Rossana Podestà Movies

Giuseppe Bertolucci (younger brother of Bernardo Bertolucci) has created a movie unusual for its all-female cast of well-known Italian actresses and for a script that gives them latitude to develop their individual characters. The story is about Laura (Lina Sastri) a young terrorist who commits a rash act of cold-blooded murder which introduces the other women in this story. Laura is in Venice when she kills a judge and a gang member who was vacillating in his commitment. The dead terrorist's mother (Rosanna Podesta) and sister (Giulia Boschi) attend his funeral in Avellino, an area devastated after a severe earthquake -- a particularly dramatic backdrop for a funeral. Back home, Laura's former nanny (Alida Valli) still lives with the family and is as astute as ever -- she figures out what Laura has done and leaves for good. Laura's mother (Lea Massari) is not as perceptive about her own daughter and can hardly believe Laura has done anything wrong, even after the police come to take her away. The effect this has on the devoted mother is totally devastating. Meanwhile, Laura is brought before a judge (Mariangela Melato) for questioning, made all the more difficult because of her critical emotional state and the judge's own personal problems. The wisdom of Laura's confession and the many "secrets" she reveals is another matter entirely. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Sunday Lovers is a fitfully amusing study of weekend romantic techniques as practiced in four different cultures. Each episode was filmed by a separate unit in the country where the story was set. "The French Method" (directed by Eduoard Molinaro) finds a businessman (Lino Ventura) trying to secure an important contract through the sexual allure of his secretary (Catherine Salviat)--only to give up the whole enterprise when he discovers that the secretary would be more valuable as a business partner. "An Englishman's Home" (directed by Bryan Forbes) is all about a chauffeur (Roger Moore) who poses as his boss in order to impress a series of sexy stewardesses. "Armando's Notebook" (directed by Dino Risi) finds a middle-aged Italian husband (Ugo Tognazzi) arranging an affair when his wife leaves town. And "Skippy" stars Gene Wilder (who also directed the segment) as an American psychiatric patient who falls in love with the equally neurotic Priscilla Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

This comedy takes sharp aim at the hypocritical behavior of supposedly celibate Roman Catholic clergy. Keeping to the middle ground, neither too "holy" nor too critical, it was a hit in native Italy. Don Clemente (Lando Buzzanca) has done too good a job as a priest in his rural parish and is promoted to a wealthy parish in Rome. Along with the new job come new temptations, most prominent of which is the desire to embrace the problems of Silvia, a beautiful young prostitute with a yen for married life (Rossana Podesta). Their relationship develops until he must choose between his calling and marrying Silvia. As he is growing accustomed to life in the city, he gains insight into his romantic temptations by observing how his peers and superiors in the church respond to theirs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Director Marco Vicario's sequel to his own Sette Uomini d'Oro, this similarly lighthearted crime film begins with The Professor (Philippe Leroy) and his men captured by American agents during a plot to steal a vault from a moving train. They are assigned to kidnap Castro-like Latin dictator Enrico Maria Salerno in order to avoid prosecution, and The Professor uses the mission as a convenient excuse to jack $7 million in gold from a nearby ship. Rosanna Podesta returns as the sexy Giorgia, and Vicario fills the film with campy setpieces including flying jet-packs and a bizarre ending circling back to the start of Sette Uomini d'Oro. Armando Travajoli's score is typical of its time, featuring a breathy female voice humming "oo-wah" to elevator music. This sequel seems unfocused compared to its tightly-knit predecessor, and is slightly disappointing as a result. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The bulk of this amusing crime film consists of a plan to steal a fortune in gold from the supposedly impregnable vaults of Geneva's Credit Suisse Bank. A criminal genius (Philippe Leroy) watches from across the street as his six henchmen -- whose names all begin with the letter "A" -- carry out the caper. Among the burglars are such familiar actors as Gabriele Tinti and Gaston Moschin, while Rosanna Podesta appears as Leroy's mistress, the scheming Giorgia. After the heist itself, which consumes nearly an hour of screen time, the group becomes fraught with mistrust and suspicion, only to lose out on their wealth when the stolen gold ends up scattered in a public square. Leroy and the rest returned in director Marco Vicario's Il Grande Colpo dei Sette Uomini d'Oro the following year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this sex-charged character study, a woman's husband persuades her to share in his predilection for group sex. Later, she meets a student and has a one-day affair with him. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

A Red Cross ship is sunk while sailing back from war torn Korean. The four survivors, a war journalist and three ladies, end up stranded on a lonely island. One of the women is criminally insane and was en route to the U.S. with her guard to stand trial for murder. She proves to be a major troublemaker. Meanwhile, another woman vainly tries to repair the lifeboat so she can sail off to find help. Three of the women fight for the journalist's affections. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this Italian sword and sandal spectacle, a band of Barbarian invaders wreak havoc upon an army of Roman centurions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This 153-minute Biblical epic about salt and sin is directed by Robert Aldrich and has enough dynamic interactions between its chief protagonists to sustain interest in-between climactic scenes. Stewart Granger is Lot, the Hebrew leader who takes his people to camp in the Valley of Jordan only to find that they are caught between the Helamites on the one hand, and the wicked Queen Bera (Anouk Aimee) on the other. She rules over the twin cesspools of Sodom and Gomorrah and is beleaguered by a crafty brother who wants the scepter she now wields. The Queen makes a pact with Lot that he can stay with the Hebrews in the valley as long as he defends it -- she wants to use him and the Hebrews as a first line of defense against the Helamites. To seal the pact, she gives Lot her best slave Ildith (Pier Angeli) to be his wife. Adventures and excitement prevails as Lot and the Hebrews brave one challenge after the other -- until Lot realizes that his people are being corrupted by the environment of Sodom and Gomorrah and eventually receives a Divine vision and knows he has to lead the Hebrews away from here. Special effects are impressive and take much of the impact away from the fate of Ildith, as she turns one last time to look back at the crumbling cities. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In her second film for Universal-International, Esther Williams stars as Laura, a high-priced fashion model. While working in Rome, Laura succumbs to the charms of international playboy Wally (Carlos Thompson), agreeing to join him on a chartered plane flight across the Mediterranean. When the plane crashes, Laura and Wally are rescued by mysterious loner Moore (Jeff Chandler). Chafing at the thought of remaining on Moore's sparsely populated island, Wally finds the wreckage of a yacht. While he repairs the vessel in hopes of returning to the mainland, Laura and Moore draw ever closer, leading to a potentially explosive situation. Is it just imagination, or does Carlos Thompson sound as though his voice has been dubbed by Paul Frees? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A so-so drama with uneven acting, this is a tale of three women and one man trapped on a deserted island in World War II after a shipwreck. Christian Marquand is Patrick, the lone man who cannot but develop a relationship with all three women. Their fates are not what might be expected, as the women slowly reveal their true natures. One tries to get to another island to find help, and one turns out to be pathologically homicidal. She kills the only other woman, leaving two choices for her murderous inclination -- herself or Patrick or both. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide