Notte D'Estate Con Profilo Greco (aka Summer Night) (1986)

A wealthy tycoon (Mariangela Melato) is interested in ecological preservation as long as she can make a profit on it. But she's had enough of the terrorists who kidnap the rich for huge ransoms. To that end, she hires a former CIA agent (Roberto Herlitzka) to kidnap the most notorious of these terrorists (Michele Placido) and she turns the tables on him. Written and directed by Lina Wertmuller. Here, Wertmuller returns to familiar territory as she does a gender reversal on her most famous film, SWEPT AWAY but the end result is the same. Much of the dialogue (and it's a dialogue driven film) is amusing but the deja vu aspect prevents it from becoming something fresh or memorable. As she proved in SWEPT AWAY, Melato is a marvel at playing rich bitches but as the terrorist, Placido lacks the appeal of Giancarlo Gianni in the previous movie, not to mention lacking chemistry with Melato. The film is gorgeous looking with cinematographer Camillo Bazzoni making the most of the lush Sardinia location and Melato's mansion is a beauty! With Massimo Wertmuller and John Steiner.