Fabio Testi Movies

Two-Lane Blacktop director Monte Hellman teams with frequent screenwriting partner Steven Gaydos for this thriller about a young film director (Tygh Runyan) whose mesmerizing leading lady (Shannyn Sossamon) may be responsible for the recent disappearance of a wealthy couple. Convinced that the recent scandal involving an aging North Carolina senator and his attractive young aide has all the makings of a hit thriller, director Mitchell Haven (Runyan) begins adapting the story for the screen. But when the time comes for Mitchell to cast his female lead, no Hollywood actress he auditions can make the cut. Desperate, the director recruits an unknown (Sossamon) who not only refuses to acknowledge herself as an actor, but whose reluctance to reveal any personal information leads some of the cast and crew to suspect that she may actually be the elusive femme fatale whose story inspired the film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this adventure, four folk from New York city, and their Brazilian boat captain attempt to keep a ship filled with dynamite from foundering along the South American coastline. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This crime thriller was produced in association with the Spanish Ministry of Culture. When Lucas (Fabio Testi) is busted on a drug charge, he is visited by his wealthy court-appointed attorney Beatriz (Ana Belen). The two fall in love and she bails Lucas out of jail, but he is soon murdered by thugs who try to find where he hid his cocaine stash. Beatriz continues to investigate, but the clues bring her to her father Fidel (Marcel Bozzuffi). She soon discovers her respectable father leads a double life as a business tycoon and a drug lord. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Stefanie Powers does double duty as twin sisters in the two-part TV movie Deceptions. Stefanie #1 is a glamorous globetrotter; Stefanie #2 is a drab New Jersey housewife. On a whim, the two siblings exchange identities, leading to a dizzying series of unexpected complications. Filmed on location in England and Italy, Deceptions is too thin to be stretched over two days (it was originally telecast May 27 and 28, 1985), but Stefanie Powers can make anything work. The film is based on a novel by Judith Michaels (the joint pen name for Judith Barnard and Michael Fain); it was adapted for television by Oscar-winning writer/director Melville Shavelson, who also shared directorial responsibilities with Robert Chenault. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Robert Mitchum plays as U.S. ambassador to Israel whose efforts at reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians run afoul of the somewhat questionable ambitions of security advisor Rock Hudson. Meanwhile, Mitchum's wife Ellen Burstyn embarks upon an affair with a PLO leader. When this fact comes to Mitchum's attention, he refuses to pay the prescribed "hush money", sparking a deadly chain reaction. You may need a microscope to discern this, but The Ambassador was adapted from Elmore Leonard's crime novel 52 Pick Up. Though a more faithful-to-the-source cinemazation of the Leonard book was lensed in 1986, The Ambassador remains the better of the two versions. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

American and Venezuelan foreigners try to steal coveted seeds from a rubber-tree plantation in this action-adventure saga. They battle crocodiles, Indian attacks, slave revolts, and a director who insisted on putting disco music to a 19th-century setting. The two heroes are hidden by a concubine who seeks vengeance against her cruel plantation owner. A rape scene appears to have been added merely for exploitation value. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Italian screen legend Fabio Testi stars as a young police detective investigating the brutal sexual assault and murder of a young girl discovered near the edge of the city limits. Later, after discovering a luxury villa in which the murdered girl's friends entertain a group of powerful local businessmen, the detective discovers that the frightened girls have been intimidated into silence. As the detective sets out to question the girls, he quickly discovers that someone is willing to kill in order to keep their dark secret. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

China 9, Liberty 37 falls halfway between the Hollywood backlot-western school and the Italian "spaghetti" western genre, borrowing the best elements from both. Fabio Testi plays a gunfighter who is saved at the last moment from a hangman's noose. His liberators are a cartel of railroad men who want Testi to kill farmer (and former hired gun) Warren Oates, who has refused all entreaties to sell his land. As part of the scheme, Testi befriends Oates; on his own volition, he sleeps with Oates' wife Jenny Agutter. When the railroad barons insist that Testi go through with his mission, he refuses, and helps the farmer fight off the train moguls' hired thugs. Also known as Gunfire, China 9 Liberty 37 features a cameo by director Monte Hellman's role model, Sam Peckinpah, who plays a bombastic Ned Buntline-style novelist. And the significance of the title? It's the location of Warren Oates' spread: Nine miles from the town of China, 37 miles from the town of Liberty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A by-the-books cop struggling to bust a brutal protection racket in Rome is forced to throw the rules out the window when the vicious gang attempts to cement their status by moving into the drug trade in director Enzo G. Castellari's tough-talking poliziotteschi. As the citizens of Rome continue to suffocate in the cold grip of fear, it's up to determined inspector Nico Palmieri (Fabio Testi) to take back the streets from the murderers and rapists who terrorize the population and give the cruel thugs a hard lesson in street justice. When the only language that the criminal element understands is violence, Inspector Palmieri is more than willing to communicate in terms that will get the message across. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi