76% (2) The 10th Victim 92 min, Not Rated, [Action, Sci-Fi] [Elio Petri] [20 Dec 1965]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, Rotten Tomatoes: 86%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Elsa Martinelli, Marcello Mastroianni, Salvo Randone, Ursula Andress
Writer: Robert Sheckley (story "The Seventh Victim"), Tonino Guerra (screenplay), Giorgio Salvioni (screenplay), Ennio Flaiano (screenplay), Elio Petri (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Italian, English Country: Italy, France
Plot: A campy futuristic tale where people hunt one another for sport. In this film, Victim and Hunter run around Italy trying to score a kill in front of the movie crews they arranged so they could make commercials from the footage.
Rotten Tomatoes: Based on an interesting plot from a novel by Robert Sheckley, this movie features tongue-in-cheek performances by Andress and Mastroianni, which are responsible for its status as a minor cult favorite. Set in the 21st century, this science fiction movie depicts a society in which population control is facilitated by the use of legalized murder. The society plays an assassination game for fun, in which the last person left alive is the winner. The movie is made for entertainment, but there are some sexual situations.
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69% (2) Hatari! 157 min, Approved, [Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance] [Howard Hawks] [19 Jun 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.
Actors: Elsa Martinelli, Hardy Krüger, John Wayne, Red Buttons
Writer: Leigh Brackett (screenplay), Harry Kurnitz (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Swahili Country: USA
Plot: Sean Mercer (played by John Wayne) runs a business in East Africa. He and his team capture wild animals for zoos. It is dangerous work - on of his men almost dies after being gored by a rhino. He accepts a request from a photographer to join his business and capture their experiences but is very surprised, and bit inconvenienced, when the photographer turns out to be a woman. However, over time he grows fond of her. Meanwhile, plans to capture certain animals lead to all sorts of plans and adventures.
Rotten Tomatoes: Hatari! is Swahili for "danger"--and also the word for action, adventure and broad comedy in this two-fisted Howard Hawks effort. John Wayne stars as the head of a daring Tanganyka-based group which captures wild animals on behalf of the world's zoos. Hardy Kruger, Gérard Blain and Red Buttons are members of Wayne's men-only contingent, all of whom are reduced to jello when the curvaceous Elsa Martinelli enters the scene. In tried and true Howard Hawks fashion, Martinelli quickly becomes "one of the guys," though Wayne apparently can't say two words to her without sparking an argument. The second half of this amazingly long (159 minute) film concerns the care and maintenance of a baby elephant; the barely credible finale is devoted to a comic pachyderm stampede down an urban African street, ending literally at the foot of Martinelli's bed. The other scene worth mentioning involves comedy-relief Red Buttons' efforts to create a fireworks-powered animal trap. Not to be taken seriously for a minute, Hatari is attractively packaged and neatly tied up with a danceable-pranceable theme song by Henry Mancini. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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31% (2) The V.I.P.s 119 min, Not Rated, [Drama] [Anthony Asquith] [19 Sep 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 63%, Rotten Tomatoes: 0%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.
Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Elsa Martinelli, Louis Jourdan, Richard Burton
Writer: Terence Rattigan
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: Awaiting at London Airport for a flight to New York, Frances Andros, seen off by her tycoon husband, Paul Andros, plans to leave her spouse for the arms of an aging international playboy, Marc Champselle. Les Mangrum, a self-made Australian businessman traveling with his loyal secretary, Miss Mead, must be in New York the following day to arrange the loan that will help him repel a hostile takeover of his tractor company. Max Buba, a film mogul traveling with starlet Gloria Gritti, must get out of England immediately or face ruinous British income tax. The Duchess of Brighton has taken a job as a hostess at an American holiday resort, thinking she will be able to keep her family estate on her new income. Fog descends and blurs the future for them all, forced now to wait in the airport hotel for morning and fair weather.
Rotten Tomatoes: Terrence Rattigan, the playwright who brought us the multicharactered, multistoried Separate Tables, again offers us an episodic cross-section of humanity in The V.I.P.'s. When a heavy London fog paralyzes all air traffic, the lives of several people are profoundly affected. As indicated by the title, most of the characters in this portmanteau film are of the social and/or financial elite. Elizabeth Taylor wishes to leave her enormously wealthy husband Richard Burton in favor of playboy Louis Jourdan. Peripatetic European film producer Orson Welles is hoping to escape London with his newest protegee Elsa Martinelli in order to avoid paying his income tax. Australian businessman Rod Taylor, accompanied by his devoted (and adoring) secretary Maggie Smith, is anxious to head to New York to stave off a hostile takeover of his firm. And impoverished aristocrat Margaret Rutherford (who won an Oscar for her performance) would rather not go to Florida to accept a job as a social arbiter, but the wolf must be kept from the door. Before the fog disperses, you can be sure that at least one of the many plotlines will intersect with another. David Frost, in a tiny part as a reporter, was fond of recalling in later years that, while the major stars of The VIPS were introduced in the opening titles with animated limousines, he was consigned a tiny Volkswagen; alas, no such cartoon joke appears in the film, though on occasion the actors-particularly Mr. Welles-behave as though they were cartoons. Mercilessly skewered by the critics, The VIPS was a winner at the box-office, due in great part to the Cleopatra-inspired publicity concerning the top-billed Liz Taylor and Dick Burton. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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68% (1) Donatella 96 min, [Comedy] [Mario Monicelli] [22 Apr 1957]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win.
Actors: Aldo Fabrizi, Elsa Martinelli, Gabriele Ferzetti, Walter Chiari
Writer: Piero Tellini (screenplay), Mario Monicelli (screenplay), Roberto Amoroso (screenplay), Sandro Continenza (screenplay), Ruggero Maccari (screenplay), Mario Rappini (story), V. André (story)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: Italian Country: Italy
Plot: Donatella is a simple and honest Roman girl, daughter of a bookbinder and girlfriend of Guido, a gas station owner.
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60% (1) The Pigeon That Took Rome 103 min, APPROVED, [Comedy, War] [Melville Shavelson] [20 Jun 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 60%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.
Actors: Charlton Heston, Elsa Martinelli, Harry Guardino, Salvatore Baccaloni
Writer: Donald Downes (novel), Melville Shavelson
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, German, Italian Country: USA
Plot: Charlton Heston stars as an American soldier behind Italian lines in World War II. In order to communicate German movements to the Allies, he uses carrier pigeons fitted with messages. As he grows more and more in love with the daughter of the family he stays with, the father accidentally feeds the pigeons to his family for Easter Dinner.
Rotten Tomatoes: Set during WW II, this lively comedy centers on two bunglers, one American and one Italian, who are stationed in Fascist Italy and assigned to spy on the regime, reporting their findings via carrier pigeon. They end up staying in the home of a partisan and there the Italian falls in love with one of his host's lovely daughters. Trouble follows when the happy father, to celebrate the upcoming nuptials, unthinkingly slaughters all but one of the specially-trained birds for the wedding feast.
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57% (1) Rampage 98 min, APPROVED, [Adventure, Romance] [Phil Karlson] [09 Oct 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 57%, External Reviews
Actors: Elsa Martinelli, Jack Hawkins, Robert Mitchum, Sabu
Writer: Robert I. Holt (screenplay), Marguerite Roberts (screenplay), Alan Caillou (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A German zoo hires two hunters to catch a rare breed of panther in Malaysia. The girlfriend of one of the hunters accompanies them on their hunt, which tenses the situation as the other hunter becomes attracted to her.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this South Seas adventure, a big-game hunter is engaged to find and capture a rare Malaysian cat. He is accompanied by another hunter and his young mistress. Trouble begins when the other hunter's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and he accuses his mistress and the hero of having an affair.
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