Queens of the Italian Cinema - CC strikes back

 Yesterday was her birthday, so a few images of her to celebrate ;)

Top Lee Marvin Movies

Lee Marvin was king. I dig him since I first saw him... in what? In The Professionals? Someting else? I don't know. His cool silent appearance, his deep voice, when he appeared on screen he shined. Mostly. It's true that in some of his earlier parts where he just sat by a table and played cards or something he could have been easily missed - he had no lines or ust a single word, no close-ups, the focus was on somebody like Audie Murphy or Rock Hudson. I don't like Murphy - if he would have ever met Marvin as a co-star nobody would be paying attention to him. Randolph Scott managed to do better with Marvin having him several times as his antagonist. I still have to watch Seven Men from Now - because the other two Boetticher-Scott movies were absolutely boring... Even though they had Richard Boone, Henry Silva, Lee Van Cleef or James Coburn.

Well, when Marvin made his great in 1953 with The Big Heat where he absolutely outshone Glenn Ford, he began to get bigger and bigger parts until finally become a star with 1965's Cat Ballou. I still have to watch this one... Saying that, I unfortunately haven't watched so many Marvin movies that I would like to watch. Reasons unknown. I just know that I turned off Death Hunt with Charles Bronson twice. Perhaps it says something...
But here are my top 5 Marvin's movies:

The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Absolute classic with a cast that could make the screen explode. Almost everybody in this movie is one of the toughest Hollywood had to offer at the time - and the rest are some of the greatest actors. We get Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Robert Ryan, Robert Webber, Telly Savalas, Clint Walker, John Cassavetes, George Kennedy, Donald Sutherland and of course Marvin who is above everybody being absolutely convincing in his part, the probably best he could ever get. Love this movie.

Point Blank (1967)
The same year, something absolutely different, but the same iconic. Marvin says probably less than 50 words in the entire movie, but still remains the most interesting person on screen. I absolutely love the atmosphere, the locations, the photography, the other performances (particularly Carroll O'Connor), the style. A perfect example of 60's neo-noir.

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
This is of course a Spencer Tracy vehicle, but a great one. I saw just a few Spencer Tracy movies, but tthey were all magnificent - especially Judgment at Nuremberg. This is like a modern western and a great one. Marvin is one of Robert Ryan's thugs - the other one being Ernest Borgnine. Directed by John Sturges who later made the great The Magnificent Seven and the magnificent The Great Escape - almost a pity that Marvin, Borgnine and Ryan aren't in the western. Marvin would make great both Chris and Britt, Borgnine would make great Harry and Ryan would make great Lee. But actually the cast of The Magnificent Seven is perfect so there's really no pity for these three.

The Professionals (1966)
More of a Burt Lancaster vehicle, where Marvin and Ryan did sort of their own Magnificent Seven, but only four with Lancaster and Woody Strode. Cast includes Jack Palance as a sort of a villain who isn't really bad, and Claudia Cardinale who is hot as hell in the hot desert. I hate Lancaster's teeth, but apart from him is the movie good. The setting of the Mexican revolution is more typical for Italian westerns than American, so that makes this also interesting.

Prime Cut (1972)
An exploitation flick surprisingly starring two Oscar winners (the other being Gene Hackman), together with very young, pretty (and nude) Sissy Spacek, the huge Gregory Walcott or the foxy (and almost nude) Angel Tompkins. Not a great movie, but a very entertaining one with cool groovy Lalo Schifrin score and great leads of the coolest of the cool Marvin and the baddest of the bad Hackman.

A few other Marvin movies that are interesting or amusing:

The Big Heat (1953)
This noir starring the flat Glenn Ford isn't special except for Marvin who does a great villain.

The Big Red One (1980)
An epic war movie that had smaller budget than it deserved. Marvin is great, and his troop contain Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill too! Good movie.

Delta Force (1986)
Chuck Norris kicks ass of Arabian terrorist harming innocent Jews in this Menahem Golan Cannon flick. Lee Marvin is Chuck's commander, he unfortunately hasn't got much to do in his last part. But a fun flick.

And a few movies, that I haven't watched and I want to:

Attack (1956)
A Robert Aldrich war flick with Jack Palance and Lee Marvin must be something..

Cat Ballou (1965)
I was avoiding this, but I'll give it a chance.

The Killers (1964)
Lee Marvin plus Don Siegel. It looks rather talky, but I'll give it a watch anyway. Still don't know when.

Hell in the Pacific (1968)
A movie with only Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune? Must be great!

Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
Lee Marvin against crazy conductor Ernest Borgnine, directed by Aldrich again! Why the hell didn't I watch it yet?

Spike's gang (1974)
Lee Marvin plays in western shot in Spain! Pity he never did a spaghetti western...

Canicule (1984)
a.k.a. Dog's Day. French thriller starring Marvin instead of French regulars like Ventura or Delon! Looks really crazy... Co-starring Jean Carmet and Miou-Miou.

Queens of the Italian Cinema

Let's have Claudia Cardinale again for today.

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.

Cowgirls

Bonus for my western special - actresses of westerns.

Ann-Margret (Stagecoach /1966/, The Train Robbers, The Villain)

 

 Ursula Andress (4 from Texas, Red Sun)

 Brigitte Bardot (Viva Maria, Shalako, The Legend of the Frenchie King)

 

Claudia Cardinale (The Professionals, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Legend of the Frenchie King)

Faye Dunaway (Doc, Little Big Man)

Raquel Welch (Bandolero!, 100 Rifles, Hannie Caulder)