Sergio Corbucci Movies
A film critic turned assistant director, Corbucci began helming features in the early '50s. He's remembered fondly for his muscular sword-and-sorcery adventure tales of the early '60s, Romolo E Remo (aka Duel of the Titans) with Steve Reeves, and Maciste Contro IL Vampiro (aka Goliath and the Vampires, co-directed with Giacomo Gentilomo), both of which he also co-scripted. In the late '60s he moved on to that other quintessential Italian genre, the spaghetti western: Django, Un Dollaro A Testa (aka Navajo Joe), and The Mercenary. Corbucci's notable later work includes the comedies La Mazzetta with Nino Manfredi, Giallo Napoletano with Marcello Mastroianni, and Rimini, Rimini with Laura Antonelli. Corbucci occasionally signed his work with the pseudonyms Sidney Corbett and Gordon Wilson Jr. ~ Rovi
The Spaghetti West documents the film genre referred to as Spaghetti Westerns. These movies were made in Italy, where production costs were very cheap and the terrain offered perfectly believable sets, during the 1950s and '60s. While Sergio Leone became the most well-known director that made his bones in the genre, a number of famous film personalities such as Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone established themselves in these Westerns. The film utilizes clips of some of the most famous spaghetti westerns, as well as interviews with those who made the films and those who have been inspired by these sparse, stylish movies. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 1987
Gildo (Paolo Villaggio) is a moralistic magistrate who shuts down red light districts in this sex comedy. His enemies conspire to photograph him in a compromising position with sex goddess Lola (Serena Grandi). Laura Antonelli plays a wealthy woman who believes her husband has drowned. A priest is forced to put his mouth on a topless nun as the battle of morality verses misbehavior unfolds. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paolo Villaggio, Serena Grandi, (more)
- 1987
In this episodic comedy, the rich are seen to be different from the rest of us: more lustful and less scrupulous, for starters. In one episode, a parish priest fresh from a pilgrimage to Lourdes is drawn into a situation (approved of by the Pope himself) where he must try to discourage the notions developed by an Italian princess, who dreamed of the priest's face and now entertains the idea of marrying him rather than the man society has destined her for. In another episode, the ever-hapless Paolo Villaggio plays an insurance agent who is drawn just a bit too deeply into one of his client's marital schemes. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lino Banfi, Laura Antonelli, (more)
- 1984
The two lead actors have little chance to overcome the stereotyped dialogue and action in this superficial tale about Emanuele (Johnny Dorelli) a free-wheeling, wealthy businessman fleeing from the law, and Gino (Paolo Villaggio) a poor, doltish cabbie driving him all over Europe. Emanuele has a suitcase full of documents that could convict several well-placed people of serious crimes if the papers were made public. He keeps them as he runs away from the police and tries to disguise himself as a female -- his "sister" -- who Gino romances. The ending is supposed to come as a surprise, but not many viewers are as blind as Gino, and both gender and fate are fairly obvious here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Dorelli, Paolo Villaggio, (more)
- 1983
Loosely based on an historical character and his ennoblement by a Pope, Conte Tacchia relates the adventures of Checco (Enrico Montesano), an upbeat carpenter living at the beginning of the 20th century who is convinced that he is the illegitimate son of a local prince (Vittorio Gassman). Because of his fixation, Checco is nicknamed "Count Tacchia" for the wedge tacchia that a carpenter puts underneath the short leg on an unbalanced table. Checco tries to romance a young Duchess and soon becomes the brunt of cruel jokes by the aristocracy, but then King Humbert actually gives him the title of Count so Checco can fight a French swordsman in a duel to the death. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Enrico Montesano, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
Dave Speed is no ordinary Miami cop--he is an irradiated Miami cop who has developed super powers. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite know how to use them and this gets him in trouble with his long-suffering partner. The film was also known as Supersnooper. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Terence Hill, Ernest Borgnine, (more)
- 1981
As an ex-husband (Johnny Dorelli), his wife (Laura Antonelli), and their two children take a vacation on the ex's new yacht, the scene is set for disaster when it becomes clear that the ex-husband knows absolutely nothing about yachting. The crew quickly find out that the Mediterranean has its own challenges, and the wife discovers her particular nemesis in a thoroughly unlikeable playboy (Christian De Sica) who has his sights set a little too firmly on her alone. The interaction between the triad of wife, ex-husband, and playboy reaches a final resolution as the yacht moves closer to its own special fate. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laura Antonelli, Johnny Dorelli, (more)
- 1978
Crime specialist Sergio Corbucci directed this madcap comic mystery that is just waiting to be discovered by cult audiences. It stars Marcello Mastroianni as a café mandolin player who performs on a streetcorner to help pay for his father's gambling debts. After a murder and a suicide occur, the innocent Mastroianni becomes the prime suspect, and he undertakes his own investigation to clear his name. In the process, he is force-fed cocaine in a disco, hung from the side of a high-rise, almost killed in a car accident, and trapped in a sinking boat. As if that wasn't enough, there's also a frozen midget and a New Year's Eve party in an insane asylum. Ornella Muti, Capucine, and Michel Piccoli co-star, and as silly as it is, the film manages to maintain a giallo look thanks to rich photography by Luigi Kuveiller (the man responsible for the lush earthtones in Profondo Rosso) and a brisk score by Riz Ortolani. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1978
- PG
In this Italian police drama, specially trained officers head for Miami to bring a nefarious international crime ring to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1978
- PG
Late Late Show devotees probably know this tongue-in-cheek actioner by its English-language title: Odds and Ends. Spaghetti-western regulars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer star as a couple of rebellious Miami cops. Badges? They don't need no stinkin' badges as they go merrily about busting heads and bones while breaking up an illegal gambling ring. What we have here is a western in mufti, with Hill and Spencer right in their element despite the contmporary trappings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1978
Nothing in his background has given Saso Iovine (Nino Manfredi) any preparation for the sticky situations he encounters when he is hired by the crooked building contractor Don Michele to find his daughter Giulia, and some important (and legally damaging) documents she stole from him before running off with her boyfriend. He immediately stumbles onto a nest of corpses and a Neapolitan crime rivalry while being pursued by the police and harassed by his half-loony girlfriend. Along the way, practically everyone involved in the case becomes a corpse for him to stumble over moments ahead of the police's arrival. He does, however, become somewhat friendly with the police commissioner Assenza (Ugo Tognazzi), which just barely suffices to keep his neck out of the noose. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Ugo Tognazzi, (more)
- 1977
Three episodes of slapstick sexual comedy comprise this film. In the first, a young priest is deserted by his flock until an American protestant minister comes to town with his lovely wife. When the parishioners are convinced that their priest has proved his manhood with the minister's wife, church attendance resumes. In the second episode, a travelling salesman is challenged by the nearly nude state of a lovely female hitchhiker. In the third episode, a woman trying to collect information on her philandering husband, in order to divorce him, is seated on an airplane next to a man who is deathly afraid of flying. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Renato Pozzetto, Dalila di Lazzaro, (more)
Sergio Corbucci directs the 1976 caper Il Grande Bluff, an Italian crime comedy inspired by he Sting, which has been released under several different titles. Bang (Anthony Quinn) gets out of prison and joins with young protege Félix (Adriano Celentano). The teacher and the student scam each other as they attempt a master plan to swindle criminal leader Belle (Capucine). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Adriano Celentano, (more)
- 1975
The Emperor of Japan has sent the U.S. President a very special Asian horse. Three incredible rogues hear of this horse and decide to kidnap it for a $500,000 ransom. One of them, the "white" is Giuliano Gemma, a grandiose kleptomaniac. Tomás Milian is the "yellow," a Japanese samurai, and the last ("black") is Eli Wallach, a goofy and gullible sheriff who has been victimized by "white" before, and will be again. The alliance between the three is a shaky thing, but "black" will have stumbled into clover. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Giuliano Gemma, Tomas Milian, (more)
- 1974
This simple movie, which follow the exploits of two transcontinental truck drivers as they wrestle their semi across Europe, is much enhanced by having the veteran actors Michel Constantin and Giancarlo Giannini in the roles of Nino and Sandro. At the beginning of the film, the two men have not driven together before, and neither one is much pleased with the other. By the end of the film, their adventures and common adversities have drawn them together. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Giancarlo Giannini, Michel Constantin, (more)
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