Sergio Sollima (17 April 1921 – 1 July 2015) was an Italian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

and

script writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

Biography

Sollima graduated from the

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia (Experimental Film Centre or Italian National film school) was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film. The centre is the oldest film school in ...

in 1935. During World War II he was in the

Italian Resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

. After the war he gradually progressed from working as a film critic, to screenwriting, to becoming a director Like many Italian

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

directors, Sollima started his career as a screenwriter in the 1950s and wrote many

peplum film Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget ...

s in the 1960s. He made his directing debut doing one of the four sequences in the

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

Of Wayward Love ''L'amore difficile'' (internationally released as ''Of Wayward Love'' and as ''Sex Can Be Difficult'') is a 1962 Italian comedy anthology film. The film represents the directorial debut of the four authors, who were however all experienced in oth ...

''. Sollima filmed three

Eurospy Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film (when referring to Italian-produced films in the genre), is a genre of spy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the British James ...

films then moved to

spaghetti westerns The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most of ...

. ''

The Big Gundown ''The Big Gundown'' ( it, La resa dei conti, lit=The Settling of Scores) is a 1966 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Sollima, and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian. Plot Possessing a reputation for bringing criminals to justice, r ...

'' (starring

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of Italian Spaghetti Westerns, parti ...

and

Tomas Milian Tomas Milian (born Tomás Quintín Rodríguez-Varona Milián Salinas de la Fé y Álvarez de la Campa; 3 March 1933 – 22 March 2017) was a Cuban-born actor and singer with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and ...

) was released in 1966 with big success, despite the fact that it had to compete with

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...

's ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...

'' and Sergio Corbucci's '' Django''. Sollima soon filmed two more westerns. '' Face to Face'' (Milian and

Gian Maria Volonté Gian Maria Volonté (9 April 1933 – 6 December 1994) was an Italian actor, including roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964) and El Indio in Leone's '' For a Few Dollars More'' (19 ...

) was released in 1967 and ''

Run, Man, Run! ''Run, Man, Run'' ( it, Corri uomo corri, also known as ''Big Gundown 2'') is an Italian-French Zapata Western film. It is the second film of Sergio Sollima centred on the character of Cuchillo, again played by Tomas Milian, after the two-years e ...

'' (Milian) in 1968. Although Sollima directed only three westerns and they never reached the level of popularity as the ones by the other Sergios (Leone and Corbucci), each of them is highly regarded among genre enthusiasts. In 1970, Sollima switched genres again and directed the

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and wa ...

and

Telly Savalas Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...

starred ''

Violent City ''Violent City'' ( it, Città violenta, also released as ''The Family'') is a 1970 crime thriller film directed by Sergio Sollima from a screenplay co-written with Lina Wertmüller, starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, and Telly Savalas. Br ...

'', which was one of the first violent and fast-paced Italian

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

s often known as

poliziotteschi Poliziotteschi (; singular ''poliziottesco'') constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as ''polizieschi all'italiana'', ' ...

. Like for all of his westerns, the soundtrack was provided by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...

. Sollima's last well-known film is ''

Revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that has at least one gun barrel, barrel and uses a revolving cylinder (firearms), cylinder containing multiple chamber (firearms), chambers (each holding a single ...

'', a poliziotteschi film starring

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

and

Fabio Testi Fabio Testi (born 2 August 1941) is an Italian actor. After growing up witnessing film work done around Lake Garda, Testi entered the sets of the film and began work as a stuntman and a double on set, where he worked as a stuntman on ''The Good, ...

. Sollima directed the six-part Italian TV series ''

Sandokan Sandokan is a fictional late 19th-century pirate created by Italian author Emilio Salgari. His adventures first appeared in publication in 1883. Sandokan is the protagonist of 11 adventure novels. Sandokan is known throughout the South China ...

'' starring

Kabir Bedi Kabir Bedi ( pa, ਕਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੇਦੀ; born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other European countries in three media: fi ...

with several

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s spun off the series.

Selected filmography

* ''

Tripoli, Beautiful Land of Love ''Tripoli, Beautiful Land of Love'' (Italian: ''Tripoli, bel suol d'amore'') is a 1954 Italian comedy war film directed by Ferruccio Cerio and starring Alberto Sordi, Lyla Rocco and Fulvia Franco.Chiti & Poppi p.376 It takes its title from a trad ...

'' (1954) *'' Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell'' (1965) *'' Agent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun'' (1966) *''

Requiem for a Secret Agent ''Requiem for a Secret Agent'' (also known as ''Requiem per un agente segreto'') is an Italian international co-production Eurospy film. It was co-produced with Spain (where it was released as ''Consigna: Tánger 67'') and West Germany (where it w ...

'' (1966) *''

'' (1966) *'' Face to Face'' (1967) *'' Run, Man, Run'' (1968) *''

'' (1970) *''

Devil in the Brain ''Devil in the Brain'' ( it, Il diavolo nel cervello) is a 1972 Italian psychological thriller movie. Plot Oscar Minno returns from working several years overseas and looks up his old flame Sandra. Sandra is widowed and lives in a childlike men ...

'' (1972) *''

'' (1973) *''

'' (1976, TV miniseries) *''

The Black Corsair ''The Black Corsair'' is an 1898 adventure novel written by Italian novelist Emilio Salgari. Set in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, the novel narrates the exploits of Emilio Roccanera, Lord of Ventimiglia and his attempts to ave ...

'' (1976) *'' La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!'' (1977)

References

External links

* 1921 births 2015 deaths Spaghetti Western directors Film directors from Rome Poliziotteschi directors {{Italy-film-director-stub