Aldo Sambrell Movies

Previously filmed in 1922 with Rudolph Valentino and in 1940 with Tyrone Power, Vicente Blasco Ibanez's mystical bullfight novel Blood & Sand was given a third big-screen treatment in 1989. Though filmed in Spain by a Spanish director, the 1989 Blood & Sand casts American actor Christopher Rydell as the bullfighter hero. Also hailing from the USA is a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone, playing the vamp role previously essayed in 1922 by Nita Naldi and in 1940 by Rita Hayworth. The story remains the same: a dirt-poor youth rises to fame and fortune in the bull ring, forgets his roots, cheats on his wife, has a last-minute change of heart, and pays for his sins in grotesque fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alberto Rojas Lesmez plays the title role of Kapax, a member of the Amazonian Yagua tribe. While foraging for food, Kapax comes across the barely alive figure of anthropologist Maria Bauza Bax. She has survived a plane crash in which her husband was killed. As Kapax nurses Bax back to health, the two fall in love. Before they can formalize their relationship, Bax must gain full acceptance of the rest of Kapax' tribe. While this Colombian drama may sound like warmed-over Tarzan, it was based on the true story of anthropologist Linda Smaely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With shoddy production values and a plot that seems to be more of an excuse for violence than anything else, this underpar drama focuses on vigilante justice. While trying to cross the border into France, a Spanish truck driver's vehicle is burned by two angry French farmers, killing the driver's wife. Unable to win his case against the men in court, the angry driver vows to avenge the death of his wife by killing the farmers and their sleazy lawyer. It may have helped to know that European farmers were irate at this time about the dumping of their produce. But then, education was not an objective here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this often violent, undistinguished western, Yellow Hair (Laurene Landon) and her cohort the Pecos Kid (Ken Roberson) are out to wrest some gold from the hands of the Tulipan nation but have to battle a Mexican general and several others, as well as the Tulipan themselves before they can even think of getting their hands on the treasure. Knowledge is on their side since they were raised by an Apache woman, and although Yellow Hair is more than just an average warrior-women, she is in just an average film, at best. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this children's story about the son of a sea captain who falls in with a group of teenagers up against pirates, one adventure leads quickly into another as the teens fight off carnivorous ants, crocodiles, and last of all, marauding Arab slave dealers. In this last confrontation, the youngsters are saved in the nick of time by the Portuguese army, allowing the adults some say in the action. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Aristides Ungria (Jason Miller) was a political prisoner being held by a Latin American dictatorship, but he has escaped. A trained dog has been sent to hunt and kill him. While he is trudging through the jungles, he is at a relative disadvantage to the dog. Later, the dog suffers a disadvantage, as it attempts to find its prey in man's jungle: a city. As the hunt continues, the hunter and hunted develop a grudging respect for one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Four villains seek to wrest from a mute girl (Carmen Sevilla) the secret location of a prehistoric gold statuette discovered by her father. Her silence dates from the day when she saw her father murdered for that same statue. Donald Pleasance and Michael Dunn lend their expert presences to this crime thriller. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In the third and last in the original Shaft (1971) series of action-packed "blaxploitation" pictures, private eye John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) travels to the "motherland," where he breaks up a modern slavery ring. Shaft is hired by a diplomat, Emir Ramila (Cy Grant), to infiltrate the criminal empire of the evil Vincent Amafi (Frank Finlay), who is kidnapping poor Africans and shipping them to Europe as slave laborers. Amafi murdered Ramila's son when he attempted to expose the illegal operation, and Ramila, now aware that his investigation of Amafi has been compromised, needs an unfamiliar to face to help bring the ring leader down. After undergoing some training at the hands of a comely tutor so that he'll be able to pass muster as an African, Shaft travels to Ethiopia and allows himself to be shanghaied by Amafi's men. However, the high-ranking Wassa (Debebe Eshetu) is the traitor in Ramila's ranks, and he has betrayed Shaft. As the tough private eye attempts to free the slaves being held captive in a former Nazi prison below a French chateau and bed any beautiful women who crosses his path, he must also dodge a series of assassination attempts by Ramila's men. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The second of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen's three Sinbad epics, this film finds the titular hero played by John Philip Law, while the principal villain, Koura, is portrayed by future Dr. Who Tom Baker. The plot sends Sinbad and his crew on a quest for a valuable and magical golden tablet. Harryhausen's "Dynamation" highlights include a six-armed statue, a one-eyed centaur and a flying griffin. Caroline Munro also stars. Golden Voyage of Sinbad was followed by Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1979). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Man Called Noon is a western about a man who is called "Noon" (Richard Crenna) because he has amnesia and has no other name. As he searches for his identity, it becomes clear that he is on a mission to avenge the deaths of his wife and child. His quest is furthered by the outlaw Rimes (Stephen Boyd) and he receives comfort from a lady named Fan (Rosanna Schiaffino). The villain proves to be Judge Niland (Farley Granger), and the trio go to extraordinary lengths to put him out of action. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide