Franca Bettoja Movies
- 1993
Marco (Gianmarco Tognazzi) is a schoolboy who finds his current friends tedious: they don't seem to have an idea in their heads. His single mother works, and frequently isn't around much. In fact, Marco is pretty bored. So when a neighborhood man with a bad reputation, who is known as "the Fuhrer" (Giulio Base), begins courting him, he is open to what he has to say. The leader of a group of neo-Nazis, "the Fuhrer" has a lot of things to say, and he says them passionately; his group has arduous and rigorous rules and disciplines which are attractive to the aimless young man as well. If anything, Mario is now far from bored. In fact, he is quite ready to shave his head and become a full member of the group - except for his gorgeous Somalian girlfriend in the apartment downstairs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Marco Tognazzi, Franca Bettoja, (more)
Marcello Mastroianni stars in this French farce, an absurd "western" set in Paris, with Mastroianni as the incurably vain General George Armstrong Custer. Richard Nixon is the American president, but everyone is costumed appropriately for the previous century. Buffalo Bill (Michel Piccoli), the famous scout, is here portrayed as a limp-wristed bungler. Ugo Tognazzi plays one of Custer's Native American opponents; he runs a curio shop selling Native artifacts made in sweatshops by white women. The climactic battle is held in a large construction excavation where Les Halles market used to be. The language the two sides use to justify their conflict is lifted from that used in the then-current Vietnam War. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, (more)
- 1967
In this unusual offbeat black comedy directed by Ugo Tognazzi, Giuseppe (Tognazzi) is a middle-aged industrialist obsessed with gadgets. When his nose starts to whistle uncontrollably, he checks into a clinic to resolve the problem. What begins as a minor affliction worsens, and Giuseppe is placed on a different floor as his ailments multiply. The sicker he gets, the higher he goes up in the floors of the clinic, until he is near death's door. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ugo Tognazzi, Tina Louise, (more)
- 1965
In this Italian swashbuckler ruthless pirates threaten the rule of the Doge of Venice. Fortunately, his brave son puts on a mask, calls himself "The Lion of St. Mark," and rallies together a regiment of mercenaries to stop them. After a few skirmishes with the pirates, the Lion finds himself falling in love for a female pirate. When his mercenaries capture her, he must save her. The grateful woman offers her thanks, but refuses to give up on her pirates. When she learns the Lion's real identity, she rethinks her position. Meanwhile the pirates are vanquished, and the hero's uncle adopts the pirate woman so that she and his nephew may continue their courtship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
An Italian prince recruits a team of wayfarers to battle against sea pirates in this 1965 film. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
In a post-epidemic nightmare world, scientist Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) is the only man immune to the plague which has transformed the entire population of the Earth into vampire-like creatures. He becomes the monster slayer that vampire-society fears. Curing one of them, Ruth (Franca Bettoja), with a transfusion of his blood gives him hope for the future. It is a short future, however, since the other vampires quickly find and kill him. This dark tale, based on Richard Matheson's even darker novel "I Am Legend," was later remade as The Omega Man with Charlton Heston in the Vincent Price role. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Tony Cerevi, (more)
- 1964
In this adventure, a recently returned leader is attacked by a tyrant's son on the day he celebrates his first year in power. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this adventure, a prince fights to get back his stolen throne. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
After being accused of kidnapping the English king, a man is forced to investigate the identity of the ones who actually did it. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In this effective though still slightly uneven drama about mental illness, the worsening condition of a highly disturbed son wreaks havoc on the rest of the family. Dario (Thomas Milian) has episodes when he becomes violently insane yet his mother (Madeleine Robinson) refuses to put him in an institution where he can be professionally helped. Her desperate clinging to the belief that Dario will get better starts to wear away the equilibrium of the two other members of the family, the father (Tino Carraro) and Dario's brother, Gabriele (Nino Castelnuovo). In the end, the continued presence of Dario and his mother's near-fanatical insistence that he will recover create tragic consequences for everyone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tomas Milian, Nino Castelnuovo, (more)
- 1961
Set in ancient Rome, this film follows the struggle of Roman triplets as they battle their Alban arch-enemies to prevent Rome from being annexed to Alba. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Though generally successful, L'Uomo di Paglia (A Man of Straw) is hampered by two of director Pietro Germi's most characteristic creative shortcomings: overlength and oversimplification. Germi himself plays the leading role, a young husband and father named Andrea Zaccardi. When he falls in love with another woman (Franca Bettoja), Zaccardi begins to neglect his family. Things get worse when his emotionally unstable mistress commits suicide. Though his wife and son forgive him, Zaccardi somehow knows that his life has forever been altered, and that neither he nor his family will ever truly be happy again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pietro Germi, Luisa della Noce, (more)
- 1956
The Spanish-Italian swashbuckler stars Ricardo Montalban as a ruthless Arab chieftan. It is Montalban's mission in life to removed the usurping Gino Cervi from his father's throne, and he doesn't care how many throats he has to cut to achieve his goal. Along the way, he falls in love with Cervi's virtuous daughter Carmen Sevilla. It's curious that Los Amantes del Desierto contains so many torrid love scenes, since these were excised by the Spanish and Italian censors long before the film was distributed to the US as Desert Lovers. The most remarkable aspect of the film is that it was lensed on location in Egypt at a time when that country was engaged in a shooting war with several neighboring states. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Montalban, Carmen Sevilia, (more)
