John Steiner Movies

Caterina (Isabella Ferrari) grieves for her father who died in Brussels when British soccer fans from Liverpool rioted in 1985. In a vivid, reoccurring nightmare, she sees her father and sees the murderer administer the deadly blow. When she is visited by a Liverpool police inspector (John Steiner), he shows her pictures of suspects and points out the killer with absolute certainty. She drives her late father's car to Liverpool to seek vengeance in this uneven melodrama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Garrett (Miles O'Keeffe) is a bounty hunter who rides across Morocco on horseback to save the beautiful heiress Analisa (Savina Gersak) from her Arab kidnappers. Armed with a crossbow and exploding arrows, he battles the villains who seek a stash of priceless diamonds held by Analisa's father (Donald Hodson). This unexciting action adventure is plagued by audio technical problems. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Giulia E Guilia, also released as Julia and Julia, is an unusual, interesting film by director Peter Del Monte, a nightmare vision of a world where nothing can be counted on and where truth is relative. The plot unfolds as a series of surprises, the first surprise being central to the entire plot. The story begins on Julia's (Kathleen Turner) wedding day when she is to be married to her Paolo (Gabriel Byrne). After the wedding, Julia and her new husband are involved in a car accident. From then on, the construction of the story, both clever and perverse, defies explanation, with an inner logic of its own. Julia finds that she can be sure of nothing nor can the viewer. This is both the strength and basic flaw of the movie. The movie will fascinate some viewers while confusing others. Nevertheless, the movie is a superb directorial achievement by Monte, making his English language debut. It should also be noted that this is the first feature shot entirely in high definition television technique and then transferred to film, with generally excellent results. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

The Italian comic Carlo Verdone stars in (and directs and co-authors) this conventional, and unevenly humorous look at Oscar (Verdone), the neighborhood wannabe jock and biker who tries to land a part in a movie. After he is rejected, Oscar exacts revenge by causing a car crash that the producer's insurance has to cover. His plan backfires when the American actress in the film gets canned as a result (she was in the car), and moves in with him until her husband can come from Texas and bring her home. In the meantime, Oscar starts to take a shine to the woman -- even though his phone bills are beginning to take on the size of Texas as Nancy keeps dialing up her husband. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this Italian adventure, the deadly drug manufacturing and export operation of a prominent South- American drug czar is discovered by an investigative TV news correspondent and her cameraman who went to the jungle to look into evidence that a notorious, corrupt colonel is still alive. While in the jungles, they encounter hostile natives and other typical dangers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, a band of Vietnam veterans return to the jungle to save their leader from a POW camp. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-television detective story set in the early 1930s, a missing Swedish millionaire is the target of a journalist who sets out to discover exactly what happened to the man and whether or not he is still alive. The biggest lead he has is the millionaire's attractive mistress, and the story takes off from there. Although the pace is slow and the ending no great surprise, the average TV-viewer would find this mystery entertaining by small-screen standards. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This Italian-Turkish co-production helmed by genre veteran Antonio Margheriti (using the pseudonym "Anthony M. Dawson") was cobbled together from a four-part science-fiction miniseries shown on Italian television. In prehistoric times, the muscular Yor (Reb Brown in a loincloth) saves his cave-babe (Corinne Clery) from a dinosaur just before they get zapped into the future to battle bad guys in the familiar desolate wasteland. Genre stalwart John Steiner (Caligole) and the ubiquitous Luciano Pigozzi co-star with Carol Andre. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this routine action-adventure film patterned after the trend-setting Raiders of the Lost Ark, a GI is requested by the Allies in World War II to come back to the Philippines after the war has ended and find the Golden Cobra, a sacred image worshipped by the Awoks (predating George Lucas' Ewoks by one year). When he does return, the ex-GI, Bob (David Warbeck), is not alone. He has two allies in the form of June (Almanta Suska) and her uncle (Alan Collins), who are searching for June's twin sister, April, lost in the jungle many years earlier. Anyone who has seen Raiders is likely to stay one step ahead of the action. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this derivative war-action film by Antonio Margheriti, both the Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now have been raided for scenes and events that were rearranged to tell the story of an American officer who treks far into North Vietnamese territory to retrieve a radio transmitter that is broadcasting propaganda messages to U.S. soldiers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This lavish big-budget epic was the pinnacle of a uniquely Italian subgenre, the historical hardcore gore/porn extravaganza. The star-studded cast, perhaps lured by the high-profile involvement of producer Bob Guccione and screenwriter Gore Vidal, includes such luminaries as John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, and Helen Mirren. Director Tinto Brass, whose similar treatment of Nazi Germany in Salon Kitty won him the job, did his best with the mammoth enterprise, but numerous production problems and re-edits took their toll on the finished product. When Caligula works best, it works because of Malcolm McDowell, whose crazed portrayal of the title Emperor is the embodiment of villainous corruption. McDowell raises his performance level to match the gaudy spectacle around him, which led to charges of overacting, but there are moments when he is absolutely riveting. Some of the cast doesn't fare as well, as O'Toole makes a particularly unsubtle Tiberius. The sex is graphic and steamy, particularly a feverish lesbian interlude between Penthouse Pets Lori Wagner and Marjorie Thorsen (using the pseudonym "Anneka di Lorenzo"), and the various carnival freaks used as atmosphere imbue the film with a grotesque, Fellini-like opulence. There are many memorable scenes and a magnificent score by Paul Clemente, but the heady brew of historical epic, hardcore sex, and gory violence proved overwhelming to many viewers. Still, Gore Vidal's script is surprisingly accurate, and manages to be entertainingly vulgar while bringing a rather loathsome slice of human history to vivid life, warts and all. The more explicit scenes were directed by Bob Guccione and Giancarlo Lui, causing both Vidal and Brass to remove their names from the credits. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide