Claudia Cardinale Movies
Emerging in the wake of Sophia Loren's international success, Claudia Cardinale was originally touted as Italy's answer to Brigitte Bardot; while never attaining a measure of global stardom comparable to either performer, she nevertheless proved herself a highly capable actress, working with many of the most renowned filmmakers in world cinema. Born in Tunisia on April 15, 1939, Cardinale first attracted attention in 1957 after winning the "Most Beautiful Girl in Tunisia" contest; her prize was a trip to the Venice Film Festival, inspiring her to pursue a career in acting. After studying at Rome's Centro Sperimentale film school, she made her screen debut in 1958's Goha, followed by a larger role in Mario Monicelli's classic caper comedy I Soliti Ignoti that same year. In 1959 she was featured in Pietro Germi's Un Maledetto Imbroglio.Under the guidance of producer Franco Cristaldi (later to become her husband), Cardinale emerged as a major sex symbol; however, she also continued to appear with highly regarded filmmakers, including Abel Gance (The Battle of Austerlitz), Luchino Visconti (Rocco E I Suoi Fratelli), and Philippe de Broca (1962's Cartouche). In 1963, Cardinale received her widest exposure to date, playing herself -- the object of star Marcello Mastroianni's fantasies -- in Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2. That same year, she also appeared in Visconti's epic Il Gattopardo. Their combined success piqued Hollywood's interest, and in 1964 she co-starred in her first American production, Henry Hathaway's Circus World. She also appeared opposite Peter Sellers in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther.
Cardinale continued dividing her time between Hollywood and Europe for the remainder of the decade, appearing in diverse projects ranging from the 1965 Visconti war drama Vaghe Stelle dell'Orsa to the 1966 Richard Brooks Western The Professionals. In 1968, she also co-starred in the Sergio Leone classic Once Upon a Time in the West. However, with the 1969 Mikhail Kalatozov adventure La Tenda Rossa, Cardinale began appearing almost exclusively in European films, few of which were distributed in English-language markets. As a result, she was largely a memory when she resurfaced in the 1976 hit The Pink Panther Strikes Again. A year later, she also co-starred in the television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth. Cardinale's next high-profile international project was the 1982 Werner Herzog art-house hit Fitzcarraldo. She followed it with another miniseries, 1983's Princess Daisy, then again remained in Europe prior to the 1993 flop Son of the Pink Panther. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This family drama is the sequel to director Henri Verneuil's autobiographical film, Mayrig. It takes place some forty years after the end of the previous film. In the earlier film, a young man has moved with his family to Marseilles from Armenia and is adapting to his new country to the best of his ability. This tends to put him in conflict with his traditional Armenian family. Nonetheless, they are all hardworking and loving. Now, forty years later, the lead character (Richard Berry) has changed his name to Pierre Zakar, because it is easier for the French to pronounce and relate to. He has also become a very successful playwright. His aged parents (played by Omar Sharif and Claudia Cardinale) still live a modest existence under their original names in Marseilles. They have come to Paris for the premiere of their son's play. Conflict arises because Pierre, thinking to honor his parents by housing them in a five-star hotel, has affronted them by not inviting them into his home. He and his father speak some harsh words to one another, and the father dies before Pierre can tell him his true feelings. In order to repair his conscience, Pierre subsequently spends a lot of time with his mother and buys her a very posh house in her old neighborhood. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Omar Sharif, (more)
Fresh off of the international success of La Dolce Vita, master director Federico Fellini moved into the realm of self-reflexive autobiography with what is widely believed to be his finest and most personal work. Marcello Mastroianni delivers a brilliant performance as Fellini's alter ego Guido Anselmi, a film director overwhelmed by the large-scale production he has undertaken. He finds himself harangued by producers, his wife, and his mistress while he struggles to find the inspiration to finish his film. The stress plunges Guido into an interior world where fantasy and memory impinge on reality. Fellini jumbles narrative logic by freely cutting from flashbacks to dream sequences to the present until it becomes impossible to pry them apart, creating both a psychological portrait of Guido's interior world and the surrealistic, circus-like exterior world that came to be known as "Felliniesque." 8 1/2 won an Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, as well as the grand prize at the Moscow Film Festival, and was one of the most influential and commercially successful European art movies of the 1960s, inspiring such later films as Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979), Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), and even Lucio Fulci's Italian splatter film Un Gatto nel Cervello (1990). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1969
- PG
In this 1968 Italian production, Francesco Maselli directs this light-hearted and fast-paced caper comedy with Rock Hudson as New York City police captain Mike Harmon, who becomes involved with sex bomb Esmeralda Marini (Claudia Cardinale). Esmeralda, using the ploy that Harmon was an old friend of her father, convinces him to help her return some hot jewels to their former owners. Soon enough, Harmon and Esmeralda are jetting to Austria, where Harmon disables the victims' home-security system and sneaks the jewels back into their rightful place. But Esmeralda has tricked Harmon into replacing the real gems with fake ones, and now Harmon is a jet-set thief along with Esmeralda. Harmon, having gotten a taste of criminal high life, wants to split fifty-fifty with Esmeralda on the next heist. Esmeralda, however, wants to call it quits and get married. Harmon, doesn't see it that way, and Esmeralda, a one-man woman all the way, follows him as he heads off to his next nefarious adventure. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1987
- R
A married American actor (Peter Coyote) falls in love with his on-screen flame (Greta Scacchi) while filming an Italian biography of author Cesare Pavese. France's 1987 entry to the Cannes Film Festival, this was the first English-language film for director Diane Kurys. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote, Greta Scacchi, (more)
- 1975
This satirical comedy recounts a tale of love across class boundaries; the twist is that here a middle-class juror, Gabriella Sansoni (Claudia Cardinale), learns about love from the testimony of Tina Candela (Monica Vitti), a woman on trial for murder. It seems that Tina has found ecstasy in a masochistic fashion by being slapped around by her beloved husband Gino (Giancarlo Giannini). She is so persuasive in this regard that Gabriella lays out a plan to receive similar treatment from her man, Andrea (Vittorio Gassman). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
- 2002
- PG13
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Valentin (also known as And Now...Ladies and Gentleman) is directed by Claude Lelouch and features Jeremy Irons as Valentin, a criminal mastermind whose jewel-stealing business, despite having made him rich, does not offer him much room for personal growth. Hoping to find meaning for his existence, Valentin buys a boat and sets off on a one-man sailing trip around the world, with the police at his heels. At the same time, a burned-out jazz singer named Jane (Patricia Kaas) is in Morocco trying to forget an ill-fated love affair. Valentin, after being struck by a serious illness, makes an emergency landing on the Moroccan coast. Jane soon crosses paths with the suave con artist, and they begin a relationship. Valentin, filmed in France, England, and Morocco, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. The supporting cast of Valentin includes Xavier Lecoeur, Romula Walker, and Laura Mayne-Kerbrat. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, (more)
- 1990
In this painful melodrama, an aging mother (Claudia Cardinale) attempts to cope with the progressive deterioration of her grown son due to his drug addiction. At first only manipulative, in addition to stealing from her he eventually becomes abusive and violent, and she must take strong measures if she is to save her own life, much less his. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Giulia Boschi, (more)
- 1959
In this comedy, a bungling gang leader and his henchmen attempt to swipe a suitcase full of loot from a soccer pool. The task seems simple enough, but the gang suffers a variety of zany mishaps before the leader finally gets hold of the money. Just as he gets it, he is arrested by the police for jaywalking. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatori, (more)
- 1960
Directed by the comparatively unknown Mauro Bolognini, the Italian Bell' Antonio is distinguished by its screenplay, cowritten by directorial giant Pier Paolo Pasolini. Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale are happily married until she finds out he's impotent. It takes her a year to find this out, which ought to give an indication of how seriously we're supposed to take this film. Also risible is the fact that Mastrioanni bears the reputation of a fabulous lover, as do practically all the members of his family. Nonetheless, he stands by like a dummy when Cardinale's father forces her to annul the marriage and wed another. It's all nonsense, of course, but Pasolini and his collaborators weave their tale so persuasively that one forgives the film's utter lack of credibility. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1971
In this Italian comedy, Amedio (Alberto Sordi) is a telephone lineman who works in remote parts of Australia. Unfortunately, for this shy, homely Italian man, all of Australia is remote. He wants a wife, and arranges for one by mail. The woman he has chosen is Carmela (Claudia Cardinale), a very beautiful mature prostitute who seeks to retire from her profession. The picture he sent her to induce her to come to Australia wasn't of himself, but of his handsome buddy Giuseppe (Riccardo Garrone). The picture convinces her to come out, but when she arrives and meets Amedio, she says she won't go through with the marriage because she wants Giuseppe. How will he be able to satisfy Carmela and still marry her? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Mario Monicelli's classic crime comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (I Soliti Ignoti) features Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as a pair of thieves who head a group of criminals in a break-in attempt. Their plan involves digging an underground tunnel from an apartment that leads to a neighboring business and drilling their way inside. In addition to each of the burglars struggling with individual personal problems, the group must reassess their plans after they find themselves not in the store, but a different room of the apartment from which they started. Big Deal on Madonna Street is a spoof of Jules Dassin's caper classic Rififi. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1966
In this offbeat mixture of espionage and slapstick comedy, Arthur Vincenti (Alejandro Rey) is a scientist working on secret military projects for the United States government. Vincenti is becoming increasingly unstable as he works in solitude in a backwater swamp; his superiors fear that he might be going mad, so they arrange for a respected psychiatrist from New York, Dr. Bartholomew Snow (Rock Hudson), to meet with him on a regular basis. However, in order to keep Vincenti's whereabouts a secret, Snow is blindfolded before he's driven to his meetings with the scientist. When a group of enemy agents kidnaps Vincenti, Snow could be the only one who can help him; however, he can't track down his patient without wearing the blindfold. Prominent in the supporting cast are Claudia Cardinale, Jack Warden, and Guy Stockwell. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1977
A biker chick and her housewife friend go out & about. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1988
This children's drama centers around a funeral, questions of life after death, and the meaning of love. It tells the tale of two wealthy children, who have every thing but their parents' love, and their nanny. The nanny is instructed to take the kids to their uncle's funeral. There they ask questions about death. She gently explains that the dead go to heaven, a marvelous paradise where there is only love and light. The enchanted children begin pining to see this magical place. They begin experimenting with ways to get there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Sara Triulzi, (more)
Documentarian Les Blank, who filmed Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, trained his cameras on Herzog again, as the eccentric German filmmaker made his epic, Fitzcarraldo, in the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Herzog's production is in trouble right from the start. He begins filming with Jason Robards playing the title role, and Mick Jagger playing Fitzcarraldo's sidekick, Wilbur. With 40 percent of the film shot, Robards becomes ill and goes back to the states, where his doctor will not let him return. Because of the delay, Jagger, with album and tour commitments, is forced to quit the production. Thinking no one can fill the rock star's shoes, Herzog jettisons Jagger's role. He eventually casts his frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski as Fitzcarraldo and begins shooting again. Violent tribal disputes and unpredictable weather hinder the shoot, but the biggest obstacle is Herzog's own quixotic and dangerous determination to film one antique boat smashing down the Amazonian rapids, and the dragging of an identical boat over a mountain from one river to another. Blank interviews members of the cast and crew, including the impoverished Indian extras, and captures the troubles of the seemingly cursed production, but his interviews with Herzog are the focal point of the film. "If I abandon this project," Herzog explains at one point, "I would be a man without dreams, and I never want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project." Herzog later made his own documentary about Kinski, My Best Fiend, which adds to the lore of this infamously difficult shoot. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, (more)
Jean-Paul Belmondo romps his way through the role of 18th century French bandit chief Cartouche. At first robbing from everyone in sight (he has to -- he's head man of a Parisian crime syndicate) Cartouche is rechanneled into becoming a Gallic Robin Hood by beauteous gypsy Venus (Claudia Cardinale). In Highwayman fashion, Venus eventually sacrifices her own life to save Cartouche from harm. He vows to continue his activities to avenge her death, but still manages to have a riproaring good time doing so. Hilarious without being condescending, Cartouche was reissued under the completely inappropriate title Swords of Blood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1969
- R
- Add Certo, Certissimo, Anzi . . . Probabile to QueueAdd Certo, Certissimo, Anzi . . . Probabile to top of Queue
The literal translation of this title is Certain, Very Certain, As a Matter of Fact...Probable. This indeed was the title by which this trivial Italian comedy was known during its limited American release. The star is international glamour plate Claudia Cardinale, improbably cast as a telephone switchboard operator. It is believable that Cardinale is using her job as a means to trap a man for herself. When she is stood up by her first conquest, Cardinale teams with Catherine Spaak to romance and fleece eligible rich bachelors (and a few wealthy husbands) up and down the European continent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Catherine Spaak, (more)
- 1964
Filmed in Cinerama and Technicolor, Circus World may have drawn the crowds for various reasons -- not the least, perhaps, for the big names. John Wayne stars as circus owner Matt Masters, who takes his show to Europe hoping to save it from financial ruin. Accompanying Matt, is young Toni (Claudia Cardinale), whom Matt had raised since her aerialist mother Lili (Rita Hayworth) left them years before. Just before he departs from New York, Matt is reminded that Lili may be somewhere in Germany. Upon their arrival in Europe, much of the equipment is lost when their ship sinks in a Spanish port. Matt doesn't let that get the best of them, and he is soon up and running with the show, becoming a hit throughout Europe. Against Matt's wishes, Toni trains to become an aerialist like her mother. A quiet figure in the shadows proudly watches Toni rehearse her daring routines. The writing team of Ben Hecht, James Edward Grant and Julian Halevy adapted their screenplay from a story by Philip Yordan and Nicholas Ray. Though this was not a gunslinger role for Wayne, Matt Masters was not a far stretch. This could have been due to the fact that Wayne had previously worked on several projects with director Henry Hathaway and writers Hecht and Grant -- and the part was altered to suit him. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1978
- R
In this fast-paced action/drama, a downtrodden farmer turns to crime and quickly rises to prominence in the Sicilian mafia. Along the way, he learns the importance of political connections and of having legitimate businesses to funnel ill-gotten cash into. Determined to do away with the old and more violent ways of doing things, he lays the groundwork for his own doom. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giuliano Gemma, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1999
On the eve of her seventh birthday, little Amanda Meyer (Arlen Aguayo-Stewart) bears witness to the gory spectacle of her parents' murder. So traumatized is Amanda that she is struck mute, unable to communicate in any manner, though she does demonstrate affection towards her favorite doll. Though now under the care of her aunt and tutor Dr. Julia Kerbridge (Catherine Mary Stewart), Amanda is still not out of danger, thanks to sinister figures who intend to get their hands on her doll -- and to extract the valuable corporate secrets for which her parents were killed. Meanwhile, Julia begins to have her doubts about the sincerity of her handsome and convivial neighbor, Kevin Finney (Rob Lowe). Evidently inspired by the 1967 Audrey Hepburn vehicle Wait Until Dark, the made-for-cable Dead Silent debuted over the Lifetime channel on March 27, 2000 -- ironically the same night that ABC offered the premiere of the TV biopic The Audrey Hepburn Story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Catherine Stewart, (more)
- 1967
British director Alexander MacKendrick helmed this farcical romantic comedy set in Southern California. Carlo Cofield (Tony Curtis) is a footloose tourist who meets Laura Califatti (Claudia Cardinale) when she accidentally edges his car off the highway. Laura invites Carlo to her home; he seems interested in her, but discovers she's already involved with swimming pool magnate Rod Prescott (Robert Webber). The next day, Carlo hits the beach and nearly drowns in the ocean, until he's rescued by comely sky diver Malibu (Sharon Tate). Carlo blackmails Rod into giving him a job so he can stay in California and pursue a romance with Malibu, but he soon finds himself torn between her and Laura. Don't Make Waves also features a theme song by The Byrds. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1994
This fluffy French romantic comedy chronicles the love lives of several lovers and relatives. Margeau has just arrived in Paris from New York. Twenty years before, she left her husband, a painter and many years her senior and her daughter Jess, who now sells classic cars with her partner the clumsy Mario. Jess is recovering from an accidental overdose on sleeping pills. Her hospitalization brought Margeau home. Jess has a young boyfriend, a musician not terribly interested in sex, and a 17 year old son from her ex- husband Pierre. A restaurateur Pierre now lives with a very young African student. The hospital shrink helping Jess ends up having an affair with her son. Before the film ends and Margeau returns home, Jess comes close to death three more times. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Carole Laure, (more)
- 1979
- PG
The original British version of Escape to Athena ran 125 minutes; American prints were judiciously cut to 101 minutes, emphasizing the action content and neutralizing the duller dialogue sequences. Roger Moore stars as Major Otto Hecht, an anti-Nazi German who presides over a World War II POW camp. The prisoners, played by such diverse types as Elliott Gould, David Niven, and Sonny Bono, plan an escape with a group of Greek partisans (headed by Telly Savalas). It's not that the POWs are dissatisfied with life behind barbed wire -- it's just that they've been coerced into rescuing valuable art treasures from the Nazis, and there's a possibility of turning a profit! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, (more)
