Spaghetti Western Directors ~ Fernando Cerchio
Fernando Cerchio was an Italian film director,
screenwriter, and editor whose career spanned from the late 1930s to the early
1970s, encompassing documentaries, adaptations, peplum epics, comedies, and
spaghetti westerns. Born in Luserna San Giovanni in the province of Turin on
August 7, 1914, Cerchio contributed to over 30 feature films, often working
within the popular genres of post-war Italian cinema while establishing himself
as a reliable craftsman at Rome's Cinecittà studios. He directed 28 films between
1945 and 1969, in addition to his editing and screenwriting contributions.
Cerchio's early training included attendance at the
School of Fine Arts and enrollment in the directing course at Rome's
Experimental Center of Cinematography in 1939. He began his professional
journey in 1938 as an editor at the LUCE Institute, producing documentaries
that later included a 1945 work on the Piedmontese Resistance titled Aldo dice
26×1. His directorial debut came in 1945 with the comedy “La buona fortuna”,
followed by an adaptation of Rossini's opera “La Cenerentola” filmed in Turin
in 1949, marking the start of a prolific output that blended historical dramas,
adventure tales, and genre entertainment.
Among his most notable works are the peplum epic “Nefertite,
regina del Nilo” (1961), featuring Vincent Price, and comedies starring Totò
such as “Totò contro Maciste” (1962) and “Totò e Cleopatra” (1963). Cerchio
also ventured into spaghetti westerns with films like “Per un dollaro di gloria”
(Mutiny at Fort Sharp, 1966), which critiqued military incompetence during the
American Civil War era, and “La morte sull'alta collina” (Death on High
Mountain, 1969).
His death in
Mentana, near Rome on August 19, 1974, concluded a career defined by versatile,
genre-driven storytelling that reflected the evolving landscape of Italian film
production.
Federico Cerchio
directed three Spaghetti westerns: “Il bandolero stanco” in 1952, “El escuadrón
de la Muerte” (Mutiny at Fort Sharp” in 1965 and “La morte sull alta’collina”
(Death on High Mountain) in 1969
CERCHIO, Fernando (aka F. Cerchio, Fred Ringold) [8/7/1914, Luserna San Giovanni,
Piedmont, Italy – 8/19/1974, Mentana, Lazio, Italy] – director, assistant
director, writer, film editor, married to Cesarina Perrachio [1914-1976] father
of cinematographer, cameraman Carlo Cerchio [1944-1996].
Il bandolero stanco
– 1952
Mutiny at Fort Sharp
– 1965
Death on High
Mountain – 1969 [as Fred Ringold]
Spaghetti Western
Screenwriters ~ Hark Bohm
Hark Bohm was born
on May 18, 1939, in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. Bohm was the son of senior State
Councillor Walter Bohm and his wife, student counsellor Ingeborg Bohm. He grew
up on the North Sea island Amrum. After graduating from high school in 1959 in
Hamburg, he then graduated from the University with a degree in law. He quit
his legal internship in Munich in 1969 and dedicated himself entirely to the
art of film. He was cast in several Fassbinder films. There Fassbinder put him
preferably one for pedantic and authoritarian roles.
In 1971, Hark Bohm
became a member of the New German Cinema. In the following years he was
director and author of several short films before then with his only
Euro-western “Chetan, Indian Boy”, which became an award-winning feature film.
It was followed by several films that dealt with social change.
Hark Bohm was also
known as co-founder of the Hamburg Film Bureau in 1979. In the same year he
also initiated the Filmfest Hamburg with Werner Herzog, Volker Schlöndorff and
Wim Wenders with the so-called Hamburg Declaration. In 1993 he founded the
Hamburg film studies at the University of Hamburg - where he held a
professorship since 1992 - which has been integrated into the Hamburg Media
School in 2004. Hark Bohm was a member of the Free Academy of the Arts in
Hamburg.
He is the brother of
late actor Marquard Bohm [1941-2006], father of actor Dschingis Bowakow. He’s
the adoptive father of actor Uwe Böhm [1962- ], who starred in several of his
films, mostly under his actual name Uwe Enkelmann. His other adopted children
and Lili and David have all appeared in films. He had one other adopted child,
plus two foster children.
Hark died on
November 14, 2025, in Hamburg, Germany at the age of 86.
Hark Bohm wrote the
screenplay for one Euro-western “Tschetan” (Chetan, Indian Boy) in 1972 which
he also directed.
BOHM, Hark (Hark Böhm)
[5/18/1939, Othmarschen, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany – 11/14/2025, Hamburg,
Hamburg, Germany] – producer, director, playwright, writer, songwriter, actor,
brother of brother of director, writer, actor Marquard Böhm [1941-2006],
married to teacher Angela Luther [1940-
] (196?-1969), married to producer, costume designer, actress Natalia
Bowakow (19??- ) adoptive father of
actress Lili Böhm (Liliana Böhm), producer, actor Dschingis Bowakow
[1961- ],cameraman, actor David Böhm,
actor Uwe Böhm (Uwe Enkelmann) [1962-2022], actress Natalia Bowakow,
Bembe Bowakow, founding director of the Hamburg University Film School.
Chetan, Indian Boy –
1972
Spaghetti Western
Cinematographer ~ Tonino Delli Colli
Tonino Delli Colli
was an Italian cinematographer renowned for his contributions to over 130 films
spanning from the neorealist era to contemporary Italian cinema, including
landmark collaborations with directors Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergio Leone, and
Roberto Benigni.
Born in Rome on
November 20, 1922, Delli Colli began his career at age 16 as an assistant
cameraman at Cinecittà studios during the early 1940s, apprenticing under
veteran cinematographer Ubaldo Arata without formal film school training. His
first credited work as director of photography came in 1943 on the film “Finalmente
Si”, followed by his role in shooting Italy's inaugural color feature, “Totò a
colori” (1952), which marked a pivotal shift from black-and-white neorealism to
vibrant color cinematography. Over the decades, he mastered both formats,
earning acclaim for his technical precision and visual storytelling in diverse
genres from gritty dramas to epic westerns.
Delli Colli's most
enduring partnerships defined much of his legacy, beginning with an 11-film
collaboration with Pasolini starting in 1961's “Accattone”, which introduced
raw, documentary-style visuals to Italian cinema, and extending to poetic works
like “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” (1964) and the controversial “Salò”,
and “120 Days of Sodom” (1975), the latter of which he personally restored late
in his career. With Sergio Leone, he crafted the sweeping, sun-baked landscapes
of spaghetti westerns, including “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), “Once
Upon a Time in the West” (1968), and “Once Upon a Time in America” (1984),
using innovative wide-screen techniques to heighten tension and grandeur.
Later, he brought luminous warmth to Fellini's “Ginger and Fred” (1986) and “The
Voice of the Moon” (1990), while his work on Benigni's “Life Is Beautiful”
(1997) blended whimsy and tragedy in color, contributing to the film's three
Academy Awards. His versatility extended to international directors like Louis
Malle, Roman Polanski, and Jean-Jacques Annaud, as well as Italian masters
Roberto Rossellini, Marco Bellocchio, Mario Monicelli, and Lina Wertmüller.
Among his honors,
Delli Colli received the American Society of Cinematographers' International
Achievement Award for his global influence on the craft, and a David di
Donatello Award for Best Cinematography for Life Is Beautiful in 1998. He
retired after “Life Is Beautiful”, leaving behind a body of work that
illuminated Italy's cinematic golden age and bridged its stylistic evolutions,
survived by his son Stefano, also a cinematographer.
Tonino Delli Colli
was a cinematographer on four Spaghetti westerns: “Io sono il capataz” (The
Return of Pancho Villa) in 1950, “Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo” (The Good,
the Bad and the Ugly) in 1966, “C’era un a volta il west” (Once Upon a Time in
the West) in 1968 and “Los amigos” (Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears) in 1972.
DELLI COLLI , Tonino (aka Tonino delli Colli) (Antonio
Delli Colli) [11/20/1922, Rome,
Lazio, Italy – 8/16/2005, Rome, Lazio, Italy (heart attack)] – cinematographer,
cameraman, cousin of cinematographer, cameraman Franco Delli Colli [1929-2004],
married to ? father of writer Stefano Delli Colli [1952- ] married to actress Alexandra Delli Colli
[1957- ] (19??-2005), father of
Stefano Delli Colli, uncle of film journalist Laura Delli Colli, awarded a
Lifetime Achievement Award [2005].
The Return of Pancho
Villa - 1950
The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly – 1966
Once Upon a Time in
the West - 1968
Deaf Smith &
Johnny Ears – 1972
Colt (TV) – 1994 [TV
series was never made]
