Gian Maria Volontè Movies

This well-acted though conventional comedy-drama by director Luigi Comencini features comic Nino Manfredi in the title role of Giacinto, a father and husband who has been driven to steal in order to survive. His ineptitude lands him in jail where he meets up with slightly more hardened criminals, like Tagliabue (Mario Aldorf), a killer, and Il Sorcio (Raymond Bussieres), an experienced thief. Giacinto is anxious to escape and get back to his family but Tagliabue and the thief also want out as soon as possible. And even if Giacinto escapes, the challenges that wait for him on the other side of the bars may be more than he can handle. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

By the time Sergio Leone made this film, Italians had already produced about 20 films ironically labelled "spaghetti westerns." Leone approached the genre with great love and humor. Although the plot was admittedly borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), Leone managed to create a work of his own that would serve as a model for many films to come. Clint Eastwood plays a cynical gunfighter who comes to a small border town and offers his services to two rivaling gangs. Neither gang is aware of his double play, and each thinks it is using him, but the stranger will outwit them both. The picture was the first installment in a cycle commonly known as the "Dollars" trilogy. Later, United Artists, who distributed it in the U.S., coined another term for it: the "Man With No Name" trilogy. While not as impressive as its follow-ups For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), A Fistful of Dollars contains all of Leone's eventual trademarks: taciturn characters, precise framing, extreme close-ups, and the haunting music of Ennio Morricone. Not released in the U.S. until 1967 due to copyright problems, the film was decisive in both Clint Eastwood's career and the recognition of the Italian western. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

This documentary was made by the labor union that has occupied the Appollon Printing Press Company for more than a year. Management tried to move the plant to a non-union town where the workers will be more willing to meet their demands. This decidedly pro-labor effort does tend to characterize management in a negative light while expressing the concern and the determined resolve of the workers fighting for their rights. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This gripping crime thriller from director Carlo Lizzani was based on a true story. A daring gang of bandits pull off a series of risky heists in Milan, murdering several innocent bystanders in the film's exciting opening getaway scene. Lizzani then moves the story backwards in time, painting a portrait of Milan as a seething hotbed of vice. Gian Maria Volonte gives an increasingly flamboyant performance as the gang's egomaniacal leader, whose Nazi-like belief in his own superiority proves to be the flaw which foils his plans. Tomas Milian, in a rare nonvillainous turn, shines as the dedicated young police inspector who brings Volonte down, and gun moll Carla Gravina has an amusing (if stereotypical) scene in which Volonte teaches her to drive. The thrilling car chase is among the best in the Italian crime genre, and even Riz Ortolani's typically annoying musical score does not detract from the film's appeal. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Based on an autobiographical novel by Carlo Levi, Cristo si e fermato a Eboli stars Gian-Maria Volonte as Levi, a prominent anti-fascist author and artist who, during Mussolini's regime was exiled to Eboli, a tiny village in Southern Italy. The government believed Levi's controversial views would fall on deaf ears, but as he spent time in the small pastoral community, the simple wisdom of the peasants came to have a profound impact on Levi, and his beliefs would also impact the people of Eboli. Francesco Rosi's film is usually screened in a version running 150 minutes, though a longer 210 minute cut is also available. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Italian western contains subtle political undertones as it chronicles the exploits of a tubercular history professor who journeys to the American Southwest to recuperate. There he becomes fascinated by an outlaw who befriends him. The intelligent prof uses his brains to assist the outlaw. Violence ensues until the prof kills the outlaw who has been oppressing and taking advantage of him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In his retirement home, the former bartender (Pepe Soriano) at a brothel and bistro in a provincial town in Argentina in the 1930s regales his listeners with tales about the personalities there. Chief among them was the brothel's owner (Gian Maria Volonte), who seemed the master of all he surveyed, until he was smitten by the charms of a woman traveling with a tango band. As he tells these stories, they are shown onscreen. The film is much enhanced by lively tango performances by well known masters of the genre, including (Daniel Binelli). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The title character, played by Claudia Cardinale, is a young woman who heads out alone to the big city after being dumped by her lover. She is befriended and protected by her ex-suitor's younger brother Jacques Perrin, who eventually becomes her new romance, despite the difference in ages (Perrin is 16, while Cardinale is...somewhat older). When Cardinale begins a new relationship with a musician, she tries to let Perrin down easily, but the young man is too headstrong for that. When they finally do part, Perrin gives Cardinale a large sum of money as a farewell gift. Despite the fact that Claudia Cardinale subsists off the kindness of strangers in this film, Girl With a Suitcase (originally La Fille de La Valise in France and La Ragazza Con la Valigia in Italy) treats her character with warmth and sympathy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wessel Franken (Paolo Graziosi) is a writer who leaves his wife and work behind for a vacation in sunny Cote D'Azur. When he discovers his elderly host Max (Walter Kous) is having a homosexual affair with young Danny (Joop Van Hulzen), he flees to Rome for a brief fling with Karen (Kittie Courbois). Wessel soon is lonely for his wife Leonie (Asta Weyne) and longs to return to the home he previously couldn't wait to leave behind. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In 1978, Italian politics were thrown into turmoil when the Christian Democratic president Aldo Moro was executed. This gripping political drama is based on American journalist Robert Katz's non-fiction book Days of Wrath and documents the convoluted chain of events that lead to Moro's death. Moro was the first politico to bring his country's political factions together in 40 years. His ordeal begins shortly after he is elected. He is en route to church with his five body guards when they are ambushed by radical communist terrorists, the Red Brigade. They quickly execute the body guards and spirit Moro to a hidden "people's prison' where he is interrogated. Neither Moro's Christian Democrats nor the newly reinstated Communists will deal or in any way acknowledge the Red Brigade. They do however engage in a massive search for the missing Moro. But the search is poorly organized and ineffectual. Meanwhile Moro is allowed to send letters to the government. He suggests that the Vatican be called in to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the terrorists, but the Vatican refuses. Instead, they make a formal plea for Moro's unconditional freedom. The government does little or nothing to help the president and Moro realizes that the organization he helped create has abandoned him. In desperation, he becomes sharply critical of the government that continues to stall while the Red Brigade becomes increasingly frustrated and impatient. Eventually they decide to kill Moro and later stuff his body in a red Renault which they parked between the Christian Democrat and the Communist headquarters. The Moro Affair or Il Caso Moro as it was known in Italy, was extremely popular in it's native country, but it also sparked considerable controversy for as the case unfolds, nagging doubts and holes arise that infer that perhaps the government had more of a hand in the assassination than the Red Brigade. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Political intrigues and infighting within the Italian Communist Party are the overriding themes of this drama. Emile (Gian Maria Volonte) has been sent to Turin by the Italian Communist Central Committee in Paris, ostensibly to find out which of the four Party representatives working in the Fiat is a spy. Previously, Emile had been ostracized because he had a too-heated argument with a member of the Party's Trotskyite faction. Restored to favor, he takes his assignment very seriously and has many searching interviews with each of the four. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Better known as Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, this Oscar-winning political drama stars Gian Maria Volonte as the citizen of the title, an unnamed police inspector. The story finds the inspector calmly cutting his mistress' throat, then planting evidence that will clear him of accusation -- and attempting to evade arrest by virtue of his "clean" public image. Elio Petri's own anti-establishment stance was never more pronounced than in this film, where the truth is whatever the ruling class chooses to acknowledge. The original Italian title of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion was Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogna Sospetto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide