L'Italo-Americano

THURS DAY,   JANUARY  17,   2013 L'Italo-Americano PAGE  17 The Hills Run Red: Italian Wester ns, Leone and Beyond ROBERTO NATALINI Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive of the University of California recently presented the new film series centered on the great Italian directors of Western movies, "The Hills Run Red: Italian Westerns, Leone and Beyond." The Series, running through January 27th, presents six classics by Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Damiano Damiani, and others, many featuring music by the maestro of the genre, Ennio Morricone. The so-called Spaghetti Westerns, or "western all'Italiana," were filmed during the mid 1960's in the rugged landscapes of Italy and Spain, starring famous American actors such as Lee Van Cleef, Burt Reynolds, James Coburn, and Jack Palance, sometimes fading Hollywood stars and sometimes a rising one like the young Clint Eastwood in three of Sergio Leone's films (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). The term "spaghetti western" was used by critics in USA and other countries because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians, originally released in Italian even without Poster of Sergio Corbucci's "Il Mercenario" an official language, because of the multilingual casts used. As Quentin Tarantino's recently released Django Unchained confirms, these legendary movies have had a longlasting influence on filmmaking, and represented a new beginning of the most American genre. Indeed Django is a 1966 Italian western film directed by Sergio Corbucci, starring the great Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film series "The Hills Run Red" by video curator Steve Seid began last Thursday, January 10, 2013, with the film Duck, You Sucker, Sergio Leone (Italy/Spain, 1971), score by Ennio Morricone. In torrid Mexico, just in time for the undoing of Porfirio Diaz's dictatorship, we find the bandito Juan (Rod Steiger, sputtering in Spanglish). Juan teams up with nitroglycerin expert Sean Mallory (James Coburn) to make a few holes with the "holy water." Leone's creates the strangest combination of high camp, booming ordinance, and radical zeal. Two days after was the turn of The Mercenary, a film by Sergio Corbucci (Italy/Spain, 1968) with a score by Ennio Morricone. The revolution will not be narcotized in Corbucci's rabble-rousing rebellion, which follows a Mexican peasant leader Paco Roman (Tony Musante), a taciturn mercenary (Franco Nero), and oppressed silver min- will be again the protagonist with Navajo Joe (Italy/Spain, 1966), on Friday, January 25th. A prestardom Burt Reynolds is Navajo Joe, who's on the war path after his wife is killed. Part of Ennio Morricone's score, complete with embedded screams, was lifted for Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 2. Last but not least, will be the film Sabata on Sunday January 27th, by Italian director Gianfranco Parolini (Italy/Spain, 1969). In this film, spaghetti western stalwart Lee Van Cleef Poster of Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" ers as they battle businessman and a psychotic thug (Jack Palance). A Bullet for the General, by Damiano Damiani (Italy, 1966) follows on January 17th. In this film, the Italian actor Gian Maria Volontè plays El Chucho, a badass bandit bent on exploiting the revolution, whose brother is the demented priest El Santo (the feral one, Klaus Kinski). The action is packed in this compressed concentrate about deceitful perversion and political conversion. Next Saturday, January 19th, China 9, Liberty 37 will screen, directed by Monte Hellman (Italy/Spain, 1978). The director of such acid westerns starring Jack Nicholson as The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind samples the spicy red concoction of Spaghetti for this latter-day western, starring Warren Oates and Fabio Testi as two gunslingers setting their sights on railroading moguls, and their freight car full of hired thugs. Director Sergio Corbucci and the music of Ennio Morricone glares his way across a town of "upstanding citizens"—and takes them all on—in this brutal western. A character's concealed "banjo gun" was later lifted by El Mariachi. Even though several had already preceded it, Italian westerns broke ground with the arrival of Maestro Sergio Leone, who with his unique style, brought the genre to international acclaim and success. Since his 1964's Per un pugno di Dollari (A Fistful of Dollars), he permanently established westerns in the world of movies while becoming, together with his movies, a public cult figure that will be recognized forever in Italy, United States, and the rest of the world. Thanks to the wonderful cultural activity of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, we have the possibility to savor and enjoy again these masterpieces of cinematography. For complete information visit www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries/italian_westerns CONSOLATO GENERALE D'ITALIA SAN FRANCISCO Console Generale: Mauro Battocchi Segreteria: Anna Clara Maselli (segr.sanfrancisco@esteri.it) 2590 Webster StreetSan Francisco, CA 94115 Telefono: (415) 292-9200 Fax: (415) 931-7205 E-mail: it.sanfrancisco@esteri.it ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA Direttore: Paolo Barlera 814 Montgomery Street San Francisco, California 94133 Tel.: 415 788 7142 Fax: 1 415 788 6389 Email: contact.sanfrancisco@ esteri.it COM.IT.ES. - COMITATO DEGLI ITALIANI ALL'ESTERO President: Romana Bracco 870 Market Street, Suite 815San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415) 398-5312 Fax: (415) 398-3345 Email: SanFranComites@aol.com MUSEO ITALO AMERICANO Managing Director: Paula Bagnatori 204 Bay St # C, San Francisco, CA(415) 673-2200 Phone: (415) 673-2200 Fax: (415) 673-2292 E-mail: sfmuseo@sbcglobal.net ITALIAN AMERICAN SOCIAL CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO Manager: Julie Clima 25 Russia Ave.San Francisco, CA 94112 Phone: 415.585.8059 Fax: 415.585.8060 Email: info@iascsf.com SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN ATHLETIC CLUB President: Al Cipollina Administrator: Rich Baldoni-Denney 1630 Stockton St., San Francisco, CA 94133 General Information: (415) 781-0165 Fax: (415) 781-0167 Office: (415) 781-0166 (Office hours are 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. M-F, Pacific Time), email: administration@sfiac.org ORDER SONS OF ITALy IN AMERICA State President: Maria Fassio Pignati State Recording Secretary: Arlene Nunziati (Rlene49@pacbell.net) 5051 Mission Street San Francisco, California 94112-3473 Phone: (415) 586-1316 Fax:(415) 586-4786 Email: sonsofitalyca@aol.com IL CENACOLO - ITALIAN CULTURAL CLUB President: Jim Boitano Membership Chair: Ronald Derenzi (membri@ilcenacolosf.org) Post Office Box 475119 San Francisco, CA 94147-5119 Email ilpresidente@ilcenacolosf.org ITALIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION President: Ken Borelli 425 No. Fourth StreetSan Jose, CA 95112www.iahfsj.org Phone: 408-293-7122. Fax: 408-293-7154. Facebook: Italian American Heritage Foundation ITALIAN COMMUNITy SERVICES President: Luigi E. Pinotti Executive Director: Anna Maria Pierini (ampierini @italiancs.com) 678 Green Street, San Francisco, Ca 94133 Tel. (415)362-6423 Fax (415) 362-6423 E-mail info@italiancs.com - www.italiancommunityservices.org

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