Pietro Martellanza — Actor (10)
The Cobra (1967) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB
Il cobra
other title: Die Cobra / El Cobra
A disgraced treasury agent Mike Rand, who teams with his boss to halt a Red Chinese plot to destroy the free world by flooding the market with opium and turning everyone into addicts. Along the way he manages to bed junkie Lou, get into various fights and destroy the refinery that is ending out the drugs.
Desert of Fire (1971) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB
Deserto di fuoco
director: Renzo Merusi actor: Edwige Fenech / George Wang
other title: Dolanie's Melodie / Desierto de fuego
A desert bandit leader robs a jeep and hauls off a lot of American money. He doesn't get much of a chance to enjoy it, however, because he and his men are soon attacked by a "phantom", who kills all his men, and steals his weapons. When a beautiful young woman shows up in search of the money, she is raped by the phantom. When another man shows up the three of them decide to head into the desert to find the "treasure" and wind up finding something they weren't expecting.
Ringo: The Lone Rider (1968) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB
Dos hombres van a morir
other title: Ein Schuss zuviel / Dos hombres van a morir
A town is being terrorized by a gang of marauders led by Bill Anderson, a clever bandit boss. The town's leadership is deciding to do something against the problem, but it does not believe bringing in the military will be a solution. It is agreed upon that they will request help from the well-known Pinkerton agency. At the same time, Ringo, a gunslinger, is chasing after the bandits. He suspects a deeper-sitting conspiracy than random bandit assaults. He joins forces with the newly arrived under cover Pinkerton agent, to uncover a plot between a local businessman, the Mexican revolution and bandit's heist loot of gold. But the bandits have long planned to move on. Disguised as Mormons, they are moving west to start a new life of farming during the day and robbing stage coaches at night. Ringo and the agent track them down....
The Bogeyman and the French Murders (1972) [Movie] Douban
Casa d'appuntamento
director: Ferdinando Merighi actor: Anita Ekberg / Rosalba Neri
other title: 法国性谋杀 / Casa d'appuntamento
Formerly, the usual UK title was THE BOGEY MAN AND THE FRENCH MURDERS. There's also a Greek video with the sleeve title, CALL GIRLS FOR INSPECTOR BOGART. The inspector is not named Bogart, nor does he get any call girls, but who cares? It's a title that sells.
There's a killer in Paris, a suicide from the Eiffel Tower, a brothel as the main setting, insane professors, an eye-ball thief, an inspector who looks like Humphrey Bogart (for no apparent reason), a truly creepy Anita Ekberg, and an impressive line-up of Euro-stars. How Dick Randall assembled this cast is beyond me, but he did it. Besides Anita Ekberg, there's Rosalba Neri (who even sings a song in a nightclub), Barbara Bouchet, Evelyn Kraft, Howard Vernon, and Robert Sacchi as inspector Pontaine or Humphrey Bogart. The title is pretty accurate. The murders take place during, before or after sex in a brothel in Paris. In between, the Bogey-man snoops around trying to track down the killer, but he is not too bright. You'll probably have figured it out long before he does.
The film's producer was American Dick Randall who took residence in Rome in the '60s but basically was wherever the deals where made, which meant Rome in the '60s, Bangkok and Hong Kong in the '70s and London in the '80s. Whilst residing in Italy, he payed close attention and decided to take a shot at the giallo as well, and produced this piece of cinematic soufflé. It's a perfect example of totally round the bend Euro-tosh, with a rather tame execution actually. The direction is not wildly imaginative, a workman's job at best, so don't expect outrageous Italian craftsmanship and style here, but some spicing-up in the editing by Bruno Mattei.
The special effects were done by future Oscar-winner Carlo Rambaldi of ET fame. I guess he learned a lot since this one. Of course, the presence of Robert Sacchi, among some other ingredients (mostly the cast) give this film a certain weird identity of its own. All together, it's pretty much a poor man's interpretation of an Italian Giallo.
The version on Mondo Macabro's DVD never existed in this form. From various copies, they assembled the longest version they could possibly paste together. There's an English audio-track, but a couple of scenes appear in Italian with subtitles.
imdb comment