Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director – Ramón Barreiro

Ramon Barreiro was born in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain on August 28, 1906. He was a director, writer, cinematographer and actor. He wrote stories and screenplays for ten films between 1944 and 1964 for both films and television. He also directed ten films between 1937 and 1970. He was a voice actor on two films in 1944.

Barreiro grew up in Pontevedra and moved to Madrid in 1935, where he attended the Royal Conservatory of Music and became known as a guitar virtuoso. He worked as a correspondent for Vogue and after the Spanish Civil War founded the "Laboratorias Laisa", dedicated to photography, for which he also made several documentaries. In 1944 he made his feature film debut with the Western parody “El sobrino de Don Buffalo Bill”, as well as his later films based on his own screenplay. Two years later, he continued the parodic series, whose female lead was always played by Rosita Yarza, with “El otro Fu-Man-Chu” and ended it with “El pirata Bocanegra”. The long documentary “A toda vela” was also made in this year 1946. Barreiro's most popular and personal film is “Póker de ases” from 1947, which tells an adventurous story of the Spanish Legion in Africa. With “Pototo, Boliche y compañía”, his last film followed in 1948, enriched with numerous guest appearances, whose protagonists had become popular through radio programs.

In the following years, Barreiro worked for radio, wrote essays and columns, and was involved in early television broadcasts.

Ramón Barreiro died in Madrid, Spain on May 1, 1981, at the age of 75.

As mentioned above Barreiro first and only Euro-western was “El sobrino de don Buffalo Bill” (The Nephew of Buffalo Bill) in 1944.

BARREIRO, Ramón (aka Ramon Barreiros) [8/28/1908, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain – 5/1/1981, Madrid, Madrid, Spain] – director, writer, cinematographer, voice actor, musician founded Laboratorias Laisa photography studio.

The Nephew of Buffalo Bill – 1944


Spaghetti Western Screenwriter – Franco Arcalli

Franco Arcalli was born in Rome on March 13, 1929. His father's surname was originally Orcalli, but it was erroneously recorded as Arcalli due to a mistake by the civil registry official at birth. Arcalli initially appeared in minor acting roles before transitioning to editing and writing where he worked as an assistant director, writer and film editor. Arcalli edited or supervised on fifty-three films from 1964-1977. Writing was a secondary field for Franco as he wrote stories and screenplays for nine films between 1963 and 1984. During his career he became close friends with Bernardo Bertolucci and Giulio Questi. He was from a Communist family living in hiding during the Fascist era. At 15, he became a leader of a Resistance group. He helped Bertolucci and the screenwriters for 1900 by his comments because of that different experience.

Arcalli died of cancer on February 24, 1978, during the initial writing process of Sergio Leone's “Once Upon a Time in America” which was released in 1984.

Arcalli co-wrote the screenplay for only one Spaghetti western “Se sei vivo spara!” (Django Kill) in 1966 with Benedetto Benedetti and his friend who directed the fil Giulio Questi.

ARCALLI, Franco (aka Kim Arcalli) (Franco Kim Arcalli) [3/13/1929, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 2/24/1978, Rome, Lazio, Italy (cancer)] – assistant director, writer, film editor, actor, married to ? father of Max Arcalli [1952-    ].

Django Kill – 1966 (co)


Spaghetti Western Cinematographer – Adolfo Bartoli

Adolfo Bartoli was born in Rome on August 12, 1950. Bartoli started working as a technician for Mole Richardson, then, worked as assistant operator for such important cinematographers, such as Pasqualino De Santis (Academy award for "Romeo and Jiulietta"). He also worked with other cinematographers such as: Marcello Gatti, Tonino Delli Colli, Giuseppe Rotunno, Aldo and Giorgio Tonti, Gabor and Cristiano Pogany, Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli, Geoffrey Unsworth, Jack Hilyards. He became a cinematographer filming many documentaries and fiction films such as: "Rosso di Sera" and "Delta Force Commando". He moved to the U.S.A. and filmed several movies such as: "Jungle Book: Mowgly and Baloo", "Sabrina Goes to Rome", "The Pit and the Pendulum" and the television series called "‘Conan the Adventurer". He worked mainly in action films, adventures and science fiction mostly in an international environment. Bartoli worked as a second unit cinematographer, taking care of the special effect, in "Pinocchio" a film by Roberto Benigni. In 1992 he was invited by the American film company "Full Moon ent." to Romania in order to open with Vlad Paunescu a big studio named "Castel Film". It is in this studio that he made 17 movies for Paramount and taught film Techniques to the Romanians. He was a member of the AIC (Society of Italian Cinematographers) which he was also a Members of the Board, also member of IMAGO (European Federation of Cinematographers).

Adolfo Bartoli died in Rome on June 30, 2024, at the age of 74.

As mentioned above he while working for Castel Film in Romania he was the cinematographer on two Euro-westerns: “Oblivion” in 1994 and its sequel “Backlash: Oblivion 2” in 1996

BARTOLI, Adolfo (aka Bartoli Adolfo) [8/12/1950, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 6/30/2024, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – cameraman, cinematographer.

Oblivion – 1994

Backlash: Oblivion 2 - 1996


A new U.S.A. 4K Ultra HD release of “The Great Silence”

 








“The Great Silence”

(1968)

 

Director: Sergio Corbucci

Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Vonetta McGee

 

Country: U.S.A.

Label: Film Movement Classics

Contains 4K UltraHD BluRay & BluRay (Region A)

Limited edition slipcase (with booklet, 2000 copies) & Standard Edition (keep case)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 UHD with HDR

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Running time: 105 minutes

Extras: Austin Fisher on The Great Silence; audio commentary with Howard Hughes & Richard Knew; audio commentary with Mike Siegel; live audio commentary with Alex Cox recorded at The Hollywood Theatre; plus all extras from the previous BluRay

Booklet with essays by Nick Newman, Elena Lazic, and Filipe Furtado (Limited Edition only)

ASIN: ‎B0GDR6LV9C

Available: January 27, 2026

LIST OF COWBOYS








1910, France

Aka… List des Cow-Boys / ‘Cowboy's List’ / ‘List of Cowboys’ (Fr)

Ex… ‘Liste der Cowboys’ ([?] tr, Ger)

T: 145 mt

Pc: Compagnie Générale des Établissements Pathé Frères [Charles Pathé] (Par)

Dist: Société Pathé Frères [Charles Pathé] (04/09/10, Fr)

P: Charles Pathé & Émile Pathé, Théophile Pathé & Jacques Pathé 

C: [unk]

     Comm: Western elements. Almost a given. The title for LIST OF COWBOYS is included in a Pathé ad under its French title in the German magazine Kinematograph, n38 (March 23, 1910). Neither translations appear in Larry Langman's "A Guide to Silent Westerns" (Greenwood, 1992) for any of their American productions.

 

Submitted by Michael Ferguson

Monday, January 26, 2026

RIP Salvatore Basile

 


Actor Salvatore Basile died in Cartagena, Colombia on January 26th. He was 85. Born in Fuggia, Italy, on May 18, 1940, Salvo Basile had an extensive career in film, theater, and television. His arrival in Cartagena in November 1968 marked a key moment in his career, as he worked as an assistant director for the renowned filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo on the film “Burn!” (1969), starring Marlon Brando. The actor participated in more than 40 international films. He worked with major figures such as Robert De Niro in "The Mission" (1986), with Bud Spencer in "Chi trova un amico, trova un tesoro" (1981) and "Banana Joe" (1982), and in productions by Werner Herzog and Francesco Rosi. Basile appeared in three Spaghetti westerns: “Once Upon a Time in the West” in 1968 as a Cheyenne henchman, “Duck You Sucker” in 1971 as a Santerna henchman and in “Buddy Goes West” in 1981 (as aarmy captain and also performing stunts.

Little Known Spaghetti Western actors ~ Consuelo de Nieva

[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.]

Consuelo de Nieva Trabanco was born o January 17, 1914, in Utrera, Andalucía, Spain. She was a film and television actress who appeared in seventy-two films and television appearances from 1935 until 1983.

Consuelo was married to actor Francisco ‘Paco’ Melgares Prado and the mother of author Francisco Melgares.

Consuelo appeared in one Spaghetti western in an uncredited role in 1965’s “Un dollaro di fuoco” (Epitaph for a Fast Gun).

de NIEVA, Conseulo (aka Consuelo Nieva) (Consuelo de Nieva Trabanco) [1/17/1914, Utrera, Andalucía, Spain – 6/19/1993, Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain] – film, TV, voice actress, married to actor Francisco ‘Paco’ Melgares Prado [1906-1951] (19??-1951), mother of author Francisco Melgares [1934-2019].

Epitaph for a Fast Gun – 1965

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director – Joseph Barbera

Joseph Barbera was born on March 24, 1911, New York City, New York. He was an American animator who, as part of the team of Hanna and Barbera, created popular cartoon characters such as Tom and Jerry, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Yogi Bear, and Scooby-Doo.

Barbera was working as a bank accountant with the Irving Trust Company in New York City during the early 1930s when he started submitting cartoons to magazines; he sold his first to Collier’s magazine and decided to give up banking for cartooning. Barbera joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as a sketch artist in 1937, the same year as William Hanna. Hanna and Barbera produced more than 100 episodes in the Tom and Jerry series for MGM between 1940 and 1957. Several of these—including Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943), The Cat Concerto (1946), and Johann Mouse (1952)—won Academy Awards for best animated short subject. In all, they won seven Academy Awards for their cartoons between 1943 and 1952.

The pair left MGM and formed Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1957, where they made a number of cartoon series for television. For these shows they developed a much-derided technique of “limited,” or reused, animation that allowed them to produce cartoons much more cheaply by drastically reducing the number of original drawings required to film an episode. For example, the clean line created by Yogi Bear’s signature shirt collar and tie enabled the studio to animate only his head in conversation scenes, leaving his body static. To compensate for the reused animation, the pair stressed character and witty dialogue instead of action. They were praised for the quality of writing found in their most successful productions.

In 1996 Warner Brothers bought Hanna-Barbera, eventually closing the studio and marketing its properties under the Cartoon Network brand. Hundreds of episodes of their animated works continued to be broadcast around the world. The Hanna-Barbera team had produced more than 3,000 half-hour shows for 150 television cartoon series, and they won eight Emmy Awards.

Joe co-directed two animated Euro-westerns films: “Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Run” in 1982 with William Hanna, Morris and Ray Patterson and the ‘Lucky Luke’ TV series from 1983 to 1984 and again in 1991 with William Hanna, Morris and Philippe Landrot.

BARBERA, Joseph (Joseph Roland Barbera) [3/24/1911, Little Italy, Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.A. – 12/18/2006, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.] – producer, director, writer, animator, composer, songwriter, married to Dorothy Earl [1910-1995] (1934-1964) father of production manager Jayne Barbera [1941-    ], writer Neal Francis Barbera [1944-    ], telephone operator Lynn Merideth Barbera [1938-2018], father of a son [1948-1948], married to make-up artist Sheila Constance Holden [1927-    ] (1964-2006), co-founded Hanna-Barbera Studios [1957-1996], inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame [1994].

Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Run – 1982 (co) [as Joe Barbera]

Lucky Luke (TV) – 1983-1984, 1991 (co)


Spaghetti Western Screenwriter – Sascha Arango

Sascha Arango was born in Berlin, German on December 2, 1959. Arango is one of Germany’s most prominent screenplay writers. Since 1989, Sascha has been writing screenplays for radio, television and cinema. Since 1994. he taught at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg and the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) in Berlin. In 1996, he won the Grimme Prize for the television drama ‘Zu treuen Händen’ (With Confidence). He also wrote the scripts for the first five episodes of the television series ‘Eva Blond’ on the Sat1 channel. For the ARD series ‘Tatort’ (Crime Scene), he wrote the script for the sequels that take place in Kiel: ‘Borowski in the Underground’, ‘Borowski and the Girl from the Swamp’, Borowski and the Woman at the Window; and Borowski and the Silent Guest’. His first novel, The Truth and Other Lies, has been published in sixteen countries in 2015. He has also authored audio plays and stage plays

Sasha Arango has written two screenplays for Euro-westerns:  “Tom Sawyer” in 2011 and the sequel “Die Abenteuer des Huck Finn” (The Adventures of Huck Finn) in 2012.

ARANGO, Sascha [12/2/1959, Berlin, Berlin, Germany -     ] – author, screenwriter.

Tom Sawyer – 2011

The Adventures of Huck Finn – 2012


Spaghetti Western Cinematographer – Maurice Barry

Maurice Georges Édouard Barry was born in Paris, France on March 17, 1910. Barry began as a director of photography in 1933 and worked in the cinema in this position until 1963. In the meantime, he worked with directors Gilles Grangier, Jacques Daroy, Robert Vernay, Richard and Pottier,Guy Lefranc.

He was also a director of photography for television, contributing between 1956 and 1968 to two series ‘Les Cinq Dernières Minutes’ (The Last Five Minutes) and ‘La caméra explore le temps’ (The Camera Explores Time), and fifteen television films (directed by Claude Barma and Marcel Cravenne, among others), and for Claude Santelli's program ‘Théâtre de la jeunesse’.

In addition, Maurice Barry was occasionally a screenwriter on four films and one television film, as well as a director of one film in 1956.

Barry died in Paris on December 8, 1984, at the age of 74.

Maurice Barry was the cinematographer on one Euro-western “Fernand Cowboy” in 1956.

BARRY, Maurice (aka Barry, M. Barry) (Maurice Georges Édouard Barry) [3/17/1910, Paris, Île-de-France, France – 12/8/1984, Paris, Île-de-France, France] – director, assistant director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman.

Fernand Cowboy – 1956


Spaghetti Western locations Then & Now – $20,000 for Every Corpse

In this photo from 1969’s “20.000 dólares por un cadaver” ($20,000 for Every Corpse). We see Miguel de la Riva and Dyanik Zurakowska observing activity at a large house on the prairie. This same location was to be used in the MacGregor films as the family’s ranch house.

The location of the house was in Colmenar Viejo, Madrid, Spain


Here’s the same location as seen in 2025. As you can see only the rocks and the prairie remain