Luciano Martino Movies

Three aspiring moviemakers unexpectedly land a big break and their hometown comes out to celebrate in this warm comedy-drama. Gabriele (Paolo Briguglia), Nicola (Lele Nucera) and Marco (Lorenzo Di Ciaccia) are three young men growing up in Diamante, a small town in the Calabria region of Southern Italy where life moves at its own pace and not much happens. Gabriele, Nicola and Marco are serious film fans who have befriended the town's most famous citizen, Neri (Diego Abatantuono), a well known director waiting out a creative block who offers the boys advice on their dreams of working in the film industry. Gabriele has written a script based on the youthful experiences of his Aunt Caterina (Lucia Ragni), and he and his pals want to go to Rome in hopes of getting it made into a major motion picture. Neri is dubious, but introduces the boys to Francesco (Mimmo Calopresti), a friend and well-known actor who lives in the Eternal City. Francesco gets Gabriele, Nicola and Marco into a party thrown by an industry bigwig, and they're introduced to Amelie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), Francesco's former wife who is currently Gerard Depardieu's significant other. In a remarkable stroke of luck, Amelie agrees to pass Gabriele's screenplay along to Depardieu, and the famed French actor agrees to appear in the film, guaranteeing the project a green light. Overjoyed, Gabriele, Nicola and Marco invite their new colleagues back to Diamante, where they want to shoot the picture, for a celebratory feast, and the stars get a close-up look at how the other half lives. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

One of William Shakespeare's most powerful comedies has been given a bold cinematic adaptation in this film version of The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) is a young and vital member of the aristocratic classes in 16th century Italy; however, Bassanio's impulsive nature and lavish lifestyle have put him deeply in debt, and he will need at least the pretense of a fortune if he is to win the hand of the beautiful Portia (Lynn Collins). Bassanio turns to his close friend Antonio (Jeremy Irons), a successful businessman, for financial help, but with much of his fortune tied up in a sailing expedition, Antonio can do little to help him. To help Bassanio, Antonio turns to Shylock (Al Pacino), a Jewish money lender who lives in Venice's Semetic ghetto. Antonio has often expressed his contempt for Shylock, who charges high rates for his loans, and Shylock clearly seems pleased at the ironic prospect of having Antonio as a customer; however, instead of interest, Shylock demands an unusual security on his loan -- though Shylock demands no interest, if Antonio does not repay the three thousand ducats in three months, Shylock will be entitled to a pound of his flesh. This version of The Merchant of Venice was directed by Michael Radford, best known for the international hit Il Postino, and was shot on locations in Venice and Luxembourg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Italian political thriller takes a look at a recent government scandal wherein everyone from politicos to chiefs of police to secret service people and financiers were involved in receiving kickbacks. Though the tale is fictionalized, many of its characters are based on real people, and as a result, co-producer Luciano Martino received several anonymous death threats before the film was released. The film centers on the efforts of a courageous cop, Carlo Tommasi, who works on the anti-Mafia squad. He is assigned to look into the bombing in downtown Milan that resulted in the deaths of five people. Although Ravida, the head of the secret service, quickly serves up a suspect, neither the state prosecutor Francesca Savona nor a straight-arrow minister believes that the suspect is guilty. While in prison, the suspect mysteriously dies. Soon more begin to die until Tommasi is able to find the perpetrator of it all, a former agent for Ravida. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this leisurely melodrama, a middle-aged man has resented his schoolteacher mother for decades because he imagines she had an affair with a colleague. In fact, he hasn't spoken to her in almost as long. This resentment has scarred his emotional life irreparably. Only when he hastens to his mother's deathbed and arrives too late does he get a letter from her via her supposed lover, which corrects his misconceptions and explains the scene we see at the beginning. In it, she is reading a poem to her son when he is a boy, which reads: "Footsteps echo in memory along the corridor we didn't take to the door we never opened." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Ferroccio Ferri (Paolo Rossi) is a quiz-show champion who is an expert on camels in this offbeat comedy. He is eligible for the upcoming show that will award a sizeable sum of money to the grand-prize winner. Camillo (Diego Abatantuono) is the manager of a second-rate traveling troupe who recruits Ferri to ride a camel for a promotional tour of the Po Valley. Sabina Guzzanti plays a notoriously bad singer in Camillo's troupe with comedic flair. Ferri loses on the quiz show and meets the beautiful Anna (Giulio Boschi) on the train ride back home. Anna talks Ferri into posing as her lover so she can dump her fiancee in front of her mother (Laura Betti) and father (Giancarno Sbragia). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This undistinguished comedy in two acts features Lino Banfi as Altomare, the owner of an appliance store, who is obsessed with superstition, spells, and amulets to fight the "evil eye" that bedevils him, and Gaspare (Johnny Dorelli) a charlatan magician who through serendipity, encounters a real witch and is the happy recipient of her magic powers. Gaspare can retain those powers only on the condition that he bring her a pistachio ice cream when she asks for it. But even magic cannot do much for Altomare or Gaspare as long as they do not pay attention to the very practical, mundane matters in their lives. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

George Eastman and Pamela Field star in Ironmaster. Seldom there has then been a more predictable 98 minutes' worth of Sword and Sorcery, but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable. Eastman plays a primitive tribesman, exiled by his own people. In disgrace, Eastman is sent to live out his life on a mountainside. Here he stumbles upon a magic-dispensing iron staff-and from this point on, he's the Ironmaster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This half-baked but entertaining disaster film (not to be confused with America's The Concorde - Airport '79) deals with the attempts of an evil corporation to sabotage the Concorde before it hurts their own airline business. James Franciscus plays a reporter who teams up with Mimsy Farmer (Macchie Solari) to save the plane and its passengers from certain doom. Venantino Venantini co-stars with Edmund Purdom, Van Johnson, and Joseph Cotton, while cultists should look for porn star R. Bolla (appearing as Robert Kerman) in the tower, and some simply pathetic miniature effects. Kerman was also in Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust and Umberto Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Silver screen sexpot Edwige Fenech headlines this bawdy Italian sex comedy about a gorgeous housewife who plots mischievous revenge against her philandering husband, a powerful businessman. Gioia (Fenech may be a stunner, but that doesn't stop her husband Gianni (Alberto Lionello) from attempting to seduce any woman who crosses his path. Upon deciding that a taste of his own medicine may serve Gianni well, lusty Gioia recruits handsome stranger Patrizio (Ray Lovelock) in teaching her husband that it pays to remain faithful. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A sultry new teacher ensures that school attendance spikes to an all-time high in this classic Italian sex comedy starring irresistible screen sirens Dagmar Lassander (The Legend of the Wolf Woman, The House by the Cemetery) and Femi Benussi (Hatchet for the Honeymoon, Strip Nude for Your Killer). And to think that staying after class used to be a punishment. When this teacher speaks, every boy in class listens with rapt attention. Meanwhile, a hormonal young lad and his lecherous father get their thrills by spying on the boy's voluptuous aunt. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Cult filmmaker Umberto Lenzi directed this bloody, gangster-oriented thriller starring Tomas Milian in a rare sympathetic role as Rambo, a principled biker who runs afoul of a blind crimelord (Joseph Cotten). The plot is standard Italian crime fare, but Milian's performance alone makes this gritty effort worth seeing for genre devotees. Shirley Corrigan, Ida Galli (as Evelyn Stewart), and Femi Benussi co-star, and Vincenzo Mannino wrote the hard-edged script. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide