Antonio Margheriti and his movies

Antonio Margheriti was another of the Italian directors who made just every genre they could. And I haven't seen enough of his movies. Actually only three, all of them westerns. I'm ashamed and feel I need to fix it. So this article would be just an overview of the movies I and you also need to explore.

Space Men (1960)
When the Italian genre movies were just born, Antonio a.k.a. Anthony M. Dawson was already here and making first space operas. This really predated the mid-sixties boom of genre movies of all kinds. Other of his 60's science fictions were : Battle of the Worlds (1961), The Space Devils (1965), Wild Wild Planet (1965, co-starring Franco Nero!), War Between the Planets (1966), and The Snow Devils (1967, with Nero again).

The Fall of Rome (1962)
In the early 60's probably every genre director had to shoot a sword and sandal movie. Margheriti did several of them. This one with the German Carl Möhner and two Italian beauties, Django's Loredana Nusciak and Ida Galli a.k.a. Evelyn Stewart.

The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963)
What is Margheriti among his fans most known for? Yes, his gothic horrors. This was his first, and he was very prolific in the genre. Starring Christopher Lee!

Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964)
Another of his sandal movies, in the original title it's Ursus instead of Hercules. Starring Reg Park, one of many musclemen of the genre.

Giants of Rome (1964)
And another sandal movie, this time with Richard Harrison.

Castle of Blood & The Long Hair of Death (1964)
Two gothic horrors, both starring Barbara Steele. Sergio Corbucci co-wrote the first one. Both look interesting.

Killers are Challenged (1966)
And in 1966 Margheriti added eurospy movies to his catalogue. This time Richard Harrison appears again as James Bond clone for a change.

Dynamite Joe (1967)
And in 1967 he finally directed a western too. Someone named Rik Van Nutter wears a Clint Eastwood poncho in this movie. Don't mistake it for Dynamite Jim, a comedy from the previous year, made by someone else.

Naked You Die (1968)
Margheriti developed Italian space movies. Margheriti developed Italian horrors. So which way would he go next? Yes, giallo! Still haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be good. In 1973 he made another giallo called Seven Deaths in a Cat's Eye with Jane Birkin and Anton Diffring, both his gialli are mixed a bit with gothic elements.

Vengeance (1968)
Finally something I've seen... A really good, atmospheric spaghetti western starring the wooden, but fitting Richard Harrison and Gian Maria Volonte's brother, Claudio Camaso. Recommended.

The Unnaturals (1969)
Another of his gothic horrors, made in coproduction with West Germany.

And God Said to Cain (1970)
A gothic spaghetti western. Really! Klaus Kinski as the good guy. Really! He's after revenge and he gets it hardly. Half of the movie takes the final countdown. Kinski kills with a rifle. Kinski kills with fire. Kinski kills with the church bell... Is he a living person? Is he a ghost? I need to rewatch it.

Web of the Spider (1971)
Klaus Kinski co-starring as Edgar Allan Poe in another gothic horror. Leading parts taken by Michele Mercier and Anthony Franciosa. Looks very promising.

Finalmente... le mille e una notte (1972)
In 1970's Margheriti began to shoot comedies and it doesn't seem like a good idea. This one is some medieval erotic stuff, notable only for the cast of Barbara Bouchet, who, I believe, is in this movie fucked by an invisible man... Awful.

Hercules Against Karate (1973)
Even worse. Margheriti did a few kung-fu movies. Italian kung-fu movies! And he casted a clone of Bud Spencer, Fernando Bilbao! Oh, god, why... He made with him also a movie called Manone il ladrone (1974), a rip-off of Spencer's Flatfoot.

The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974)
But this, somehow, works, and well. It's a spaghetti western comedy with kung-fu, a little bit erotic, and starring Lee Van Cleef. A weird cocktail? It works, it's actually very watchable! Co-starring Lo Lieh, Femi Benussi or Erika Blanc.

Take a Hard Ride (1975)
This one bored me, but it could've been the dubbing... Another weird mix, this time a spaghetti western mixed with blaxploitation! Starring Lee Van Cleef again, Jim Brown, Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly. I'd probably watch it again someday...

Death Rage (1976)
Margheriti's only eurocrime, starring Yul Brynner and always nude Barbara Bouchet. Maybe it's not very bad.

The Squeeze (1978)
Lee Van Cleef again, but this time in a contemporary movie about robbers. Co-starring Karen Black, Lionel Stander and Robert Alda.

Killer Fish (1979)
Another Jaws rip-off, this time Margheriti's. Or is it rather a Piranha rip-off? Co-starring Anthony Steffen.

The Last Hunter (1980)
In the 1980's Margheriti was probably even more active than before, and he ripped off everything he could. This time it was Cimino's The Deer Hunter, starring David Warbeck.

Cannibal Apocalypse (1980)
Zombies and cannibals in one movie! I guess Italians did it more times. Starring John Saxon.

Tiger Joe (1982)
David Warbeck in the war again.

Hunters of the Golden Cobra (1982)
David Warbeck as Indiana Jones! Must be funny... The next year they made another movie, Ark of the Sun God.

The Last Blood (1983)
Antonio rips off Rambo, but not with David Warbeck this time.

Yor, the Hunter of Future (1983)
Reb Brown as Conan the Barbarian!

 

Code Name: Wild Geese (1984)
Lewis Collins (from The Professionals TV series) stars as a mercenary in one of Margheriti's mercenary movies he did with him. Others were Commando Leopard (1985) and The Commander (1988). In the first and the third one was Lee Van Cleef as a co-star, in the first two co-starred Klaus Kinski. The cast was quite stellar -also Ernest Borgnine (Wild Geese), Mimsy Farmer (Wild Geese), Donald Pleasence (The Commander).

Jungle Raiders (1985)
Another Indiana Jones rip-off, this time with Christopher Connelly and Lee Van Cleef again.

Alien from the Deep (1989)
Margheriti in the space again, an Alien rip-off.

Indio (1989)
Another action movie, with Francesco Quinn. After 2 years Margheriti did a sequel - with someone else.

Virtual Weapon (1996)
And his last movie was a movie with Terence Hill, that is supposed to be so terrible that I didn't have the courage to watch it yet.

Umberto Lenzi and his movies

This Italian director is a cult name, however he ain't one of my favourites. Still, if you are a fan of Italian cult cinema, you need to watch his movies. He made so many that it's impossible to watch all of them. Lots of them are probably not worth watching, especially the early ones. He worked since 1958 till early 1990's and he did just every genre you could think of. Adventure movies, spy movies, crime movies, horror movies, westerns, gialli, zombie films, cannibal films, sword and sandals, comedies, sex comedies, war movies... just everything. The genre he was at closest to became its master were the poliziotteschi, but he also made the first cannibal movie and did a few gialli before Argento made them famous. Let's take a brief look on a few of his notable movies.

SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963)

I haven't seen this one yet. The original title is Zorro contro Maciste. Peplum meets Zorro, great! Possibly a dull movie with the muscleman Alan Steel / Sergio Ciani and with Pierre Brice as Zorro, the hero from the Winnetou movies. I will probably write something on them too.

SANDOKAN THE GREAT (1963)

Before Sergio Sollima made his famous TV series about Sandokan with Kabir Bedi, there were two series of movies in the early 60's, one by Umberto Lenzi and one by Luigi Capuano. Lenzi had Steve Reeves as the titular hero, and therefore more money and more fame. I will probably watch it someday, but I will be definitely missing the brilliant song by De Angelis brothers.

THE LAST GLADIATOR (1964)

One of many peplum films, also called sword and sandals movies. This one stars Richard Harrison and not Steve Reeves, the biggest star of the genre.

SUPERSEVEN CALLS CAIRO (1965)

From adventure movies to spy movies, this 007 clone is starring someone called Roger Browne. There's Rosalba Neri in it, but probably in a minor part.

KRIMINAL (1966)

A comic book movie, finally something I've seen. Glenn Saxson, a Dutch actor, is something between masked thief and James Bond. Sometimes entertaining, sometimes boring, not very notable movie by Lenzi. But he appears himself for a while in a silent part.

DESERT COMMANDOS (1967)

First of the subgenre "macaroni combat", popular in the late 60's in Italy. The best of those movies was made 10 years after the main wave, it's of course Castellari's Inglorious Bastards. I haven't seen any other movie of this genre, just beginnings of a few of them, and I found the rest very boring. So this one is probably one of those Lenzi movies I will skip. But he introduced the genre to Italy.

ALL OUT (1968)

A spaghetti western, one of his two, both starring John Ireland. The other one is A Colt for Hundred Coffins. This one is slightly better, but none of them is really good. Lenzi didn't like the westerns very much. This one has both the greatest Spanish spaghetti western villains, Fernando Sancho and Eduardo Fajardo, but unfortunately they don't share any scene together.

PARANOIA (1969)

First of his gialli with Carroll Baker, made in the vein of The Sweet Body of Deborah. I haven't watched it, and since I wasn't a fan of the Deborah movie and I'm not a huge fan of Ms. Baker, I won't probably watch this or the following movies, A Quiet Place to Kill (1970) and So Sweet, So Perverse (1970), very soon. There is a title confusion - this movie was originally called Orgasmo in Italy and Paranoia in the U.S., and then came a Lenzi movie with Baker called Paranoia in Italy and A Quiet Place to Kill in the U.S. Lenzi has also made another giallo with Baker called A Knife of Ice (1972), but this one looks more in the vein of the Argento movies, it has Ida Galli and Eduardo Fajardo. I'll give it a chance. To add more confusion, there's a Lenzi giallo from 1971 called An Ideal Place to Kill, this time starring the very young Ornella Muti.

SEVEN BLOODSTAINED ORCHIDS (1972)

I still haven't seen this giallo classic, and the reason are probably the lead actors. It's great to have Marisa Mell and Marina Malfatti as the victims, it's great to have Bruno Corazzari in one of the parts, but the leads are played by Antonio Sabato and Uschi Glas. I hate Sabato and I don't care about Glas. I'll give it a chance someday definitely.

THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER (1972)

The very first of the cannibal movies, later made famous by Ruggero Deodato. I'm not a big fan of cannibals or zombies, so I haven't watched it and probably won't. It has Ivan Rassimov, he is cool.

ALMOST HUMAN (1974)

Not the first Lenzi's eurocrime, that was Gang War in Milan from the previous year (with that asshole Sabato and with Mell), but probably his very best one. Tomas Milian shines as a ruthless mad criminal who would do just anything and when someone bothers him, he kills him. It's so easy, isn't it? Sometimes there was too much violence, but it didn't matter that much. Henry Silva is not a good choice for the policeman, but he was a replacement for someone else. (Lenzi claims it was Richard Conte who died, but that happened in 1975, after the movie was finished.)

EYEBALL (1975)

The last of Lenzi's gialli (the only one I didn't mention was Spasmo from the previous year), probably the most trashy one, but a very funny one. Especially the tourists are really funny. Stupid, bloody and very entertaining.

SYNDICATE SADISTS (1975)

Tomas Milian is Rambo! Yes, his character is called that way, but he's more of a Clint Eastwood loner. Not the best eurocrime, but an entertaining movie nevertheless.

VIOLENT NAPLES (1976)

Lenzi took over the second part of the inspector Betti trilogy with Maurizio Merli - the other parts were directed by Marino Girolami (credited as Franco Martinelli for some reason). Co-starring John Saxon and Barry Sullivan, very violent, action-packed eurocrime, but one of the better ones.

ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (1976)

Most people love it. It's violent, brutal, dirty, it has Merli, Milian and Arthur Kennedy. I didn't like it. Too episodic, too autotelic. Ten minutes of gangrape and then just Merli arrives, shoots everybody and it's done? Why did we watch it? For the naked girl? I disdain the scene. Ivan Rassimov also appears, but his part is brief and useless. There is another part called The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (1977), again with Merli and Milian (but in another part) and with John Saxon too. Lenzi did also From Corleone to Brooklyn with Merli in 1979.

FREE HAND FOR A TOUGH COP (1976)

I just mention it because it's the first movie with the popular character of Monnezza played by Tomas Milian. Lenzi did another one with him, Brothers Till We Die (1978) and Milian did another one, Destruction Force (1977), but this time with Stelvio Massi, which lead to a clash between Lenzi and Milian. I will surely watch this one, it has also Henry Silva, Claudio Cassinelli, Nicoletta Machiavelli and many other character actors.

THE GREATEST BATTLE (1978)

Lenzi probably tried to make his own A Bridge Too Far, so he had many stars in this one - Henry Fonda, Van Johnson, Stacy Keach, Helmut Berger, John Huston, Ray Lovelock, Giuliano Gemma, Ida Galli, Edwige Fenech and Orson Welles as the narrator. I will definitely watch it someday. But it's not very popular one.

NIGHTMARE CITY (1980)

Fulci did Zombi 2, Lenzi had to do his own zombie movie. But he objected that they are not zombies, they are "infected-a peeeopleee!" He wouldn't be very pleased with the Czech DVD title - "The Big Attack of the Zombies". In the movie stars Hugo Stiglitz, who is now most known because of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and the character called after him. I haven't watched this.

CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)

Also known as The Women from the Deep River, one of Lenzi's cannibal movies of the 1980's. I guess my stomach doesn't want me to watch this. Co-starring the Czechoslovakian actress Zora Kesslerová (credited as Zora Kerowa).


And that's probably it. The movies he did afterwards are not very famous, not very interesting. Some of them he signed as "Humphrey Humphreys".What a stupid name. He made a few war movies, a few horrors, a few comedies. But he is, and will be most remembered for the stuff I listed above.