RIP George Kennedy

American actor George Kennedy died in Boise, Idaho on February 28^th. He was 91. Kennedy was born on February 18, 1925. His father was a pianist and a composer/conductor, his mother a vaudeville dancer. After a 15 year military career Kennedy came to Hollywood and appeared in many TV westerns as a villain and tough guy. Winning an Academy Award for his performance in “Cool Hand Luke” he became a leading actor and star. He appeared in two Euro-Westerns: as Chris in "Guns of the Magnificent 7" (1969), the director in "Don’t Come Knocking" (2005) and was the voice of Ralph in the TV series "Santo Bugito" (1995).

Ennio Morricone wins Oscar for Best Original Score

Italy Cheers Ennio Morricone Oscar for ‘Hateful Eight’ Score

Variety

By Nick Vivarelli

February 29, 2016

ROME – Italy on Monday cheered Ennio Morricone’s Oscar victory for composing the original score for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” which marks the first competitive Oscar won by the 87-year old maestro with more than 500 movie credits to this name.

“After an almost 60-year-long career, and five nominations which had left him empty-handed, Ennio Morricone finally brings an Oscar for best score home,” trumpeted daily La Republica on its website.

“Superb Maestro, finally!” tweeted Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi at dawn, Italian time. Also on Twitter Italo Culture Czar Dario Franceschini enthused that “an all-time movie giant has triumphed.”

Morricone, who received an honorary Oscar in 2007, had been nominated five previous times, for “Days of Heaven,” “The Mission,” “The Untouchables,” “Bugsy” and “Malena.”

Earlier this year he won a Golden Globe and a Bafta nod for the “Hateful Eight” score. He had previously won Golden Globes for “The Mission,” in 1987, and Giuseppe Tornatore’s “The Legend of 1900” in 2000.

But international accolades for Morricone came after what is now considered his most groundbreaking work, on scores for Sergio Leone’s so-called “Dollars Trilogy” – “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” And also on Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.” They revolutionized the way westerns, and movies at large, are scored.

The soundtrack for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.

Morricone’s “Hateful Eight” work marks his first original score for a Tarantino pic, and his first for a western in decades.

Their collaboration on “Hateful Eight,” first announced by Variety in June 2015, took place rapidly with Morricone working from Tarantino’s screenplay, rather than scoring specific scenes, similarly to his technique on “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ihPensP6g 

New CD Release

Days of Violence

(Long Days of Revenge)

(Armando Trovaioli / Ennio Morricone)

(1966)

Director: Florestano Vancini

Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Francsico Rabal, Nieves Navarro

Country: Italy

Label: BEAT / Penta Music

# PTM002

Tracks: 32

Time: 61:68

Extras: 12 page booklet

Limited edition: 500 copies

Available: February 29, 2016

Track listing:

01 I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (Titoli) 1:09

02 I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (Il Campo Di Prigionia) 2:07

03 OMBRE AL TRAMONTO 1:06

04 L'IMBOSCATA 1:25

05 LA PRATERIA 1:09

06 L'ATTESA 1:13

07 DUELLO DISPERATO 1:06

08 INSEGUENDO IL SOLE 1:43

09 SOLE ALTO 1:58

10 DOPO IL DUELLO 1:02

11 ENNIO PRENDI IL FUCILE 1:35

12 L'ATTESA (II) 2:45

13 VAI, COW-BOY, VAI 1:09

14 I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (Cantina) 3:08

15 DESERTO INFUOCATO 1:34

16 SFIDA PER UNA VENDETTA 1:54

17 AMORE PER UNA SQUAW 2:16

18 PASSI NELLA NOTTE 1:14

19 SOLE BASSO 1:43

20 DOPO IL DUELLO (Pt.2) 4:14

21 LA PRATERIA (II) 2:42

22 I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (L'Agguato) 1:30

23 FATTI IL SEGNO DELLA CROCE 1:43

24 UN SOLO COLPO 2:45

25 I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (Fantasia) 4:00

26 I LUNGHI GIORNI 1:44

27 I LUNGHI GIORNI (Pt.2) 1:22

28 MUORI O VIVI 2:43

29 MUORI O VIVI (Pt.2) 1:15

30 RABBIA E AMORE 1:06

31 TUTTO FINISCE ALL'ALBA 1:34

32 I LUNGHI GIORNI DELLA VENDETTA (Original Japanese single version) 2:43

European Western Comic Books - Rio Kid

Rio Kid, better known as "Il Cavaliere del Texas", was the protagonist of a brief series arising from the joint work between Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, the script-writer, and Rinaldo d'Amy, creator of the Plot and the artwork. A typical "righter of wrongs", accompanied by the cyclopic Whisky Bill (whose nickname is extremely illuminating of his love for alcoholic beverages), Rio Kid has his adventures in the arid regions of Texas and Mexico, where the action-packed stories (as was traditional for G. L. Bonelli's characters) frequently transcend the boundaries of the purely Western genre and encompass themes from the realm of the fantastic.

 

Giovanni Luigi Bonelli (December 22, 1908, Milan, Lombardy, Italy) was an Italian comic book author and writer, best remembered as the co-creator of Tex Willer in 1948, together with artist Aurelio Galleppini.

In 1948 he created Occhio Cupo and Tex Willer (both drawn by Galleppini). He wrote several early epizodes of Zagor (#6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14). Bonelli remained to supervise the production of Tex until his death. His son Sergio Bonelli was also a comic book writer, as well as the publisher of comics.

Bonelli died in Alessandria, Italy on January 21, 2001.

Rinaldo Dami (September 29, 1923 Vicenza, Vicenza, Italy) who was also known under the anglicized version of his name, Roy d'Ami, was a versatile creator of comics and the head of one of Italy's most prestigious art agencies of the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Crimson del Grappa, Rinaldo Dami was taken prisoner by the British in North Africa in March 1943. He was sent to a camp in Algeria, and then to the island of Malta. Upon his return in Milan in 1947, Dami started working in the advertising and animation field.

He drew his first comics in 1948, when he found work at the publishing company Cremona Nuova. There, he illustrated series like 'Blek e Gionni', 'Dixy Scott' and 'Il Piccolo Sergente', in a style influenced by Milton Caniff. During the early 1950s, he drew a great many western comics for Audace, including 'Mani in Alto', 'Gordon Jim', 'Il Sergente York', 'Cherry Brandy', 'La Pattuglia dei Bufalli', 'Il Ritorno dei Tre Bill', the Bonelli scripted 'Rio Kid' and 'Pecos Bill', scripted by Guido Martina. Later on, he created several strips for Corriere dei Piccoli, such as the humorous 'Scuterino' and 'Indianetto', as well as several scenarios for other artists, such as Carlo Porciani ('Davy Crockett', 'Haywatha'), Leone Cimpellin ('Nerofumo'), Paolo Piffarerio ('Apollo il Pollo') and Ferdinando Tacconi ('Moby Dick'). Also, he created 'Piccolo Bisonte' in Corrierino.

Rinaldo died in Naples, Campania, Italy on February 15, 1979.

Special Birthdays

Aldo Berti (actor) would have been 80, he died in 2010.