Georges Wilson Movies

Richard Lester's adaptation of The Three Musketeers was only the latest of many when released in 1974, but it arrived with a spirit all its own, one influenced as much by Lester's '60s work as the Alexandre Dumas classic. Even so, it followed the plot of Dumas' novel fairly closely, its liberties in interpretation taken elsewhere. Coming off the success of Cabaret, Michael York plays D'Artagnan, the provincial, would-be swashbuckler who travels to Paris to make his name. There he encounters the eponymous heroes: cynical Athos (Oliver Reed), dashing Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), and arrogant Porthos (Frank Finlay). The trio introduces him to the world of court intrigue as they work to protect the Queen (Geraldine Chaplin) from the schemes of the villainous Richelieu (Charlton Heston) and his followers, Rochefort (Christopher Lee) and Milady (Faye Dunaway). Lester shot the film in conjunction with its sequel, The Four Musketeers. Originally intended as a single film, the split prompted a lawsuit from the cast demanding payment for both films. ~ Keith Phipps, Rovi

When several young boys are brutally murdered in a small southern Italian village, the superstitious locals react with ignorance and violence. All misfits are immediately suspected, such as big-city tart Barbara Bouchet, the local village idiot, and voodoo practitioner Florinda Bolkan, who is brutally murdered by the villagers in a startling and powerful scene. Cop Tomas Milian (Almost Human, Amistad) comes to investigate, and is rather curious about a young priest who censors the town's reading material to keep it free of corruption. The peculiar clergyman seems to envy the dead boys, who will never grow up to be corrupted. Milian soon becomes convinced that the priest wants to send the kids' souls to Heaven and feels guilt about desiring the boys sexually. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

The Stranger is a literal (but still very cinematic) adaptation of the novel by Albert Camus. Marcello Mastrioanni stars as Meursault, a man who feels utterly isolated from everyone and everything around him. This alienation results in sudden, inexplicable bursts of violence, culminating in murder. The subsequent trial of Meursault manages to convey the oppressive heat of its Algerian setting with director Luchino Visconti's usual veneer of elegant decadence. Though set in the 1930s, the sensibilities of the film were very much attuned to the 1960s: the problem was that Camus' sentiments had been adopted by so many other filmmakers of the period that The Stranger seemed rather commonplace. The film was originally released in Italy as Lo Staniero. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A beautiful free-lance photographer meets and falls in love with a French medical student at a fancy ball and becomes pregnant after their passionate tryst. Now the formerly free-wheeling student finds himself facing a difficult situation. He decides that the woman should abort the child, and so to raise enough cash he sleeps with a wealthy older woman. Unfortunately, the photographer balks and as the story ends, the viewer is left to ponder the couple's ultimate choice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Horst Bucholz plays Dino, a painter who realizes he has no artistic vision and decides to move back into his wealthy mother's (Betty Davis) home. Just before he does this, however, he falls in love with beautiful and self-serving Cecilia (Catherine Spaak). Though Dino diligently attempts to convince her to marry him, she refuses, but offers to be his lover until someone better strikes her fancy. When that becomes an actuality, Dino does not fare well under the emotional trauma and has a nervous breakdown. With the help of his mother, Dino recovers to find he may not be completely devoid of talent after all. Based on La Noia, an Italian novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

French comedian Louis de Funes stars as Garnier, a shopkeeper who gets taken advantage of by a local banker. He decides to retaliate by planning a bank robbery. Rather than going about it in a more conventional manner, Garnier begins digging a tunnel from his store, intending to reach the bank vault across the street. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

In this French crime drama, two safe-crackers are breaking into a safe when they are caught in the act by a guard. One of the crooks kills the guard and flees leaving his partner behind. The abandoned accomplice is captured and convicted. One year passes before the convict is able to escape from prison and set out to exact his revenge. As he flees, he becomes friends with a gas station owner married to a gold-digging ex-hooker. When the wife learns that the hero is a fugitive she blackmails him into cracking her husband's safe. Unfortunately, they are captured by the owner who is killed in the ensuing scuffle by his wife. The fugitive hero then buries the body. He refuses to open the safe. As fate would have it, the fugitive's ex-partner happens upon the scene, but he too will not open the save. A short time later, the wife leaves. The partners then attempt to open it, but are surprised when the murderous wife returns with a shotgun. The fugitive's partner kills the girl, but as he tries to flee the police, his car careens into the gas pumps and explodes in a tremendous ball of fire. Fortunately, the hero escapes at the very last second. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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, Rovi

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this dark drama, a married tutor in a French village finds himself obsessed by a beautiful young girl and begins to stalk her. He soon finds out that she is the mistress of the man whose son he has been tutoring. The tutor confronts her, and she denies it. He then makes a pass at her. When she strongly resists, he attempts to kill her and ends up scarring her face. He then goes on the lam. Along the way, he kills an older man. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Fascist (Il Federale) is a comedy set in 1944 Italy. Dedicated fascist Ugo Tognazzi is sent to capture anti-Mussolini professor Georges Wilson. He accomplishes his mission, but both captor and captive have a hard time getting home. After numerous comic misadventures in Tognazzi's motorcycle, the two men are caught in an air raid, the result being that both lose their clothing. Arriving in Rome, Tognazzi discovers that the city has fallen to the Allies--and now it is he, the fascist, who is in danger of capture and incarceration. Professor Wilson, who has grown fond of the essentially decent Tognazzi, rescues his ex-captor from an angry mob. Filmed in 1961, The Fascist was finally released in the US four years later. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi