
Birthday:
02-22-1930
Deathday:
09-05-2023 (93 years)
Birthplace:
Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Biography
Born in 1930 in Genoa. Still a young student in 1950 when director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film Achtung Banditi!. Following this experience he traveled to Rome where, after acting in film and theatre, he became the Assistant Director of Lizzani, Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, Francesco Rosi. In 1960 he made his debut as a Director with Tiro Al piccione, a film about the Partisan Resistance, on competition at the 1961 Venice Film Festival. In 1964 he directed La Moglie Svedese, an episode of the film Extraconiugale. With his second movie, Una Bella Grinta, won the special prize of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965, a film about a social climber in Italy during the time of the economic miracle. That year he also directed the second unit of Pontecorvo's masterpiece The Battle Of Algiers.
Read morearrow_drop_down
Their works
- Release swap_vert
- Title swap_vert
- Ratings swap_vert
close
The Caiman
Act like Franco Caspio
event2006 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
Bruno Bonomo was a famous producer of B-movies in the ‘70s. After a long hiatus, Bonomo offers a screenplay to RAI centered on the figure of Italy’s prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, a subject so controversial that even the public television broadcaster refuses to produce it
Ennio
Act like Self
event2022 star_border 8.3
top_panel_open
A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.
High School
Act like Professore di religione
event1954 star_border 6
top_panel_open
It's the last year of highschool of a group of teenagers, and now they have to face their final exam, and the loves, happy or not, that sprung during those years of school.
Abandoned
Act like Scattered Soldier from Tuscany
event1955 star_border 6.8
top_panel_open
A group of rich young intellectuals hiding from the war in rural Italy play at being partisans when some disbanded soldiers and some refugees ask them for shelter in their villa. The young and aristocratic Andrea strikes up a friendship with a peasant girl, Lucia. Then the Germans suddenly appear, looking for the real partisans, and the time comes for serious decisions.
One Hour Only
Act like Giuliano
event2023 star_border 8
top_panel_open
Rome, the 1960s. A young couple speed through the city toward the sea in a brand new Fiat 500. Yearning to make love for the first time, they play their favorite song as they undress and overcome their biggest fears.
Adolfo Celi, a Man for Two Worlds
Act like Self
event2006 star_border 7
top_panel_open
italian documentary
The Most Wonderful Moment
Act like Don Grazzini
event1957 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
Pietro is in love with a nurse; they keep their affair secret until she falls pregnant. Worried that marriage will affect his career, she prepares for the upcoming childbirth
The Doll that Took the Town
event1957 star_border 4
top_panel_open
A struggling model concocts a story of being raped and beaten by three strangers and soon becomes a media darling. Complications arise when the police eventually arrest three suspects.
Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America
Act like Self
event2022 star_border 7.3
top_panel_open
To mark the recent thirtieth anniversary of Sergio Leone’s death, this documentary sets out to pay tribute to one of the great legends of world cinema. The singular artistic vision of Sergio Leone has transcended national borders, creating the Spaghetti Western genre and transforming the international cinematic panorama forever with his innovative stylistic and narrative solutions, which have now become part of the language of the movies. The film, which is enriched with precious archive footage from the Cineteca di Bologna, including rare audio recordings and film clips shot behind the scenes, sees for the first time the direct participation of the Leone family and has interviews both with Leone’s longtime collaborators and with icons of Hollywood who have been profoundly influenced by his work.
Gillo of Ladies and Knights, of Loves and Arms
Act like Self
event2007 star_border 10
top_panel_open
Pontecorvo is one of those Italian filmmakers marked for life by neorealism. He declares that he decided to do cinema after leaving a screening of "Paisa" by Roberto Rossellini. The future filmmaker was then in Paris, a year after a war during which he became one of the main figures of the Italian resistance and one of the founders of the Youth Front. Leaving his status as a war hero behind him, Pontecorvo made his directorial debut with "Giovanna", a short film heralding a cinematic career dedicated to what he himself calls the "dictatorship of truth."
Un eroe borghese
Act like governatore Banca d'Italia
event1995 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
An intriguing look at a sinister web of power,linking politics and the mafia in modern day Italy.
The Years of Lost Images
Act like Self
event2012
top_panel_open
A documentary about director Valerio Zurlini. The "lost images" of the title are the movies Zurlini was never able to shoot: between 1962, the year he won the Golden Lion with Family Diary, and 1982, the year of his death, he directed only four features. The documentary features interviews with close collaborators (celebrated screenwriters Enrico Medioli and Nicola Badalucco) and some of his actors (Jacques Perrin and Claudia Cardinale).
Chronicle of Poor Lovers
Act like Alfredo Campolmi
event1954 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
In 1925, young Florentine typographer Mario moves to via del Corno to be near his girlfriend Bianca. Here befriends Maciste, his landlord, and Ugo, anti-fascists both of them. After a resident is beaten by the fascists, Mario meets the wife Milena at the hospital, falling in love with her and leaving Bianca. Maciste is killed, again by fascists, while Ugo is wounded and he seeks shelter in a nearby house. Here he falls in love with Gesuina and the two marry. Milena's husband dies, but she and Mario part ways. Later, Mario is arrested by the police.
Attention! Bandits!
Act like Lorenzo
event1951 star_border 6
top_panel_open
During the winter of 1944, the partisans stationed in the Ligurian Apennines must go to a factory in Genoa, in order to pick up a delivery of weapons. Meanwhile, there's a strike in the city and the Nazis are trying to suppress it violently. The factory becomes the scene of fighting between the Germans and the partisans but the latter, aided by the workers, will be able to get the better.
Everything You Want
Act like Giorgio
event2017 star_border 7.4
top_panel_open
An aimless young troublemaker, Alessandro, squanders his days gambling and getting into fights, and he often spends his nights in jail. With few prospects, he begrudgingly accepts a job as a companion to Giorgio, an elderly poet suffering from Alzheimer’s. On their daily walks, the two banter and become friends, and Alessandro quickly learns more about this forgotten poet as the old man’s memory drifts. After learning a secret from Giorgio’s past, Alessandro and his friends work to uncover the mystery of this tale, an unexpected history lesson and a touching coming-of-age adventure.
La cieca di Sorrento
Act like Don Pietro Lisandrini
event1953 star_border 6
top_panel_open
A small girl goes blind when her mother is murdered.
L'abbiamo fatta grossa
Act like Generale
event2016 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
Yuri Pelagatti is a stage actor who is left jobless after a traumatic separation that resulted in his inability to remember his lines. Arturo Merlino is a shabby “investigator” who chases cats escaped from their homes. When Arturo and Yuri cross paths, Yuri is under the mistaken impression that Arturo is a consummate professional. He contracts Arturo to follow his ex-wife in order to find proof of her infidelity. But when he accidentally comes into the possession of a mysterious suitcase containing 1 million Euro, a series of hilarious troubles and daring adventures will result in an unpredictable finale…
Investigation of a Citizen Named Volonté
Act like Self - Interviewee
event2004 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Documentary on actor Gian Maria Volonté
The Long Silence
Act like Procuratore Capo
event1993 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
Carla Aldrovandi, a gynecologist, and her husband Marco Canova, a magistrate live on the front line of criminal and political powers in Italy. She is surrounded by terror and threats.
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
Act like Self
event2005 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Act like Self - Filmmaker
event2017 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.
At the Edge of the City
Act like don Antonio
event1953 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Based on real events, in Rome a lawyer is not sure whether to accept defending a lower-class worker wrongly accused of the murder of his girlfriend.
The Haunting of Helena
event2013 star_border 5.6
top_panel_open
After a divorce, Sophia moves to the south of Italy with her daughter, Helena. Their new home, an apartment within an austere building of the fascist age, is a chance for them to start a new life. But inside an old storage room hides a mysterious closet and a buried secret. After the loss of Helena’s first baby tooth, a chilling obsession begins and an apparition haunts her sleep...
Sergio Leone: The Way I See Things
Act like Self
event2006 star_border 9.6
top_panel_open
Documentary about Sergio Leone
Celluloide
Act like Civalleri (uncredited)
event1996 star_border 7
top_panel_open
June 1944. In the newly liberated Rome, Roberto Rossellini and Sergio Amidei decide, against all odds, to make an unprecedented, true-to-life film on the tragic events that occurred during the Nazi occupation: Rome, Open City .
Western all'italiana
event2004 star_border 4
top_panel_open
"Western all'italiana" is a documentary produced and broadcast by the satellite broadcaster Studio Universal in 2004, on the occasion of the broadcasting of a selection of Italian western films, the so-called "spaghetti westerns". In the course of the video, the birth, evolution and conclusion of the Italian western trend is told.
The Assassin
event1961 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
Suave antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli is picked up by the police with no justification. At the precinct, Martelli realizes what the investigation is all about-- that he is the main suspect in the killing of his wealthy ex-lover. Is he guilty, or is he just a sleaze?
Volonté: The Man of a Thousand Faces
Act like Self
event2024 star_border 7.5
top_panel_open
A documentary exploring the life and legacy of renowned Italian actor Gian Maria Volonté, featuring insights from his colleagues, family, and never-before-seen footage, highlighting his artistic journey and political activism.
L'oro di Cuba
Director
event2009
top_panel_open
The Cuban Revolution turns fifty years old. Fifty years of history, myths and challenges of a country that has influenced politics and culture around the world, becoming for many the symbol of the revolt against capitalism.A country full of contradictions, but which has always exerted a great fascination for its strong political and cultural identity. "The Gold of Cuba" wants to go deep and reconstruct the most exciting and the mostdramatic moments in the history of the Caribbean island. But it also wants to analyze the present through the testimonies collected from many young people who tell their hopes, opinions, expectations and dreams, trying to imagine the future that awaits this small country with a great history.
Giordano Bruno
Director
event1973 star_border 6.4
top_panel_open
Fleeing from his enemies in the Catholic Church, the free thinking philosopher, poet and scientist Giordano Bruno has found some protection in Venice. But the Roman Inquisition, fearing his influence in Europe, wants to bring him on trial for 'heresy'.
Machine Gun McCain
Director
event1969 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
After serving 12 years behind bars for armed robbery, tough guy Hank McCain finds himself the pawn of a ruthless mob runt's rebellion against a high level don. When McCain discovers that he's been betrayed and abandoned by his new employer, he retaliates with a high stakes Las Vegas casino heist that erupts into all-out war on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Neither blood, nor lust, nor wedding vows can come between McCain and his money ... or his machine gun.
Sacco & Vanzetti
Director
event1971 star_border 7.6
top_panel_open
Boston, 1920. Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are charged and unfairly tried for murder on the basis of their anarchist political beliefs.
The 5th Day of Peace
Director
event1970 star_border 5.3
top_panel_open
Based on a true story. Near the end of World War II, two German deserters are put in an Allied POW camp. When a rigid and militaristic German colonel learns about their desertion, he wants them court-martialed, even if the war is over. The uninterested Allied officers oblige him, and the two men face the firing squad on "the fifth day of peace".
Grand Slam
Director
event1967 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Professor James Anders is a seemingly mild-mannered teacher, an American working in Rio De Janeiro. Anders, bored with years of teaching, decides to put together a team to pull off a diamond heist during the Rio Carnival. Four international experts are brought together to carry out the robbery: a safe cracking expert, a master thief, a mechanical genius, and a playboy.
A Dangerous Toy
Director
event1979 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
A meek accountant buys himself a gun and finds out he's a natural marksman. After the friend who introduced him to shooting is killed by gangsters, he seeks revenge.
Closed Circuit
Director
event1978 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
At the local cinema, an audience watches a Spaghetti Western matinee. During the film's on-screen climactic duel, a bullet is fired into a patron. With no leads and a theater full of suspects, police investigators lock the doors, put everyone back in their seats, and run the movie again. But will this shot in the dark reveal the real killer?
The Gold Rimmed Glasses
Director
event1987 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
A Jewish couple and a homosexual doctor fall to prejudice and scandal in 1938 Italy.
Control
Director
event1987 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
An experiment of psychological effects under stressful conditions in a shelter. When fifteen strangers are put into a nuclear shelter to see how long they can survive without interaction with the outside, things work out fine.
Kapo
Co-Director
event1960 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
Determined to survive at any price, Edith, a young Jewish woman deported to an extermination camp, manages to survive by accepting the role of kapo, a privileged prisoner whose mission is to ruthlessly guard other prisoners.
Nudi per vivere
Director
event1963
top_panel_open
A collection of varieties numbers from various night clubs.
Turandot
Director
event1983 star_border 10
top_panel_open
From the world famous Arena of Verona, an international cast perform one of Puccini's best loved operas. The cruel Princess Turandot, ruler of China, will only wed a prince who can answer correctly her three riddles. Those who fail are executed. Prince Calaf, son of the exiled king of Tartary, falls in love with Turandot as soon as he sets eyes on her, and despite the protestations of his friends and family sets out to pass her test.
Pigeon Shoot
Director
event1961 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
Young man Marco Laudato, after the '8/9/1943's WW2 armistice, enlists in the Italian Social Republic army, attending the last days of the old regime in decay.
The Wide Blue Road
Assistant Director
event1957 star_border 6
top_panel_open
Squarciò, a fisherman, lives with his family on a small island off the Dalmatian coast of Italy. Like his fellow villagers, Squarciò struggles against harsh living conditions, a scarcity of fish in nearby waters and exploitation by the local wholesaler. But while the other fishermen continue to use nets, he goes out to the open sea to fish illegally with bombs. But Squarciò borrows money, loses his boat, and in a moment of supreme desperation, has to bomb directly off-shore, causing the hatred and rejection of his fellow fishermen. Trying to save his family, Squarciò and his young sons sail their new boat out beyond the local waters and bomb-fish again. But this time, the sea exacts a terrible toll…
Years of the Eagle
Director
event1997
top_panel_open
The story of Istituto Luce and it's newsreels, full of visual records of the social and political history of Italy under Mussolini's leadership.
The Battle of Algiers
Second Unit
event1966 star_border 7.9
top_panel_open
Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.
Time to Kill
Director
event1989 star_border 5
top_panel_open
During the invasion of Ethiopia in 1936, a wounded Italian soldier ends up stranded in the desert after a truck wreck. He makes his way to the nearest army hospital, losing his sanity in the process.
And Agnes Chose to Die
Director
event1976 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
After the Nazis take her husband away, an illiterate old washerwoman joins the Resistance as a bike courier in the Central Italian countryside.
The Demons of St. Petersburg
Director
event2008 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
St. Petersburg, 1860. After a member of the imperial family is assassinated, Fyodor Dostoevsky meets one of the conspirators, who reveals that his comrades are planning another attack to the Tsar's life. Plagued by debts and struggling to finish his latest novel, Dostoevsky must act fast to call off the plot.
Esterina
First Assistant Director
event1959 star_border 5.2
top_panel_open
Esterina, a young war orphan, joins two truck drivers, Gino and Piero, on their trips along Northern Italy. She wants to find her luck in the big city, but her dreams turn into disappointing experiences. She falls in love with Gino but he is not interested in her, until she disappears...
Duel of Champions
Screenplay
event1961 star_border 5.3
top_panel_open
A Roman nobleman, Horatius leads an imperial legion during the long and bloody war between the Romans and the Albans. A desperate arrangement is agreed on how to settle the war. Three valiant brothers are chosen from each side to fight one last fierce and bloody duel...
Giovanna
Production Manager
event1955 star_border 6
top_panel_open
This short is set in the early 1950s in a small textile factory in central Italy (Prato). Giovanna and her fellow female workers decide to enact a protest against the direction of the factory's dismissal plan, by occupying the factory and continuing to work until the proprietor cancels the dismissals. None of these women can really afford to lose their jobs, as it is the only income in the family. All workers receive moral and material support from their families, apart from Giovanna, who bravely endures her husband's disapproval. Almost all the women hold out for thirty-five days in spite of the proprietor's attempts to break their resistance. At first he blocks the road to the factory, then he cuts off electric power to increase their isolation; finally, he tries to convince them to accept the dismissal of at least a smaller number of them. But the women overcome these obstacles, determined to resist...
The Reckless
Screenplay
event1965 star_border 5.4
top_panel_open
In the figure of Ettore Zambrini, a small industrialist with a dream of opening a factory overlooking the Autostrada del Sole, Montaldo offers us an effective narrative transposition of the 'animal spirits' that governed the economic boom in Italy at the time. He is a character of contradictory humanity: capable of handling business, overdue bills, trade union relations, marital betrayal, but also the passion that binds him to his wife with equal unscrupulousness.
Rome, November 12, 1994
Director
event1995
top_panel_open
Francesco Maselli pitched this documentary to the CGIL, CISL, and UIL trade unions as part of the 1.5 million-strong protest march on November 12, 1994 against Silvio Berlusconi's projects on social security and the reform of the pension system. A large number of directors, cinematographers, camera operators and technicians from all over the country worked for free in 22 different crews, chronicling one of largest political gatherings ever held in Italy.
Farewell to Enrico Berlinguer
Director
event1984 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party.
Extraconiugale
Screenplay
event1964
top_panel_open
Three anthological segments about sexcapades and erotic fantasies in middle-class Italy.
A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot
Second Unit Director
event1975 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
Expert conman Joe Thanks teams up with half-breed Bill and naive Lucy to steal $300,000 from the Indian-hating Major Cabot. Their elaborate plan is full of disguises, double-crosses, and chases, but Joe always seems to know what he's doing.
Marco Polo
Screenplay (8 ep.)
event1982 star_border 6.8
top_panel_open
The life of the 13th-century Venetian explorer who sought to connect the civilizations of China and Europe through trade.
Show more expand_more
keyboard_double_arrow_down