Marcella Michelangeli Movies
- 1980
The story of a popular Greek hero Allessandro Panagulis (Stathis Giallelis) is the focus of this informative, feature-length version of a four-hour series. Panagulis tries to assassinate Prime Minister Papadopoulos in 1968, but is caught, tortured over an extended period of time, and then sentenced to death. Eventually, the Greek military junta decides not to carry out the death sentence because of a world-wide outcry for amnesty. That decision leaves Panagulis to suffer inhuman conditions in prison and to fail in several escape attempts. After five years have gone by, thanks to the efforts of family, friends, and the international community, including Oriana Fallaci (the Italian journalist who became his companion), Panagulis is released from prison. But his saga and his destiny do not end there, not by any means. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stathis Giallelis, Pupella Maggio, (more)
- 1980
This is an uneven presentation of the tragedies plaguing the lives of two women from the lower economic strata in Naples. Immacolata (Ida Di Benedetto) is married, is bisexual, and runs a butcher shop that is not bringing in much money. Concetta (Marcella Michelangeli) is a lesbian, doing manual labor and now serving time for taking a potshot at her lover's husband. Immacolata has also been put in jail for guiding a young woman into prostitution. Immacolata and Concetta develop an intensely passionate relationship in prison and after being released, they defy Immacolata's husband and society's scorn by moving in together. But external threats are not as destructive, in the end, as internal contradictions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Di Benedetto, Marcella Michelangeli, (more)
- 198z
The Italian Could It Happen Here? answers its own question early on. A "typical" city falls under the sphere of influence of despots. Imposing martial law, the new civic leaders unleash a reign of terror on the hapless citizens. It's worth noting that this sort of film always looks a bit arch and phony in American hands, but uncomfortably credible when the filmmakers are Europeans, thus well versed in the perils and pitfalls of totalitarianism. Most available prints of Could It Happen Here? are dubbed in English. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Confronted by the procrustean choice of their generation, which is either to engage in violent revolution or to rot away in a never-ending sea of sameness, some of the Italian college students in this 1978 film long for a less futile existence. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonardo Treviglio, Marcella Michelangeli, (more)
Based on an autobiographical book by Gavino Ledda, Padre Padrone is filmed in Sardinian, a regional Italian dialect. The film concentrates on a young, barely literate shepherd boy, who lives under the thumb of his tyrannical peasant father. Rescued from his family--and his isolated lifestyle--when called for military service, the boy eventually emerges as a brilliant scholar. Filmmakers Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani have always displayed an uncanny knack for perfectly capturing the manners, mores and thought processes of Southern Italy's working poor. Though the protagonist's father is clearly the villain of the piece, the Tavianis endeavor to understand and explain his point-of-view and the traditional values that have compelled him to treat his son so harshly. Filmed in a stark, straightforward fashion Padre Padrone went on to become the first film ever to win both the Golden Palm and the International Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Omero Antonutti, Marcella Michelangeli, (more)
- 1976
- R
Michael is the younger son of a middle-class family, a strong-willed and free-thinking fellow, who is off in some distant country fighting for a revolutionary cause. Everyone in the family writes to him, describing the events of their lives, as they drift into a kind of conventionality which would perhaps have horrified them earlier. Only Michael's girlfriend Mara (Mariangela Melato), the mother of his child, retains her independence, even though it is through the help of Michael's increasingly conventional friends and family that she survives. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariangela Melato, Delphine Seyrig, (more)
- 1976
Down & Dirty was originally titled Brutti, sporchi e cativi in Italy. That translates literally to "dirty, nasty and bad", in reference to the lower-class characters and surroundings in this Ettore Scola film. Scola zeroes in on a particularly offensive Roman family. The stingy patriarch, Nino Manfredi, is personally wealthy but morally bankrupt, and his repulsive view of life trickles down to every member of his clan. Not content with corrupting his own flesh and blood, Manfredi spreads his philosophy throughout his village, where he functions as slumlord. By the time Manfredi's wife and sons begin plotting his murder, the audience is ready for a long, cold shower, with plenty of soap. A bleak film heavily laden with humor, Down & Dirty won Ettore Scola a Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi
- 1975
Stefania Sandrelli, a bit player in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, stars in the deliberately Felliniesque comedy We All Loved Each Other So Much. Sandrelli plays the longtime object of three friends' affections. The film traces the interrelationships of those friends-Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi and Satta Flores-over a period of thirty years, beginning with their involvement in the wartime Resistance. In addition to freely quoting from La Dolce Vita, director Ettore Scola also calculatedly evokes memories of Fellini's I Vitteloni. As a bonus, the film offers affectionate homages to several other neorealist filmmakers, including Rossellini and de Sica. We All Loved Each Other So Much was originally released as C'erevamo tanto amati. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
- 1974
An Italian car crash sends its victims adrift in time back to 11th-century Tibet where they re-enact the dramatic story of the poet-sage Milarepa. One of the car's occupants, a young man (Lajos Balasovitz), experiences first hand the power and use of the awesome black magic commonly recounted in the legends of that period, and this causes him considerable distress. He then seeks out someone who can teach him the techniques that lead to inner peace. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
This comedy ridicules the social elite who embrace anything in the name of art. The hero is a painter (Willy Columbini), a below-average artist who manages to become the darling of blue-blooded art lovers. He enjoys several bedroom romps with nude females as he receives outrageous prices for his alleged works of art. The painter manages to be readily accepted in a world from which he was previously ignored. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Fenech, Rainer Basedow, (more)
- 1969
Don't let the title mislead you, this film doesn't come from the Bible Belt; it's actually a western where a trigger-happy quickdraw guy has to draw upon all his talent just to stay alive. ~ All Movie Guide
