Salvo Randone Movies

This gloomy Italian melodrama is set in the resort town of Rimini, the same small town as Fellini's picture I Vitelloni. The notables of the town spend their time speculating in real estate and doing a little gambling. Their interest is piqued by Daniel (Alain Delon), the magnetic new instructor at the town's high school. He has a high-strung, suicidal wife whose demands he treats with weary tolerance, as he does most things in his life. He is much drawn to a well-worn young woman, and events take a tragic turn when he takes up with her. This film marks a unique acting departure for Alain Delon and is considered one of his best screen performances. ~ 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

Better known as Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, this Oscar-winning political drama stars Gian Maria Volonte as the citizen of the title, an unnamed police inspector. The story finds the inspector calmly cutting his mistress' throat, then planting evidence that will clear him of accusation -- and attempting to evade arrest by virtue of his "clean" public image. Elio Petri's own anti-establishment stance was never more pronounced than in this film, where the truth is whatever the ruling class chooses to acknowledge. The original Italian title of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion was Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogna Sospetto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hank McCain (John Cassavetes) is the imprisoned gangster who gets out of jail with the help of the mob. The syndicate wants him to take part in a heist of a Las Vegas casino. The plan is discussed and soon abandoned by the mob, but Hank decides to go ahead with the robbery. Disguised as a fireman, he pulls off the daring crime with the help of his current flame Irene (Britt Ekland). The angry mobsters want him dead and they soon close in on his old girlfriend Rosemary (Gena Rowlands) for information that could lead to Hank. She would rather commit suicide than give them information about her ex-boyfriend as she obviously still carries a torch for her old flame. Even without her help, the dragnet closes in on Hank as the mobsters systematically figure out his whereabouts. This feature was the Italian entry at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, a choice that caused controversy and questions. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Released in Europe as Histoires Extraordinaires and Tre Passi Nel Delirio, this is a portmanteau picture, comprised of three supernatural playlets based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. "Metzengerstein," directed by Roger Vadim, stars the director's then-wife Jane Fonda as a medieval woman prone to acts of vengeance. Her brother Peter Fonda is somewhat perversely cast as her cousin, for whom she holds incestuous yearnings. When he gives her the cold shoulder, she spitefully sets fire to his stable of horses. He is himself killed in the blaze, but it seems that he has been reincarnated as a horse. In "William Wilson," directed by Louis Malle, a sadistic Austrian officer (Alain Delon) commits various S&M misdeeds upon a variety of victims, including a woman (Brigitte Bardot) with whom he plays cards. The officer himself comes to grief when he finds that the Church will not allow him to say an act of contrition. And "Never Bet Your Head," directed by Federico Fellini, updates the Poe original by casting Terence Stamp as a self-indulgent movie star. Driving drunk one evening, the actor literally bets his head that he can escape a potentially fatal accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paolo Giana Maria Volonte is a lonely teacher who learns that two of his friends have been murdered in this twisting crime drama. He discovers that the victims were the recipients of threatening, anonymous letters. Paolo falls for Louisa Irene Papas, the widow of one of the dead men. He finds out too late that she may have been an accomplice to the murder when he learns she may be having an affair with a local man of importance. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Based on an interesting plot from a novel by Robert Sheckley, this movie features tongue-in-cheek performances by Andress and Mastroianni, which are responsible for its status as a minor cult favorite. Set in the 21st century, this science fiction movie depicts a society in which population control is facilitated by the use of legalized murder. The society plays an assassination game for fun, in which the last person left alive is the winner. The movie is made for entertainment, but there are some sexual situations. ~ All Movie Guide

For anyone not up on Italian history during World War II, this interesting docudrama about the eventual execution by the Nazis of Mussolini's son-in-law Count Ciano (Frank Wolf) will have a few gaps. The war is ending and the fascists have clearly lost, so in their last-ditch effort to lay the blame elsewhere they choose Galeazzo Ciano, their former Foreign Minister, as one of several "traitors" to the fascist cause. Neither Mussolini himself nor an offer of the Count's diaries have any effect on the Verona-based trial which condemned and executed several others as traitors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Catherine Spaak was only eighteen, yet already known, when she co-starred in this comedy-drama with Nino Manfredi. She plays naive young woman Dora, who heads for the big city and a lot of growing up. Her exploits are mainly centered on the men she meets as she flits from one to the next without a great deal of worry or regret. She does have one on-again, off-again steady relationship with Nino (Manfredi) and spends some time with a middle-aged couple, Scipio and Amneris. All told, her relationships and experiences, especially her last romantic encounter which is not at all the best, contribute to her coming-of-age.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is a documentary-style Italian drama chronicling the rise and fall of the title character, a real-life Mob chieftain who rose to prominence in post-WWII Sicily. Salvatore Giuliano himself is almost unseen and his career is recalled in flashbacks after his assassination in 1950. With the help of his right-hand man and cousin Gaspare Pisciotta (Frank Wolff), Salvatore becomes a guerilla leader whose resistance to the corrupt politicians dominating his post-war nation leads to his popularity among the Sicilian peasant class. As time passes, though, Salvatore becomes more of a criminal than a rebel, threatening Mafia income. Even Salvatore's own devoted followers begin to doubt him, and when he orders the slaughter of communist supporters at a rally, a bloody shootout with police ensues. Salvatore Giuliano (1962) was such an effective anti-organized crime film that it inspired a real-life investigation into Mob activities in Sicily. The Giuliano story was later filmed as The Sicilian (1987) starring Christopher Lambert as the title character. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide