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.

Umberto Lenzi and his movies

This Italian director is a cult name, however he ain't one of my favourites. Still, if you are a fan of Italian cult cinema, you need to watch his movies. He made so many that it's impossible to watch all of them. Lots of them are probably not worth watching, especially the early ones. He worked since 1958 till early 1990's and he did just every genre you could think of. Adventure movies, spy movies, crime movies, horror movies, westerns, gialli, zombie films, cannibal films, sword and sandals, comedies, sex comedies, war movies... just everything. The genre he was at closest to became its master were the poliziotteschi, but he also made the first cannibal movie and did a few gialli before Argento made them famous. Let's take a brief look on a few of his notable movies.

SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963)

I haven't seen this one yet. The original title is Zorro contro Maciste. Peplum meets Zorro, great! Possibly a dull movie with the muscleman Alan Steel / Sergio Ciani and with Pierre Brice as Zorro, the hero from the Winnetou movies. I will probably write something on them too.

SANDOKAN THE GREAT (1963)

Before Sergio Sollima made his famous TV series about Sandokan with Kabir Bedi, there were two series of movies in the early 60's, one by Umberto Lenzi and one by Luigi Capuano. Lenzi had Steve Reeves as the titular hero, and therefore more money and more fame. I will probably watch it someday, but I will be definitely missing the brilliant song by De Angelis brothers.

THE LAST GLADIATOR (1964)

One of many peplum films, also called sword and sandals movies. This one stars Richard Harrison and not Steve Reeves, the biggest star of the genre.

SUPERSEVEN CALLS CAIRO (1965)

From adventure movies to spy movies, this 007 clone is starring someone called Roger Browne. There's Rosalba Neri in it, but probably in a minor part.

KRIMINAL (1966)

A comic book movie, finally something I've seen. Glenn Saxson, a Dutch actor, is something between masked thief and James Bond. Sometimes entertaining, sometimes boring, not very notable movie by Lenzi. But he appears himself for a while in a silent part.

DESERT COMMANDOS (1967)

First of the subgenre "macaroni combat", popular in the late 60's in Italy. The best of those movies was made 10 years after the main wave, it's of course Castellari's Inglorious Bastards. I haven't seen any other movie of this genre, just beginnings of a few of them, and I found the rest very boring. So this one is probably one of those Lenzi movies I will skip. But he introduced the genre to Italy.

ALL OUT (1968)

A spaghetti western, one of his two, both starring John Ireland. The other one is A Colt for Hundred Coffins. This one is slightly better, but none of them is really good. Lenzi didn't like the westerns very much. This one has both the greatest Spanish spaghetti western villains, Fernando Sancho and Eduardo Fajardo, but unfortunately they don't share any scene together.

PARANOIA (1969)

First of his gialli with Carroll Baker, made in the vein of The Sweet Body of Deborah. I haven't watched it, and since I wasn't a fan of the Deborah movie and I'm not a huge fan of Ms. Baker, I won't probably watch this or the following movies, A Quiet Place to Kill (1970) and So Sweet, So Perverse (1970), very soon. There is a title confusion - this movie was originally called Orgasmo in Italy and Paranoia in the U.S., and then came a Lenzi movie with Baker called Paranoia in Italy and A Quiet Place to Kill in the U.S. Lenzi has also made another giallo with Baker called A Knife of Ice (1972), but this one looks more in the vein of the Argento movies, it has Ida Galli and Eduardo Fajardo. I'll give it a chance. To add more confusion, there's a Lenzi giallo from 1971 called An Ideal Place to Kill, this time starring the very young Ornella Muti.

SEVEN BLOODSTAINED ORCHIDS (1972)

I still haven't seen this giallo classic, and the reason are probably the lead actors. It's great to have Marisa Mell and Marina Malfatti as the victims, it's great to have Bruno Corazzari in one of the parts, but the leads are played by Antonio Sabato and Uschi Glas. I hate Sabato and I don't care about Glas. I'll give it a chance someday definitely.

THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER (1972)

The very first of the cannibal movies, later made famous by Ruggero Deodato. I'm not a big fan of cannibals or zombies, so I haven't watched it and probably won't. It has Ivan Rassimov, he is cool.

ALMOST HUMAN (1974)

Not the first Lenzi's eurocrime, that was Gang War in Milan from the previous year (with that asshole Sabato and with Mell), but probably his very best one. Tomas Milian shines as a ruthless mad criminal who would do just anything and when someone bothers him, he kills him. It's so easy, isn't it? Sometimes there was too much violence, but it didn't matter that much. Henry Silva is not a good choice for the policeman, but he was a replacement for someone else. (Lenzi claims it was Richard Conte who died, but that happened in 1975, after the movie was finished.)

EYEBALL (1975)

The last of Lenzi's gialli (the only one I didn't mention was Spasmo from the previous year), probably the most trashy one, but a very funny one. Especially the tourists are really funny. Stupid, bloody and very entertaining.

SYNDICATE SADISTS (1975)

Tomas Milian is Rambo! Yes, his character is called that way, but he's more of a Clint Eastwood loner. Not the best eurocrime, but an entertaining movie nevertheless.

VIOLENT NAPLES (1976)

Lenzi took over the second part of the inspector Betti trilogy with Maurizio Merli - the other parts were directed by Marino Girolami (credited as Franco Martinelli for some reason). Co-starring John Saxon and Barry Sullivan, very violent, action-packed eurocrime, but one of the better ones.

ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (1976)

Most people love it. It's violent, brutal, dirty, it has Merli, Milian and Arthur Kennedy. I didn't like it. Too episodic, too autotelic. Ten minutes of gangrape and then just Merli arrives, shoots everybody and it's done? Why did we watch it? For the naked girl? I disdain the scene. Ivan Rassimov also appears, but his part is brief and useless. There is another part called The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (1977), again with Merli and Milian (but in another part) and with John Saxon too. Lenzi did also From Corleone to Brooklyn with Merli in 1979.

FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP (1976)

I just mention it because it's the first movie with the popular character of Monnezza played by Tomas Milian. Lenzi did another one with him, Brothers Till We Die (1978) and Milian did another one, Destruction Force (1977), but this time with Stelvio Massi, which lead to a clash between Lenzi and Milian. I will surely watch this one, it has also Henry Silva, Claudio Cassinelli, Nicoletta Machiavelli and many other character actors.

THE GREATEST BATTLE (1978)

Lenzi probably tried to make his own A Bridge Too Far, so he had many stars in this one - Henry Fonda, Van Johnson, Stacy Keach, Helmut Berger, John Huston, Ray Lovelock, Giuliano Gemma, Ida Galli, Edwige Fenech and Orson Welles as the narrator. I will definitely watch it someday. But it's not very popular one.

NIGHTMARE CITY (1980)

Fulci did Zombi 2, Lenzi had to do his own zombie movie. But he objected that they are not zombies, they are "infected-a peeeopleee!" He wouldn't be very pleased with the Czech DVD title - "The Big Attack of the Zombies". In the movie stars Hugo Stiglitz, who is now most known because of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and the character called after him. I haven't watched this.

CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)

Also known as The Women from the Deep River, one of Lenzi's cannibal movies of the 1980's. I guess my stomach doesn't want me to watch this. Co-starring the Czechoslovakian actress Zora Kesslerová (credited as Zora Kerowa).


And that's probably it. The movies he did afterwards are not very famous, not very interesting. Some of them he signed as "Humphrey Humphreys".What a stupid name. He made a few war movies, a few horrors, a few comedies. But he is, and will be most remembered for the stuff I listed above.

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.