Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Maury Dexter

Maury Dexter was an American film and television director and producer, best known for his work on low-budget horror films during the early 1960s and his long collaboration with Michael Landon on popular television series.

Born Morris Gene Poindexter in Paris, Arkansas on June 12, 1928, to a coal miner's family, Dexter moved to southern California in the late 1930s following his father's death in an automobile accident. His early career included minor acting roles, such as in the 1946 Three Stooges short “Uncivil War Birds”, before military service in the Korean War interrupted his pursuits. After discharge, he transitioned into production roles, starting as a production assistant on ‘The Hank McCune Show’ and later advancing at Lippert Pictures under Robert L. Lippert.

Dexter's breakthrough came in the mid-1950s as a producer and director for Regal Pictures (later Associated Producers International), where he specialized in efficient, low-budget features distributed by 20th Century Fox, often in genres like westerns and horror. Notable films include “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come” (1961, producer), “Young Guns of Texas” (1962, producer/director), “House of the Damned” (1963, producer/director), and “The Yellow Canary” (1963, producer), which exemplified his approach to creating unpretentious entertainment under constrained circumstances.

From 1974 onward, Dexter formed a key partnership with Michael Landon, serving as assistant director on 73 episodes and director of 21 episodes of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ throughout its run, as well as contributing to ‘Father Murphy’, ‘Highway to Heaven’, and the 1991 TV movie ‘Us’. He retired following Landon's death in 1991 and spent his later years in Hawaii and California, passing away in Simi Valley, California, at age 89 on May 28, 2017.

Maury Dexter directed one Spaghetti western “El proscrito del rio Colorado” (Outlaw of Ried River) in 1964.

DEXTER, Maury (Morris Gene Poindexter) [ 6/12/1928, Paris, Arkansas, U.S.A. - 5/28/2017, Simi Valley, California, U.S.A.] – producer, production manager, director, assistant director, writer, actor.

The Outlaw of Red River – 1964

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Augusto Caminito

Augusto Caminito was an Italian screenwriter, producer, and director known for his work in genre cinema, spanning Spaghetti westerns, horror, and crime dramas across Italian and international productions. Born on July 1, 1939, in Naples, Italy, he built a career that included writing, producing, and directing films from the 1960s through the 1990s.

His notable credits include producing Abel Ferrara's “King of New York” (1990), directing and writing the horror film “Vampire in Venice” (1988), and producing “Grandi cacciatori” (1988). By the early 1990s, he had emerged as a prominent independent producer in the Italian film industry, navigating funding challenges and advocating for supportive legislation to bolster local production.

Augusto Caminito began his career as a screenwriter in the Italian film industry during the mid-1960s, initially focusing on genre films such as Spaghetti westerns and action pictures. His earliest credited work appeared in 1966 with “Il gioco delle spie”, where he contributed to the screenplay. In 1967, he became particularly prolific, co-writing several Spaghetti westerns including “I lunghi giorni della vendetta” (also known as Long Days of Vengeance), “Pecos è qui: prega e muori”, “Con lui cavalca la morte”, and “Un poker di pistole”. These early efforts established him within the popular Italian western genre, which dominated domestic production at the time

Caminito passed away on August 23, 2020, in Naples Italy at the age of 81. His contributions reflect a versatile role in European genre filmmaking during a transitional period for the industry.

Augusto Caminito was a co-screenwriter on eight Spaghetti westerns: “La più grande rapina del west” (The Greatest Robbery in the West) with Augusto Finocchi and “I lunghi giorni della vendetta” (Long Days of Revenge) with Fernando Di Leo both in 1966, “Con lui cavalca la morte” (Death Rides Along) with Fernando di Leo, Adriano Bolzoni and “L’ ultimo pistolero” (Django, the Last Killer) with Augusto Finocchi, “Pecos è qui: prega e muori” (Pecos Cleans Up) with Adriano Bolzoni and Ferdnando di Leo, “Un poker di pistole” (Poker With Pistols) with Fernando Di Leo and “Ognuno per sé” (The Ruthless Four) all in 1967 and “Blu gang vissero per sempre felici e ammazzati” (Brothers Blur) with Marco Fenelli in 1971.

CAMINITO, Augusto (aka Arthur Franck) [7/1/1939, Naples, Campania, Italy – 8/23/2020, Naples, Campania, Italy] – producer, director, writer.

The Greatest Robbery in the West – 1966 (co)

Long Days of Revenge – 1966 (co)

Death Rides Along – 1967 (co)

Django, the Last Killer – 1967 (co)

Pecos Cleans Up – 1967 (co)

Poker With Pistols – 1967 (co)

The Ruthless Four – 1967 (co)

Brothers Blue – 1971 (co)

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Arthur Grant

Arthur Grant was a British cinematographer known for his prolific contributions to Hammer Film Productions, where he served as the studio's primary director of photography from 1957 until his death in 1972, capturing many of its signature Gothic horror and fantasy films.

Born in 1915 in Surrey, England, Grant began his career in the film industry in the early 1930s as a camera operator, with early credits including work on pictures directed by Michael Powell. He advanced to director of photography roles by the mid-1940s and accumulated 101 credits as director of photography throughout his career, including his extensive work with Hammer Film Productions, where he succeeded Jack Asher BSC and became the studio's most prolific cinematographer. A member of the British Society of Cinematographers, Grant's work helped define the visual style of Hammer's classic era through atmospheric lighting and composition in films such as “The Abominable Snowman”, “The Curse of the Werewolf”, “The Devil Rides Out”, “Frankenstein Created Woman”, “Quatermass” and “The Pit”, and “Demons of the Mind”.

Grant remained active until his final film in 1972 and is remembered for his dedication to low-budget genre filmmaking and his extensive body of work within the British horror tradition. He died that year in London st the age of 56.

Arthur Grant was a cinematographer on one Euro-western, “Ramsbottom Rides Again” in 1956.

GRANT, Arthur (aka A. Grant) [1915, Surrey, England, U.K. – 1972, London, England, U.K.] – cinematographer, cameraman.

Ramsbottom Rides Again - 1956