A stranger and a bandit seek out a trio of playing cards that will lead them to hidden treasure.
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Tag Archives: Italy
Pagliacci (1948) Mario Costa, Tito Gobbi, Gina Lollobrigida, Onelia Fineschi, Drama, Musical

The fiery performance, conducted by Giuseppe Morelli with the Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra, knocks all recent digital efforts into a cocked hat. A few cinematic liberties seem permissible to me and this is surely one of the best films of an opera.
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L’Année sainte / Holy Year (1976) Jean Girault, Jean Gabin, Jean-Claude Brialy, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Comedy

Max, a master thief, is spending some time behind bars, having been captured by a determined and crafty police officer. He has hidden a sizable amount of gold in Italy and is patiently waiting to get out so he can retrieve it. His prison companion wants to get out now and get the gold. So they escape, dress as priests and fly off for Italy.
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Woman Times Seven (1967) Vittorio De Sica, Shirley MacLaine, Elspeth March, Peter Sellers, Comedy, Drama

Seven mini-stories of adultery: “Funeral Possession,” a wayward widow at her husband’s funeral; “Amateur Night,” angry wife becomes streetwalker out of revenge; “Two Against One,” seemingly prudish girl turns out otherwise; “Super Simone,” wife vainly attempts to divert her over-engrossed writer husband; “At the Opera,” a battle over a supposedly exclusive dress; “Suicides,” a death pact; “Snow,” would-be suitor is actually a private detective hired by jealous husband.
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Carambola (1974) Ferdinando Baldi, Paul L. Smith, Antonio Cantafora, Horst Frank, Comedy, Western

Coby is an ex-soldier and billiard champion. He and his friend Len accept the sum of 50,000 dollars to investigate the trafficking of arms across the Mexican border, but the pair come across a new revolutionary revolver.
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La luna / Luna (1979) Bernardo Bertolucci, Jill Clayburgh, Matthew Barry, Veronica Lazar, Renato Salvatori, Drama

Recently widowed American opera diva Caterina takes her teenaged son Joe with her on a long singing tour to Italy. Absorbed in her hectic work in various Verdi operas around Rome, Caterina is soon shocked to discover that her troubled and lonely son has become a heroin addict.
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Almost Human / Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974) Umberto Lenzi, Tomas Milian, Henry Silva, Laura Belli, Action, Crime, Thriller

A psychotic small-time criminal realizes that the everyday robberies, rapes and murders he commits aren’t making him all that much money, so he figures to hit the “big time” by kidnapping the daughter of a rich man.
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Tigers in Lipstick (1979) Luigi Zampa, Ursula Andress, Laura Antonelli, Sylvia Kristel, Comedy, Erotic

Eight short stories, four lovely actresses. Ursula Andress, Sylvia Kristel, Laura Antonelli and Monica Vitti appear in two stories each. Some stories are better than others, and which ones you like will depend on your individual taste.
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Army of Shadows / L’armée des ombres (1969) Jean-Pierre Melville, Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Drama, War

France, 1942, during the occupation. Philippe Gerbier, a civil engineer, is one of the French Resistance’s chiefs. Given away by a traitor, he is interned in a camp. He manages to escape, and joins his network at Marseilles, where he makes the traitor be executed…
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Histoire de Marie et Julien / The Story of Marie and Julien (2003) Jacques Rivette, Emmanuelle Béart, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Anne Brochet, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Julien lives alone with his cat. He dreams of Marie, and a few minutes later, he sees her on the street and makes a date. He asks her to move in with him, and she does. Her boyfriend is dead, the rest of her past a mystery.
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