Remembering Francesco De Masi

Francesco De Masi was born on January 11, 1930 in Rome, Italy. He studied composition at the San Pietro a Maiella in Naples. He studied under his uncle Achille Longo and when Achille was asked to score a film he asked Francesco to assist him. De Masi became very interested in film scoring after this experience and composed over 200 film scores during his carrer among them over 45 Eurowesterns. Francesco actually preceeded Ennio Morricone as a western film composer and he developed his own style. He was one of the greatest composers of adventure and western films. A accomplished condutor he conducted most of his compositions. Among his outstanding western scores were “The Magnificent Brutes of the West” ('64), “The Man from Nowhere” ('65), “Ringo the Face of Revenge” ('66), “Any Gun Can Play” ('67), “Kill Them All and Come Back Alone” ('68), and the American adventure film “Lone Wolf McQuade” ('83). Francesco De Masi dies on November 6, 2005 in Rome, yet little coverage was given to his death. Thankfully many of his scores have been released on CD. His son promised two years ago that a release of all of his western scores was in the works but unfortunately that has not happened. Today we remember one of the greatest composers of the Spaghetti Western genre Francesco De Masi on what would have been his 80th birthday.