Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Massimo Dallamano

Massimo Dallamano was an Italian cinematographer, film director, and screenwriter renowned for his technical expertise in adventure films and his direction of spaghetti westerns, giallo thrillers, and poliziotteschi during the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Milan, Italy on April 17, 1917, Dallamano began his career in the 1940s as a cameraman on documentaries and commercials before transitioning to cinematography on feature films, where he developed a distinctive style featuring low-angle shots and atmospheric lighting. He gained international recognition as the director of photography on Sergio Leone's early spaghetti westerns, including “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964) and “For a Few Dollars More” (1965), which helped define the genre's visual language. Dallamano made his directorial debut with the spaghetti western “Bandidos” (1967) and went on to helm around a dozen films, blending genres with a focus on suspense and erotic elements in works like the Oscar Wilde adaptation “Dorian Gray” (1970), the giallo mystery “What Have You Done to Solange?” (1972), and the crime thriller “What Have They Done to Your Daughters?” (1974). His final film, the poliziotteschi “Colt 38 Special Squad” (1976), was released shortly before his death in a car accident in Rome at age 59 on November 4, 1976.

Using the alias Max Dillman, Massimo Dallamano directed one Spaghetti western, “Crepa tue… che vivo io!” (Bandidos) om 1967

DALLAMANO, Massimo (aka Max Dallamano, Jack Dalmas, Max Dillman, Max Dillmann) [4/17/1917, Milan, Lombardy, Italy – 11/4/1976, Rome, Lazio, Italy (car accident)] – production manager, director, writer, cinematographer, actor.

Bandidos – 1967 [as Max Dillman]

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Lucia Brudi

Lucia Brudi is/was an Italian writer who wrote the screenplays for only two films. One was “Congo vivo” (Congo in Fury) in 1971 and the other was her only Spaghetti western, “Los amigos” (Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears) with Oscar Saul, Harry Essex, Paolo Cavara, and Augusto Finocchi in 1972.

I can find no biographical information on her.

BRUDI, Lucia [Italian] – writer.

Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears – 1972 (co)

 

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Silvio Fraschetti

Silvio Fraschetti was born in 1922 in via Labicana, Rome, Italy, but soon with his family moved to the Garbatella where he remained all his life. In 1943 he made his debut as an assistant camera operator in “Macario contro Zagomar”, a fantasy-police comedy, directed by Giorgio Ferroni. He worked with many prominent actors and actresses. In 1952 he closely observed the temperament on the scene of Anna Magnani in the national-popular film “Camicie Rosse” by Goffredo Alessandrini, on the escape through Italy by Giuseppe Garibaldi (Raf Vallone) and Anita, after the fall of the Roman Republic. At the turn of the seventies and eighties the director Alfonso Brescia wanted him with him as director of photography in films such as: “Zappatore”, “Carcerato”, “Lo scugnizzo”. Then he worked on lighter films with the director Mariano Laurenti: “Pop corn e patatine” (1985) and “Pierino torna a scuola” (1990) and with Romano Scanda But the work experience of which he always spoke willingly and which consecrated him as director of photography was the feature film on the history of General Dalla Chiesa, “One Hundred Days in Palermo” (1984), directed by Giuseppe Ferrara, to whose realization he contributed, as a screenwriter and assistant director Giuseppe Tornatore.

In all Silvio worked as a cameraman on forty-six films between 1952 and 1976 and as a cinematographer on fifty-six films between 1964 and 2008.

Fraschetti died in Rome on September 9, 2021, at the age of 99.

Silvio Fraschetti was a cinematographer and co-cinematographer on six Spaghetti westerns: “Spara Joe... e così sia!” (Joe Dakota) in 1971, “I sette del gruppo selvaggi” (7 Devils on Horseback) with Angelo Lotti in 1972, “Kid il monello del west” (Bad Kids of the West) in 1973, “La spacconata” (White Fang and the Gold Diggers) in 1974, “Zanna Bianca e il cacciatore solitario” (White Fang and the Hunter) in 1975 and “Billy” in 1991.

FRASCHETTI, Silvio (aka Cyril Franks, S. Fraschetti, Phil Holster) [1922, Labicana, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 9/9/2021, Garbatella, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – cinematographer, cameraman, actor.

Day of Anger – 1967 [cameraman]

The Handsome, the Ugly, and the Stupid – 1967 [cameraman]

Night of the Serpent – 1969 (co) [cameraman]

Joe Dakota – 1971

7 Devils on Horseback – 1972 (co)

Bad Kids of the West – 1973

White Fang and the Gold Diggers - 1974

White Fang and the Hunter – 1975

Billy – 1991