The Pride and the Passion

Amazon.com

During Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the fate of the Spanish partisans rests with an elaborate, magnificent, and extremely heavy cannon--which the French have lost. Despite the high-wattage star power on display, this gun is the true star of The Pride and the Passion, a massive Stanley Kramer production that employs vast swatches of the Spanish countryside (and a few thousand Spaniards). And the stars? Well, they're among the biggest of their day--the only problem is, they're miscast. Frank Sinatra plays the scruffy, illiterate partisan leader, Cary Grant the uptight British captain who covets the gun for his country, Sophia Loren the peasant woman shared by both men. It says something about these effortless stars that they all look extremely uncomfortable in this movie. Grant is robbed of his humor and thus awkward (although his marvelous athleticism is much on display), and Loren is badly made-up and stuck in nobility. Sinatra fares the worst, however, including a disastrous Spanish accent, complete with rolled "r"s. Physically, the movie's pretty impressive, with some eye-filling scenes of extras pushing the heavy cannon up hill and over dale; Franz Planer's cinematography is picturesque, except in some obvious studio inserts. One big draw: the mighty, Iberian-flavored music by George Antheil, one of the composer's best scores. But you'd better like the music and the cannon, because the rest of the film hovers between the tranquilizing and the cheesy. Amazingly, it was one of the top ten box-office films of its year. --Robert Horton

Description

Napoleon's forces are sweeping across Europe, and Spain is on the brink of falling to the mighty invasion. Standing alone against the onslaught is one brave fighter and his ragtag band of guerillas. Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren deliver outstanding performances in this "tense, absorbing [and] suspenseful" (The Hollywood Reporter) wartime classic. Seizing a gigantic cannon, Spanish fighter Miguel (Sinatra) plans to attack Napoleon's army by battering the walls of French-occupied Avila. But because he's untrained in complex weaponry, he must rely on the expertise ofCaptain Trumbell (Grant), a British naval officer. Allies on the battlefield, Trumbell and Miguel soon find themselves in a bitter struggle over Miguel's mistress (Loren), a sultry beauty drawn to the captain's refined ways even as they race toward the most harrowing battle of their lives.

Customer Reviews:

Great music as well........2007-07-23

I originally bought this title to listen to the musical score composed by George Antheil, the self-proclaimed "bad boy of music." His early works such as his Ballet Mechanique ruffled feathers with its airplane propellers on stage along with an army of pianos and percussionists. But his symphonies and film scores (a necessary task to keep food on the table for many American composers or the era) reflect none of the defiance in other works. A fabulous score. Listen also to the musical score he did for "The Plainsman," also available from Amazon. The plot of the story is well described above. The use of some many extras is impressive and the scenes of Spanish Holy Week are epic. Ignore the criticisms about "bad accents," etc. and just enjoy the movie -a great buy.

The Pride and the Passion- Satisfies the Passion for Films.......2007-03-24

What's not to like about a movie that has some good elements. Good Stars, (Stars from the past era, before everyone was a "Super Star"), Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra, A cast of Thousands,(really)and a monumental task for the heroes to do. I know a lot of people will say that it may not be the best plot, or in light of the current special effects the "coolest" CG., but it is very entertaining. I know movie critics of the time it was released did not care for it, but sometimes movie critics care more for you liking them and how they write then the movies they review. The story line is simple, War between Spain and France. Spain had a huge cannon that they made for the War and it is abandoned during a battle. France knows the cannon is somewhere and wants it, the British know there is a big cannon somewhere and they want it. The Spanish rebels know there is a big cannon, know where it is but don't care.
They don't care, until Cary Grant shows up wanting the cannon for the British. Well Frank (the head of the Rebels) Knows where it is. Frank has another plan for the cannon...ah the plot thickens. Well Cary know how to fire it, and Frank wants it for his purpose. Sophia? well she is the glue between the characters and convices them to work together. Can't think of a better motovator! She has a cause, she has leaders ear, she...well she has Cary's attention! She looks so sexy and lovely that it is hard for Cary and us to not have our attention. So a deal is struck. Cary helps them, then they help him get the cannon to where he wants later. Cary Grant always looks great. No exception to the rule here. Handsome as ever, dashing even in his British uniform, and as usual some humor thrown in. He is always the "Hollywood Star" quality. Does not have to say anything sometimes, just is. Frank as a Spanish speaker...hummm not perfect, but who cares he makes you like the charater...tough guy...but has the heroic "cause", and as always his own sex appeal and star quality that is unmistakeable. Sophia what's not to like. She looks good, she is dripping with sexuality, but has a strong female charater...she makes the guys do what she wants, and makes them want her, and respect her...what not to like about the charater. She is the spark and the glue that drive them on and settles the quarrels. And as you guessed it's a love triangle. Find another movies that has those elements. We want them to succeed. We want them to all be together. We marvel at the "huge" cannon...will they fail, will the big gun perform (Adults add their own side story line), and will the guys get the girl...humm which guy gets her... hummm? The last element is "how the He... did they drag that big prop around the country side without killing the extras!! The box claims that this is the largest group of extras used on a film in a foreign contry...I'm not sure if that is true but it certainly looks like it. Whew! Great Cinemaphotography, great sound, restored picture. Entertaining. (some may find long but it is an epic story) I got so hooked the first time I saw this on the little screen, now I enjoyed it more on my HD LCD 32" screen so much more...still hooked me...who cares it's a tad long....longer looks at the great stars!

An adventure spectacle in praise of will over all obstacles!.......2007-01-11

It is 1810... The French legions of Napoleon smash across Spain...

Captain Anthony Trumbull (Cary Grant) is ordered to retrieve a giant seven tons cannon, abandoned by the crushed and bleeding Spanish army in their retreat in one of the darkest page of nation's history...

The handsome officer wants to transport it to the British lines, but when he meets Miguel (Frank Sinatra), the Spanish peasant leader of the Guerilla forces, Trumbull is forced to amend his ideas...

Miguel has more direct plans... He sees in the huge gun a chance for victory... He enlists the aid of the Spanish people in raising the tremendous cannon from a deep ravine, and moves it over hill, dale, river, and mud to the walled city of Avila...

During the arduous odyssey, Stolid Trumbull falls in love with Miguel's fiery mistress Juana (Sophia Loren). The desperate men were sacrificing everything for their love of country... Blood, sweat, tears and toil as they pushed, pulled, dragged, and strained the big gun halfway across Spain... But with the remarkable gun, the only symbol of resistance left in Spain, going on before them, made them feel no longer a mere band of Spanish irregulars, but a besieging army... They can fight now for what they believe, and break the French in the field...

With a certain dislike to the Englishman's guts, Miguel sees himself forced to accept Trumbull's instructions, being the only man around who knows how to fire the cannon... Trumbull makes all the necessary repairs to the awesome weapon, and blows up the walls of the fortress city...

Kramer's movie echoes Sam Wood's 'For Whom the Bells Tolls.' Although the characters in the film, made from Ernest Hemingway modern classic, were better drawn and motivated... 'The Pride and the Passion' is far superior visually...

Blended to the passionate sound of the guitars, the voice of a singer, and the rhythmic hand claps of the patriots, Sophia provides with grace and posture a spontaneous flamenco dance...

Epic in scope, with a cast of thousands, and with ocean of tents, stacked rifles, regimental banners, batteries of cannon, rows of cavalry horses and artillery mules, massed troops, "The Pride and the Passion," is an adventure spectacle in praise of will over all obstacles...

The film opens with a spectacular sequence of the Spanish army retreating in defeat, battle torn and dissolute...

Well Told Tale.......2006-12-22

This is a handsome film that takes its time unfolding to a riveting climax. The production design is vividly and visually realistic adding a rare authenticity yet dramatic feel to the historical drama set in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. This film had my full attention from beginning to end in part to the cohesiveness of the ensemble of actors (Cary Grant, Frank Sinata and Sophia Loren). The characters have much more depth than normally would have been expected in such a large production and this made the viewing of this film a delight to watch. Less intimate than other Stanley Kramer films up to this point in time it remaines a beautiful film set on a large cinematic canvas.

A True Epic.......2005-07-25

The Pride and the Passion is the way movie epics used to be made: on location with thousands of extras. Director Stanley Kramer spent two years in Spain and used 9,400 extras to put his story of Spanish resistance to Napoleon on the screen. The story and setting is unlikely. Waterloo and Russia come to mind but the English campaign against the French is rarely portrayed. Probably to best is the television series on Richard Sharpe, the Sergeant promoted to Lieutenant by Wellington that starred Sean Bean.

The Pride and Passion was based on a story by C. S. Forster and has the kind of action that makes a good epic, centering on an enormous cannon, abandoned by Spanish troops, that both the French and English want. As other reviewers have pointed out the cannon assumed a major role in the film and perhaps the most exciting scene is when it is fired toward the end. I though that Cary Grant was well cast in the role of Captain Anthony Trumbrull. The part needed someone dashing and handsome. Cary Grant may have been a little old for the role but he gave a good performance. Another good choice for the part would have been Stewart Grainger. Sophia Loren was an excellent choice for Juana and she does quite well with the role. However, as has often been said about her performances in English, she does not completely connect with her character as much as her Italian films. Loren and Grant were romantically involved during the production but their love scenes don't quite have the spark of say, Burton and Taylor a few years later. Frank Sinatra was a good choice for Miguel based on his looks alone but he gives a very wooden performance. It is almost that he feels a bit miffed because he is not going to get the girl. The movie has its share of bad lines, like "Your face is dirty" that Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra exchange.

I first saw this film on television and it was a movie that I remembered. The real reason for seeing The Pride and the Passion is the spectacle of moving the large cannon to be used to take the city of Avila from the French. The trials that have to be met hold your interest. The score by George Antheil is superb. Mr. Antheil has an affinity for Spanish music (as his ballet Capitol of the World proves) and the music for The Pride and the Passion helps make the film. In the end, I liked this movie for the story and less for the performances. So I am recommending this movie as an old Hollywood epic that is stunning to see and with a story entertaining if a times the actors do not fill your complete expectations.

Average customer rating:

Angels Around the World
Wish I could give more than 5 stars!
Moving
Fathers and sons . . .
Painful and Incomplete

El Bola
Starring: Carmen del Valle , Miguel Gutierrez , Andres Gertrudix , Alfonso Vallejo , and Manuel Morón
Director: Achero Manas
Manufacturer: Film Movement
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

Film Movement | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0006OJH0E
Release Date: 2005-01-01

Product Description

EL BOLA, winner of 4 Goya Awards in Spain including Best Picture, is the December selection in The Film Movement Series. Subscribers to Film Movement receive a socially important film to own on DVD each month. The film poignantly parallels the lives of a caring father unable to connect with his willful but son, and that of distant Pablo (El Bola) and his abusive father who is incapable of giving him the love he needs, replacing it with something far more sinister. One imprints his son in an improbably gentle manner with a tattoo stylus, the other brutally with his fists. Told alternately through both the childrens' and adults points of view, Achero Manass El Bola is a stirring narrative that lodges in the memory.

Customer Reviews:

Angels Around the World.......2007-06-21

"El Bola" is a powerful movie from Spain. In 2000, it was director Achero Manas' first full-length feature after having directed a handful of short film projects. It handles the powder keg issue of child abuse with realism. Juan Jose Ballesta plays Pablo, nicknamed "Pellet." At filming, I believe he was 12. Juan had played on Spanish TV, but this was his first feature. He has worked consistently in Spanish films in the seven years since. He breaks your heart with those eyes that reflect the joy, innocence and love of a child and contrasts with the utter fear for his life. The culminating incident where he spits in his father's face blows the lid off. We know what's coming and watch as the helpless mother flails about pathetically.

Pablo's best friend is Alfredo, played by Pablo Galan. Galan was chosen from 1,600 children who auditioned. He had no previous acting experience. He's a bit heavyset; & his Alfredo is an oddball & loner. Galan was well chosen. He moves effortlessly between the young adolescent alienation, to wild abandon as he crashes the amusement park rides, to sober contemplation as he sees the family friend dying of AIDS.

Beside Ballesta's Pablo, Alberto Jimenez makes the greatest impression as Jose, the father of best friend Pablo. Jose is a tattoo artist. We first view him as wild, tattooing a dragon on fat man's back. As his screen time increases, we see a father who listens to his family, treats his wife & children well and cares about them and his friends. Jose stands up for Pablo, taking risks on the boys' behalf. By the film's end, he is our hero. With six films shot in 2007, Jimenez has had a busy career in Spanish cinema since this film from 2000.

Our villain is Pablo's father Mariano, played by Manuel Moron. The Film Movement DVD explains that the character is sad because of the loss of his first son. However, no explanation suffices for the loveless home life this father creates. I found it interesting that the Film Movement DVD lists stage training and productions for Moron in Spain & Argentina. Moron plays this controlling parent perfectly; and we hate him for it.

Of the smaller roles, all characters are well directed and fill the film realistically. Ana Wagener, who to me looks a bit like Melissa Etheridge's Spanish sister, plays the social worker Laura who advises Alfredo's family on how to handle the situation. Maximo Jimenez plays Pablo's friend Cobeta, a good looking lad who plays a game of rushing onto the railroad tracks before an oncoming train to grab a bottle. Gloria Munoz plays Aurora, Pablo's helpless mother who cannot stop her husband's abuse.

The screenplay leaves an open-ended conclusion. The events have been so disturbing that perhaps we all hope for the best. We could either interpret that things will get better for Pablo or that the father will get away with his domestic abuse. Perhaps in this situation, no one can actually win. This is a powerful film that should be viewed by mature audiences. May our angels around the world help children from every culture who find themselves helpless and attacked.

Wish I could give more than 5 stars!.......2007-06-05

Brilliant, Heartbreaking, superb acting of the 2 kids and all the other members of the cast, Stunning, touching story and wonderful actors,this movie should be an Oscar awards winner. it's very well made, each and every character shows the psychological complexity of the human being, the kids think and act somethimes like adults and the adults like kids or animals, it lets you feel what a real family and a loving father is, but also lets you perceive and understand what Domestic violence,child abuse and sickness means in many countries and places around the world or in your own next door's neighbors.
Beautifully draws the real meaning of friendship, love and family values but also keeps you at the edge of the seat in pain and tears by seeing that abusive cruel sick father. Superb!

Moving.......2007-05-12

Moving story of a friendship between two boys, where one of them is being tortured by his own father. The topic is and unfortunately will be still up-to-date. Sad to realise the reality of such cruelty and traumas for entire life. Worth watching though!

Fathers and sons . . ........2006-09-19

This multi-award-winning film tackles the difficult subject of domestic abuse and in particular a father's abusive relationship with his twelve-year-old son. The nature of this abuse is revealed slowly, so that like any outsider, we don't see the full extent of it until we've already formed opinions about both characters. The film contrasts their relationship with that of the boy's new friend at school, whose father is a tattoo artist and seems on the surface to be more potentially troublesome as a parent. But as we watch him with his son, we see how is firmness is an expression of his caring and love for the boy. The boys' two homes represent mirror worlds with contrasting emotional dynamics.

The drama in the film emerges as the abusive father's treatment of his son becomes gradually apparent to his son's friend, and we become informed of the near inability of anyone outside the family to rescue him. There is no easy resolution to this dilemma, and we are left with a sense of urgency about this disturbing social problem. The performances of the two twelve-year-olds are wonderful, as they become friends, exploring the early stages of their growing independence. Shot in the streets of Madrid, the film has a gritty, gray urban ambiance, and key scenes are played out along a railway where commuter trains rush by and schoolboys play death-defying games across the tracks.

Painful and Incomplete.......2006-08-19

I'd give it five stars, but the extended graphic depiction of child abuse this film impresses and leaves upon you after it is over costs it a star. A film has the right to make its points, but when you feel so much pain for a character after the story is over, in my opinion it has crossed the line of entertainment. The kids are excellent actors, as are the adults. It is a very plausible storyline until you reach the very end, where you have do some figuring of your own as to how it suddenly turned out that way. In fact, I question if you could call the end the story's "resolution"; it could very easily be seen as another climax, the only resolution being in the viewer's mind.

El Bola / Pellet [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]

Average customer rating:

El Bola / Pellet [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]
Director: Achero Mañas
Manufacturer: Buena Vista
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000FMJD7Y

Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), Spanish (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: El Bola, a 12 year old boy a.k.a. 'Pellet' is a 12 year old boy raised in a violent and sordid environment. Embarrassed by his family life, he avoids becoming close to classmates. The arrival of a new boy at school changes his attitude towards his classmates, and friendship. The heart of the story is the change in El Bola's life, at almost all levels, after befriending this new classmate. SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailer(s), Scene Access, Making Of, Interactive Menu,

Average customer rating:

Great music as well.
The Pride and the Passion- Satisfies the Passion for Films
An adventure spectacle in praise of will over all obstacles!
Well Told Tale
A True Epic

The Pride and the Passion [Region 2]
Starring: Cary Grant , Frank Sinatra , Sophia Loren , Theodore Bikel , and John Wengraf
Director: Stanley Kramer
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0001EYT4I

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Great music as well........2007-07-23

The Pride and the Passion- Satisfies the Passion for Films.......2007-03-24

An adventure spectacle in praise of will over all obstacles!.......2007-01-11

Well Told Tale.......2006-12-22

A True Epic.......2005-07-25

DVD:

DVD

DVD