Happy 70th Birthday Vonetta McGee

She was born Lawrence Vonetta McGee Jr. on January 14, 1940 in San Francisco, California. Her first film appearance was in the 1968 Italian film ''Faustina'' directed by Luigi Magni. Her next appearance was in her only Eurowestern ''The Great Silence'' (1968) as Pauline. She would become known to most American audiences for her appearances in ''Blacula'' ('72), ''Shaft in Africa'' ('75) and ''The Eiger Sanction'' ('75). She's been married to actor Carl Lumbly since 1987 and has one child. Her last screen appearance was in 1998's ''Johnny B Good''. Today we celebrate Vonetta McGee's 70th Birthday.

Spaghetti Western Locations

Continuing on our visit to what is left of the site of Flagstone (Estacion La Calahorra-Ferreira) you will find a number of brick buildings which are shells of their former self with a main road runnig through the center of the town. This road is what was the dirt road Sam took Jill out to Sweetwater. Scraps of wood, bricks, plaster and partical board are scattered amongst the tall grass and weeds. A wall has been built to encircle part of the town which as stated before is part of a large goat ranch.



For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Yoshi “Garring” Yasuda’s excellent website: http://garringo.cool.ne.jp/

Carlos (TV film)

Carlos – International title

A 1971 West German TV production [Iduna Film Produktiongesellschaft, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Munich)]
Producer: Helmut Haffner, Ernst Liesenhoff, Gunther Witte
Director: Hans W. Geissendörfer
Story: “Don Carlos” by Friedrich Schiller
Teleplay: Hans W. Geissendörfer
Photography: Robby Müller [color]
Music: Ernst Brandner
Running time: 107 minutes

Cast:
Carlos - Gottfried John
Clara - Anna Karina (Hanne Bayer)
Lisa - Geraldine Chaplin
Phillip - Bernhard Wicki
Ligo - Horst Frank
Pedro - Thomas Hunter
Enrico - Sabi Dor (Sabi Dorr)
Roswitha - Lorenza Colville
Domingo - Shey K. Ophir
Tassos - Ruven Steffer
Mönch - Shmuel Wolff
Mario - Yossi Shiloah (Yossef Shiloach)
Col - Leon Charney
saloon girls - Mona Silberstein, Channa Neeman
with; Ebba Kaiser, Amos Mokadi, Beatrice Shimsoni, Micha Scharfstein (Michael Scharfstein), Towje Kleiner, Avrahnam Heffner, Peter Collins, Rafi Nelson, Ramy Jacob


Filmed in Israel and only shown on German TV a few times, the story is about the outcast son of a bandit and killer who turns against his father because of his brutal treatment of the poor peasants he controls to work in his mine. Carlos tries to help the enslaved workers and attempts a showdown with his father but he fails. The setting is 1915 southern Europe but is often mistakenly credited as Mexico. The best part of the film is it's unique score by composer Ernst Brandner. The track used over the opening credits is haunting.

Remembering Robert Hundar

Claudio Undari was born on January 12, 1935 in Castelvetrano, Italy. He studied to become a lawyer but became interested in acting and moved to Rome. He appeared in small roles during the Sword and Sandal craze and then hit his stride when the Spaghetti Westerns came into vogue. His name was changed to Robert Hundar and his impressive size allowed him to play both heroes and villains in such films as “The Shadow of Zorro” ('62), “Ride and Kill” ('63), “Gunfight at High Noon” ('63). He then became a regular in several Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent's westerns during the 1960's and '70s. Some of his best roles were as Ramon Morales in “Ramon the Mexican” ('66), Gringo in “A Man, a Colt” ('67) with Fernando Sancho, as Oswald in “Sabata” ('69) and as Eric Plummer in “California” ('77). His most sympathetic and best known role was probably as Sergeant Brown in the 1970 film “Cut-Throats Nine”. He also appeared in a few crime films and then left the business and made documentary films before finally retiring in 2000. Claudio Undari died in Rome of natural causes on May 13, 2008. Today we remember Robert Hundar on what would have been his 75th birthday.

Remembering Francesco De Masi

Francesco De Masi was born on January 11, 1930 in Rome, Italy. He studied composition at the San Pietro a Maiella in Naples. He studied under his uncle Achille Longo and when Achille was asked to score a film he asked Francesco to assist him. De Masi became very interested in film scoring after this experience and composed over 200 film scores during his carrer among them over 45 Eurowesterns. Francesco actually preceeded Ennio Morricone as a western film composer and he developed his own style. He was one of the greatest composers of adventure and western films. A accomplished condutor he conducted most of his compositions. Among his outstanding western scores were “The Magnificent Brutes of the West” ('64), “The Man from Nowhere” ('65), “Ringo the Face of Revenge” ('66), “Any Gun Can Play” ('67), “Kill Them All and Come Back Alone” ('68), and the American adventure film “Lone Wolf McQuade” ('83). Francesco De Masi dies on November 6, 2005 in Rome, yet little coverage was given to his death. Thankfully many of his scores have been released on CD. His son promised two years ago that a release of all of his western scores was in the works but unfortunately that has not happened. Today we remember one of the greatest composers of the Spaghetti Western genre Francesco De Masi on what would have been his 80th birthday.

CARAMBOLA

Carambola – Italian title
Carambola – Brazilian title
Mon nom est Trinita – Belgium title
Caramba-veljekset – Finnish title
Si ce n’est toi…c’est donc ton frere – French title
Vier Fäuste schlagen wieder zu – German title
Nos llaman Carambola – Spanish title
Carambola! – Slår alltid först – Swedish title
Karambol – Turkish title
Strange Adventures of Coby and Ben – English title
Carambola – English title

A 1973 Italian Production [B.R.C., Aetos (Rome)]
Producer: Manolo Bolognini
Director: Ferdinando Baldi
Story: Nico Ducci, Mino Roli
Screenplay: Ferdinando Baldi, Nico Ducci, Mino Roli
Cinematography: Aiace Parolin [Eastmancolor, CinemaScope]
Music: Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi, Vince Tempera (Vincenzo Tempera)
Songs: “You Can Fly”, “Milk Serenade” sung by Dream Bags
Running time: 100 minutes

Cast:
Coby/Toby/Trinity - Michael Coby (Antonio Cantafora)
Clem/Ben/Lynn/Butch/Len Rothman - Paul Smith (Anan Edel)
Kelly - William Bogart (Guglielmo Spoletini)
Captain Howard - Luciano Catenacci
Lieutenant Stevens - Remo De Angelis
Clydeson - Horst Frank
sheriff - Pino Ferrara
Professor Max Lager - Franco Fantasia (Francisco Fantasia)
Mexican revolutionary - Pedro Sanchez (Ignacio Spalla)
Roger - Pietro Ceccarelli
Clydeson henchmen - Nello Pazzafini (Giovanni Pazzafini), Elio Bonadonna, Artemio Antonini, Enrico Chiappafreddo, Roberto Dell Acqua, Wladimiro Daddi
Howard's assistant - Pietro Torrisi, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Fred Robsahm
bartender - Benjamin Lev
tug-of-war brawler - Moises Rocha
Pamela - Melissa Chimenti (Anna Napolitano)
Coby's/Toby's/Trinity's billiard opponents - Gaetano Russo
billiard bookmaker - Mike Morris (Amedeo Trilli)
billiard spectator - Angelo Boscariol
travellers on the road - Claudio Ruffini, Angelo Susani
with; Luigi Antonio Guerra, Glauco Onorato


Director Ferdinando decided to cash in on the success of the Trinity films and cast his own set of Terence Hill & Bud Spencer look-alikes with Michael Coby (Antonio Cantafora) and Paul Smith.

In Carambola, Coby is an ex-soldier and billiard champion. He and his friend Len Rothman accept the sum of $50,000 dollars to investigate the trafficking of arms across the Mexican border. However, the film takes a twist when the pair come across a new, revolutionary revolver. This film was followed by a sequel “The Crazy Adventures of Len and Coby”. After Bud Spencer turned down the role of Bluto in Robin Williams 1980 movie “Popeye” Paul Smith was offered and accepted the rôle.

Remembering Lee Van Cleef

Born Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. on January 9, 1925 in Somerville, New Jersey. He was raised in a farming community and enlisted in the Navy during World War II right out of high school. After the war he became a systems analysist and then became a stage actor appearing with Henry Fonda in “Mr. Roberts”. He was signed to a part in the film “High Noon” (1952) by producer Stanley Kramer. During the 1950s he was seen in films such as “Tribute to a Bad Man” (1956) with James Cagney, “The Tin Star” (1957) with Henry Fonda, “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” (1957) with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster and many TV series usually playing a villain. By the early '60s his career had slowed to a point he could not pay his phone bill and he was working as a painter. Sergio Leone signed him to play Colonel Dougas Mortimer opposite Clint Eastwood in “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) and he became an international star. Following up with 16 more Eurowesterns including “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), “The Big Gundown” (1966), “Day of Anger”, “Death Rides a Horse” both 1967. Lee was smart enough to stay in Europe where he was a huge box-office star. He continued to make Italian films until the end of his career. He lived part time in the U.S. but was only a cult hero here in such American films as “The Octagon” (1980) with Chuck Norris and “Escape from New York” (1981) with Kurt Russell. He was the one American actor that is associated with the Spaghetti westerns more than any other. Sadly Lee died of a heart attack on December 16, 1989 at the age of 64. Today we remember Lee Van Cleef, a true icon of the Eurowestern, on what would have been his 85th birthday.