Tomas Milian Movies
Born in Cuba, but raised in the United States, actor Tomas Milian (born Tomas Rodriguez) started out on the New York stage following training at the Actor's Studio. He appeared on the short-lived television series Decoy in 1957. Milian traveled to Italy and performed Jean Cocteau's pantomime The Poet and the Muse at the 1959 Spoleto Festival. Filmmaker Mauro Bolognini spotted him and cast Milian in La Notte Brava (1959). The actor subsequently appeared in two more of the director's films and went on to star or play character roles in Italian crime thrillers, spaghetti Westerns, and straight dramas, where he was typically cast as a psychopathic murderer or villain. During his 30 years in Italy, Milian received two major awards for his contribution, the Antonio de Curtis Award for Comedy and the Coppa Del Consiglio Dei Ministri from the Italian government. Milian returned to the U.S. in 1989 and has since appeared in American-made films, including Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), The Cowboy Way (1994), and Fools Rush In (1997). Milian has also worked on television and continues appearing on-stage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2006
With his English-language political thriller The Feast of the Goat, action helmer Luis Llosa cinematizes Mario Vargas Llosa's sweeping, epic novel about the myriad of events leading up to the assassination of a real-life tyrannical despot. The story opens in 1992, when a Dominican émigré attorney, Urania Cabral (Isabella Rossellini) leaves her new home in the U.S. and heads back to her native country, for the first occasion in decades. She intends to confront her father, 80-year-old Augustin (Tomas Milian), about his former employment in the government of the supremely corrupt dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (Tomas Milian). The film then flashes back to the events surrounding the assassination of Trujillo on a highway in late May of 1961, by delving into the lives and motives of each of the participants - from Amadito (Juan Diego Botto), whom Trujillo forced to execute his future brother-in-law, to that victim's father (Murphy Guyer), to Antonio (David Zayas), the brother of an incriminating witness whom Trujillo's men executed. One by one, as their stories are disinterred, the assassins gather on a nighttime road, brandishing guns, and prepare to shoot Trujillo and throw his body into the trunk of a car. Paul Freeman, Stephanie Leonidas and Richard Bekins co-star; Llosa co-authored the script with Augusto Cabada and Zachary Sklar. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Isabella Rossellini, (more)
- 2001
When a driver-for-hire (Clive Owen) is confronted by hijackers, he must decide whether to surrender his passenger (Tomas Milian) or attempt to flee. The first of the five films in the BMW promotional series, Ambush was directed by action film veteran John Frankenheimer and written by Seven scripter Andrew Kevin Walker. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Steven Hill, the sole remaining cast member from Law & Order's first season, appeared as D.A. Adam Schiff for the final time in this episode. In a case reminiscent of the theatrical feature Missing, a father obsessively seeks out the persons responsible for the torture and death of his son in Chile in 1973. When the father himself dies, A.D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) goes after hospitalized Chilean colonel Emilio Pantoya (Tomas Milian), intending to prosecute the ailing officer for murder. "Vaya Con Dios" originally aired in tandem with another episode, "Stiff," on May 24, 2000, bringing the tenth season of Law & Order to a close. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This highly acclaimed made-for-cable movie tells the real-life story of one man's battle to save his land. Raul Julia stars as Chico Mendes, the Brazilian union leader who rallied his people to rise up and fight the exploitation of the rainforest. Mendes called on the locals to protest land developers building a road through the Amazon in an effort to make it more accessible for business. Julia is outstanding in his portrayal of the impassioned worker, who was subsequently assassinated in 1990. Nominated for many awards, the film took the Golden Globe for "Best Mini-series for TV" and several Emmy awards. Raul Julia won the Golden Globe and the Emmy for his inspiring lead performance. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1993
A much-hated slumlord who has long been victimizing the denizens of his racially mixed neighborhood heads to the local church to seek absolution from the priest--who happens to also be the slumlord's son. The sinner subsequent dies, and it is determined that a poison spray was the murder weapon. As luck would have it, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is teaching a course on mystery writing in the selfsame church...and she has just finished discussing the various and sundry uses of poison! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Made for television, the two-part, four-hour Love, Honor and Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage is the true story of "mob wife" Rosalie Profaci Bonanno, here played by Nancy McKeon. Inasmuch as the teleplay is based on Ms. Bonanno's memoirs, it is perhaps understandable that she casts herself as an innocent bystander in the ongoing saga of Mafia activity in the United States, totally ignorant (at least at first) as to how her father Joe Profaci (Tomas Milian) and his chief mob rival Joseph Bonanno (Ben Gazzara) support themselves and their families. It is further suggested that Rosalie is completely in the dark concerning the mob connections of her husband Bill (Eric Roberts), Joe Bonanno's son; after all, how could anything be amiss when the Pope Himself calls to congratulate the bride and groom? Ultimately Rosalie sees the light when her husband enters a war against opposing mob families, and is subsequently thrown in prison. The rest of the story chronicles how Rosalie struggles to escape the onus of "Mafia princess", seeking out honest, mainstream work to take care of herself and her children. Love, Honor and Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage originally aired Mary 23 and 25, 1993 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
James Coburn guest stars as Cyrus Ramsey, chief archaeologist of the National Museum of Mexico. Ramsey is among those under suspicion when a hotel owner suspected of dealing in stolen art is murdered. It seems that the dead man was found wearing the Mask of Montezuma, which had recently been pilfered from the museum. Need we add that Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is paying a visit to Mexico City at the time of the murder, and that she will take it upon herself to solve the mystery? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Maniacal Dennis Hopper plays a high-strung L.A. homicide detective who embarks upon a vengeful hunt for the drug pushers who brutally murdered his partners. His investigation soon reveals that the dealers' influence extends to the highest echelons of city government. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Stars and famous locations abound in this multinational production, a would-be "financial thriller" about swindles and betrayals among jet-set gazillionaires, which takes place in glamor spots all over the globe. Somebody has stolen millions of dollars from his father, and Frank Cimballi (Eric Stoltz) means to find out who. To that end, he enlists the help of a variety of people, including a man (Mario Adorf) who is wealthy in his own right, and a French private eye (Bruno Cremer) who appears to have read too many American detective novels. The bad guys seem to have Nazi connections, which adds spice to the chase, but reviewers discounted this movie, based on a best-selling French novel, for its slapdash storytelling. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maryam D'Abo, Bruno Cremer, (more)
- 1987
In this English-dubbed version of an Italian sci-fi film, a group of aliens lands on the planet in spirit form and take over the bodies of the recently dead. Trouble begins when a toddler tells his dad that he sees his deceased mother walking around every day. When the father investigates, he sees her too, and it soon becomes evident that there's a kind of epidemic of revived bodies going on. However, the aliens are not malevolent, and when their new bodies are gathered into one area by the worried authorities, they give them up. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Laura Morante, (more)
- 1984
This slapstick, bawdy farce features Tomas Milian once again as Inspector Giraldi and Bombolo as the petty thief with two left feet who helps the inspector solve a dastardly crime. Too fully schtick to cater to a tightly-woven plot, the gist of the story is that the unlikely duo have to pose as transvestites to get into the Blue Gay club where a male female dancer was murdered. When the good inspector's post-partum wife discovers him undercover with people of indeterminate gender, he tries for the rest of the story to get back into her good graces. Meanwhile, the daring duo have to go to Berlin where a film director (!) has been identified as the killer -- a member of the KGB after atomic secrets (the murdered transvestite's father is an atomic scientist). The gay world is sent up as far as the ozone layer, and the German spies are heroically one-dimensional in this take-off on the European demi-monde. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Bombolo, (more)
- 1982
A divorced middle-aged Italian film director (Tomas Millian) is seeking meaning and love in both his life and his film. He becomes involved with an aristocratic woman, but trouble ensues when he begins to receive anonymous threats demanding that he abandon the relationship. When the woman mysteriously disappears, the director begins seeing an actress who works in experimental plays. She too leaves after telling him that she is carrying another man's child. In his quest for meaning, all the director manages to find is meaningless sex and lots of metaphors for isolation and abandonment: fog, open doors, empty landscapes. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Daniela Silverio, (more)
- 1980
In this Italian police drama, a hippie cop goes to Milan to look into a murder. He is called because he grew up in the same neighborhood as the prime suspect. The suspect's alibi was that he was hiding beneath a bed when the murder occurred. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Olimpia di Nardo, (more)
A detective (Tomas Milian) goes undercover to bring justice to a crimelord (Jack Palance) accused of stealing $5 million. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1977
This slapstick Italian sex comedy actually looks far more expensive than it really is, as it used the sets left over from the 1980 spectacular Caligula. It can't quite make up its mind, though, if it's a comedy (the emperor Claudius is a doddering, stuttering, impotent old fool), a sex film (with much nudity and several orgy scenes), or a slasher/gore picture (in a scene where soldiers invade an orgy and starting dismembering and decapitating everyone in sight -- which, incredibly, is treated as a slapstick scene!), and winds up being not much of anything. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Caprioli, Gian Carlo Prete, (more)
- 1975
After having been sent to a mental asylum following being raped by a policeman, Julie (Marlene Jobert) is released to a job as a governess for a rich man's nephew. When Julie and the boy are kidnapped, it becomes clear that the kidnappers plan to frame her for the death of the boy. Before they can carry out their plans, she escapes, and it eventually becomes clear who the real culprit is. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlène Jobert, Tomas Milian, (more)
- 1975
The Emperor of Japan has sent the U.S. President a very special Asian horse. Three incredible rogues hear of this horse and decide to kidnap it for a $500,000 ransom. One of them, the "white" is Giuliano Gemma, a grandiose kleptomaniac. Tomás Milian is the "yellow," a Japanese samurai, and the last ("black") is Eli Wallach, a goofy and gullible sheriff who has been victimized by "white" before, and will be again. The alliance between the three is a shaky thing, but "black" will have stumbled into clover. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giuliano Gemma, Tomas Milian, (more)
A vain gambler (Fabio Testi), a pregnant prostitute (Lynne Frederick), a bumbling alcoholic (Michael J. Pollard) and a man who claims to see ghosts (Harry Baird) become unlikely traveling companions in this unusual spaghetti Western from notorious Italian horror director Lucio Fulci. The only survivors of a frontier-town massacre staged to rid the once-lawful town of its overpowering criminal element, the quartet ride the Western trail in a last-ditch bid to reach the next populated area and get back on their feet. Soon drawing the attention of a trigger-happy bandit named Chaco (Tomas Milian), the four cautiously accept him into the fold when Chaco displays a remarkable talent for hunting. When their newfound friend tortures the foursome and leaves them for dead after feeding them hallucinogens, the remaining survivors' desperate bid for survival leads them to take shelter in a ramshackle mining town inhabited only by men of questionable honor. As the birth of her child draws closer, prostitute Bunny (Frederick) looks to suave gambler Stubby (Testi) for the love and support to bring her child into the world. Though the men of the town reluctantly band together to aid Bunny in the birth of her baby, Stubby finds himself torn between the prospect of fatherhood and his unquenchable thirst for revenge against the supremely evil Chaco. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fabio Testi, Lynne Frederick, (more)
- 1974
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This melodramatic crime film concerns a petty thief named Julio (Tomas Milian) who kidnaps pretty Mary Lou (Laura Belli), the daughter of his girlfriend's rich employer, and holds her for ransom. Much of the film features Julio's hysterical populist rants targeting the wealthy elite, whom he both envies and detests. When the bound Mary Lou mocks him, Julio's anger leads to a bloody gunfight in which nearly everyone dies. Eventually, Police Inspector Walter Grandi (Henry Silva) turns vigilante and guns down the "human trash" on a pile of garbage. Reminiscent of everything from the Dirty Harry series to the Patty Hearst kidnapping, Lenzi's preposterous film is most memorable for its overly ripe dialogue and an outlandish party scene in which Milian forces a balding, craven businessman to service him at gunpoint. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Henry Silva, (more)
This entry in the Italian crime film cycle of the '70s presents an interesting take on the format. Emergency Squad seems unusually postmodern for its time because it places an equal amount of dramatic focus on its hero and its villain. The hero part is fulfilled by Ravelli (Tomas Milian), a cop consumed with the desire to get revenge on the crook who shot his wife to death during a robbery. The crook in question is Marseilles (Gastone Moschin), who is trying to assemble funds for his own retirement. As the revenge scenario moves toward the inevitable confrontation, Emergency Squad retains interest because it paints both leads in a complex fashion -- Ravelli's obsessive quest makes him as scary as he is sympathetic and the seemingly icy Marseilles reveals some surprisingly vulnerable sides to his character. Emergency Squad was the first of several Italian crime films for director Stelvio Massi, and star Tomas Milian would also become a mainstay of this genre. In 2005, Emergency Squad received a domestic DVD release from Mondo Macabro. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Gastone Moschin, (more)
- 1973
When the godson of San Francisco's crime lord asks permission to leave "the business," Don Antonio (Martin Balsam) agrees, but reluctantly. Such behavior by either one is a violation of the code, and a bloody mob war breaks out. It is only through the strong support of his family connections in Sicily that Don Antonio is able to survive the melee and come out on top. Aghast at the situation he has caused, the godson (Tomas Milian) becomes his leader's "consigliere," or Counselor at Crime. This Italian movie was filmed in English in San Francisco, California and Palermo, Sicily. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
