Maurice Poli Movies
In this Italian splatter film, director Lucio Fulci plays a horror filmmaker who goes to a psychiatrist because the types of films he makes are starting to disturb him, he suspects that his German producers are Nazis, and he believes he may be a killer himself. Much of the movie consists of clips from Fulci's previous films. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
Stelvio Massi directed this Italian-made action film, a copy of George Cosmatos' Cobra with Fred Williamson in the Stallone role. As a tough NYPD detective, Williamson protects photographer Eva Grimaldi, who witnessed a murder by the leader of the vicious Black Cobras biker gang. Fans of Italian genre movies will recognize Sabrina Siani as the kidnapped daughter of the police commissioner. Antonio Margheriti's Black Cobra 2 was next. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Williamson, Eva Grimaldi, (more)
- 1984
Set during World War II, The Assisi Underground deals with the efforts made by a handful of hardy European souls to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. Ben Cross plays a dynamic young Catholic priest who puts his own life on the line to save thousands of refugees from Nazi-occupied Italy. While the role of the Vatican in the war is still a matter of hot debate, there can be no denying that individuals like Cross existed: in fact, virtually every event depicted in this film is based on an actual event. Featured in the all-star cast are James Mason, Irene Papas, and Maximillian Schell. When originally released, Assissi Underground clocked in at 178 minutes, resulting in a well-intentioned but frankly boring wartime epic. The producers whittled the running time down to 118 minutes for its general release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Cross, James Mason, (more)
- 1978
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Sirpa Lane, the Finnish stunner who shot to stardom in Roger Vadim's Charlotte before shocking viewers worldwide in Walerian Borowczyk's The Beast, stars in notorious Italian director Joe D'Amato's sleazy tale of a tropical beauty who hungrily surrenders herself to the deepest depths of depravity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
An unreleased suspense thriller from Italy's master of horror and fantasy, Mario Bava, Rabid Dogs makes its belated debut in this special DVD release. When a bank robbery goes awry for a pair of violent criminals, they take an innocent woman hostage, who must fight for her survival. Shot mostly inside a speeding car, this tense and claustrophobic drama was filmed in 1974 (five years before Bava's death), but shortly before completion the death of one of the principal financiers threw the project into limbo. In 1998, the film's elements were rediscovered and editing was completed using Bava's notes as a guide; the result is a film that takes a decidedly modern detour from Bava's traditional Gothic subject matter and gives a much broader perspective on the range of his talents. A few years later, the film was reworked and retitled Kidnapped for a brief theatrical run in the U.S. That version of the film would later be released on DVD by Anchor Bay, with the original, Rabid Dogs cut included as supplimental material. Curiously enough, the version of Rabid Dogs featured on the Kidnapped disc still differs from the version of the film previously released by Lucertola. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Riccardo Cucciolla, Lea Lander, (more)
- 1972
This Italian western comedy has no shooting deaths, but a lot of fistfights. Provvidenza is a bounty hunter. He makes his living solely by catching his dim but powerful friend, the Hurricane Kid (Gregg Palmer) and turning him in for the reward money. A fully armed horseless carriage is one of the inventive elements of this film. One of the film's sillier highlights is an amazingly loud and long belch by the Kid. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Gregg Palmer, (more)
- 1969
Klaus Kinski, who apparently accepted every script that was shoved under his door, heads the cast of the Italian Gangster's Law. Kinski plays a Mafia boss, caught in a web of intrigue, deceit, and blood oaths. Likewise enmeshed in the bloody plot convolutions are Maurice Poll, Suzy Andersen, and Max Delys. Kinski enjoys relative immunity from arrest until making that One False Step. The photography and action is on a slightly higher level than the hit-and-miss English dubbing. So far as we can ascertain, Kinski dashed off Gangster's Law sometime between his more prestigious assignments The Little Drummer Girl and Cobra Verde. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
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
- Starring:
- Philippe Leroy, Rossana Podestà, (more)
- 1965
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
- Starring:
- Rossana Podestà, Philippe Leroy, (more)
- 1965
The title of this political drama is a reference to the glass cage in which Adolph Eichmann sat in at the Nuremberg trials. Pierre (Jean Negroni), a French Jew and survivor of a concentration camp, has become an Israeli citizen along with his gentile wife Helene (Francoise Prevost). Sonia (Dina Doron) is a young Jewish woman who, like Pierre, also survived the Holocaust and hopes for a better life. Azaria Rapaport plays the news reporter whose coverage of the trials has jostled some terrifying and long-suppressed memories in Pierre. He feels that an elevator is a furnace that was used to liquidate concentration-camp victims. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Prevost, Jean Negroni, (more)
- 1963
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In this swashbuckling tale of action and adventure, a dashing, muscle-bound sultan's son struggles to single-handedly stave off Queen Victoria's army of invaders and thereby save his father from kidnappers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Reeves, Jacqueline Sassard, (more)
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1960
The original Italian is La Viaccia (the name of the family farm which motivates the plot). The death of a wealthy patriarch in 1885 sets off an interfamily power struggle. Son Ferdinando buys out his other relatives in order to gain full control over the dead man's property. But Ferdinando's country-bumpkin nephew Amerigo holds out. Amerigo's stance is weakened when he heads for the city and meets prostitute Bianca. To support her in the manner in which she is accustomed, Amerigo steals from his uncle. Disgraced in the eyes of his family, Amerigo decides to stay near his beloved Bianca by becoming a bouncer in her brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
