Gian Maria Volontè Movies

Corey (Alain Delon) is the young gun in the French underworld who has just been released from prison. Escaped convict Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonté) hides in the trunk of Corey's car. The two enlist the help of an alcoholic former cop (Yves Montand) for an elaborate jewelry-store robbery. Police inspector Mattei (Bourvil) whom Vogel escaped in the beginning of the film is on the case trying to recapture the criminals. He is not opposed to using blackmail techniques to get answers out of the unwilling witnesses and criminals brought in for questioning. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Italian army regulars resist the orders of a cruel general whose rigid interpretations of the rules call for a man to be shot. Leone (Alain Cuny) orders the execution of an army regular who halted the troops while under enemy fire. A sympathetic lieutenant substitutes a dead body for that of the doomed soldier because he believes the general has been wrong and the man acted normally. Another lieutenant is shot when he refuses to shoot men who have exited quickly from a foxhole under bombardment. This anti-war film illustrates the enemy is not the only force of evil on the battlefield and that war is inherently wrong for everyone involved. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Noted French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard makes another foray into Marxist film in this poorly-wrought attempt at a political film. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

Paolo Giana Maria Volonte is a lonely teacher who learns that two of his friends have been murdered in this twisting crime drama. He discovers that the victims were the recipients of threatening, anonymous letters. Paolo falls for Louisa Irene Papas, the widow of one of the dead men. He finds out too late that she may have been an accomplice to the murder when he learns she may be having an affair with a local man of importance. ~ Dan Pavlides, 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

Comedian Soupy Sales makes his feature film debut in this silly outing as a janitor cleaning up at Cape Kennedy. He has been specially assigned to make sure that none of the nuclear warheads there get dusty. It's not easy because spies run around spreading dust. One day the janitor stumbles into an experiment and ends up with some very strange abilities: he can fly and women cannot stay away from him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Brancaleone (Vittorio Gassman) leads an inept group of Crusaders to the sea in this offbeat war comedy. The Crusaders hope to find a ship that will take them to the Holy Land to reclaim the area for Christianity. The situation allows for plenty of sight gags and ribald humor. Catherine Spaak co-stars with Gassmann in this amusing effort from director Mario Monicelli. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This pulse-pounding follow-up to Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars brings back Clint Eastwood as the serape-clad, cigar-chewing "Man With No Name." Engaged in an ongoing battle with bounty hunter Col. Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), the Man joins forces with his enemy to capture homicidal bandit Indio (Gian Maria Volontè). Both the Eastwood and Van Cleef characters are given understandable motivations for their bloodletting tendencies, something that was lacking in A Fistful of Dollars. In both films, however, the violence is raw and uninhibited -- and in many ways, curiously poetic. Leone's tense, tight close-ups, pregnant pauses, and significant silences have since been absorbed into the standard spaghetti Western lexicon; likewise, Ennio Morricone's haunting musical score has been endlessly imitated and parodied. For a Few Dollars More was originally titled Per Qualche Dollaro in Più; it would be followed by the last and best of the Man with No Name trilogy, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. ~ Hal Erickson, 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 gripping, Oscar-nominated war drama is set in the fall of 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Italy when all the Neapolitan males from five to sixty are forced to work in slave camps. Tired of the cruelty and oppression, the people rise up and launch such a violent melee that they frighten the German invaders out of their city. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide