Fernando Rey Movies

In this offbeat crime film, Willie Parker (Terence Stamp) an English mobster turned informant, has been given a new identity and has been living in a small, isolated village in Spain for 10 years. Unfortunately for Parker, the men he has betrayed have ascertained his whereabouts and send Braddock (John Hurt), a professional hitman, and his apprentice Myron (Tim Roth) to bring Parker to Paris where his ex-associates await. After kidnapping Parker, nothing goes as planned. Now they are followed by a Spanish policeman (Fernando Rey) who seems to anticipate each of their moves, and they are burdened by Maggie (Laura del Sol), the mistress of a fellow mobster they were forced to kill. What should have been a routine hit becomes a psychological battle between all the participants as Parker, in a fight for time and for his life, plays one against the other. Set against the bleak Spanish landscape and featuring evocative and memorable theme music, the film builds to a surprising conclusion where the true nature of all the characters is revealed. Terence Stamp develops the character of Parker in a subtle but surprisingly comic performance and Laura del Sol shines as a woman who will do what is necessary to survive. Tim Roth, in his film debut, plays a brutal, but oddly endearing thug. But it is John Hurt, in a sensitive and nuanced performance, who brings a perceptive intelligence and depth to his role which adds a philosophical and psychological dimension to the film. Hurt plays his difficult role without a misstep and with a rare economy of action. Thoughtful and frequently amusing, The Hit, superbly written by Peter Prince, is both a compelling and suspenseful crime drama and also a deep and profound meditation on life, death and courage. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Based on Heinrich Von Kleist's novel, "The Foundling," Strana Passione twists and turns through the death of one son, adoption of another, and the latter's ultimately tragic relationship with his adoptive parents. While out in his carriage with his young son, Piachi (Fernando Rey) picks up Nicolò, an orphaned street urchin, and takes him to a clinic where Piachi's son catches a virulent sickness plaguing the town, eventually succumbing to the illness. Piachi is grief-stricken and reaches out to Nicolò, deciding to adopt him into the family and raise him as though he were his own son. The once-impoverished orphan is multi-talented but not necessarily virtuous, and after reaching manhood, he marries an appropriate woman for his station in life but chases after the gorgeous mistress of a local bishop. The next woman he pursues is Elvira (Brigitte Fossey), his own adopted mother, using a ruse because he looks just like a man she loved long ago. His scheme unbalances what is left of the woman's delicate emotional health, and she loses touch with reality as she retreats into her own world. Before Piachi can retaliate, Nicolò uses his legal rights to evict Piachi and his ailing wife from their own home -- a violent and extreme action that pushes Piachi over the edge -- and seals the fate of Nicolò and of Piachi himself. Throughout this complicated tale of moral turpitude, Nicolò has no visible motivation for his actions, which leaves a hollow core and no depth at the heart of the story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Produced for cable TV by The Disney Channel, The Black Arrow is based on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure tale. Stephen Chase plays the title character, a dogooding swashbuckler who tries to avenge his father's murder during the War of the Roses. Though Chase carries the bulk of the action, top billing is bestowed upon the film's villains, Oliver Reed (as Sir Daniel Brackley) and Fernando Rey (as the Earl of Warwick). The Stevenson original was previously adapted for the screen in 1948, with Louis Hayward in the lead. Black Arrow made its TV debut on January 6, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Andre (Fernando Rey) has a charming house by the sea in Portugal, a home which contains all his childhood memories and attachments. Above all else this imminent divorce is bringing back memories of his mother and her untimely death, but also the death of his father in the Spanish Civil War. He begins to realize that the little town was once all he knew. As these images take him back to his childhood, he knows he has to loosen the hold the childhood relationships still have over him and finally face his divorce and the loss of this house and everything that goes with it -- a very difficult demand in this time of personal crisis. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Back in 1965, bank clerk Terence Stamp's obsession with art student Samantha Eggar in The Collector culminated with her kidnapping. In Insanity, Stamp is once more unduly fascinated with a pretty young thing. This time, Stamp plays a film director, and the object of his desire is an actress, played by Corinne Clery. When she expresses disinterest, he turns violent. Insanity has none of the inherent artistic quality of The Collector; it sets flat out to terrorize the viewer, and in this it succeeds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the original story of Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. La Dame aux Camelias, a beautiful Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Gautier, (called "Camille" because of her love for camelias) is supported by a series of aristocratic lovers, but does not fall in love until she meets Armand Duval. Armand's father lets it be known that Camille would ruin Armand because of her "low" past, and she leaves to save his reputation, saying she does not love him anymore. She soon contracts tuberculosis, and Armand hears that she is dying. He rushes to her side, finds out she has loved him all along, and she dies knowing he has always loved her. The True Story of Camille uses the ploy of Alexandre Dumas, Jr. doing his version of "Camille" at the turn of the 20th century, as a means of introducing a flashback to the "real" story behind the "real" Camille, Alphonsine Plessis. In the film, Alphonsine (Isabelle Huppert) - a country girl - was sold by her father to a wealthy neighbor, which starts her off on a round of living in expansive palaces and keeping company with wealthy aristocrats and eventually, Alexandre Dumas, Jr. himself. But that trajectory did not happen all at once. Alphonsine first survives, barely, as a seamstress in Paris. Then she becomes a prostitute, after which a Count Peregaunts (Bruno Ganz) marries her, then more or less disappears, leaving her to become a high-class courtesan. As she makes her way from one handsome, aristocratic client to the next, a noble protector, Count Stechelberg (Fernando Rey) keeps her out of harm's way. By the time she and Dumas meet, she has become infected with tuberculosis - and she has created the inspiration for Dumas' story of Camille. Her father comes along at this point, however, ready to trounce Dumas for romanticizing his daughter's wretched life - the same father that sold her off in the first place. If the viewer can remember that the characters of Marguerite Gautier (Carla Fracci) and Armand Duval from Dumas' story of Camille have been given their "real" personas as Alphonsine Plessis and Dumas in this film, then the story within a story make more sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The story of Sister Patrocinio, the "Nun of the Wounds" is told in a series of flashbacks to life in Madrid in the 1830s, when she lived. The government had just changed over into the more liberal hands of Mendizabal, and Sister Patrocinio was so worried about the broad-minded attitudes of the times that she surrepticiously inflicted wounds on herself like those Christ had suffered, implying there was some sort of miracle at work to get the people believing as they should once again. The deceptive Sister is played by a former Miss Spain, Amparo Munoz, who it is assumed, would be worth looking at wounded or not. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, Leticia is an upper-class girl who falls in love with an unhappily married tutor, despite the fact that the tutor's wife is her piano teacher. Leticia's father somehow finds out about the attachment between the two and confronts the tutor, who then commits suicide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A large international cast takes part in this comedy in which the stories of numerous individuals whose cars are stalled in a massive Roman traffic jam are told. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Christopher Plummer stars in The Assignment as a police captain. The setting is an un-named Latin American country, where a high-ranking official is murdered. The incident threatens to tear apart not only the country but its neighboring republics. A calm, selfless diplomat (Thomas Heilberg) is called in from Sweden to mediate between the local police, politicians, and revolutionaries. Also in the cast of The Assignment, which is based on a novel by Per Wahloo, are Carolyn Seymour, Fernando Rey and Per Oscarsson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide