Nicolas Gessner Movies
- 1994
Rod Steiger, Ned Beatty and Ed Lauter provide formidable "cast insurance" in the moody low-budgeter Black Water. Beatty's casting is particularly apropos, since the film bears traces of Deliverance. A man from the city decides to unwind by taking a fishing trip in Tennessee. He has barely unpacked his tackle box before a group of inbred goons accuse him of committing a particularly heinous murder. Black Water is based on Minnie, a novel by Hans Werner Kettenbach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
This anthology documentary of sixteen brief films was put together as part of the celebrations for the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation. While each celebrates some aspect of modern Swiss life or a location in Switzerland, some of them are humorous, some are ironic, and others are straightforward presentations. Some of the more amusing segments include one which depicts the activities of a group of people who are busy re-enacting the drama of William Tell; another shows a Swiss businessman plying his trade in Brazil; another shows two Japanese girls busily practicing that country's characteristic forms of tourism in Switzerland. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1989
The ideas that non-Southerners have about the American south don't bear thinking about for too long. It seems that just about everyone in the world has seen Deliverance or one of the Smokey and the Bandit films one time too often. In this film by a Swiss director, all the fears generated by these films become realities for Leighton (Julian Sands), a paranoid English lawyer who has come to the U.S. to do a simple job in Nashville. In only one weekend he experiences a mysterious car chase by people who try to chase him off the road, is jailed briefly, and must appear before a frighteningly peculiar Southern judge (Rod Steiger). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Stacey Dash, (more)
- 1988
- PG
In this imaginative Swiss actioner, an expert magician is hired to entertain world leaders at a peace summit. Unfortunately, he finds himself hopelessly entangled in an elaborate terrorist assassination plot. Now, the illusionist must utilize all his best tricks in order to escape and keep them from fulfilling their potentially devastating mission. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gazzara, Mary Crosby, (more)
- 1978
- R
Two weapons dealers are ambushed in Africa, but their luck changes when a wealthy widow hires them. She blames the natives for her husband's death, so she uses her power to control the water in the arid region to ration the natives' water. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Sally Kellerman, (more)
- 1976
- PG
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In this Canadian thriller, Jodie Foster plays the title character, a reclusive, fiercely self-reliant teenager who lives alone in her father's house. When visitors call, Foster explains that her father is away on business. He's away, all right...far, far, away. And Foster, determined not to lose her independence, will go to any lengths to protect her secret, a fact that nosy neighbor Alexis Smith learns to her regret. A new danger to Foster's well-being looms in the form of pedophile Martin Sheen, who schemes to place the girl in a compromising position. Offering a helping hand to Foster is misfit teenager Mario (Scott Jacoby). Laird Koenig adapted his own novel to the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, (more)
Larry (Anthony Perkins) is not someone it is wise to cross, as his wife Frances (Jill Ireland) discovers. In this English-language French melodrama/thriller, Larry uses his skills as a neurologist and brain surgeon in an attempt to manipulate a hapless amnesiac (Charles Bronson) into murdering his wife and her lover. The amnesiac was found on a beach along with the body of a dead woman, and he is already suspected of her murder--why not add another to the list? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Anthony Perkins, (more)
- 1970
The tragic Sharon Tate plays a crucial role (her last-ever appearance before the cameras) in 12 Plus 1 (aka The Thirteen Chairs). If the plot sounds familiar, it is because it's based on a popular Russian novel, also filmed in 1945 as It's In the Bag and in 1971 as The Twelve Chairs. Vittorio Gassman inherits a fortune, only to find that the money is hidden in one of thirteen antique chairs. Trouble is, he's auctioned off the chairs to pay for his transportation costs to and from his late aunt's mansion. The bulk of the film concerns Gassman's fevered scrambled throughout Europe to track down the Twelve-Plus-One chairs. Orson Welles and Vittorio De Sica turn up in cameos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Sharon Tate, (more)
- 1967
The third film from director Nicolas Gessner, this espionage drama is a filmed adaptation of the novel You Have Yourself a Deal by James Hadley Chase. Mireille Darc stars as Christine, a mysterious blonde suffering from amnesia who becomes the focus of international attention as rival spies compete to discover her identity. Christine carries with her a giant, priceless pearl and could be the lover of a Chinese nuclear scientist and know many important secrets. To learn those secrets, CIA man Douglas (Edward G. Robinson) hires Gandler (Claudio Brook), an out-of-work actor, to pretend he is her husband and attempt to uncover the truth. But along the way, Gandler can't help but fall in love with her, throwing an unexpected wrench in the gears. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mireille Darc, Claudio Brook, (more)
- 1965
Bond-style gadgetry is used in this situation comedy about the amateur thief Bernard (Claude Rich) who meets his match in the felonious female pro Bettina (Jean Seberg), and the amateur teaches the seasoned veteran crooks a new angle. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rich, Jean Seberg, (more)
