Movies of the Week

This week i´ve just saw two movies with the great Anthony Quinn: 

1. The Lion Of The Desert

My Opinion: This was a less known Anthony Quinn movie to me, but nevertheless a good one. A story based on actual events that toke place in Libya when the italian dictator Benito Mussolini tries to subjugate the Bedouin tribes and unexpectedly finds strong resistance in local tribes leaded by a smart and strong man, Omar Mukhtar.

Quinn plays the role of Omar Mukhtar, a tribal leader who led the bedouins resistance against the italian armies from 1911 to 1931. This movie continues to be actual nowadays, and was without any doubt worthy to see. I totally recommend as a fine historic/war/drama movie!







2. The secret of Santa Vittoria

My Opinion: I have to confess my ignorance and tell you that i was no idea of the existence of this movie... But it was a good surprise! Quinn work on this one keeps sending me to another of his great roles: Zampanò, in the Federico Fellini movie "La Strada". In this movie he plays Bambollini, a simple grape farmer who suddenly sees himself as Mayor of the city of Santa Vittoria. On his hands he have the task of hide 1 million bottles of wine from a German army division. Very fun and moving. You have to see it.

A little more about Anthony Quinn

Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to an Irish-Mexican father and a Mexican mother. After starting life in extremely modest circumstances in Mexico, his family moved to Los Angeles, California, where he grew up in the Boyle Heights and the Echo Park neighborhoods. In Los Angeles he attended Polytechnic High School and later Belmont High, but he eventually dropped out. The young Quinn boxed (which stood him in good stead as a stage actor, when he played Stanley Kowalski to rave reviews in Chicago), then later studied architecture under Frank Lloyd Wright at the great architect's studio, Taliesin, in Arizona. Quinn was close to Wright, who encouraged him when Quinn decided to give acting a try. After a brief apprenticeship in theatre, Quinn hit Hollywood in 1936 and picked up a variety of small roles in several films at Paramount, including an Indian warrior in Uma Aventura de Buffalo Bill (1936), which was directed by the man who later became his father-in-law, Cecil B. DeMille.

Dark Of the Sun

My Opinion:  A great war movie about a band of mercenaries sent on a dangerous mission during the Congo Crisis. Taylor plays "Curry" in one of his most important roles, intense and very realistic.