Sergio Donati Movies

A young girl gets pushed beyond her limits and exercises legal justice swiftly and brutally in this earnest biopic of a real-life Mafia betrayer. The year is 1991. Rita Atria (Veronica D'Agostino), a young Sicilian girl from the village of Balta, has grown up completely enshrined in organized crime -- to such a degree that she takes many of the mob's activities for granted. This all changes when her honest father and brother get slain, which breaks Rita's heart. In response, she begins to slyly observe the more nefarious goings-on in the village, and starts keeping a detailed diary of the residents and their criminal activities. In November of the same year, Rita takes the journal to Paolo Borsellino (Gérard Jugnot), an investigative judge based in Palermo, and shares its contents with him. This, in turn, sets into motion a seemingly irreversible series of events that threaten to topple the village's criminal infrastructure. And though the Italian government places Rita in a witness protection program, the Sicilian Mafia knows her all too well and attempts to carry out its own crude form of justice against the young betrayer. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The lust for gold provides the motivation in this outdoor adventure. Set in turn-of-the-century Nome, Alaska, it centers on the struggle between an Inuit who comes to the area to claim a gold-rich but sacred land tract and a greedy local businessman who wants it for himself. Desperate enough for murder, the businessman sends henchmen to attack the Native American hero, but they fail and he is forced to flee, but not before abducting his enemy's girlfriend and dragging her into the frozen wilderness. As the Indian and his captive forge more deeply into the tundra, a bond begins to form. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This made-for-television film Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair chronicles the true story of the 1985 hijacking of an Italian cruise ship by a group of Palestinians. Voyage of Terror is primarily told through the viewpoint of Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer (Burt Lancaster and Eva Marie Saint), an elderly couple who happen to be on board during the hijacking, yet the film also follows the ordeals of other hostages and the terrorists themselves, who are led by Joseph Nasser in a compelling performance. Voyage of Terror was shot on the actual Achille Lauro cruise ship and was originally aired as a two-part mini-series. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

An agent newly retired from the CIA (Scott Glenn) agrees to become an Italian businessman's bodyguard in this adventure film. Things fall apart though, when terrorists kidnap the Italian's daughter and the agent must rescue her. ~ John Bush, Rovi

A former FBI agent is recruited to root out the gangsters who killed a fellow agent's son in this Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. After being booted out of the bureau for excessive violence, Kaminski (Schwarzenegger) lives in small-town exile with his bitter wife, Amy (Blanche Baker). He gets the chance to return to the big city, however, when Chicago mobsters murder the son of his old colleague Shannon (Darren McGavin), as well as scads of prosecution witnesses against them in an impending court case. Shannon promises to reinstate Kaminski if he'll help engineer the downfall of gang leader Max (Robert Davi). Working undercover and without government sanction, Kaminski infiltrates the mob by posing as a bodyguard/assassin. Along the way, he tussles with beautiful gambling addict Monique (Kathryn Harrold), who starts off as an enemy but ends up more. The action comes to a head when Kaminski's mob bosses send him to kill none other than Shannon. Released post-Terminator and pre-Predator, Raw Deal is one of several non-science fictional action flicks that cemented Schwarzenegger's '80s box-office appeal. Director John Irvin would return the following year with the gritty Vietnam drama Hamburger Hill. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

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

Set in an early medieval period, this swashbuckling costume drama pits Christian knights against infidels in an imaginary holy war, and what is more astounding and a tribute to the Italian love of amore, is that the commanders from each side fall in love with "enemy" women and decide to call it a day, pack in their arms, and go off to do better things. Ruggero (Ronn Moss) leads the infidels in some of the best-looking armor this side of Armani, and Rolando (Rick Edwards) is at the forefront of the Christian knights. One of the knights is a misnomer -- he is actually a she, Bradamante (Barbara De Rossi), and when she sees the well-clad Ruggero, she agrees to hand over his sister Isabella (Tanya Roberts) just to get in his good graces. These four protagonists go through a series of adventures and misadventures in a gorgeous setting of Byzantine castles, mountain canyons, and dark forests, all complemented by aesthetic, inventive sets and creative costuming. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This hokey Italian monster movie -- distributed in the U.S. through Roger Corman's New World Pictures under the title Screamers -- was rescued from certain cinematic obscurity thanks to New World's hilariously misleading one-sheet campaign, which boldly declared "WARNING! You will actually see a man turned inside out!" Caveat Emptor, viewers... there is nothing of the sort on display in the film itself. All that's available is a silly sci-fi story about diabolical mad scientist Joseph Cotten busily turning the inhabitants of a remote island into water-breathing "fishmen" to serve the island's sadistic overlord (Richard Johnson), who is trying to uncover the lost treasures of Atlantis. On hand as the nominal sex interest is Barbara Bach as Cotten's daughter, who possesses some sort of telepathic contact with the fishmen, but mainly just poses as seductively as possible while feeding and tending to the rubber-suit mutants. Corman inserted some new prologue footage with Mel Ferrer for the New World print, as well as a few gory scenes intended to snag some R-rated exploitation appeal, but the end product is still laughable as ever. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Another big-budget monster movie from producer Dino de Laurentiis, Orca concerns the mutual revenge pact between an obsessive whaler (Richard Harris) and an angry killer whale, whose pregnant mate Harris killed. The whale strikes back by biting off Bo Derek's leg, so Harris and concerned biologist Charlotte Rampling follow it to frozen northern waters for the climactic showdown. Just in case you like Jaws better than Moby Dick, there's a killer shark thrown in for good measure. Ponderous, pretentious, and dull, this opportunistic disaster fittingly sank at the box office. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

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

In this crime drama, the Mafia tries to strong arm a crooked cop into stealing a police report. The cop refuses and they get rougher. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Originally titled Giù la Testa, Duck, You Sucker! is a Mexican-revolution yarn, filmed in Italy by spaghetti Western maven Sergio Leone. James Coburn is top-billed as John H. Mallory, an Irish soldier of fortune with a penchant for explosives. Rod Steiger plays Juan Miranda, another mercenary who wants to utilize Mallory's specialty to blast into a bank. Despite his avaricious intentions, Miranda becomes a hero when the hole he blows in the bank wall frees dozens of political prisoners. Duck, You Sucker originally ran 150 minutes, with U.S. release prints heavily trimmed. Taking into consideration the previous "Man With No Name" films masterminded by Leone, the distributors of Duck, You Sucker! reissued the film as A Fistful of Dynamite. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A group attempts to embezzle and hide a fortune of 2,000,000 pounds while outwitting the British Intelligence during World War II in this action movie. ~ Rovi