90% (3)  Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion  115 min,  R,  [Crime, Drama]  [Elio Petri]  [09 Sep 1970]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 81%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   Metacritic: 89%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 Oscar. Another 15 wins & 6 nominations.
Actors:  Florinda Bolkan, Gian Maria Volontè, Gianni Santuccio, Orazio Orlando
Writer:  Elio Petri (story and screenplay), Ugo Pirro (story and screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb  Website     Language:  Italian    Country:  Italy
Plot:  A chief of detectives, homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In a time of internal political disturbance, Roman police inspector Gian Maria Volontè (the bad guy in A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More) gets that plum assignment: crack down on political dissidents; then proceeds to slash the throat of married mistress Florinda Bolkan ("a beautiful, kinky masochist" - Vincent Canby). But as homicide cops swarm over the murder scene, guess who gets tapped to head the investigation? And, as every clue unearthed - most perversely planted by Volontè himself - leads right back to... is anybody going to do anything about it? As director Elio Petri's split-second edits rocket back and forth between flashback and detection, to the insidious rhythms of Ennio Morricone's score, Investigation becomes a biting critique of Italian police methods and authoritarian repression, a psychological study of a budding crypto-fascist (but is the arrogantly grim-faced Volontè building a case against himself to be punished, or to prove his invincibility?), a probing why-dunnit, and a buildup to a question-stamped finale.-- (C) Official Site
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75% (2)  Don't Torture a Duckling  105 min,  Not Rated,  [Horror, Mystery, Thriller]  [Lucio Fulci]  [29 Sep 1972]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 71%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 80%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Barbara Bouchet, Florinda Bolkan, Irene Papas, Tomas Milian
Writer:  Lucio Fulci (story), Roberto Gianviti (story), Lucio Fulci (screenplay), Roberto Gianviti (screenplay), Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Italian, English    Country:  Italy
Plot:  In the backward village of Accendura, the boy Bruno Lo Casio goes missing and the police inspector and the local commissioner and the village Captain Modesti investigate the case. When his father receives the request of a ransom, the police arrest the local Giuseppe and realize that he is innocent. Then the boys Michele and Tonino are also murdered and the police suspect of the local witch Maciara, who practices black magic, might be the killer but they find she is also innocent. However the superstitious and ignorant locals brutally kill her. Meanwhile that village is crowded of journalist, including the experienced Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian) from Rome. He befriends Patrizi, a daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur that is living in the village after a drug scandal. They meet the village priest Don Alberto Avallone, who has a group of boys that plays soccer at the church and is the son of the weird Dona Aurelia Avallone that raises her slow six year-old daughter. They believe the child has witnessed the murders and might know who the killer is.
Rotten Tomatoes:   When several young boys are brutally murdered in a small southern Italian village, the superstitious locals react with ignorance and violence. All misfits are immediately suspected, such as big-city tart Barbara Bouchet, the local village idiot, and voodoo practitioner Florinda Bolkan, who is brutally murdered by the villagers in a startling and powerful scene. Cop Tomas Milian (Almost Human, Amistad) comes to investigate, and is rather curious about a young priest who censors the town's reading material to keep it free of corruption. The peculiar clergyman seems to envy the dead boys, who will never grow up to be corrupted. Milian soon becomes convinced that the priest wants to send the kids' souls to Heaven and feels guilt about desiring the boys sexually.
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76% (1)  A Brief Vacation  112 min,  PG,  [Drama, Romance]  [Vittorio De Sica]  [09 Feb 1975]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 76%,   External Reviews
Awards:  6 wins.
Actors:  Daniel Quenaud, Florinda Bolkan, José María Prada, Renato Salvatori
Writer:  Rodolfo Sonego (story), Cesare Zavattini
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Italian    Country:  Italy, Spain
Plot:  A women lives a miserable life in the basement of her Milan apartment, with her boring inlaws and three children (boys). Her husband has been injured. Her bleak life takes an unexpected turn when she is diagnosed with tuberculosis and has to go to a sanatorium in the Italian Alps. At the medical clinic in Milan she meets young mechanic with the similar health problems. At the sanatorium she meets again the same man and they start a passionate love affair. All good things must come to an end. When she is cured, she has to return to that rathole from which she only briefly emerged.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation (Una Breva Vacanza) stars Florinda Bolkan as a downtrodden working woman. Forced to support herself, her children, her physically incapacitated husband and her obtrusive brother and mother, Bolkan contracts tuberculosis. She is granted a brief vacation at a health spa, where a whole new world--and potential new life--is opened up to her. A Brief Vacation was scripted by the prolific Cesar Zavattini, who like De Sica had once been a guiding force in the Italian neorealist movement. Though not De Sica's final film, A Brief Vacation was the last of the director's work to be released in America. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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68% (1)  Royal Flash  102 min,  PG,  [Adventure, Comedy, History, Romance]  [Richard Lester]  [01 Aug 1975]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 68%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Alan Bates, Florinda Bolkan, Malcolm McDowell, Oliver Reed
Writer:  George MacDonald Fraser (screenplay), George MacDonald Fraser (novel)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  UK, USA
Plot:  Captain Harry Flashman of the British army is a cad, a coward, and a lecher who always seems to come off inadvertently heroic. While romancing renowned courtesan Lola Montes, Harry is recruited against his will by Otto von Bismarck to substitute for a lookalike Prussian prince ostensibly in order to help Bismarck enlarge his hold over German duchies. But Bismarck has something more sinister in mind for both Harry and the prince.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Novelist George MacDonald Fraser penned the script for this swashbuckling, picaresque adventure tale. The story is based on one of the books in his "Harry Flashman" series, loose sequels to "Tom Brown's Schooldays" that followed that story's central bully character through his checkered post-graduate military career. Malcolm McDowell plays Captain Harry Flashman, a cowardly, lascivious poseur who desperately seeks entry into high European society. Recognizing an opportunity to advance their own sinister political agendas, scheming Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) and Rudi Von Sternberg (Alan Bates) convince Flashman to masquerade as a Prussian noble and marry a beautiful duchess (Britt Ekland), a flawed plan to which Flashman agrees. Inevitably, the transparent ruse is discovered, and Flashman is forced to try to escape across 19th century Europe, narrowly missing one disaster after another and experiencing first-hand some of history's most momentous events. Director Richard Lester and Fraser used similar baroque settings, tongue-in-cheek characterizations, elaborate stunts and breakneck pacing for The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974) with similar efficacy. Fraser would try again with analogous material three years later with Crossed Swords (1978), a lavish version of The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
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61% (1)  The Master Touch  112 min,  PG,  [Action, Crime, Drama]  [Michele Lupo]  [01 May 1974]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 61%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Florinda Bolkan, Giuliano Gemma, Kirk Douglas, Wolfgang Preiss
Writer:  Roberto Leoni (screenplay), Roberto Leoni (story), Franco Bucceri (story), Nico Ducci (screenplay), Michele Lupo (screenplay), Mino Roli (screenplay)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  Italy, West Germany
Plot:  In Hamburg, Germany, convicted burglar and safe cracker Steve Wallace is released from prison.He served two years for a burglary that went wrong.Police inspector Hoffman drives Wallace home and tels him to stay out of trouble. During his heydays Wallace lived in style because the takes were good and he never got caught.This was back when he worked alone, for himself.Since he started working for local crime boss Miller things went wrong.Hence, the two year prison term he just finished.Wallace's girlfriend, Anna, welcomes him home but home nowadays is a modest rented house on the outskirts of the city. Anna wants Steve Wallace to keep his nose clean from now on but Steve hates their modest living conditions.He asks Anna for permission to pull one more job and retire.She doesn't agree but Steve will do it anyway.The ideal opportunity arises when crime boss Miller asks Steve to break into a high security high tech corporate building and steal one million dollars from the safe of an insurance company.The alarm is triggered by the slightest noise in the vault.Steve politely refuses to do the job for Miller but he plans to go solo, for himself.For this, Steve recruits a young circus acrobat,Marco, whom Steve recently met during a street brawl with crime boss Miller's men.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Despite the objections of his wife (Florinda Bolkan), a safe-cracker recently released from jail (Kirk Douglas) decides to try one last job. With the help of a circus gymnast (Giuliano Gemma), the thief plans to defeat a fool-proof safe in Germany and make off with $1 million.
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56% (1)  Prisoner of Rio  90 min,  [Biography, Drama, Thriller]  [Lech Majewski]  [01 Jan 1988]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 56%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Florinda Bolkan, Paul Freeman, Peter Firth, Steven Berkoff
Writer:  Ronald Biggs, Julia Frankel, Lech Majewski
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Polish, English    Country:  Poland, UK, Brazil, Switzerland
Plot:  The story of the great train robber Ronald Biggs.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In 1981, Ronald Biggs was kidnapped by agents from Scotland Yard from his Brazilian hideout for his participation in the 1964 British train robbery. This feature was written by Biggs and director Lech Majewski as a fictionalized account of the authorities trying to bring the colorful crook to justice. Paul Freeman plays Biggs, infamous for his participation in the $5 million heist dubbed "The Great Train Robbery". Jack McFarland (Steven Berkoff) is the Scotland Yard agent obsessed with apprehending Biggs and placing him on board a British navy ship bound for England. Nudity abounds in the final carnival scene as Biggs stays one step ahead of his captors. Colorful scenes of Rio are the highlight of this feature hampered by a thin script. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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