Dino de Laurentiis Movies

German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt tracks down many high-profile Italian movie folks for the documentary portrait Federico Fellini: Through the Eyes of Others. Actresses Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, and Sandra Milo provide commentary about the director's behavior on and off the set. Other interview subjects include screenwriter Tullio Pinelli, producer Dino de Laurentiis, cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, biographer Tullio Kezich, and novelist Gore Vidal. The film also employs archive footage and film clips. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Madonna plays Rebecca Carlson, a sex bomb who parades naked in front of the open windows of her houseboat at all hours while the lobstermen catch crabs. This entry in the Basic Instinct sweepstakes poses the question: If love hurts, does sex kill? The judge and jury certainly want to find out when Rebecca's latest conquest, a multi-millionaire, dies of a heart attack while making love to her. Eight million dollars was bequeathed to Rebecca in his will, and District Attorney Robert Garrett (Joe Mantegna) is convinced that Rebecca, knowing that her rich lover had a weak heart, killed him with wild sex so that she could get her mitts on the money. Rebecca's lawyer, Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe), thinks differently, suspecting the millionaire's private secretary Joanne Braslow (Anne Archer) of the crime, since she was dumped by the millionaire for Rebecca. Besides which, Frank is attracted to Rebecca himself and throws legal ethics out the window as he starts a sadomasochistic affair with her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

While John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween irrevocably changed the style of horror cinema with its simple but relentlessly tense story, it triggered more than a decade's worth of uninspired, exploitative knock-offs, and one could easily list Halloween II among these failures. As with its predecessor, this film was written and produced by Carpenter and Debra Hill, but the terse style and unbearable suspense of the first film are missing, replaced by a more simplistic stalk-and-slash scenario. Directorial duties were handed over to Rick Rosenthal, whose lack of expertise is quite evident (though he managed to hit his stride two years later with the prison actioner Bad Boys). The plot picks up exactly where the original left off: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), shaken and injured from her battle with unkillable psycho Michael Myers, is taken to the Haddonfield Hospital for observation, while Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) continues his desperate search for his monstrous patient. An interesting plot twist has Loomis' investigations revealing Michael's true identity (some of these sequences incorporate footage of young Michael originally shot for the television version of Halloween, which contained scenes hinting at the link between Michael and Laurie). After slashing his way through the town, Myers manages to track Laurie to the hospital, where the remainder of the action takes place. Numerous night-shift employees are slaughtered in a variety of gruesome ways before Loomis catches up with his quarry, leading to an explosive -- and seemingly conclusive -- confrontation. Pleasence is compelling as usual, but Curtis, who made an auspicious debut in the original, is sadly wasted here, her character reduced to shuffling half-drugged through darkened hospital corridors and screaming helplessly. Carpenter's active involvement in the Halloween franchise continued to dwindle steadily from one sequel to the next, getting scarcely a mention by the time producers Hill, Moustapha Akkad and Irwin Yablans revived the series in 1988 for three more sequels. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Among the spice plantations of Columbia are to be found any number of abused peasant farmers. Normally, the great landlords expect the church to support them and at the same time keep the natives quiet. In this Italian family comedy, the ruthless spice masters are instead saddled with two of the most radical revolutionary priests imaginable, Padre G. (Terence Hill) and Padre Pedro (Bud Spencer), who straighten things out using little more than fisticuffs, righteousness, and more than a little slapstick. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This lavishly costumed historical epic had an estimated $100 million price tag. Spectacularly photographed battle action contrasts with often plodding individual scenes that bog down the plot. Fearing his growing power, European monarchs force Napoleon Bonaparte (Rod Steiger) to abdicate as Emperor and retire to Elba, and the French are concerned they will be outnumbered by a force of combined armies from many countries in Europe. Napoleon no sooner says goodbye to his loyalist troops than he begins to rally his men and prepare for another takeover. King Louis XVIII (Orson Welles) sends Marshal Michel Ney (Dan O'Herlihy) and his men to counter Bonaparte, but upon seeing his old commander (and ally), Ney thrusts his sword to the ground and takes up arms with the deposed emperor. They all return to Paris by popular demand, defying the orders of Louis (who flees from the palace) and running the monarchy tout seul. Soon England, Austria, Prussia and Russia unite to try and stop the dictator. Wellington (Christopher Plummer) readies his troops near Waterloo, refuses to retreat anymore, and waits for Prussian Marshall Blucher (Sergei Zakhariadze) and his army to join up with the British as the only hope to stop the French juggernaut. Jack Hawkins and Michael Wilding portray key military commanders Picton and Ponosby, respectively. Napoleon and his troops cut into the Prussian and British forces dramatically, weakening their power, but three problems arise. First, Ney refuses to lead his segment of the troops onward; and second, Bonaparte's men are plagued by the wet weather, which causes
the cannon brigade to become immobilized in mud (when Wellington strategically gives Bonaparte's troops the lower ground) rendering it ineffective until late in the day. And even more calamitously, Bonaparte - growing increasingly ill -- insists on leading his men from the rear, which causes the information to become outdated as soon as it gets to him. The Russian version of this film was nearly four hours long, while western audiences saw an edited version slightly over two hours long. Unfortunately, Waterloo bombed at the box office. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Outlaw and prisoner Graziano Cassitti (Terence Hill) escapes and takes to the hill country in Sardinia. He continually eludes police and continues his raids on the nearby town, becoming a folk hero fighting against authorities. He takes comfort in the arms of Anania (Helen Ronee) as the two lovers meet under cover of darkness. Spina (Frank Wolf) is the local man who attempts to negotiate between the outlaw and the police while the arrogant criminal grants interviews to a sympathetic press. The story is taken from the real-life adventures of Graziano Mesina, who was jailed and awaiting trial for kidnapping, robbery and murder at the time of this film's release. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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

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

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, All Movie Guide

This Dino De Laurentiis production from 1965 is actually an anthology of five different directors' work, each telling their own stories about witches. The five stories are "The Witch Burned Alive," "Civic Sense," "The Earth As Seen From The Moon," "The Girl From Sicily," and "A Night Like Any Other." Silvia Mangano appears in all five, with Clint Eastwood starring in the last featured vignette. Like many gang-directed projects, this film is also plagued by a lack of continuity and by the pretentiousness of the individual directors. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Flying Saucer is an irreverent satire of the worldwide fascination in space travel in the early 1960s. Alberto Sordi plays four roles in this slight tale of an invasion from Mars. The Martians decide to kidnap several "typical" Earthlings to help them understand our curious planet. The subjects are maddening enough to send the Martians hurtling off the planet as fast as their fat little pods will carry them. Flying Saucer gets off to a good start with a phony newsreel, wherein several interviewees offer the most fatuous opinions ever put on film; the rest of the film isn't able to match this opening, but there are isolated belly laughs along the way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michelangelo Antonioni served as just one of three directors on this Dino de Laurentiis production that also corralled Franco Indovina (Antonioni's assistant on three films) and Mauro Bolognini for three segments that all adhered to the titular theme, The Three Faces of a Woman: Il Provino, Latin Lover, and Famous Lovers. Il Provino (or Prefazione, The Preface), Antonioni's contribution, stars a former member of Iranian royalty, Saroya; the entire film consists of her screen test. Indovina's Latin Lover chronicles a professional woman's experience with a male escort, hired by her business to keep her company on her travels to Rome. Finally, Bolognini's Famous Lovers focuses on a woman whose marriage is threatened by an affair with a dashing young writer. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide