Who Are Those Guys ~ Joe De Santis

 

Giuseppe De Santis was born in Fondi, Lazio, Italy on February 11, 1917. He was a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and fought with the anti-German Resistance in Rome during World War II.

He was first a student of philosophy and literature before entering Rome's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. While working as a journalist for Cinema magazine, De Santis became, under the influence of Cesare Zavattini, a major proponent of the early neorealist filmmakers who were trying to make films that mirrored the simple and tragic realities of proletarian life using location shooting and nonprofessional actors.

While still working for Cinema magazine, he increasingly worked as a screenwriter and assistant director until 1947 when he made his own directorial debut with “Caccia Tragica” (Tragic Hunt). Like the two films to follow, it was a sincere call for better living conditions for the Italian working class and agrarian workers. Issues of corruption, the black market, collaboration with the Germans, and treatment of ex-soldiers were also introduced in the film.

His third film “Bitter Rice” (1950), the story of a young woman working in the rice fields who must choose between two socially disparate suitors, made a star of Silvana Mangano and was a landmark of the new cinematic style. It also earned De Santis an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story. In 1959 he won a Golden Globe with “La strada lunga un anno”; the film, produced in Yugoslavia, had a nomination for the Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.

Giuseppe appeared as an actor in only three films one of those was his only Spaghetti western “Dio perdoni la mia pistola” (God Will Forgive My Pistol) in 1969 starring Wayde Preston. He was billed as Joe De Santis.

Joe married the Yugoslavian actress and ballet dancer Dina De Santis (Gordana Miletic) [1937- ] in 1967. They remained married until De Santis’ death on May 16, 1997, at the age of 80, in Rome.

De SANTIS, Joe (aka Giuseppe De Sanctis, Gino de Sanctis) (Giuseppe De Santis) [2/11/1917, Fondi, Lazio, Italy – 5/16/1997, Rome, Lazio, Italy (heart attack)] – producer, director, assistant director, film actor, brother of actor Lucio De Santis [1922-2006], cinematographer, cameraman Pasqualino De Santis (Pasquale De Santis) [1927–1996] married to actress Dina De Santis (Gordana Miletic) [1937-    ] (1967-1997).

God Will Forgive My Pistol - 1969 (Jerome/Charlie Clayton/Clanton)