Happy 90th Birthday Sergio Sollima

Sergio Sollima was born on April 17, 1921 in Rome, Italy. After graduating from the Experimental Centre of Cinematography in Rome he became a film critic. During the ‘50s he was a playwright and an assistant to Domenico Paolella. Sergio started his directorial career in Sword and Sandal films and after they passed he continued on in the Spaghetti western genre although he insists they aren’t westerns but political stories set in the west. Sollima sometimes used the alias Simon Sterling and often wrote the stories and screenplays for his films. He’s often called the third Sergio and ranks behind Leone and Corbucci in importance and success of his western films. Among his westerns are some of the most well liked "The Big Gundown" (1966) with Lee Van Cleef and Tomás Milian, "Face to Face" (1967) with Milian and Gian Maria Volonte and "Run, Man, Run" again with Milian and Donal O’Brien. In the 1970s he again switched genres and became involved in crime films and had great success with the TV series "Sandokan". He finished his career as writer and director for the 1998 TV series "Son of Sandokan". Sergio now lives in retirement in Rome. Today we celebrate Sergio Sollima’s 90^th birthday.