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

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and script writer.

Biography

Sollima graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1935. During World War II he was in the

Italian Resistance The Italian Resistance ( ), or simply ''La'' , consisted of all the Italy, Italian Resistance during World War II, resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic ...

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

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

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

peplum film Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (: pepla), 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 Holl ...

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 or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

'' Of Wayward Love''. Sollima filmed three Eurospy films and then moved to spaghetti westerns. ''

The Big Gundown ''The Big Gundown'' () is a 1967 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Sollima, and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian. It was followed by Run, Man, Run in 1968. Plot Possessing a reputation for bringing criminals to justice, ready-to- ...

'' (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 spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

and Tomas Milian) 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 filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

's ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, 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 Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

'' and

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer. He was one of the main exponents of the Spaghetti Western genre during the 1960s and 1970s, with his most notable work ...

's '' Django''. Sollima soon filmed two more westerns. '' Face to Face'' (Milian and Gian Maria Volonté) was released in 1967 and '' Run, Man, Run!'' (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 and Telly Savalas starred '' Violent City'', which was one of the first violent and fast-paced Italian

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

s often known as poliziotteschi. Like for all of his westerns, the soundtrack was provided by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

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

Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

'', a poliziotteschi film starring

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle. His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the ...

and Fabio Testi. Sollima directed the six-part Italian TV series ''

Sandokan Sandokan is a fictional late 19th-century pirate created by Italian people, Italian author Emilio Salgari. His adventures first appeared in publication in 1883. Sandokan is the hero of 11 adventure novels. Within the series, Sandokan is known ...

'' starring Kabir Bedi with several

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

s spun off the series.

Selected filmography

* '' Tripoli, Beautiful Land of Love'' (1954) *'' Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell'' (1965) *'' Agent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun'' (1966) *'' Requiem for a Secret Agent'' (1966) *''

'' (1967) *'' Face to Face'' (1967) *'' Run, Man, Run'' (1968) *'' Violent City'' (1970) *'' Devil in the Brain'' (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 ...

'' (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