Andrea Bosic Movies
- 1985
This horror film takes place in Boston at the home of Joanna, a paraplegic (Christina Nagy). The wealthy Joanna lives with a companion, Ruth (Carroll Blumenberg), who helps take care of her needs. When young Craig (David Warbeck) comes in to help train Joanna to enter a special athletic competition for the wheelchair-bound, the two of them fall in love and make plans to marry. Craig knows that Joanna lost the use of her legs when she fell down the stairs, chased by a rapist who disguised himself as a priest. So when he starts dressing up as a priest and scaring her, the story takes a sinister turn for the worse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Nagy, David Warbeck, (more)
Christopher Connelly (Trauma) plays an archaeologist who desecrates the tomb of a 5,000-year-old god of cruelty and evil, and is temporarily blinded by lasers from a blue stone in the wall. Meanwhile, a sightless old woman gives his daughter, Susie (Brigitta Boccoli), an identical stone -- the Evil Eye -- in a town square. Back in New York, Susie's eyes start glowing blue as she plays with her brother, Tommy (Giovanni Frezza), and her babysitter, Jamie Lee (Cinzia De Ponti). Everything goes haywire after that. The apartment security guard plunges to his death in an elevator shaft, a cobra shows up in the living room and gets lodged in Susie's esophagus, and her mother's friend, Luke (Carlo De Mejo), turns to sand. It seems that the evil god is using Susie as a vessel to open a rift in the space-time continuum. Before too long, Susie and Tommy are jetting back and forth through the rift to Egypt, Jamie Lee has disappeared, and Susie's mother seeks out a man named Adrian Marcato (see Rosemary's Baby) to exorcise the demon. That night, the stuffed birds which he keeps in his store come to life and attack him, rending his flesh as he dies screaming. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Connelly, Martha Taylor, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Captain Turner (Rock Hudson) is the American paratrooper who employs Italian children to blow up a strategic dam controlled by the Nazis. He is the only survivor of his unit gunned down during the jump. Rescued by the moppets, he slaps and rapes German medico Bianca (Sylva Koscina), which implausibly leads her to trust Turner and help in the clandestine mission. Aldo (Mark Colleano) is the youthful leader who helps Turner carry out the bombing in exchange for an attack on his village. When the Nazis control the small town, their allegiance quickly changes as they fight the Germans they once considered allies. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Sylva Koscina, (more)
Diabolik (John Phillip Law) is the criminal mastermind who has just pulled off a huge heist. He spends most of his free time with his girlfriend, Eva (Marisa Mell), in fond embrace. The police minister (Terry-Thomas) is approached by Valmont (Adolfo Celi), a master criminal who proposes to use his underworld connections to catch Diabolik for the police. In between their gratuitous lovemaking, he and the exotic Eva are chased by police and the mob in this plodding crime drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, (more)
- 1967
This 1967 spaghetti western stars a master of that genre, Lee Van Cleef, as an aging, half-mad gunfighter. In an effort to regain his fearsome reputation, Van Cleef shoots down a local sheriff. He then finds he must deal with his young protégé Giuliano Gemma, who happened to be the sheriff's best friend. The climactic showdown finds Van Cleef facing down his former Gemma, with each man knowing the other's every move and thought. Also known as Day of Anger, this superior Italian oater was originally released as I Giorni dell'Ira. Its director was onetime Sergio-Leone-assistant Tonino Valerii. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Van Cleef, Giuliano Gemma, (more)
- 1966
For some reason, the elongated figures limned by the highly astigmatic painter El Greco (1541-1614) perfectly suited the grandees of Spain even though they were clearly anything but realistic, and they fascinate even today. The Greek (Cretan, actually) painter's life in Spain could have served as the basis for a fascinating biography, but the makers of this film chose to concentrate on the bad ol' Inquisition and portray the painter as being warned by his girlfriend that he is being watched; as a foreigner, he is suspected of heresy. Mel Ferrer plays the painter in this historical melodrama which is not nearly as bad as it could have been. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Ferrer, Rosanna Schiaffino, (more)
- 1966
In this spaghetti western, an undercover gunslinger accidently gets caught in a feud between two families. One of them forces him into a showdown and he kills him. He then must escape from the wrathful family. He is assisted by an old man, who helps him slaughter the rest of the clan. In the end, he takes off with a daughter from the other family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
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Writer/director Paul Czinner, who in 1936 adapted Shakespeare's As You Like It to the screen, was the guiding force behind the 1966 feature Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Czinner's earlier Shakespeare film, however, not a word of the Bard's text is spoken in the 1966 production. Rather, this is a filmed record of a performance of Prokofiev's ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, as originally presented at the Royal Opera House. The stars are the matchless Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, who brilliantly overcome the disappointingly bland choreography of Kenneth McMillan. For the benefit of non-ballet aficionados, each of the production's three acts is introduced by a spoken synopsis. Others in the corps de ballet include David Blair as Mercutio, Desmond Doyle as Tybalt, Gerd Larsen as Nurse and Ronald Hynd as Friar Lawrence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, (more)
- 1965
This Italian/French/Spanish sagebrusher stars Giuliano Gemma as the Arizona Colt, a notorious bandit. Imprisoned in a desert town, the Colt is sprung by gang leader Gordon Watch (Fernando Sancho). Instead of galloping off into the sunset, Our Hero elects to stay in town to defend its citizens from the film's real bad guys: Watch's gang. Had Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone had anything to do with it, Arizona Colt would probably be hailed as a classic; as it stands, it's just another spaghetti western. The film was also released as Man From Nowhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
The English title of this Shakespeare adaptation is Juliet and Romeo, according the heroine top billing for the first time in history. Its Spanish title, evidently concocted to obscure its literary roots, was Los Amentes de Verona. Directed by costume-spectacle "regular" Riccardo Freda, the film stars Gerald Meynier and Rosemarie Dexter as Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. Freda adapted the original text to make room for his usual stylistic grace notes -- not to mention his characteristic spurts of violence. Filmed in 1964, Giulietta e Romeo was distributed in the U.S. in 1968, most likely to cash in on the popularity of the recently released Franco Zeffirelli version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geronimo Meynier, Rosemarie Dexter, (more)
- 1963
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In this swashbuckling tale of action and adventure, a dashing, muscle-bound sultan's son struggles to single-handedly stave off Queen Victoria's army of invaders and thereby save his father from kidnappers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Reeves, Jacqueline Sassard, (more)
- 1963
This unexceptional Duel of the Titans takes place on two different levels at once. The legendary brothers Romulus and Remus go at it to see who will ultimately survive and found the city of Caesars. And the slightly less legendary but still impressive Steve Reeves (Romulus) and Gordon Scott (Remus) are brought into a kind of body-building competition. Romulus and Remus are shown from their earliest beginnings as abandoned babes on the Tiber River, destined to face all sorts of challenges. First come their adventures after they are adopted by a female wolf as her own offspring. Then they later handle catastrophes like an erupting volcano or hand-to-paw combat with an irate bear. Once the two brothers have reached adulthood, they become enemies, as Remus seeks to aggrandize his power and Romulus seeks to cut him down to size. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, (more)
- 1962
This classic Greek tale of a friendship that overcomes even death makes for an interesting sword-and-sandal saga, with Guy Williams in the role of Damon. An apt choice since Williams is himself an expert swordsman, as partially demonstrated in his role as Zorro on American television (1957-59). Pythias (Don Burnett) has been caught plotting the assassination of King Dionysis I of Syracuse (Arnoldo Foa). Before his execution, Dionysis grants Pythias leave to put his affairs in order because Damon volunteers to stand in his stead if Pythias does not come back to face the executioner. Damon's act is considered foolish. He was safe, why should Pythias come back? But the two are devotees of the Pythagorean mysteries, and their faith in brotherly love goes beyond self-interest. When Pythias does return in the allotted time, King Dionysis is impressed enough to have a change of heart. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Burnett, Guy Williams, (more)
- 1962
Credited in some source books to Lee Kresel, the French-made Prisoner of the Iron Mask was actually directed by Francesco DeFeo. This colorful if occasionally empty-headed swashbuckler concerns an evil count, who imprisons the patriot (Michael Lemoine) who bears proof of the count's perfidy. Few of the elements of the Alexandre Dumas novel The Iron Mask surface in this film, chiefly because it is based not on The Iron Mask but on another Dumas work, Ten Years After. Nor do D'Artagnan or the Three Musketeers make their anticipated appearances in this film. Rarely seen today, The Prisoner of the Iron Mask enjoyed its widest American exposure during the Color TV "boom" of the mid-1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this adventure set in 6th-century France, two warring tribes call a temporary truce so that the daughter of the Gepidaen king can marry the king of Lombard. Unfortunately, the willful princess doesn't want to marry the king because she is betrothed to another (she has also been impregnated by him, but that is her secret). Her fiancé is imprisoned until she finally agrees to marry the king. Treachery ensues and culminates in a terrible battle. The released prince proves himself a hero by bringing in badly needed troops to bring the Gepidaens to victory. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Guy Madison, (more)
Maciste, here played by Kirk Morris, is instead a legendary Italian superhero of long standing. In this one, the mighty Mr. M journeys to seventeenth-century Scotland (this is Hell?) His foe is a fearsome Scottish witch who holds awesome power over the local wildlife, and for a while it looks like our hero will get killed. As with many other Maciste films, this Technicolor opus was bundled into the "Sons of Hercules" package syndicated to local TV stations in the mid-1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Morris
- 1954
Appointment for Murder is a standard mystery yarn, complicated by the involvement of no fewer than five screenwriters. Umberto Spadaro stars as Detective Pietrangeli, who like the rest of the Roman police force is baffled by the murder of a prominent woman. Could the guilty party be Aldo (Andrea Bosic), the husband of the victim? Or was it the dead woman's daughter Silvia (Delia Scala). Barely released in the US, Appointment for Murder nonetheless showed up with frequency on the various TV Late Late Shows throughout the land. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Umberto Spadaro, Delia Scala, (more)
