RIP Angus MacInnes

 

Canadian actor Angus MacInnes, famous for his role as Y-wing fighter gold leader Jon "Dutch" Vander in “Star Wars”, died on December 23^rd he was 77. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on October 27, 1947. He also had roles in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and Hollywood blockbusters including “Hellboy” and “Captain Phillips”. He later appeared as Sonny Munro in ‘River City’, and Tostig in the History Channel series ‘Vikings’, but relocated to Edinburgh in the mid-1980s, where he established a successful pizza restaurant. MacInnes appeared in two Euro-western TV films: ‘Lousiana’ as albert in 1984 with Margot Kidder and as Silich Cure in 2009’s “High Plains Invaders”.

Remembering all those we lost in 2024

 

BOOT HILL 2024

Gian Franco Reverberi (composer) 11/12/1934 – 1/8/2024

Dana Ghia (actress) 7/13/1932 – 1/15/2024

José Lifante (actor) 6/3/1943 – 1/16/2024

Torsten Wahlund (actor) 2/10/1938 – 1/16/2024

Ulrich Voß, Ulrich [voice actor] 6/8/1938 - 1/11/2024

Norman Jewison [producer] 7/21/1926 – 1/20/2024

Sandra Milo (actress) 3/11/1933 – 1/29/2024

Don Murray (actor) 7/31/1929 – 2/2/2024

Damo Suzuki [singer, musician] 1/16/1950 – 2/10/2024

Alain Dorval [voice actor] 8/9/1946 – 2/13/2024

Gerard Barray (actor) 11/2/1931 – 2/15/2024

Ira von Fürstenberg (actress) 4/17/1940 – 2/19/2024

Micheline Presle (actress) 8/22/1922 – 2/21/2024

Paila Pavese [voice actress] 9/23/1942 – 2/22/2024

Roberto Messina [stunts, actor] 1/2/1934 – 1/9/2024

Georg Riedel (composer) 1/8/1934 – 2/25/2024

Charles Dierkop (actor) 9/11/1936 – 2/25/2024

Angelo Nicotra [voice actor] 4/10/1948 – 3/8/2024

Roberto Leoni (writer) 11/16/1940 - 3/5/2024

Gigio Morra (actor) 8/26/1945 – 3/10/2024

Malachy McCourt (actor) 9/20/1931 – 3/11/2024

Mino Giarda [assistant director] 8/2/1928 – 3/20/2024

Türker İnanoğlu [producer] 5/18/1936 – 4/2/2024

Antonio Cantafora (actor) 2/2/1944 – 4/20/2024

Margaret Lee (actress) 8/4/1943 – 4/24/2024

Gabriella Andreini (actress) 4/16/1938 – 4/28/2024

Jörg Hengstler [voice actor] 10/31/1956 - 4/28/2024

Gisela Büttner [voice actress] 7/15/1941 – 5/1/2024

Günter Rätz (director, writer, animator) 5/30/1935 – 5/1/2024

Mark Damon (actor) 4/22/1933 - 5/12/2024

Philippe Leroy (actor) 10/15/1930 – 6/1/2024

Françoise Hardy (actress, singer) 1/17/1944 – 6/11/2024

Donald Sutherland (actor) 7/17/1935 – 6/20/2024

Walter Beck (director) 9/19/1929 – 6/23/2024

Txema Blasco (actor) 7/13/1941 – 6/28/2024

Claudio Mancini (producer, actor) 3/24/1928 – 6/29/2024

Adolfo Bartoli (cinematographer) 8/12/1950 – 6/30/2024

Robert Towne (writer) 4/2/1940 – 7/1/2024

Gianni Meccia (actor, singer) 6/2/1931 - 4/9/2024

Robert Logan (actor) 5/29/1941 - 5/6/2024

Samuel Clemens (director, writer) 8/16/1980 – 7/6/2024

Salvatore Puntillo (actor) 7/27/1935 – 7/14/2024

Giancarlo Guardabassi (singer) 8/21/1937 – 7/17/2024

Arnaldo Dell’Acqua (stuntman, stunt coordinator, actor) 5/14/1938 – 7/23/2024

Teresa Gimpera (actress) 9/21/1936 - 7/23/2024

Lou Carrigan (Antonio Vera Ramirez) 7/2/1934 - 7/29/2024

Enriqueta Linares [voice actress] – 1934 – 8/1/2024

Rainer Brandt (actor, voice actor) 1/19/1936 – 8/1/2024

Mitzi McCall [voice actress] 9/9/1930 – 8/8/2024

Franco Daddi (stunt coordinator, stuntman, actor) 3/28/1935 – 8/11/2024

Sergio Donati (screenwriter) 4/13/1933 – 8/13/2024

Alain Delon (actor)11/8/1935 – 8/18/2024

Catherine Ribeiro (actress) 9/22/1941 – 8/23/2024

Peter Rabenalt (composer) 7/16/1937 - 8/26/2024

Mirko Ivanković (stuntman, actor) 3/1/1939 - 9/6/2024

Giacomo Dell’Orso (conductor) 12/2/1931 – 9/9/2024

Kenneth Cope (actor) 4/14/1931 – 9/11/2024

Franca Bettoja (actress) 5/14/1936 – 9/13/2024

David Graham [voice actor] 7/11/1925 – 9/20/2024

Klaus Manchen (actor, voice actor) 12/1/1936 – 9/27/2024

Ely Ron (actor) 6/21/1938 - 9/29/2024,

Ken Tobais (singer) 7/25/1945 – 10/2/2024

Elisa Montes (actress) 12/15/1934 - 10/9/2024

Mario Morra [film editor] 1935 – 10/11/2024

Roger Browne [voice actor] 4/13/1930 – 10/11/2024

Joan Frank Prado (actor, cinematographer) 4/21/1959 – 10/14/2024

Ken Wood (Giovanni Cianfriglia) (stuntman, actor) 4/5/1935 – 10/30/2024

Renato Serio (composer) 10/5/1946 – 11/4/2024

Charles Dumont (composer) 2/26/1929 - 11/18/2024

Lucian Iancu (actor) 2/3/1940 – 11/20/2024

Silvia Pinal (actress) 9/12/1931 – 11/28/2024

Jean-Marie Pallardy (producer, director, writer, actor) 1/16/1940 – 12/12/2024

Mircea Diaconu (actor) 12/24/1949 – 12/14/2024

Marisa Paredes (actress) 4/3/1946 – 12/17/2024

Guillermo Antón (actor, singer) 7/7/1940 – 12/19/2024

Maurizio Centini [cinematographer] 12/13/1940 – 12/27/2024

Little Known Western Actors ~ Carlo Cattaneo, Lella Cattaneo

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Carlo and Lella Cattaneo were husband and wife. I have no biographical information on Carlo but he most like was born in the early 1900s and has passed on by now. He appeared in only one Spaghetti western and that was “Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato…parola di Spirito Santo” (Blazing Guns) in 1971 as a townsman

CATTANEO, Carlo [Italian] – film actor, married to actress Lella Cattaneo (Angela Bassi) [1905-1992].

Blazing Guns – 1971 (townsman)

Lella on the other hand was born Angela Bassi on June 8, 1905, in Castel Bolognese, Ravenna, Italy. She had quite a career as a fotoromanzi, film and TV actress starting in 1965 and continuing through over 60 films and TV appearances until 1991. She appeared as basically an extra or character actress in small background parts.

Lella Cattaneo died in Rome on April 1, 1992, at the age of 86.

Lella appeared in five Spaghetti westerns: “Dio perdona... io no!” (God Forgives… I Don’t!) in 1966 as a woman waiting for the train, “È tornato Sabata... hai chiuso un'altra volta” (Return of Sabata) in 1971 as a roulette gambler, “...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità” (Trinity is STILL My Name) in 1971 as a restaurant patron, “La vendetta e un piatto che si serve freddo” (Vengeance Trail) also in 1971 as the townswoman with a parisol) and in 1972 she played a woman in the dining car in “Te Deum” (Sting of the West).

CATTANEO, Lella (aka Angela Bassi Cattaneo, Angela Cattaneo Bassi, Lela Cattaneo) (Angela Bassi) [6/8/1905, Castel Bolognese, Ravenna, Italy – 4/1/1992, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – fotoromanzi, film, TV actress, married to actor Carlo Cattaneo.

God Forgives... I Don’t! – 1966 (woman waiting for train)

Return of Sabata – 1971 (roulette gambler)

Trinity is STILL My Name – 1971 (restaurant patron)

Vengeance Trail – 1971 (townswoman with parasol)

Sting of the West – 1972 (woman in dining car)

Voices of the Spaghetti Western – “Christmas Kid”

As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.

I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe these actors are as well-known as the actors they voiced.

Today we’ll cover “Buckaroo: The Christmas Kid”

[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English]

Joe Novak – Jeffrey Hunter (E) Jeffrey Hunter, (S) Jesús Nieto 

Mike Culligan – Louis Hayward (E) Louis Hayward, (S) Francisco Sánchez

Mayor Louis Carillo – Gustavo Rojo (E) ?, (S) Carlos Revilla

Marie Lefleur – Perla Cristal (E) ?, (S) Ana María Saizar

Judge George Perkins – Luis Prendes (E) ?, (S) Ángel María Baltanás

Jud Walters – Fernando Hilbeck (E) ?, (S) Fernando Hilbeck

Ana María Saizar (1924 - 2013)

Ana María Saizar was a Spanish voice dubber born in San Sebastián, Provincia de Guipuzcoa, País Vasco, Spain born on March 25, 1924. She began her professional career as a dubbing actress in 1948 at the Sevilla Film Studios. In the 1950s, in Madrid, she began to work in the larger dubbing studios in the country and specifically, from 1956, in Oro Films, where she remained until the mid-1980s. She dubbed into Spanish the voice of some of the most important Hollywood film stars of the time, such as Sofia Loren, Anne Baxter, Grace Kelly and Carole Lombard.

For television, she highlighted her work as Miss Rottenmeier in the cartoon series ‘Heidi’ (1975). Although she also voiced Miss Cassandra in ‘Maya the Bee’, Flower in ‘Once Upon a Time... the man’, Barbara Bain (Helen Russell) in ‘Space 1999’, Doris Roberts (Mildred Krebbs) in ‘Remington Steele’ and Peg Phillips (Ruth Miller) in ‘Doctor in Alaska’.

She retired in the late 1990 and died in Madrid, Spain on December 19, 2023, she was 89.

Special Birthdays

Roy (Rowland (director) would have been 115 today but died in 1995.

Juan Mariné (cinematographer) is 105 today.

Carlos Ballesteros (actor) would have been 95 today but died in 2011.

Riccardo Miniggio (actor) is 90 today. 

 

Henri Sidoli (writer) would have been 85 today but died in 1997.

Conchita Márquez Piquer (actress) would have been 80 today but died in 2021.

RIP Lou Carrigan

 

Spanish novelist Lou Carrigan died on July 29, 2024, in Barcelona, Spain three weeks after turning 90. He was born Antonio Vera Ramirez in Barcelona on July 2, 1934. He wrote some 1,100 novels under multiple aliases such as Angelo Antonioni, Crowley Farber, Lou Flanagan, Anthony Hamilton, Sol Harrison, Anthony Michaels, Anthony W. Rawer, Angela Windsor, Giselle but was best known for his westerns where he used the name Lou Carrigan. Three of his novels became Spahetti western films and he wrote the screenplay for a fourth. “Twenty Paces to Death” and “Stagecoach of the Condemned” both in 1970 and “Four Candles for My Colt” in 1971 were based on his novels. He wrote the screenplay for 1971’s “And the Crows will Dig Your Grave”.

Little Known Western Actors ~ Bruno Cattaneo

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Bruno Cattaneo was born in Gallipoli, Apulia, Italy on October 31, 1938. He appeared in 63 films and television series from 1960 to 1983. He was also well known as a voice actor and director especially for Japanese animated cartoons and films.

Cattaneo died in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England on May 8, 2019 at the age of 80.

Bruno appeared in only one Spaghetti western where he played the role of Murienda in 1968’ “Un buco in fronte” (A Hole in the Forehead).

CATTANEO, Bruno [10/31/1938, Gallipoli, Apulia, Italy – 5/8/2019, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, U.K.] – director, film, TV, voice actor.

A Hole in the Forehead – 1968 (Murienda)

Spaghetti Western location Then & Now ~ “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw”

In the 1958 film “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw” we see actors Kenneth More and Jayne Mansfield riding in a buggy passing the town of Fractured Jaw’s graveyard. The scene was filmed in Colmenar Viejo, Spain.

Heres’ that same Colmenar Viejo location as seen today in 2024.

30 European Western Comic Books – Buffalo Bill

 

Buffalo Bill

A comic book series that offers a story in prose illustrated with comic strips taken from a series of English produced and created by different artists including Jesus Blasco, Mario Uggeri and Raffaele Paparella. The issue is completed by Famous Men and Events with drawings by Fred Funcken, Jean Graton and E. G. Luco. It was published by Casa Editrice Pubblipresse in Italy and the first issue was released on June 15, 1966, and ended with issue #12 on December 15, 1966. Each issue contained 48 black and white pages with color covers.

 

Titles

01 (15-30.06.66) - "L'ultimo superstite di Grey Rock Creek" (The Last Superstite of Gray Rock Creek)

02 (01-15.07.66) - "La sconfitta di Red Claw" - "Buffalo Bill in pericolo" (Red Claw's Defeat" - Buffalo Bill in Danger)

03 (15-31.07.66) - "La furia dei Pawnees", "Il prigioniero di Kiowa" (The Fury of the Pawnees, The Prisoner of Kiowa)

04 (1-15.08.66) - "La rivolta degli Uroni", "La vendetta del generale Sanchez" (The Revolt of the Huron, The Revenge of General Sanchez)

05 (15-30.08.66) - "La scure di guerra" - "Il ricatto dei Cheyennes" (The Axe of War - The Blackmail of the Cheyennes)

06 (01-15.09.66) - "Il bandito", "Battaglia a Hammer-Rocks" (The Bandit, Battle at Hammer-Rocks)

07 (15-30.09.66) - "La pista dell'oro", "Il disertore" (The Gold Trail, The Deserter)

08 (01-15.10.66) - "I due del Texas", "Fuga da Fort Lincoln" (The Two from Texas, Escape from Fort Lincoln)

09 (15-30.10.66) - "La traccia", "Agguato" (The Track, Ambush)

10 (1-15.11.66) - "L'ultima rapina", "Armi per gli Apaches" (The Last Robbery, Guns for the Apaches)

11 (15-30.11.66) - “La razzia”, “Trappola mortale” (The Raid, Death Trap)

12 (01-15.12.66) - "La pista abbandonata", "Il cacciatore di bufali" (The Abandoned Track, The Buffalo Hunter)

Special Birthdays

Bruno Corazzari (actor) would have been 85 today but died in 2021.

Gila Golan (actress) is 85 today.

From the WAI! vault

 

Little Known Western Actors ~ Silvana Catenacci

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Silvana Catenacci is/was an Italian actress who appeared in only one film and that was also her only Spaghetti western film. I’m guessing she was related to Luciano Catenacci as both appear in “Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola” (The Stranger Returns) in 1967 in an uncredited role.

I can find no reference to her in any biographical information about her or Luciano, but it seems obvious they must be related.

CATENACCI, Silvana [Italian] – film actress.

The Stranger Returns – 1967

Celebrate Christmas with Winnetou & Co.

Himmel & Erde

By Jil Blume-Amosu

December 25, 2024

Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, Kara Ben Nemsi – the heroes that Karl May created in his books are world-famous. Less well known is the writer's great Christian sense of mission. For him, Christmas, among other things, played a major role.

"I proclaim the great joy that has come to you." This is how Karl May begins his great Christmas poem, which runs as a red thread through his novel »Christmas«. Here, the narrator celebrates Christmas first in the Ore Mountains and later in the Wild West as Old Shatterhand – and Winnetou gives nuggets. But Christmas is also celebrated in the Orient: In Ardistan, Kara Ben Nemsi and Haji Halef Omar even set up a Christmas tree manufactory. Christmas was always a very special time not only for his hero, but also for Karl May himself: Many catastrophes in Karl May's life always happened at Christmas. And yet hardly any other author celebrates Christmas in his work so gladly and dazzlingly.

Karl May (1842-1912), who was born in Hohenstein-Ernsttal in Saxony, is still one of the most widely circulated and widely read German writers. In Germany alone, his books have sold 100 million copies to date, and the worldwide circulation is estimated at 200 million. It was not until the age of 32 that Karl May began to write at all. By then, the author, who came from a poor background, had a failed career as a teacher and a total of eight years in prison behind him. This is probably one of the reasons why May repeatedly tells of captivity, escape and daring liberation actions in his novels and travel stories.

In the 38 years of his career, May wrote articles, travel stories, youth literature, novels, poems and even a drama. Among the best-known works to this day are the "Oriental Tales" about the hero Kara Ben Nemsi and the North American novels with Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Both were initially published as serial stories, especially in the Catholic family magazine "Deutscher Hausschatz". It was not until 1880 that they were also published in book form. Today, Karl May's complete works comprise almost 100 volumes.

A second motif that runs like a red thread through almost all of Karl May's stories is the Christian faith: "As Kara Ben Nemsi or Old Shatterhand, he (...) had many a profound conversation with his companions – (...) downright pastorally" – this is how Rainer Buck judges Karl May in his biography. In fact, May's "alter ego" Old Shatterhand is characterized by charity, peacefulness and mercy in many situations - even towards the worst villains. His blood brother Winnetou confesses Christ on his deathbed. And during his trips to the Orient, May lets his characters Kara Ben Nemsi and Haji Halef Omar argue about Christianity and Islam more than once.

Nevertheless, Karl May's great Christian sense of mission never seems intrusive. Rainer Buck writes about this in his biography: "May packs his 'sermons ́ into exciting plots and dialogues. In this way, he manages to avoid the usual pious terms. (…) The Christian readership thus finds itself in his stories, and the dissenters are at least not repelled by the way May brings in his religious convictions."

 

Spaghetti Western Locations for “The Forgotten Pistolero”

We continue our search for locations for “The Forgotten Pistolero”. A carriage is seen dropping off guests off at the Carrasco hacienda. Inside a ball is going on. Anna seems to be enjoying herself dancing with several of the gentlemen in attendance while she ignores Thomas who is drinking heavily. He watches her dance and when she glances at him he pretends not to care.

The exterior shots were filmed at the Talamanca de Jarama compound and the interiors in Rome Italy.

For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm and Captain Douglas Film Locations http://www.western-locations-spain.com/

Special Birthdays

Alfred Vohrer (director) would have been 110 today but died in 1996.

Manfred Erdmann [voice actor] would have been 85 today but died in 2017.

Carmen María Strujac (actress) is75 today.

Sabina Gaddi (actress) is 60 today.

RIP Egidio Spugnini

 

Italian Production Designer, Set Dresser Egidio Spugnini died in Urbania, Pesaro e Urbino, Italy on December 27, 2024. He was 79. His collaborations include one with Elio Petri in "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion", a film that in 1971 won the Oscar for best foreign film. In 2017 he was awarded the honor of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. His bond with the Marche region is strong, and in particular with his Urbania. Spugnini was involved in two Spaghetti westerns, “Death Played the Flute” in 1972 as a production designer and “Brothers Blue” in 1973 as a set dresser.

RIP Maurizio Centini

Veteran Italian cinematographer and cameraman Maurizio Centini died in Rome on December 27^th. He was 84. Word of his passing was posted on Facebook by Davide Pulici. Centini was born in Rome on December 13, 1940, and worked in the Italian film industry from 1969 to 1986 and was a cinematographer or cameraman on 40 films including one Spaghetti western 1978’s “Porno-Erotic Western”.

From the WAI vault

 

Little Known Western Actors ~ Bill Catching

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

 Jerome Peter Catching was born in Bexar, Texas on June 19, 1926. Known as Bill Catching, he hitchhiked from Bandera to Hollywood in 1942 when he was 16. He went to work in barns that furnished horses to the movies. After Navy service in WWII, Bill worked as a wrangler for Ralph McCutcheon, who furnished livestock to Columbia Pictures. Upon urging from Al Wyatt and Jock Mahoney, Bill and Troy Melton, he signed on as stuntmen at ZIV, an early giant in TV production. Catching worked on “The Cisco Kid” and “Boston Blackie” at ZIV as well as over 500 episodes of “Highway Patrol”, “I Led Three Lives”, “Bat Masterson”, “Tombstone Territory”, “The Rough Riders” and others over a five-year span. Leaving ZIV in 1953, he went to Columbia Pictures where his first stunt coordinating job was on “They Rode West”.

After a four-decade career of thrilling audiences and making actors look good, Bill spent a well-deserved retirement on his ranch just outside of Yuma where he raised prize horses. In August 1994 he received a Golden Boot Award for excellence in western films. His dear friend, the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, presented Bill with his Golden Boot. The veteran stuntman died of cancer at 81 on August 24, 2007, at his home in Somerton, Arizona.

Cathcing worked as a stuntman on two Spaghetti westerns, “El regreso de los siete Magnificos” (The Return of the Seven) in 1966 and on 1967’s “La bataille de San Sebastian” (Guns for San Sebastian).

CATCHING, Bill (aka J.P. “Bill” Catching, J.P. Catching, William Catching, Bill Katching) (Jerome Peter Catching) [6/19/1926, Bexar, Texas, U.S.A. – 8/24/2007, Somerton, Arizona, U.S.A. (cancer)] – assistant director, stuntman, film, TV actor, married to Helen Margaret Davis [1927-1993] (1949-195??), father of Mary Renton [1956-    ], Trudy Catching [1959-    ], Carol ‘Cara’ Kaufman married to Dorothy Eva Blair [1942-    ] (1965-1970), member of the Stuntman’s Hall of Fame, awarded a Golden Boot Award [1994].

Return of the Seven – 1966 [stunts]

Guns for San Sebastian – 1967 [stunts]

John C. Reilly Set to Play Buffalo Bill in Surreal Italian Western ‘Heads or Tails?’ From ‘Tale of King Crab’ Directors

 

Variety

By Nick Vivarelli

December 18, 2024

John C. Reilly will soon appear on the big screen as Buffalo Bill in “Heads or Tails?” a surreal Western by Italian directorial duo Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis (“The Tale of King Crab“). The film is inspired by a true event that took place during Buffalo Bill’s stay in Italy.

Along with the Oscar-nominated U.S. actor – who co-starred with Joaquin Phoenix in Jacques Audiard’s Western “The Sisters Brothers” – the top notch “Heads or Tails?” cast also comprises rising French star Nadia Tereszkiewicz (“Red Island,” “The Crime is Mine”) and Italy’s Alessandro Borghi (“The Eight Mountains,” “Supersex”), in lead roles, and Argentina’s Peter Lanzani (“Argentina, 1985,” “El Angel,” “The Clan”). 

Italian cowboys known as “butteri” –– and hailing from the central Italian plains of northern Lazio up through the coastal Italian region of Maremma into southern Tuscany — have a long-standing connection to Buffalo Bill and the history of America’s Wild West.

Buffalo Bill, born William F. Cody, was a 19th-century American frontiersman who gained fame as a scout, bison hunter, and showman, notably producing the popular “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” show, which dramatized frontier life for audiences worldwide. In 1890, Buffalo Bill brought his “Wild West” show to Naples and then travelled north to Rome as part of his European tour that offered an authentic wild frontier experience and showcased American cowboy skills.

“Heads or Tails?,” which is now in post, takes it’s cue from a bet famously waged on the outskirts of Rome between Buffalo Bill’s American cowboys and the Italian cowboys on which team was better at taming wild horses. As Italian legend has it, the Italians won.

The Italy-set Western turns on two young lovers named Rosa and Santino – played by Tereszkiewicz and Borghi – who go on the run after the murder of her husband. “Everyone is on their trail, but no one knows the truth,” reads the provided synopsis. Santino is the Italian cowboy who is instrumental in beating Buffalo Bill’s team.

Borghi, a winner of Italy’s David di Donatello Award for his potent performance as Stefano Cucchi – a young Roman who died after being viciously beaten by the Italian military police, in ‘On My Skin’ (‘Sulla mia pelle’) – is a top Italian box office draw known internationally for financial-world thriller series “Devils,” in which he stars opposite Patrick Dempsey, besides standout roles in “Eight Mountains” and Netflix’s “Supersex” series in which Borghi played porn icon Rocco Siffredi. He will soon appear on the big screen as the lead in Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Captive.”

De Righi and Zoppis made a splash in 2022 at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight with their feature debut “The Tale of King Crab” that, somewhat similarly to “Heads or Tails?,” was a retelling of a local Italian legend.

“Heads or Tails?,” which is titled “Testa o Croce?” in Italian, is co-produced by Tommaso Bertani at Rome-based Ring Film, Massimiliano Navarra, and New York-based producer Alex C. Lo’s  company Cinema Inutile with RAI Cinema. Also on board are Filippo Montalto’s Andromeda shingle, Luigi and Olivia Musini’s Cinemaundici, and Stefano Centini’s Volos Films.

RAI Cinema International is handling international sales on the buzzy title that is expected to surface at a major festival in 2025.

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians ~ Gino Paoli

 

Gino Paoli is an Italian composer, songwriter, singer and actor born in Monfalcone, Gorizia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy on September 23, 1934, but moved to Genoa at a young age.

After several different jobs, he was signed to Dischi Ricordi with friends and fellow musicians Luigi Tenco and Bruno Lauzi. His first success was the single "La Gatta", which has been used in Italian language teaching classes in American middle schools and high schools.

Gino Paoli's debut album – Gino Paoli was released in Italy in 1961 on Dischi Ricordi. In 1963 he attempted suicide by shooting himself to the heart (the bullet is still inside his chest).

In the 1980s Paoli produced a series of successful albums, and in 1985 he toured Italy together with Ornella Vanoni.

In 1987 he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the Italian Communist Party. He abandoned politics in 1992 to pursue his music ambitions.

He had a long relationship with actress Stefania Sandrelli. Their daughter, Amanda Sandrelli, is also an actress.

During an interview in February 2015, when the journalist cited a famous phrase of an Italian minister saying that taxes are a good thing, Gino Paoli insulted him. At the time Paoli was under investigation for tax evasion, accused of having brought 2 million € of untaxed income to a Swiss bank. The singer was acquitted in 2016 of the crime.

Today at the age of 90, Paoli lives in Genova, Italy

PAOLI, Gino [9/23/1934, Monfalcone, Gorizia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy -     ] – composer, songwriter, singer, actor, politician, married to Anna Paoli (19??-19??) father of Giovanni Paoli [1965-     ], father of director, writer, actress Amanda Sandrelli (Amanda Paoli) [1964-    ] with director, writer, actress Stefania Sandrelli [1946-    ], married to Paola Penzo (19?8-    ) father of Nicolò Paoli [1981-    ], Tomaso Paoli [1992-    ].

The Magnificent Three – 1961 [sings: “Un Uomo Vivo”]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-pBGeHl-4Q

Special Birthdays

Michael Hinz (actor) would have been 85 today but died in 2008.

George Paul Blagden (actor) is 35 today.

Spaghetti Western Trivia – Leon Nichols?

 

Leo Nichols was given credit for the music for the Burt Reynolds Italian western “Navajo Joe”. For years that alias has been associated with Ennio Morricone but lately the question has come up could it actually be for Bruno Nicolai who collaborated with Morricone on his early scores?  Then again could it be an alias used by both as equal credit for composition and conducting?