The French De Niro - Lino Ventura

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who love Lino Ventura and those who don't know him.
Lino Ventura unfortunately isn't a household name in English speaking countries. In most of the world, stars of French movies are just as popular as their Hollywood colleagues. But the indolence of English speaking audience (sorry, guys) to watch foreign movies, either subtitled or dubbed (you would get easily used to it) means that one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Alain Delon, is almost absolutely unknown in the USA. The same goes for stars like Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo or Lino Ventura.

Ventura was an Italian but he lived in France for most of his life. He began to star in French movies in 1950's although being a non-actor. He played a part of Italian gangster in Paris in the Jean Gabin vehicle called "Touchez pas au grisbi" in 1954. He began to play bad guys, but with 1960's he changed sides to the heroes. His heroes were silent, strong types, usually in some trouble they didn't cause. He made spy movies, police movies, dramas.
I've chosen a few interesting movies that I like.

GREED IN THE SUN (1964)
This movie is originally called "100.000 dollars au soleil" and it stars Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo. They are truck drivers in North Africa, friends, but one day Belmondo steals a truck with an expensive load. Ventura goes to pursue him. A modern truck western directed by a prolific French director Henri Verneuil.

THE DICTATORS GUNS (1965)
Ventura against gun stealers on the sea. The movie was shot in a huge water tank. You can't say that when watching the movie.

THE LAST ADVENTURE (1967)
Ventura teams up with Delon and they are friends for life in this sad adventure movie about fullfilling dreams. Rather episodic, but strong, with great performances by both stars and Joanna Shimkus, later Mrs. Sidney Poitier.

THE SICILIAN CLAN (1969)
Ventura again with Delon, again with Verneuil and for the last time with Gabin. A great movie based on a book by Auguste Le Breton. Perfect music by Ennio Morricone. Gabin is the mafia boss in France, Delon is a very wanted criminal and Ventura is the cop on his track.

ARMY OF SHADOWS (1969)
A very depressive movie about the French resistance during WWII. Nazis are powerful, resistance is falling apart. In my book the best movie by Jean-Pierre Melville.

THE VALACHI PAPERS (1972)
This is a Bronson movie, where Ventura played the part of the legendary boss Vito Genovese. I have to rewatch it as I don't remember it much except for liking it. In my book the best Terence Young movie.

THE FRENCH DETECTIVE (1975)
Lino is a cop again, struggling with powerful politicians and taking care of his young hot-headed colleague Patrick Dewaere. A good movie.

THE MEDUSA TOUCH (1978)
The only horror starring Ventura. He didn't like it, so he refused other English spoken parts like in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is dubbed by someone else actually. Ventura is a cop again investigating the attempted murder of a well known writer John Morlar (Richard Burton), who seems more and more to be a very strange guy. Ventura hated it, critics hated it, but it's actually very good.

GARDE A VUE (1981)
A little room, three man. A comissioner, a policeman and a suspect. The comissioner is Ventura, the suspect is Michel Serrault. Really a good movie about guilt and confession.

ESPION LEVE TOI (1982)
Another spy movie starring Ventura, together with Michel Piccoli and Bruno Cremer. Who is the hunter and why does he hunt? Again great score by Morricone.

Movies I haven't seen but that should be interesting:

The Wise Guys (1966)
Ventura teamed with Bourvil in a movie by Robert Enrico.

Second Breath (1966)
Ventura in a Melville crime movie.

Three Tough Guys (1974)
Italian blaxploitation starring Ventura, Isaac Hayes and Fred Williamson!

Illustrious Corpses (1976)
Political crime drama from the good old Italy. Co-starring Max Von Sydow.

Butterfly on the Shoulder (1978)
Another spy movie directed by Jacques Deray this time.

Jigsaw (1979)
Ventura in Canada with Angie Dickinson and Donald Pleasence!

Les Miserables (1982)
An adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic novel.

The Ruffian (1983)
Ventura + Claudia Cardinale + Morricone, in Canadian nature again.

Morricone Goes West

I was just thinking, how many westerns do actually have a score by Ennio Morricone? So I made the following list:

1) Gunfght at Red Sands (1963, Blasco)
2) Bullets Don't Argue (1964, Caiano)
3) A Fistful of Dollars (1964, Leone)
4) A Pistol for Ringo (1965, Tessari)
5) The Return of Ringo (1965, Tessari)
6) For a Few Dollars More (1965, Leone)
7) Navajo Joe (1966, Corbucci)
8) The Hills Run Red (1966, Lizzani)
9) 7 Guns for the MacGregors (1966, Giraldi)
10) The Big Gundown (1966, Sollima)
11) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Leone)
12) 7 Women for the MacGregors (1967, Giraldi)
13) Face to Face (1967, Sollima)
14) Death Rides a Horse (1967, Petroni)
15) The Hellbenders (1967, Corbucci)
16) Guns For San Sebastian (1967, Verneuil)
17) And For a Roof a Sky Full of Stars (1968, Petroni)
18) The Mercenary (1968, Corbucci)
19) The Great Silence (1968, Corbucci)
20) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Leone)
21) Tepepa (1969, Petroni)
22) The Five Man Army (1969, Zingarelli/Taylor)
23) Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970, Siegel)
24) Companeros (1970, Corbucci)
25) A Fistful of Dynamite (1971, Leone)
26) Life is Tough, eh, Providence? (1972, Petroni)
27) What Are We Doing in the Middle of this Revolution? (1972, Corbucci)
28) Sonny and Jed (1972, Corbucci)
29) My Name is Nobody (1973, Valerii)
30) Here We Go Again, Eh, Providence? (1974, De Martino)
31) A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975, Damiani)
32) Buddy Goes West (1981, Lupo)
33) The Hateful Eight (2015, Tarantino)

Tracks from his westerns were used in following westerns (only those I know about):
Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
This Man Can't Die (1968)
I'll Sell My Skin Dearly (1968)
There's A Noose Waiting For You, Trinity! (1972)
Django Unchained (2012)

The 68 ones usually use one or two tracks from Bullets Don't Argue, sometimes also a few tracks from A Fistful of Dollars. The 1972 movie gives Morricone a credit for soundtrack, but it recycles a score from The Hellbenders and also from Tepepa. Django Unchained is a Tarantino movie, so it uses stuff from anything.

Five less known Clint Eastwood movies

Clint Eastwood is, of course, the living legend of the American cinema. And yes, his fans know all of his movies, love all of them and they will say, that no one of Clint's movies are less known. But when generally speaking of Mr. Eastwood's career, the always remembered movies are the Sergio Leone trilogy, Dirty Harry series, his awarded ones and some of the newer stuff. These five movies, that I particularly like, are kind of in shadow of the classics.

TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA (1970)
When you want to name an Eastwood western, you'll probably name The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Unforgiven or The Outlaw Josey Wales. This one is probably my favorite of the rest, which is strange, sice I haven't seen it for ages. I must fix it. Anyway, it has the great leading duo of Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine, the always interesting setting of French intervention in Mexico, the music by Ennio Morricone himself and directing by the great Don Siegel, one of my favorite American directors. It's rather talky than action-packed, but the movie never drags and is entertaining. Hell, I need to watch it again.

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971)
Clint's directorial debut is not his most famous movie. But it's a good one. It of course stands on the performance of Jessica Walter, who plays the psychotic girl, that stalks the DJ played by Eastwood. Clint is always Clint, but here he is weaker than in his other movies. He's just a playboy, not the tough guy. Therefore I don't like the way it ends. But it's not that bad ending.

THE GAUNTLET (1977)
When I saw this one for the first time, I hated it. Second time I started to appreciate it. Everything can't be of Dirty Harry quality, right? I guess I saw it at the same time as Where Eagles Dare, which is, of course, brilliant. The Gauntlet is far from brilliant, but it's entertaining. Lots of it based on the chemistry between Eastwood and Sondra Locke. Actually, apart from Every Which Way But Loose and other movies, in The Gauntlet and Sudden Impact I like her performance. It is silly, it has quite non fitting score (but it is actually great), but if you want a comic book Clint Eastwood movie, take this one.

BRONCO BILLY (1980)
Nice drama, not an action packed western comedy, that maybe some of the audience expected. Little more feelings, very nostalgic, an unusually light movie for Eastwood. Plus there's everybody, who appeared in all of his movies through the 70's - Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Sam Bottoms, Walter Barnes, Dan Vadis and many others. Really a good one, much better than the monkey comedies Clint made at the same time.

HEARTBREAK RIDGE (1986)
Partly an army comedy, partly a drama about middle age. The army parts are hilarious, lots of great lines from the beginning. Then the movie starts to drag a little and the battle ending isn't very good, but the dialogue from the first part saves it. I rate it maybe higher than it deserves, so I would give the prick the satisfaction.

Those were my five picks. There are a few more relatively less known movies, but some of them I haven't seen. The Beguiled by Don Siegel for example, that looks interesting. They remade it. Oh, God, why? It's just sequels and remakes. Nothing new... Eastwood is an exception.

The Bloodthirsty Movie Not-So-Much Marathon

I'm not much into movie marathons. It always ends the same way. I never watch everything I have planned. Sometimes I fall off right after the first movie. Now I had a day and a half, so I thought I would take the opportunity to watch some of the poliziotteschi movies. Something with Maurizio Merli, something with Luc Merenda, something with somebody else. But I'm still in my giallo mood, and the truth is, that I usually get tired of the genre clichés pretty soon. How many movies of one genre I would watch in a row? Two, maybe three? With the poliziotteschi being pretty repetitive?
So I decided to change the genres and watch them in this order: a poliziottesco, a giallo and a spaghetti western. So I hoped I would go back to my beloved genre. I hoped to make three rounds, that means nine movies. Well, I watched six, from those only one western, that I have already seen. But actually pretty long time ago.
I had to make some pauses during the movies, so they can appear longer than they are.

WEDNESDAY 2:40 pm
FROM CORLEONE TO BROOKLYN

Maurizio Merli is the cop, Umberto Lenzi directs. This is gonna be a violent ride! Venantino Venantini is the chief policeman? Either he is a traitor, or he dies soon. Well, he survived it and is clean. Weird... The girl was just shot. No rape? No burning? No torture? Is this really a Lenzi movie? Ah, Laura Belli is Merli's ex-wife. She was kidnapped and brutally killed in The Execution Squad. The same in Lenzi's Almost Human. And don't forget the poliziotteschi rule no.1: When the cop has a wife, she dies. Wait, she survived without a scratch? Umberto, is that really you? Well, the rest is entertaining, but far from great. Pity they didn't show us the way back to Italy, with the boss it could have been interesting.

4:50 pm
CAT O'NINE TAILS

Dario Argento's The Bird with Crystal Plumage was great, Deep Red had its flaws but also excellent sequences, Tenebre was kind of  predictable. What about this? Interesting, a science laboratory. Well, I suddenly need a beer. I could use it even for the other movies. Tomorrow is a public holiday and the shop might be closed. Ok, Dario, see you soon. Well, I could be buying me some J&B whiskey, I've seen a lot of them in the previous movie and some also in this one already. But I'll stick with the beer.
After the shopping I made myself a dinner and went back to watch it to the end. It's kind of long. The Morricone theme is overused. Chromosome XYY would make you an ultra-male idiot and not a criminal? I guess there wasn't much knowledge about this in 1971. The contest who says more insults without stopping looks funny, I might try it someday. The thief character is actually my favorite in the movie. Second is of course the blind man. Horst Frank is my suspect number one. Yes, just because he's always the villain. Werner Pochath plays his lover. Of course he is also the villain in each and every of his movies. Are they the murderers?

8:25 pm
BEN AND CHARLIE 

Cold beer, crackers, salted peanuts and here we go with our western. Haven't seen it for some nine years. The card game with eight aces is splendid. Marisa Mell doesn't add only beauty, but also some depth in the movie. I guess this is my favourite Gemma performance. Actually there are just a few movies in that I hate him. But these I have seen first. Day of Anger, Even Angels Eat Beans, A Pistol for Ringo... Then in the others I started to like him. Ok, Nello Pazzafini and Giuliano Gemma in the same movie always mean a fistfight. Wait, in Wanted Pazzafini played a priest! Maybe he was a wrestling priest? I don't know. But the movie is as good as I remembered it.

10:25 pm
SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR

Claudio Cassinelli is the man. Even though he looks like John Lennon. Oh, the killer has his face visible! Why not, I don't watch this as a giallo, and it isn't a giallo. And we cannot see all of his face, since he's wearing sunglasses. The girls aren't very pretty in this one. Is that a Sergio Martino movie? Never mind, it's good and entertaining enough. Mel Ferrer is really just a police chief? They cast a Hollywood star in such a flat part? Well, I don't like the music. And the guy who rolls on the top of his head during the car chase. Now the killer tries to kill Claudio on a rollercoaster! That's a great scene. It continues with a chase in the subway. Perfect. The killer with sunglasses is back. What do they watch in a cinema? Yes, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key. Good idea for the upcoming giallo. But I'm already pretty tired and also a bit drunk by the beer. Leave it till tomorrow.

THURSDAY
Well, I'm one of the people who get up pretty early (although I consider getting up before 8am a crime) and go to bed also early (usually around 11pm). So I woke up at 8 am, got up at 9 and started to watch the movie at 10.

10:00 am
YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY

So many bottles of J&B! I should have take one for myself in the store. If I would have played a drinking game with spotting the bottles, I would be drunk after the first 30 minutes. That would mean I wouldn't see Edwige Fenech in this one! But I would see all of Daniela Giordano's part. She wasn't a good actress, but she was pretty, so I was sorry she died so soon. Waiting for Edwige is not so long, when you have Anita Strindberg around. She's not hot here, but she shows her acting abilities and she's great! Luigi Pistilli as well. Finally, Edwige! No bra under her shirt, that's my girl. Wait, she has brain this time! She's witty and self-confident, unlike her previous gialli. Maybe it's the hairstyle. Where the hell is Ivan Rassimov? I blinked and missed him. The lesbian scene with Edwige and Anita is not that hot, but it doesn't matter. Interesting, it's over one hour of the movie and we see Edwige's nipples for the very first time. But wait. A close-up of Edwige's breasts! I could watch that shot all my life. Ehm. Well, everyone in this movie is twisted. Even the cat. Maybe more than anybody.

Well I wanted to watch a spaghetti western, but first I made myself a lunch and then I wasn't in the mood to continue watching movies. And when it came, I found out I don't have a western I would like to watch now. So I choose a poliziottesco instead.

3:30 pm (a long break)
KIDNAP SYNDICATE

Luc Merenda is not a good actor but a sympathetic fella, yes, he is. I believe he was sexy for the ladies. Vittorio Caprioli is my favourite thing in Fernando Di Leo's movies. He's always so funny. The boys were kidnapped right in the beginning! Of  course, the rich ones are bitches. In Suspicious Death there were writings on walls like "Let the fascists rule", this one is far left wing. Why always an extreme political view? But we can feel with Merenda. The first half with waiting was actually more powerful than the action packed second half. Kill them all, Luc! Yeah! And especially the bastard in the brown suit!

And that's it. I'm tired of watching movies for a few days now. I will have the mood for movies when I won't have time to watch them. So it goes.