Ornella Muti Movies

James Toback wrote and directed this typically intense and idiosyncratic satiric thriller. Byron Levin (Ray Sharkey) is an investment planner who has grown tired of his job and is bored by his relationship with his girlfriend Vicky (Susan Heldfond). When Frederick Stockheinz (Klaus Kinski), an international business magnate, approaches Byron about helping him establish a new firm in a small South American nation, he gladly accepts the offer. It isn't long before Byron discovers that he's gotten involved in something far more complicated than he ever imagined. The country has rich reserves of silver, but it is also in a state of political upheaval, and Byron is dealing with dictators and fending off revolutionaries as often as he minds the bottom line. Byron also encounters Frederick's wife Catherine (Ornella Muti), a beautiful woman with whom he begins having a very dangerous affair. Love and Money also features legendary director King Vidor in a small role as Byron's father; it was his first acting role in a film, and his last (he died nine months after the film's release). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cristina (Ornella Muti) is a rich, spoiled princess visiting Rome with her royal parents. The mission of their visit is to marry her off to a super-wealthy corporate type and thereby start to turn around the losses their small kingdom is experiencing in its casino business. These less-than-noble intentions get derailed when Barnaba, a zany bus driver (Adriano Celentano) enters their lives and falls madly in love with the gorgeous Cristina. He is nuts enough to succeed in this romantic chase after royalty, as love seems to fuel his determination to rid Cristina of her elitism and to make her see his own irrepressible attractions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Heroic earthling Flash Gordon saves the world from the nefarious Ming the Merciless in this lavish, intentionally campy adaptation of the famous sci-fi comic strip. The story is as basic as space operas get: Ming (Max von Sydow) has developed a plan to destroy the Earth, and Flash (Sam J. Jones) and his attractive companion, Dale Arden (Melody Anderson), are called upon to stop him. Along the way, Flash must battle Ming's goons and the temptations of a luscious space princess. Previously the basis for a more straight-faced 1930s adventure serial, Flash's story is mined here for exaggerated, cartoon humor by screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr., a central figure in the similarly campy '60s Batman television series. The simplistic plot mainly serves as an excuse for spectacular sets and cartoonish action sequences, all set to an appropriately over-the-top rock score by Queen. Certainly not a film to turn to for serious excitement, fine performances, or character development, Flash Gordon has nevertheless developed an appreciative cult of fans who admire the film's humorous approach and the detailed, colorful production design. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In this political drama, the critically acclaimed Russian director Grigori Chukhrai -- who also wrote the script -- focuses on the nature of political persecution through his hero Antonio (Giancarlo Giannini), a taxi driver in the capital of a dictatorship. Running alongside the political theme is a love story between Antonio and María, a waitress in a local café. Antonio was booted out of the military for refusing to fire on a boat carrying women and children during the Angola civil war. His main objective now is to stay aloof and uninvolved -- until he meets María. She has him take a man to the airport one day, and Antonio soon realizes that this fellow is a revolutionary working to oust the dictator. The ride he gave the man is the excuse the Secret Police need to pick up Antonio, and they put him in prison where they abuse him, trying to find out about his passenger. But he truly does not know anything, and he would never implicate María. The other prisoners at first turn against him but change their attitude when they discover he plans an escape, and soon everyone is about to make a break for freedom. Chukhrai's first film, The Forty-First won a special prize at Cannes in 1957, Ballad of a Soldier was also a 1960 winner at Cannes, and Clear Skies a winner in the 1961 Venice competition. Although La Vita è Bella indirectly involves the war themes of these preceding movies, it is not really in their same category. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Villa Serena is a retirement home for aging theatrical and vaudeville performers in this film, which stars Ugo Tognazzi as its newest inmate, Picchio, a former comedy great. There, he meets and falls in love with the lovely young attendant Renata (Ornella Muti), and goes off with her to Rome for the "first affair" of his retirement. However, he doesn't "go gently into that good night," but longs to mount a revival of his career, and is devastated to discover that his charms both as a performer and as a man are no longer what they once were. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Paolo (Tony Musante) has been reasonably happy for the past 10 years; he has a job at the university and has Sena (Ornella Muti) as a lover all these years. When she suddenly decides to leave the relationship, it comes as a shock to him, and he desperately wants to know the reason. After a series of reconciliations and separations, he finally finds out and briefly has another apparently blissful relationship with Silva (Monica Guerritore). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Xavier Marechal (Alain Delon) is a businessman whose long-time business partner and friend is Philippe Dubaye (Maurice Ronet) a member of the French parliamentary assembly. In the film, Philippe has just killed Cerrano, a fellow assemblyman who threatened to disclose Philippe's involvement in political corruption. After killing the man, he steals his notebook which contains blackmail information implicating many members of the government. Philippe comes to Xavier afterward for help but only has time to tell him where the notebook is hidden before he is killed. Xavier and Philippe's girlfriend Valerie (Ornella Muti) become the objects of a manhunt by the worried politicians and their henchmen. Mort d'Un Pourri was basically an Alain Delon project; he funded the production of this action thriller, lent his name to it, and invited well-known action- and comedy-director Georges Lautner to direct it. This virtually guaranteed enough money for a polished production, with an all-star cast. Alain Delon here remains faithful to his image as a lone wolf, proud warrior and "samurai" devoted to friendship. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this drama, Temistocle Orimbelli (Ugo Tognazzi) is a middle-aged man with a profound appreciation for womankind -- an appreciation that does not extend to Cleofe (Garbiella Giacobbe) his dried up old shrew of a wife. He is much taken with the charms of his sister-in-law Matilde (Ornella Muti), who is a widow. The attraction appears mutual, but he has first to overcome the obstacle of wifely suspicion in order to consummate the union. Eventually, he is able to appear at his boat at the same time as the lovely Matilde, and what had begun as a simple assignation turns into a complex tragedy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Richard (Michel Piccolo) is a medieval nobleman. After his first wife dies in an accident and is buried in the family vault, he remarries and has children by his second wife. A mad longing for his first wife Leonor (Liv Ullmann) comes over him, and he sells his soul to the devil for a chance to get her back. When she returns, she is a murderous vampire, but his ardor for her continues unabated. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this Italian effort (spoken English is obviously dubbed) a dentist is seduced by his daughter and her girl friend. ~ All Movie Guide

This Italian feature caters to a self-congratulatory stereotype of male virility which many an Italian male might fantasize as being true for himself. Paolo is from the lower ranks of the Sicilian nobility, and he shares his grandfather's penchant for beautiful women. Indeed, he proved his readiness for bedroom sports at age 10, when he beat his grandfather to the bed of a lovely young new house servant. As a grownup, Paolo (Giancarlo Giannini) now lives in Rome and cuts a wide swath through the female population of that town. Though the depiction of his succession of conquests is repetitive, one of the film's highlights is the great beauty of the numerous women he has encounters with. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Two crime families battle for supremacy in 1929 Chicago in this Italian crime spoof. One group, known as the "Sons of Mammasantissima" thereby professes its (ironic) dedication to the Virgin Mother. The other family works undercover from a Salvation Army soup kitchen. Neither family seems capable of accomplishing anything of note until a wily Sicilian arrives on the scene and sorts things out. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide