In 1966 director Sergio Corbucci brought to the screen the character of Django, his movie which is now considered an iconic film from the spaghetti western genre set the scene and also laid down a blueprint of sorts for many other westerns that were to be produced by Italian filmmakers within the quirky, violent and above all entertaining genre of the western All’Italiana. In fact many films that were produced within the genre were re-titled in Germany to incorporate the name of Django because the character and the original movie proved to be so popular. Plus it also spawned a number of sequels which had very little in common with the Corbucci movie apart from the name of Django. In 1987, director Nello Rossatti under the alias of Ted Archer resurrected the central character for his film DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN, and also managed to persuade Franco Nero reprise his role as the central character. However DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN is something of an oddity within the genre of the spaghetti western, and in fact I for one am not sure if it at all belongs within this category. It is a very different Django that we meet in this movie. After all the original character was something of an anti hero and never really took sides but instead watched his own back and protected certain individuals that assisted him. This Django is more of a gun ho hero who pits himself against the forces of evil and fights for the downtrodden and enslaved. Although there are a number of flaws within the movie and it does not really start where the original finished it is still a fairly entertaining and fast paced film that has its fair share of gunfights and pitch battles at some points, if I told you that Django manages to dispatch 78 adversaries in the film you will probably get the idea. Set in Mexico but actually filmed on location in Columbia the story takes place some twenty years after the original and begins with a gunfight scenario between two ageing gunman, who after facing each other in the time honoured Spaghetti western fashion find that they are not as sure of hand or sight as they used to be and end up shooting a weather vein to pieces before retiring to the saloon to talk over old times, the name of Django comes up in the conversation but their reminiscing is soon cut short when they are blown to bits by naval guns that are on the vessel named The Mariposa Negra, which is under the command of a Hungarian aristocrat Orlowsky (Christopher Connely) who has been dubbed EL DIABLO-THE DEVIL by locals. Orlowsky and his troops were originally in Mexico to assist the Emperor Maximillian but after a disagreement with the Mexican government have taken to being slavers and terrorising the peasants and them forcing them to work in silver mine.
Django has given up the ways of violence and has entered a monastery in San Domingo, calling himself Brother Ignatius and is intent on becoming a Monk. One day a woman visits the monastery and tells Django that she is dying, she wants him to take care of her daughter he initially refuses her request but she then tells him that she is also his daughter. He travels to the village where his daughter lives but finds that it has been attacked by The Devil and his men, many of the occupant’s dead others taken prisoner and held on Orlowsky’s ship. Django goes to the ship and asks Orlowsky to give him his daughter but his request is denied and Django is thrown in irons tortured and set to work in the mine. It is here that Django meets Gunn (Donald Pleasence) and with his new found allies help Django makes his escape retrieves his machine gun and returns to unleash his vengeance upon The Devil and his cohorts. DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN although entertaining in places contains a fairly complicated and implausible plot but maybe that is what the attraction is for many admirers of the movie.
The musical score for this spaghetti sagebrush saga is by Gianfranco Plenzio, this Italian born Maestro was particularly active within film scoring during the 1960,s through to the early 1990,s and has also continued to compose music for both film and television during the 21st century. He wrote numerous scores for westerns, sex-ploitation movies, comedies and cop thrillers as well as conducting and orchestrating many soundtracks for composers such as Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, Armando Trovajoli, Franco Micalizzi and Carlo Rustichelli, he also performed piano on a number of film scores. His music for DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN is in many ways typical of an Italian western score, but there are certain features within the soundtrack that are associated with the 1980,s that do deviate a little from the sound that we normally associate with the genre, synthesised drums for example are present throughout and Plenzio also makes effective use of various other electronic sounds to create a score that is original and interesting. The composer employs a strong trumpet theme for the gunfight scene that takes place at the beginning of the movie that is reminiscent of the style of composers such as Morricone, Micalizzi and Francesco De Masi. Plenzio also effectively employs a wordless female soprano voice on a number of cues again evoking the style of Morricone when he turned to Edda dell Orso on so many of his western scores. The music for DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN has a strong South American influence with pan pipes at times being introduced into the proceedings adding some ethnic authenticity plus Plenzio from time to time includes an ominous sounding tolling church bell that punctuates and augments the events.
The composer wrote a multi-themed score for the movie and opens the compact disc with the Mexican flavoured DURANGO which is a vibrant and infectious central motif that is performed by brass and strings that are driven along by trotting percussion and strumming guitars. The score has never been issued on Compact disc before and this release includes numerous cues that have never been released on any format. A truly entertaining work that will be at home in any soundtrack collection.
Probably one of the most well known actors in Italian cinema, Franco Nero was born Francesco Sparanero was born in San Prospero, Emilia-Romagna and spent much of his early life in Bedonia and Milan. He originally had decided to study economy and trade at University but then made a decision to study the piccolo Teatro di Milano. His first role in a motion picture was in 1964 when he was given a small part in LA RACAZZA IN PRESTITO, this was followed by a few more small roles but he was propelled to fame in 1966, when director Sergio Corbucci gave him the leading role in DJANGO. This was to be the role that set Nero off on his busy acting career and one that established him as an actor of much presence and talent. In the same year Nero starred in no less than eight movies, TEXAS ADDIO and TEMPO DI MASSACRO among them.
In 1967, Nero was asked to take the part of Lancelot in the Hollywood produced movie of the Lerner and Lowe musical CAMELOT, starring alongside Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, it was here that he and Redgrave became attracted to each other and thus began their long time partnership which was to last some 40 years. The role in Camelot was followed by an appearance in a mafia laced story entitled IL GIORNO DALLA CIVETTA (1968) which also starred Claudia Cardinale.
His awkwardness and apparent difficulty to master the English language seemed to limit the roles he was offered, although he did land parts in other English language productions such as FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE, THE VIRGIN AND THE GYPSY, DIE HARD 2 and ENTER THE NINJA. Nero has been somewhat typecast during his career in movies such as KEOMA-THE VIOLENT BREED AND DEAF SMITH AND JOHNNY EARS, but he has also managed to perform well in some quite demanding roles, i.e.; THE BIBLE, STREET LAW and QUERELLE. He has appeared in some 160 movies to date and also had a hand in the writing and production of JOHNATHAN AND THE BEARS in 1993, more recently he has starred in CONQUEST (1996) and HOLY CROWN (2001) for Hungarian filmmaker Gabor Koltav. His partnership with Vanessa Redgrave produced a son, who is now a screenwriter and a film director who goes under the name of Carlo Nero. Nero is rumoured to be starring in the forthcoming western, DJANGO LIVES which should be released in 2014.
Released in 2001 the movie LA RAGION PURA (aka THE SLEEPING WIFE) was directed, written, photographed, produced and edited by film maker and author Silvano Agosti, who apparently was also going to score the film but thankfully made the decision to pass the musical duties to Maestro Ennio Morricone. Although written in 2001 the score contains many of the stock sounds and musical trademarks that we associate with the composer from his highly industrious period of the 1960,s and 1970,s when he worked on movies such as LOVE CIRCLE, THE NICEST WIFE, LA COSSA BUFFA, DEVIL IN THE BRAIN and QUESTA SPECIE DI AMORE. This comedy that is laced with a touch of spice starred respected actor Franco Nero and Eleonora Brigliadori who portray a married couple who’s fifteen year marriage seems to be going through a difficult period, Nero a filmmaker thinks that his wife’s disinterest in the bedroom might have something to do with the fact that they are unable to have children or due to his infidelity or maybe because she is suffering from depression. One night Nero lays awake and hears his wife mumbling in her sleep, she murmurs a number of sexual and erotic suggestions which the Nero character is more than pleased about and even more happier to act upon when his wife awakens. The score is a highly melodic one and I have to say stands out amongst the works of the composer from this period, it is lush and fully symphonic and contains so many thematic properties that it is at times hard to believe that the score was written in 2001,there is just an atmosphere and emotional presence to it that evokes so many memories of the Maestros work for the cinema of past decades, it is also hard to fathom out why the score was not released before, it is crammed with touching and delicate tone poems and enormously poignant and emotive musical phrases and nuances, an inventive and pleasing work that will delight and amaze the listener. Track number one which is the title track LA RAGION PURA commences with a low sound from the string section, in fact very similar to the opening of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, a trumpet is then added and performs a down tempo but catchy sequence of notes, this is supported by further use of strings which increase in volume as piano is ushered in to punctuate the proceedings with a light and delicate air, piano also establishes the central theme or the principal melody within this opening cue, and as the strings and piano build very slowly trumpet still maintains its presence albeit as a background, woodwind is introduced under the strings as the cue segues into a fuller, richer rendition of the theme with strings lending their ample weight to convert the subtle and fragile phrases into a lush and lavish performance that is filled with emotion and romanticism.
The mood alters once again as we return to low key underlying strings with sparse use of piano that both act as a background to a repeat of the trumpet performance, which closes the cue. Track number two, ALLA FINESTRA, is another fragile and subtle sounding composition, on this occasion strings and piano enhance a brief but effective performance from woodwind, the cue in my opinion sounds almost magical with little twinkling commas and full stops being added or replacing the parts of the work that would normally be performed on piano, in many ways this cue and in fact this entire work has many affiliations and similarities with the composers score for LOVE AFFAIR, all that is missing is the female vocals of Edda. It is a subdued work but at the same time highly effecting and emotive, it contains an array of haunting themes and also has a number of stunning violin solos which evoke memories of the concert performance version of ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, and transfix the listener because of the heartfelt sound that is realized. I for one am so pleased that Hillside/GDM released it. It is a classic Ennio Morricone score and I am confident it will become a firm favourite of Morricone fans and any collector of fine movie music. Excellent…
One of the many Italian westerns that received a release during the 1960’s, TEXAS ADDIO, starring Franco Nero, was typical of many of the movies that appeared during that period, a tale of revenge laced with numerous gunfights and bad dubbing, but nevertheless a popular movie in Europe at the time of its release. The score is, in my opinion, one of the most appealing and melodic non-Morricone western scores to come out of Italy. The music is by Anton Garcia Abril, who interestingly is Spanish, and had considerable success in his own country with scores for TV and film and also was the composer of the score for the English western made by Michael(Hammer films) Carreras entitled SAVAGE GUNS. Originally the for TEXAS ADDIO score did not get a release on LP, but a 45rpm single was released in Italy (containing the title song performed by Don Powell and an instrumental version of the theme) and a further single in Japan was issued containing an alternative version of the song and theme.
Texas, Adios (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For this the definitive edition of the soundtrack, Screen Trax have re-edited and also digitally remastered the tapes, producing not only an entertaining CD, but also a disc that has good clear sound with very few distortions. The theme ‘Texas Goodbye’, features throughout the entire running time of the score in one form or another, at times performed on solo trumpet, harpsichord and also orchestra and choir.
There is also a secondary more subdued theme, that is heard on cues such as ‘Amor’ and ‘Anguish And Tenderness’. The soundtrack also features a few tracks that are Mexican cantina type compositions, these are short lived, but are not unpleasant, and seem to bring a certain authenticity to the work. The score also contains a third theme and at times is blended and fused with elements of the other principal thematic material, creating some exhilarating and highly charged interludes, as in ‘Hot Pursuit’ and ‘Fight’.
The CD boasts, fine eye catching art work, and there are also a few sleeve notes, which have unfortunately lost something in the translation, as they say, but this is one of the negative points or at least one of the most discussed points among collectors at least where Italian releases are concerned. There is also a suite from the score included, which runs for nearly 14 minutes, which I am sure has been put together in the mastering process and not by the composer. A classic score from a genre that contained its fair share of original and innovative musical works, many of which proved to be more popular than the films that they were composed for.
MERCENARIO DER GEFURCHTERTE/ IL MERCENARIO / A PROFESSIONAL GUN
HE SELLS DEATH TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER BUY OR DIE.
Released in 1968, IL MERCENARIO / A PROFESSIONAL GUN, was realized and brought to the screen by respected Italian filmmaker Sergio Corbucci and produced by the well known mogul/producer Alberto Grimaldi. The film was originally a project for director Gillo Pontecorvo, but he pulled out and Corbucci asked Grimaldi if he could take the helm. Set in Mexico in 1915, the films storyline takes place during the Mexican revolution which was taking happening whilst the so called superior nations fought each other in Europe, it was and still is one of the most polished and well made Spaghetti Westerns that belongs to the ‘Zapata Western’ sub genre and remains one of the Italian western genres most entertaining and interesting examples, with its political undertones and its inclination towards the underdog rising up against the system scenario.
It tells the story of a poor but passionate peon Paco Ramon (Tony Musante) and his ascent from a lowly downtrodden and cruelly treated individual who is forced to labour in a silver mine, to a leading figure within the revolutionary movement. It also charts the unlikely pairing and eventual strong friendship between Paco and a soldier of fortune Sergei Kowalski (Franco Nero) who has left his native Poland and the war in Europe. The Polack as they call him is in Mexico for one reason and one reason only and that is to get his hands on as much money as he can. He has originally arrived at the mine to strike a deal with the owners The Garcia Brothers to ensure that the silver from the mine arrives safely at its destination. After his meeting with the mine owners the Polack heads towards the mine, but unbeknown to him Curly a psychotic and vicious homosexual played by Jack Palance kills the Garcia brothers and decides that he will stop the Mercenary and take the silver for himself. Kowalski arrives at the mine to find that the Federal troops that were stationed there have been massacred and Paco and his fellow workers have taken over.
After an uneasy first meeting and a battle with more government troops led by Colonel Alfonso Garcia (Eduardo Fajardo) in which the Mercenary teaches Paco (after getting money from him) to use a machine gun in a somewhat unorthodox but effective way. The Polack convinces Paco that he can help him. He manipulates the Mexican who is somewhat in awe of the mercenary and plants the seeds of ideas in his head getting him to carry out acts against the authorities convincing him and his followers that it was actually their idea in the first place. Thus earning himself money and also bringing notoriety to Paco and his men. After a handful of encounters Kowalski leaves Paco and his men and gets ambushed by the unpleasant Curly and his henchman, but Paco and his band arrive in the nick of time to help the Pollock, killing Curly’s men and stripping Palance’s character to his underwear before sending him off into the desert, Curly refusing to leave his pants on and stripping himself naked before he sets off vowing to kill Paco and have his revenge on Kowalski. It is after this that Paco hires Kowalski to teach him how to lead a revolution collecting money from the members of his band to fund the mercenary. Paco and his men travel the countryside liberating villages and towns from the grip of the tyrannical authorities and as they do their numbers grow, at one of the villages that they free, they encounter Columba a beautiful young women portrayed by Giovanni Ralli, and both Paco and Kowalski are attracted to her, thus begins a friendly but at times fierce rivalry between the two. Columba joins the band of revolutionaries and soon sees through Kowalski, she realises he is in the revolution for the money and tries to convince Paco that he can do without him, Paco and his men decide to make a stand in a town that they have liberated staying to defend the people against a large contingent of federals, Kowalski advises them not to stay, but they refuse to take this advice and Kowalski leaves. Paco and his men are defeated by the government troops and flee to a nearby village where Kowalski is waiting for them with food and drink. Paco makes another deal with the Mercenary who has this time doubled his rates of pay. Paco agrees to pay him and they carry on with their revolutionary acts freeing villages and inflicting losses upon the federal forces, after defeating an entire regiment and capturing a town, Paco decides that Kowalski has become to greedy and takes him prisoner taking all of the money he has paid him back. Whilst the Pollock is tied up and in prison Paco marries Columba but the town is attacked by Colonel Garcia‘s troops aided by Curly and his henchman. Paco soon realises he cannot handle the situation so has to release Kowalski, a fierce battle ensues and most of Paco’s men are killed as the Government troops enlist the aid of an aeroplane, which is eventually shot down by Kowalski, but things do not go to plan as Kowalski escapes and Paco is trapped, but he is soon released by Columba and they escape before Curly finds them.
After a period of some six months or so, Kowalski comes across Paco in a circus dressed as a clown, he is surprised that the Mexican has survived, and is hiding away from Curly. When the performance has finished and the watching crowd has left Curly enters the arena and his men capture Paco, the idea being that Curly kills him.
Kowalski intervenes much to the relief of Paco, killing Curly’s men and then hands both Paco and Curly a rifle and a bullet each so that it will be a fair fight. The showdown ensues and Paco kills Curly shooting him through the heart. But after Paco has done this Kowalski then turns his gun on the Mexican, taking him prisoner and heads off towards the headquarters of Colonel Garcia’s 51st regiment to collect the reward that is being offered for Paco. Columba sees what Kowalski is doing and heads for the headquarters herself pretending to betray Paco telling them where they can find the Mexican and also the Polack the federals believe her and set off to intercept Paco and Kowalski. So when the troops catch up with the pair Kowalski finds himself under arrest too because he has a bigger price on his head than Paco.
The two men are sentenced to death and are told they will die by firing squad. However Columba puts her plan into action and with the assistance of a handful of men and two machine guns, She manages to free the pair and then Paco, Columba and Kowalski make their escape, eventually meeting up in the desert. Kowalski says to Paco that they should team up and they could form a company, working for both sides in a revolution any where in the world and make a lots of money and retire rich. But the Mexican is wise to the ways of the Mercenary and laughs as he and replies. “I would like to have a partnership with you Polack, but I have a dream and My Dream is in Mexico”, referring to the revolution. Kowalski looks at Paco puzzled as the Mexican continues, “Do you ever dream Polack, No I don’t think you do”. With this Kowalski and Paco part ways and head off into the sunset, but Kowalski notices that a handful of Federals led by Colonel Garcia are laying in wait for Paco, the Mercenary kills all of them when they are about to shoot Paco, he then calls to the Mexican “ Keep dreaming, but do it with your eyes open”. Paco then rides off into the desert to join Columba who is waiting for him in a nearby town. IL MERCENARIO is a classic spaghetti western, and the relationship between the principal characters Kowalski and Paco has certain noticeable similarities to that of Sean and Juan in Leone’s GUI LA TESTA (A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE) and also between Chuncho and Bill Tate in Damiani’s excellent QUIEN SABE ? (A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL). It remains a firm favourite with fans of the genre and has certainly stood the test of time, as it has not aged or become clichéd as other examples of the genre have over the years. It is a well made, inventive and entertaining motion picture.
Corbucci.
SERGIO CORBUCCI
Sergio Corbucci was born on December 6th 1927 in Italy. Most of this directors movies have the reputation for containing copious amounts of violence, but at the same time his films were intelligent and inventive examples of Italian cinema. He is probably best known for his work within the Italian or Spaghetti western genre. But he was at home within any genre, a number of his action films contain social criticism of left wing politics as Corbucci never hid the fact that he was a communist. The art direction he employed within his films was mostly apocalyptic and surrealistic which became one of the filmmakers trademarks and a mark of his black humour. Corbucci who was often referred to as the other Sergio, (the other being Leone) began his career in film within the Sword and sandal days of Italian cinema, and it is probably true to say that he learnt his craft from many Hollywood film directors that had travelled to Italy,s Cinecitta to work on Biblical epics during the 1950,s and 1960,s. He did however contribute a number of examples of the Sword and sandal variety to the genre. These included SON OF SPARTACUS, which although nothing remotely like the original SPARTACUS was an enjoyable adventure romp. In 1965 he directed MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON, which was a spaghetti western of sorts, by this I mean it belongs to the genre, but really contained non of the trademarks that we now so readily associate with the Italian produced sagebrush sagas. In the same year he worked on MINNESOTA CLAY again an Italian western, but one which still contained many of the clichéd trademarks of the Hollywood produced western and is basically a updating of the films directed by the likes of Delmar Davies, with stars such as Alan Ladd in the main roles..
He entered 1966 full of ideas of how to shape the western all’Italiana and it was in this year that he directed RINGO AND HIS GOLDEN PISTOL which was one of the earlier real spaghetti westerns, containing a gimmicky storyline , but still had some connections with the Hollywood version of the western. It was DJANGO an ultra violent western that he also filmed in 1966 that was to be the directors first major break into the commercial film market, the movies leading actor was Franco Nero who was to be the leading figure in many of Corbucci’s later movies.
The film became an instant hit in Italy and also a cult film throughout Europe, it was and still is notorious for its scenes of violence and also the amount of killings it contained, which led to it being banned in the UK for some 20 years. In many ways it was a more brutal version of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
With Ku Klux Clan and Mexican bandito’s taking the place of the Rojo’s and the Baxter’s and Django being stuck in the middle playing both sides off against each other. In the same year Corbucci directed NAVAJO JOE, which was a vehicle for young American actor Burt Reynolds, but it was the success of DJANGO that put Corbucci firmly on the filmmaking map, after this success Corbucci went onto become a director in demand and made numerous other westerns during the period from 1966 through to 1971 that remain to this day original and iconic examples of the genre. These included, THE GREAT SILENCE which was perceived to be so violent that it too was banned from a number of countries.
The movie had two endings shot one happy and one gruesome and dark. Other westerns that Corbucci directed include, HELLBENDERS, THE SPECIALIST, COMPANEROS, BANDA J AND S and WHAT AM I DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE REVOLUTION. Corbucci became the most successful director in Italy after Sergio Leone. When the genre of the Italian western had run its course and the ideas for the genre had been explored fully and more or less exhausted by filmmakers, Corbucci concentrated mostly upon comedies which was a genre that he also excelled in.
These movies often starred the singer/actor Adriano Celentano, many thought that Corbucci.s contributions were not important examples of Italian cinema at the time of them being produced, but over the years he has become an extremely significant and highly regarded figure within the world of film making. Sergio Corbucci died on December 1st 1990.
LUCIANO VINCENZONI.
IL MERCENARIO, contained a quick and clever script, and had an inventive and interesting storyline and plot. This was partly due to the work of screen writer Luciano Vincenzoni, who had worked with Sergio Leone on FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Vincenzoni was born in Italy on the 7th of march 1926, he is one of Italy’s most respected scribes for the cinema and is known in Italy as THE SCRIPT DOCTOR. He has provided the scripts/screenplay etc for over 60 movies which were produced over a period of some 46 years. It was due to his connections that Leone’s FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE was actually sold to United Artists for distribution, and amazingly during the meeting to discuss this he managed to convince UA to take THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, which at that time had not even been fully written or planned. He had begun to develop the idea from a film he had worked on in 1959 entitled LA GRANDE GUERRA, and it was Vincenzoni that came up with the title for the movie on the spot at the meeting, convincing UA that it would be a success.
FRANCO NERO.
Probably one of the most well known actors in Italian cinema, Franco Nero was born Francesco Sparanero was born in San Prospero, Emilia-Romagna and spent much of his early life in Bedonia and Milan. He originally had decided to study economy and trade at University but then made a decision to study the piccolo Teatro di Milano. His first role in a motion picture was in 1964 when he was given a small part in LA RACAZZA IN PRESTITO, this was followed by a few more small roles but he was propelled to fame in 1966, when director Sergio Corbucci gave him the leading role in DJANGO. This was to be the role that set Nero off on his busy acting career and one that established him as an actor of much presence and talent. In the same year Nero starred in no less than eight movies, TEXAS ADDIO and TEMPO DI MASSACRO among them. In 1967, Nero was asked to take the part of Lancelot in the Hollywood produced movie of the Lerner and Lowe musical CAMELOT, starring alongside Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, it was here that he and Redgrave became attracted to each other and thus began their long time partnership which was to last some 40 years. The role in Camelot was followed by an appearance in a mafia laced story entitled IL GIORNO DALLA CIVETTA (1968) which also starred Claudia Cardinale. His awkwardness and apparent difficulty to master the English language seemed to limit the roles he was offered, although he did land parts in other English language productions such as FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE, THE VIRGIN AND THE GYPSY, DIE HARD 2 and ENTER THE NINJA. Nero has been somewhat typecast during his career in movies such as KEOMA-THE VIOLENT BREED AND DEAF SMITH AND JOHNNY EARS, but he has also managed to perform well in some quite demanding roles, i.e.; THE BIBLE, STREET LAW and QUERELLE. He has appeared in some 160 movies to date and also had a hand in the writing and production of JOHNATHAN AND THE BEARS in 1993, more recently he has starred in CONQUEST (1996) and HOLY CROWN (2001) for Hungarian filmmaker Gabor Koltav. His partnership with Vanessa Redgrave produced a son, who is now a screenwriter and a film director who goes under the name of Carlo Nero.
TONY MUSANTE.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Anthony Peter Musante jnr, on June 30th 1936, he was the son of an accountant and a school teacher. He attended The Oberlin College and graduated to the Northwest University. Musante became a familiar face in a number of motion pictures that were produced in the USA and Europe. He was also very much in demand in Italy where he was the star of the television series TOMA which was the predecessor to the now well known BARETTA. He also made an appearance in the soap, AS THE WORLD TURNS and during the 1970,s played Broadway, in 1975 he received a Drama Desk award for his part in the play P.S YOUR CAT IS DEAD! And in the same year was nominated for an Emmy award for his part in the TV movie A QUALITY OF MERCY. He more recently made an appearance in the TV series OZ, where he portrayed the Italian gang leader inside the Emerald City, during the shows first season.
John Mansell 2008.
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