Duccio Tessari and his films

Duccio Tessari is another of the prolific Italian directors, whose movies, sadly, I still have to explore a lot more. There are some I saw multiple times. But not all those I would like to watch.

My Son, the Hero (1962)
A peplum movie and I think the first movie to star Giuliano Gemma.

Secret of the Sphinx (1964)
An eurospy movie. I just found out about its existence.

A Pistol for Ringo (1965)

A classic spaghetti western with Gemma and Tessari's to be wife Lorella de Luca. But not my favorite. Too long, too clean shaven characters and too clean environment.

The Return of Ringo (1965)
The second Ringo is, on the other hand, the negative of the first and maybe therefore my favourite Tessari. This is an amazing spag with basically the same cast an crew of the first movie, but this time they are all much better.

Kiss Kiss - Bang Bang (1966)
And almost all of them returned for this spy movie, but I have never seen it. I used to think that Gemma's most frequent lady partner was Evelyn Stewart, but it's apparent that actually it was Nieves Navarro.

The Bastard (1968)
An Italian attempt to do a film noir probably, starring Gemma again with Rita Hayworth, Margaret Lee and Klaus Kinski. I have yet to see it.

Alive or Preferably Dead (1969)
On the other hand I almost pity I saw this. A really unfunny attempt to make a spaghetti western comedy. The movie looks like a TV movie, which really doesn't help.

Death Occured Last Night (1970)
And Giuliano Gemma is gone for a while. The first of Tessari's gialli, of which, unfortunately, I haven't seen anything. Frank Wolff stars. It's based on a book which I have, but still, I haven't read it.

The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
Another giallo that is now on Netflix, so I will probably watch it soon... Starring Helmut Berger.

Long Live Your Death (1971)
A spaghetti western that tries to be a sequel of The Mercenary and Companeros, and a remake of The Good The Bad and the Ugly at the same time. But it lacks basically everything that makes those movies great. Only Nero, Wallach and Fajardo stand out.

Forza G (1972)
A plane racing movie probably. Maybe the only film with both Anita Strindberg and Barbara Bouchet.

Tony Arzenta (1973)
Tessari's first poliziottesco and his first working with Alain Delon. A good movie, but I haven't seen it for a very long time. I guess the only thing I remember is Richard Conte.

The Heroes (1973)
I found out about this film only as I started writing this article. A war movie with Rod Taylor and Rod Steiger should be quite interesting. Also starring Gianni Garko, Claude Brasseur and Terry-Thomas.

Tough Guys (1974)
A really bizzare film. Blaxploitation made by Italians, co-starring Lino Ventura! The only available copy is unwatchable though.

Puzzle (1974)
Another giallo, this time with Luc Merenda and Senta Berger. Anita Strindberg appears for a while.

Zorro (1975)
Another of the zillion Zorro adaptations. This one was quite popular since the hero is played by Alain Delon.

Safari Express (1976)
Giuliano Gemma is back! But not in a western, but in an adventure movie, co-starring an ape, Ursula Andress and Jack Palance. The same year there was a similar movie called Africa Express, directed by Michele Lupo and starring the same cast...

Tex and the Lord of the Deep (1985)
And finally, Giuliano Gemma again in a western, this time an adaptation of a comic book The only Gemma and also only Tessari western I haven't seen.

Sergio Martino and his movies

Last time we had a look on the movies by the Italian cult filmmaker Umberto Lenzi. This time let's look on the filmography of Sergio Martino, another Italian cult filmmaker. Just like Lenzi, Martino did just every single genre. He was too young to make a peplum film, but maybe he wrote some of them. He begun with the mondo films, then made his name with gialli before stepping into the genres of police thrillers, sex comedies and in the 80's sci-fi action flicks. Martino's brother Luciano (1933-2013) was a producer, a head of the Dania company, and Sergio made most of his movies for him, usually casting Luciano's wife Edwige Fenech. Maybe that was also his break that forced him to do just everything and remaining as just one of the many genre directors, although he was definitely talented.

MONDO SEX (1969)
a.k.a. Mille peccati... nessuna virtù. One of the mondo movies that exploited different cultures and portrayed various countries as places full of criminal activities, drugs and perverted sex. I haven't watched any of them and I probably won't.

ARIZONA COLT RETURNS (1970)
Sergio's first scripted movie was a spaghetti western, using themes from various previous movies and making just a regular Anthony Steffen spag. Lots of action, lots of coolness, not much of plot. Co-starring Roberto Camardiel as not very funny sidekick, Marcella Michelangeli as the good girl, Rosalba Neri as the bad girl and Aldo Sambrell as the villain. The most memorable thing is the goofy title song by Bruno Nicolai. "I guess I've gotta get my gun, I guess I'v gotta shoot someone bang bang yeah yippee yippeayay..."

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (1971)
One of the best gialli combining the erotic drama Lenzi style and murder mystery Argento style, presenting Edwige Fenech with everything we love about her and putting her into a team with George Hilton and Ivan Rassimov. One of Martino's best.

THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL (1971)
His second giallo is good, but not great. I guess it's the story, that tries to imitate Psycho with following Ida Galli in the beginning and killing her after 30 minutes, then presenting new leads George Hilton and Anita Strindberg this time. And I can't choose - I'd love to spend more time with Strindberg, but also with Galli. Besides Galli, Strindberg and mostly Hilton we are also following the police and also the killer of course. Too many paths to follow. But in the end it's effective.

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK (1972)
They're coming to get you! Not a typical giallo, rather a horror movie with a giallo ending. If we didn't have enough of Edwige in Wardh, we have even more of her this time. She basically oesn't leave the screen. George Hilton plays just the second fiddle, although being credited as the first actor. We get Ivan Rassimov with very blue eyes, and two more giallo queens, Nieves Navarro and Marina Malfatti. The shining star is of course Edwige herself.

YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY (1972)
I wrote twice about this movie here, so I won't be writing much more than it's a good movie, this time Anita Strindberg being the lead and Edwige Fenech just a support.

TORSO (1973)
Very popular among horror movie fans, but I don't like it that much. The second half in the house is amazing, but the first part is boring. Yes, a lot of nude girls with big breasts, but I don't watch horror movies for that. 

THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS (1973)
Martino's first poliziottesco and second collaboration with Luc Merenda. The same year he also made his first sex comedy with Fenech. I haven't watched any of those movies.

SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR (1975)
A mix of poliziotteschi and gialli, this time starring Claudio Cassinelli. Not great, but good enough. The same year Martino did two poliziotteschi more, both starring Luc Merenda, Silent Action and Gambling City. I haven't watched any of them.

 
SEX WITH A SMILE (1976)
A sex comedy starring Fenech, Milian, Bouchet and other actors of Italian genre movies. And also starring Marty Feldman, which is odd. I won't watch it. Never.

MANNAJA (1977)
Martino's second and last western starring, surprisingly, Maurizio Merli, who rarely left the poliziesco genre. A good western from the late "twilight" era. John Steiner does a great villain.

THE SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (1978)
And Martino goes even more trashy with a cannibal movie, starring Ursula Andress, Stacy Keach and Claudio Cassinelli. I haven't watched it, I probably won't. 

THE BIG ALLIGATOR RIVER (1979)
More trashy horrors, this one and Island of the Fishmen, both starring Barbara Bach and Claudio Cassinelli. I haven't watched them and I probably won't.

SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS (1982)
After a series of sex comedies with Edwige Fenech Martino sort of returned to gialli, but this time covering under the pseudonym of Christian Plummer. In the 80's he suddenly begun to use americanized names, mostly Martin Dolman. This movie is not supposed to be good. There's again Claudio Cassinelli in the cast.

2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (1983)
A very trashy copy of Escape from New York. But Michael Sopkiw isn't Kurt Russell, George Eastman isn't Isaac Hayes and some midget isn't Ernest Borgnine. Boring cheap trash. 

DEVIL FISH (1984)
It seems like this clone of Jaws was co-directed by Martino and Lamberto Bava. Both made a movie with Sopkiw, who made just four of them, including this one.

HANDS OF STEEL (1986)  
And this is an Italian Terminator, starring Daniel Greene. Who's he, you're asking? Well, the VHS cover says that he's star measurable with Sylvester Stallone. The movie itself is a very trashy fun with George Eastman as a mean truck driver who loves armwrestling, John Saxon as the bad guy and Claudio Cassinelli again. Sadly he died in a helicopter accident during making this movie. 

UPPERCUT MAN (1988)
A sport movie starring Greene again with Ernest Borgnine and Giuliano Gemma. Probably the cast is better than the movie deserves.

 
CASABLANCA EXPRESS (1989)
A war movie starring son of Sean Connery and Donald Pleasence. I don't have anything to add.

THE SMILE OF THE FOX (1992)
Martino returned to gialli in the early 90's and made two movies with two hot girls of their time. In this one it's Debora Caprioglio, former girlfriend of Klaus Kinski and proprietor of huge breasts, in Craving Desire (93) it was Vittoria Belvedere, not so busty, but hotter than Caprioglio. In the second one is co-starring Serena Grandi, so I guess you won't be missing huge breasts at all.

THE FISHMEN AND THEIR QUEEN (1995)
After 15 years Martino returned to his 1979 horrors with Barbara Bach and made a third one. No one notable in the cast. Edwige Fenech was supposed to star, but refused.

MOZART IS A MURDERER (1999)
And this is the very last giallo Martino has made. After that he directed a few more movies, but they were all done for TV. So this would be the last (at least a bit) interesting Sergio Martino movie.

As you can see, his filmography is mostly interesting till 1977. After that it seems mostly mediocre at best. Some of the trash is funny, but not as good as his gialli. His westerns weren't bad either, and I need to watch more of his poliziotteschi.

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.