Monday 12 November 2007

Castellari: Action Italian Style



This, the latest in Midnight Media’s ongoing series looking at Italian cult cinema presents a interview with Enzo Castellari and filmography, the 44-page glossy A5 booklet being illustrated with stills, DVD and video covers, poster art and so forth.

While there’s maybe not too much in the interview that dedicated Castellari fans won’t have heard elsewhere, with the volume in some ways serving as something of an update to the interviews in European Trash Cinema #9 and #10, for example, its an entertaining and informative read that also provides some interesting insights as to certain of his films.

One is intrigued, for instance, in reading how the desire to make Cold Eyes of Fear on a couple of sets was inspired by William Friedkin’s gay drama The Boys in the Band, not so much for learning how it allowed Castellari to shoot the film in sequence – normally a technique that is too costly for time-is-money productions – but more for the possible light it sheds on the relationship between the two home invaders played by Julian Mateos and Frank Wolff.

I just wish there was more of it, and more like it...

1 comment:

The Flying Maciste Brothers said...

Greetings! Supreme blog!
Thanks for drawing this publication to our attention. One can never get enough Castellari! Kev and I had the pleasure of sharing a bottle of fine champagne with the Maestro and his son some years ago at the closing night party at Rome's Fantafestival. He was a gentleman for sure. He was so kind -- he offered to screen INGLORIOUS BASTARDS for us at his home the next day, but that's when we we scheduled to fly back home! Worst day in our lives was the day we had to turn that down...
Thanks again for the entry. And the blog.