Ugo Pirro Movies
- 1996
A ripe 19-year-old virgin fights to keep her virtue and retain her free-spirited ways during WW II. Set in an ancient, remote Neapolitan village, Miluzza is the lovely pubescent daughter of the glorious Nunziata, a nymphomaniac who is surprisingly well tolerated by her husband and her normally conservative neighbors. Nunziata and Miluzza lead an idyllic life until the Allies bomb their village. During the shelling Nunziata is killed in a manner that would make Freud proud. Afterward, Miluzza gets work at a tomato sauce factory where the owner, enticed by an accidental peak at her underwear attempts to seduce her in a local hotel. With her reputation thus ruined, life for Miluzza becomes a struggle to fight the gossip mongers and those who would rape here until she encounters Pietro, a handsome wounded soldier who offers her a better life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
In 1945, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini released the daring Rome, Open City, a film that sharply criticized the Nazis and became a cornerstone of the Italian Neorealist movement. This Italian drama tells the fascinating true story of the film's genesis. Originally Rossellini and his screenwriter wanted the film to chronicle and comment upon the Nazi occupation of Rome. After finding a suitable cast they began making the film and then showed a few rushes to outspoken producer Pepino Amato who was so upset by the radical message that he walked out, taking his financial backing with him. Fortunately, the director manages to find backing from an enigmatic countess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This Italian thriller is based on the true story of a young Sicilian public prosecutor murdered in 1990. The young magistrate Rosario is considered a revolutionary in his hometown of Canicatti, which is largely run by the Mafia. He is a serious young man, deeply religious and devoted to his parents with whom he still lives. He firmly believes that justice must prevail no matter what the cost. He does not hesitate to defy public opinion in his quest for justice. His parents fear for him. His boss is irritated by him. Fearing an early death, he dumps his fiance, Angela. So rigid a straight arrow is he, that even the other young prosecutors avoid him. Rosario is eventually gunned down by Mafioso Renato Carpentieri's henchmen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulio Scarpati, Leopoldo Trieste, (more)
- 1987
Like many uninsightful fathers, Nicola is very ambitious and hardworking and perceives himself to be a failure. He has persuaded himself that the only good thing his thirteen-year-old son can possibly do is to work harder and smarter than he himself did, so that he, at least, can fulfill his father's dreams. This end justifies any number of beatings and scoldings, along with constant admonitions to study hard and work hard. As might be expected, this abuse has no effect whatsoever, as it is not based on the boy's own ambitions, which include becoming a championship runner. Despite his mother's attempts to protect him from his aggressively insensitive and stupid father, he gets shipped off to work with some rope manufacturers, who can be counted on to work him like a dog. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diego Abatantuono, Gian Maria Volontè, (more)
- 1984
Spread too thin, with a neutral stance on its many protagonists, this political drama about terrorists active in Italy delivers too mild a message to make much of an effect. Based on a book by Luce D'Eramo, the three-hour story is about leftists who renounce guerrilla tactics and turn to common robberies instead while maintaining bourgeois and/or mainstream lifestyles as doctors, secretaries, and other workers. Their objective is to raise money for future guerrilla activities. The central group manages to pull off three big robberies in the same neighborhood within 30 minutes of each other -- and the chase is on. Most viewers will be rooting for the terrorists disguised as criminals at this point. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is more of a pedantic exercise on the effects of their actions, and includes courtroom proceedings that are not as interesting as the crime sequences. The end result makes law and order look boring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Bauchau, Antonella Murgia, (more)
- 1979
This thriller is based on the still politically sensitive story of the assassination of General Francisco Franco's heir apparent General Carrero Blanco. The General was to have been kidnapped by the Basque separatists, but when that proved too difficult, they arranged to bomb his car (with him in it) to smithereens. In order to do this, they had to dig a tunnel under a city street. The ensuing explosion blew the car over the roof of a nearby house. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Eusebio Poncela, (more)
- 1978
Claudia is on a pilgrimage to the mountain site where her son was killed in an auto accident. Once in the area, she begins to see a young lad who closely resembles her lost son. Except for footprints in the snow, no one else sees him, and it begins to appear that she is either haunted or crazy. When she returns home, it becomes necessary to ask who poisoned her husband and family dog. When she later leaves town, was the boy in the car seat next to her there all along, or did he just appear? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agostina Belli, Stefano Satta Flores, (more)
- 1977
The mafia has overrun a section of the country so ruinously that a very stern man (Giuliano Gemma) has been sent by the government to be the governor in that region. He has been given wide-ranging power and authority and is not afraid to use it. Indeed, on occasion he finds it necessary to gun down a fleeing felon himself. As he closes in on the true extent of local corruption, and its connections elsewhere, he is promoted to a higher position in the fascist government so that the local mafia head can replace him as governor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giuliano Gemma, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1976
In this episodic anthology, written and directed by assorted Italian filmmakers, the political and social aspects of Italian life are chronicled. In one satirical episode, The Bomb, a bogus bomb threat at a police headquarters gradually balloons into a real terrorist plot culminating with the bombing of the police commissioner. Other episodes satirize the CIA, Christmas in Naples and pompous public officials. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Wealthy patriarch Gregorio Ferramonte (Anthony Quinn) openly lusts after his new daughter-in-law (Dominique Sanda). Seemingly resistant at first to the lecherous Quinn, Sanda rapidly succumbs to his crude charms. There's a little more to the story than that: Sanda knows that Quinn is dying, and that he hasn't yet chosen anyone to inherit his fortune. Things get pretty hot and heavy at times, especially in the original 121 minute version prepared for Italian audiences. The Inheritance was originally released as Eredita Ferramonti. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Fabio Testi, (more)
- 1975
Paolo Barca is a sophisticate from Milan who is sent to Sicily to teach school. He is also a virgin. When he realizes the extent of his student's ignorance about sex, he makes classroom sex education a priority. This, naturally, creates a furor in conservative Sicily. Ironically, he soon receives lessons in sexuality from his female colleagues. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renato Pozzetto, Magali Noël, (more)
- 1974
In this Italian film, part melodrama and part social/political commentary, two factory workers living in Northern Italy form a romantic connection. The woman, torn between the freedoms of the North and her traditional Sicilian values, slowly allows herself to love, then marry, her co-worker. Soon after her wedding, she dies as a result of industrial pollution from her job. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Italian Director Elio Petri, best known for his film Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion, here tells a complicated tale about a bank clerk who is literally allergic to money. Not only that, the clerk (Flavio Bucci) doesn't like the effect money has on people. For some reason, he steals things from a dishonest butcher (Ugo Tognazzi). This gives the butcher a convenient opportunity to file huge insurance claims for the thefts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
If this Italian drama were any less well told, it would come off as a pure union propaganda piece. Instead, it is a worthy film for the director who made the acclaimed film Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion. In any manufacturing situation, it simply doesn't pay to be the fastest and hardest working person on the assembly line. In the first place, you probably can't keep up the pace you've set. In the second place, you make all your co-workers a) look bad and b) have to work harder; they will not thank you for this. Appearances to the contrary, it's a really stupid thing to do. However, Lulu Massa (Gian Maria Volonte) doesn't understand this simple principle, and he enjoys the pay bonuses he gets from management -- until he has to leave work to recuperate from an accident in which he lost a finger. During that time, he visits a colleague who shows him not only the error of his own ways, but the horror of his whole working situation. When he goes back to work, Massa tries to organize a union. At first, he is just as unpopular with his co-workers as before, but he is persistent. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Metello (Messimo Ranieri) is the son of an anarchist who shares his father's passion for justice. After he is introduced to love by the young widow Viola (Lucia Bose), he falls in love and marries Ersilia (Ottavia Piccolo). Labor unrest leads to a strike by workers, and Metello is thrown in jail. Upon his release, he lies to officials when he says he will abandon political causes. He tries to balance his family life and remain true to his ideals in the changing political climate in Florence at the turn of the 20th century. Ennio Morricone provides the music for this feature that appeared at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Massimo Ranieri, Ottavia Piccolo, (more)
- 1970
- R
Better known as Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, this Oscar-winning political drama stars Gian Maria Volonte as the citizen of the title, an unnamed police inspector. The story finds the inspector calmly cutting his mistress' throat, then planting evidence that will clear him of accusation -- and attempting to evade arrest by virtue of his "clean" public image. Elio Petri's own anti-establishment stance was never more pronounced than in this film, where the truth is whatever the ruling class chooses to acknowledge. The original Italian title of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion was Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogna Sospetto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Florinda Bolkan, (more)
- 1970
- R
- Add The Garden of the Finzi-Continis to QueueAdd The Garden of the Finzi-Continis to top of Queue
Vittorio De Sica directs the lyrical war drama Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis), based on a book by Giorgio Bassani. In Ferrara, Italy, at the beginning of WWII, anti-Semitism is spreading. Mussolini has passed several laws that forbid Jews from going to public schools, joining the army, or marrying non-Jews. While many middle-class Jewish families flee the country, the Finzi-Continis believe it's safe inside their sprawling estate. As a wealthy, aristocratic Jewish family, they think their luxurious garden walls will protect them from fascism. Micol Finzi Contini (Dominique Sanda) and her brother (Helmut Berger) invite their Jewish friends to join them in the estate for parties, tennis, and games while the war ravages on. Middle-class Jew Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio) attends the parties with his friend Malnate (Fabio Testi). Giorgio and Micol are childhood sweethearts, but she begins to reject him in favor of Malnate. She also refuses to accept that there's a war going on. Eventually they can pretend no longer, and the war closes in on them. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1971. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Sanda, Lino Capolicchio, (more)
- 1969
Originally released as The Battle of the Neretva, this sprawling epic is a tribute to the Yugoslav partisan fighters of World War II. Yul Brynner stars as a guerilla leader whose mission in life is to eradicate all Nazis from his homeland (recently revealed instances of Yugoslav collaboration are dispensed with in this uncomplicated actioner). Hardy Kruger costars as Brynner's principle German antagonist. Originally released at 175 minutes, this $12 million spectacular was ruthlessly whittled down to 102 minutes by its American distributors. The resultant film looks like a series of outtakes in search of a story, but the action scenes more than compensate for the overall incoherence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Hardy Kruger, (more)
- 1968
Set in Sicily, this violent crime drama tells the tale of an Italian cop who heads to a small island town to look into the death of a construction supplier. Once there he is shocked by the influence the Mafia has over the people and even himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero, (more)
- 1968
A father and son are offered a good price for their land by a wealthy land baron. they agree to the sale, but are tricked into giving up their property through a bureaucratic maneuver for next to nothing. The son grows up to become a young man and fueled by his hatred for the evil baron, he seeks revenge on all who drove his family from the land. He becomes an outlaw but manages to escape capture while he kills off those responsible for uprooting his family by underhanded means. One by one, the victims fall to the vengeful son as he becomes a legendary hero to the peasants and the oppressed. The color process for the film is not credited. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Stefania Sandrelli, (more)
- 1968
Struggles over Sardinian grazing land have long been a tradition in the interior of the island where shepherding is a main economic force. This violent tale of kidnapping, extortion and murder finds a family victimized by the abduction of their college-student son. The student's girlfriend runs into a stone wall of silence from the residents before she finally goes to the police. When property rights are signed over to the mastermind of the abduction, he orders himself to be kidnapped to collect on the insurance and property monies. A friend of the family uncovers the real estate scheme linked to the crime, as the family tries to get enough money to see their son returned safely. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franco Nero, Charlotte Rampling, (more)
- 1967
This bloody spaghetti western (filmed entirely in Spain) tells the tale of how an Indian (Burt Reynolds), whose entire tribe was slain by Anglo outlaws, gets gruesome revenge upon them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Nicoletta Machiavelli, (more)
- 1967
Paolo Giana Maria Volonte is a lonely teacher who learns that two of his friends have been murdered in this twisting crime drama. He discovers that the victims were the recipients of threatening, anonymous letters. Paolo falls for Louisa Irene Papas, the widow of one of the dead men. He finds out too late that she may have been an accomplice to the murder when he learns she may be having an affair with a local man of importance. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Irene Papas, (more)
- 1967
This drama examines the ethics of filmmaking as it chronicles the detached way in which a documentary maker exploits the misery of his subjects. It all begins with the seduction of another man's wife. He takes the woman to Bombay where he is filming opium addicts undergoing a rather extreme cure involving physical beatings. He then heads for Bali to chronicle the cruelty suffered deaf-mute prostitutes. Next, he goes to a Buddhist temple and tries to persuade a monk to light himself on fire. Back in India he cons a starving, deposed maharajah into eating bugs in exchange for canned food. The mistress is disgusted by the way her lover callously exploits and degrades these victims. She berates him, but still heads for war-torn Vietnam to catch some atrocities. The documentarist is excited when he learns the Viet Cong are planning to bomb a bar, and he hides his camera inside. The bomb goes off and most of the inhabitants are blown up. Later the delighted director retrieves the film. When he finds his lover dead inside the ruins, he orders his assistant to film his crying face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Leroy, Delia Boccardo, (more)
