the corps de ballet include David Blair as Mercutio, Desmond Doyle as Tybalt, Gerd Larsen as Nurse and Ronald Hynd as Friar Lawrence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The English title of this Shakespeare adaptation is Juliet and Romeo, according the heroine top billing for the first time in history. Its Spanish title, evidently concocted to obscure its literary roots, was Los Amentes de Verona. Directed by costume-spectacle "regular" Riccardo Freda, the film stars Gerald Meynier and Rosemarie Dexter as Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. Freda adapted the original text to make room for his usual stylistic grace notes -- not to mention his characteristic spurts of violence. Filmed in 1964, Giulietta e Romeo was distributed in the U.S. in 1968, most likely to cash in on the popularity of the recently released Franco Zeffirelli version. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This slow-paced, uneven costume drama centers on the life and times of the legendary Andalucian bandolero, Diego Corrientes-Mateos, born in August of 1759 in the town of Utrera. Set against a backdrop of scenic countryside landscapes and idyllic small towns, Corrientes' story unfolds. As this film illustrates, he took up a nomadic existence through no fault of his own, and robbed from the rich to give to the poor. His generosity is his most salient character trait, along with his refusal to kill or harm anyone he robbed. Sought by his arch-nemesis Don Francisco de Bruma, the regent of Seville, Corrientes was betrayed and captured in March of 1781. After three weeks in abominable conditions in a solitary cell, he was dragged to his place of execution, hanged, and then dismembered. He was twenty-four years old. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi