Stalking Klaus Kinski or How I Worshiped a Madman

by Kimberly Lindbergs | October 18, 2009

Categories | Rants & Raves, Actors, Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski b. October 18, 1926 - d. November 23, 1991

Today would have been Klaus Kinski’s 83rd birthday and in honor of the event I thought I’d share something I wrote about the actor back in 2003 on Valentine’s Day.*

“One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real.”
- Klaus Kinski

I don’t get star struck often. There are only a few celebrities that can make me weak-kneed and slack jawed and one of them is the deceased, but not forgotten actor, Klaus Kinski.

When Klaus appears in a film it’s impossible to take your eyes off of him. He always manages to steal whatever scene he’s in. He’s not conventionally beautiful or typically handsome, but his face is a remarkable canvas that seems to exude life itself. You can see the poverty Klaus suffered as a child, the time he spent in asylums and prisons, his unhinged sexuality, passion for life and unbridled anger pouring out of his eyes and every pore of his ragged skin. Real or imagined, this is a man who lived and loved life. The myth of Klaus Kinski the actor and Klaus Kinski the man are one and the same. And I fell in-love with the whole package.

I watched Klaus in many movies while I growing up and I was always awe struck by his presence. He appeared in countless horror films, thrillers and great spaghetti westerns throughout the ’60s and ’70s that ran on television when I was a kid and I couldn’t help but notice him. He was unlike anyone else. By the time I was a teenager I had seen at least 10 or 15 of Klaus Kinski’s films and I knew him by name. Klaus became one of my favorite performers and I started to actively seek out the movies he had appeared in whenever they played on television.

When I discovered Werner Herzog’s films in the late ’80s my interest in Klaus Kinski turned into a minor obsession. Herzog is an amazing director and his films with Kinski such as Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Woyzeck (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987) are all incredible movies that managed to capture Kinski’s unrestrained personality and exploit his limitless acting talents to their fullest. I was also lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Klaus Kinski’s autobiography in the late ’80s. Reading about Kinski in his own words was an eye-opening experience. His autobiography is a fascinating, lust-filled rant that is impossible to forget and to this day it remains one of the best biographies I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.

I didn’t have access to the internet or eBay back in the ‘80s so I had to satisfy my cravings for more Kinski by trying to locate films he had appeared in on video that were available at local rental shops. I also tried to buy posters for films that Klaus appeared in, but that wasn’t an easy task. I did manage to get my hands on a poster for Aguirre, Wrath of God, which hung proudly on my wall announcing to anyone who noticed it that I was a card-carrying member of the Klaus Kinski fanclub.

In the summer of 1991 I was an impetuous and slightly naive young woman living with two friends who both worked at a local video store. I occasionally did part-time work there myself whenever I needed a few extra bucks. It was a popular place for film fanatics and it had one of the best selections of videos for rent in the entire Bay Area. Colorful locals like director George Lucas were regular customers as well as other filmmakers who lived in the area such as Terry Zwigoff and Les Blank. When news got to me that Les Blank had started visiting the store on a regular basis I got really excited. I knew Les had worked with both Herzog and Kinski so I tried bumping into the director on the days the staff thought he might show up, but it never happened. I didn’t have a car so when I got a call telling me Les was at the video store I could never get their quickly enough. Finally I got word in the late summer of 1991 that Les Blank had casually mentioned that Klaus Kinski was actually staying in the area for awhile. Then another customer who owned an art supply store in town started casually mentioning that a “creepy” German actor actor named Klaus Kinski was coming in regularly to buy art supplies at her shop. When this all got reported back to me I flipped out! It seems that in his later years Klaus spent a lot of his free time in the Bay Area focusing on his art. With this new information handed to me I became determined to meet Mr. Kinski.

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10 Characters I Love

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 10, 2009

Categories | Rants & Raves, Actors, Actresses, Terence Stamp, Klaus Kinski, Pierre Clementi, Delphine Seyrig

The task: Make a list of 10 of your favorite film characters. As much as I tend to dislike these blog memes, I couldn’t say no to The Agitation of the Mind, Coosa Creak Cinema and Bubblegum Aesthetics so I finally took the plunge and decided to participate. Like any self-respecting film enthusiast I have hundreds of favorite film characters, but here’s a short list of 10. I decided not to comment on my selections so I’ll leave it up to my readers to figure out the why’s and what for behind each of my choices.

 

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A Spaghetti Western Top Ten

by Kimberly Lindbergs | May 6, 2007

Categories | Italian Cinema, Westerns, Ennio Morricone, Lucio Fulci, Klaus Kinski, John Phillip Law, Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone, George Hilton

I love Spaghetti Westerns. The best ones are what I would call “gothic westerns” since they combine some of the best aspects of Italian gothic horror films and literature with classic American westerns and western novels. They are filled with high drama but laced with subtlety. They offer romantic views of the west but they’re often very dark and at times even frightening. Suspense, death, blood, dirt, graveyards, coffins and religious iconography are reoccurring aspects of Italian westerns. Silence and sound were equally valued by directors and atmosphere was as important as story. Good and evil are often irrelevant and humanism - with a misanthropic streak - is king.

Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the politics at play in many Italian westerns. Many of the directors, composers and actors who made these films were card carrying Communists. Capitalism and Imperialism were often the real bad guys and many of the best Italian westerns managed to present their Marxist ideals in an incredibly entertaining way.

Recently Keith Brown over at Giallo Fever asked his blog readers what their “Top 10 Spaghetti Westerns” were. I had a hard time putting my list together because I like a lot of Spaghetti Westerns, but I thought I’d share my current Top 10 List here.

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (a.k.a. Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, 1966, Sergio Leone)
This is my favorite Leone film for many reasons. It’s a thoughtful, funny and entertaining movie with an amazing Morricone score. I really love the writing and I think the script is just brilliant, plus Leone films it all beautifully. Eli Wallach gives one of the greatest performances of his career as Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and in my opinion he steals the show from Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. The scene between Wallach and his brother (the priest - Luigi Pistilli) is one of my favorite scenes from any film ever made. Wallach is not just reviving his character Calvera from The Magnificent Seven here, he’s giving him depth and making him one of the most enduring characters in the history of cinema. It’s a movie I’ve watched countless times and I never get tired of it.

Watch: Lengthy clip leading up to my favorite scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2. The Great Silence (a.k.a. Il Grande silenzio, 1968, Sergio Corbucci)
I’ve already written a bit about why I love The Great Silence but the movie deserves a few more words. I think it’s Corbucci’s best film and definitely one of the most violent westerns ever put on film. There is deep humanity and brutal realism at play in The Great Silence and I think the movie has a kind of surreal quality that’s hard to put into words. Klaus Kinski gets to play one of the most ruthless characters ever created and that’s reason enough why this movie is one of my personal favorites but I also love Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance as the tragic and doomed Silence.

Watch: Great clip of Klaus’s brutality in The Great Silence

3. A Bullet for the General (1966, Damiano Damiani)
I wrote about this terrific film last month and explained why it’s one of my favorite westerns so I won’t bother with the details again. Please check out my previous review.

4. Once Upon a Time in the West (a.k.a. C’era una volta il West, 1968, Sergio Leone)
This is another great Leone film with a terrific Morricone score that I love. I think Henry Fonda is wonderful as the cruel killer Frank and the infamous scene where he murders the boy and his family is one of the most brutal scenes ever captured on film but the rest of the cast (Bronson, Cardinale and Robards) also offer worthwhile performances here. In the end though Once Upon a Time in the West is really an epic about the birth of the civilized west and the landscape that gives it life. The story and the directing are the real stars. It’s a beautiful love letter from Leone to all Spaghetti Western fans.

Watch: Clip from my favorite scene with Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West

5. For a Few Dollars More (a.k.a. Per qualche dollaro in più, 1965, Sergio Leone)
This is my second favorite Leone/Eastwood film. The story is wonderfully told and the film’s really entertaining but I especially love the interplay between Klaus Kinski’s hunchback character Wild and Lee Van Cleef’s Col. Mortimer. Both actors are my favorite western bad boys and their scenes together in For a Few Dollars More are truly priceless. Kinski’s performance is full of his typical twitches and outbursts, and Lee Van Cleef gets in his usual cold hearted stares. Eastwood is really good here and he looks truly fantastic in his poncho and hat but in the end this is really Lee van Cleef and Gian Maria Volontè’s movie. Both actors are terrific in their starring roles alongside Eastwood and once again Morricone delivers a fantastic score that really compliments the action and drama.

Watch: Great Kinski vs. Cleef fan video compiling clips from For a Few Dollars More

6. Django (1966, Sergio Corbucci)
I love the Django series and I had a hard time choosing between three Django films to list here. Django Kill - If You Live, Shoot! (1967) and Strangers Gundown (1969) are also worthy of being added to my Top 10 list, even if they’re inclusion in the Django cannon is debatable. In the first film the handsome actor Franco Nero stars as the enigmatic Django and his performance as the coffin carrying gunslinger is equal to Clint Eastwood’s best performances as “the man with no name.” The story of Django is well told and beautifully directed by Corbucci. The film also boasts a great score by composer Luis Enríquez Bacalov which is comparable to some of Morricone’s best work. All three of the Django films I mentioned are well worth a look if you like your spaghetti westerns dished up bloody and a bit surreal.

Watch: The final 6 min. of Django

7. Death Rides A Horse (a.k.a. Da uomo a uomo, 1967, Giulio Petroni)
The story treads familiar ground but it’s still one of the most entertaining revenge westerns ever shot. Lee Van Cleef and the very cute John Phillip Law give two of their best performances here as Ryan and Bill, and I think they have a surprisingly good chemistry together. The movie boasts some creative camera-work and it features one of Morricone’s most unnerving scores. One of my favorite scenes involves a poker game between Bill (John Phillip Law) and bad guy Burt Cavanaugh (Anthony Dawson), but Lee van Cleef gets a lot of great scenes in Death Rides A Horse as well.

Watch: One of my favorite scenes from Death Rides a Horse

8. Massacre Time (a.k.a. The Brute and the Beast/Tempo di massacro, 1966, Lucio Fulci)
I wrote about Fulci’s Massacre Time back in March so I won’t bother going over it again but I will add that besides Fulci’s stylish directing, Massacre Time includes one of George Hilton’s best performances and it has a great score by composer Coriolano Gori (a.k.a. Lallo Gori).

9. My Name Is Nobody (a.k.a. Il Mio nome è Nessuno, 1973, Tonino Valerii & Sergio Leone)
I really enjoy the humorous westerns that feature Terence Hill and this one is my favorite of the bunch. It’s probably Sergio Leone’s most lighthearted effort but he works well here with Tonino Valerii who directed some great Italian thrillers. Henry Fonda delivers a terrrific performance as an old gunslinger and he has some wonderful scenes with Terrence Hill. Morricone’s score is really playful at times which works well with the movie’s comedy. My Name Is Nobody is a fun film but it’s also a touching farewell to the old west and it confirms that Leone offered Fonda some of his best and most interesting roles late in his career.

Watch: One of my favorite scenes from My Name Is Nobody

10. Dragon Strikes Back (a.k.a. Shanghai Joe/Il Mio nome è Shangai Joe, 1972, Mario Caiano)
When I was a kid Kung Fu was one of my favorite TV shows. The impact that the show had on me is hard to explain but the philosophy it championed definitely made an impression on me. Dragon Strikes Back is basically a drawn out movie version of Kung Fu with Chen Lee (a poor man’s Bruce Lee) playing David Carradine’s role. It’s plain silly at times and the story is thin but it also has some great moments such as the fantastic bullfight and the duel between Chen Lee and Klaus Kinski (once again playing a nasty bad guy here). The combination of Spaghetti Western and Kung Fu action flick is a strange mix that really works. The movie also has a great Bruno Nicoli score (with borrowed bits from Have a Good Funeral, My Friend) and overall the movie is just a really entertaining treat.

Note: Keoma (1976), Companeros (1970), A Bullet for Sandoval (1969) and Duck, You Sucker (1971) all came close to making my list.

I’ve only seen about 25 or 30 Spaghetti Westerns and there are hundreds so my list is subject to change in the future.

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A Bullet Doesn’t Care Who It Kills

by Kimberly Lindbergs | April 4, 2007

Categories | Movie Reviews, Italian Cinema, Westerns, Ennio Morricone, Klaus Kinski, Martine Beswick

Like the Bandit… Like the Gringo… A bullet doesn’t care who it kills!

Blue Underground recently re-released the excellent spaghetti western A Bullet for the General (El Chuncho, quien sabe?, 1966) on DVD and I thought I’d take some time to write about the film since it’s one of my favorite westerns.

The movie begins as a young American “gringo” named Bill (Lou Castel) is arriving in war torn Mexico at the height of the Mexican Revolution. He watches indifferently as a group of young rebels are brutally executed in front of him. He then heads towards the railway station where he jumps the queue and pushes ahead of a long line of people to buy himself a train ticket to Durango. While he stands in line a young Mexican boy (Antonio Ruiz) asks him what he thinks of Mexico and he coldly responds, “Not very much.”

These opening minutes offer an unapologetic look at an “ugly American”, whose innocent appearance and expensive suit can not mask his arrogance and lack of empathy towards the poor Mexican peons (unskilled labors) that surround him. But underlying Bill’s behavior are much darker motivations that become clearer as the film unfolds.

As Bill rides the train towards Durango his journey is suddenly interrupted by a gang of Mexican bandidos led by El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volonté) banging a drum in time with composer Luis Bacalov’s excellent film score (supervised by Ennio Morricone). The bandits want the train’s cargo of guns so they can sell them to the revolutionary army led by the respected General Elías (Jaime Fernández).

Instead of joining the fight against the bandidos, Bill helps in the raid and tricks Chuncho into believing that he’s a wanted man so he can join his gang of bandits. This sets the stage for the rest of the film as we’re introduced to the bandits and discover that they’re not typical thieves. Chuncho and his gang have political as well as financial motivations, and much like Robin Hood and his Merry Men, they try to help the poor while stealing from the corrupt Mexican government. Of course the cold-blooded American has plans of his own and things get complicated when his personal motivations conflict with the idealistic bandidos.

This terrific spaghetti western has lots of spectacular gun battles and makes great use of the beautiful desert scenery but the radical political ideas that were taking shape in the war torn sixties are the real focus of director Damiano Damiani’s impressive western. Damiani makes an admirable case against American capitalism and imperialism in A Bullet For the General, which he obscures within a very entertaining movie.

The script is based on a story by Salvatore Laurani that was adapted for the screen by Franco Solinas. Solinas is well-known for his leftist political leanings and he was a member of the Italian Communist Party. His scripts written during the sixties and seventies for films such as The Battle of Algiers (1966), Tepepa (1968), Burn! (1969), The Assassination of Trotsky (1972) and Mr. Klein (1976) brazenly expressed his political views in thoughtful but often controversial films.

At first glance it’s easy to assume that A Bullet For the General is full of typical characters found in many westerns but the characters that populate the film are complex and have a lot of hidden depth if you’re willing to go digging for it.

The revolutionary bandits are the movie’s real heroes but they are often portrayed as drunken simpletons unaware of what they’re fighting against and the bourgeoisie land owners are often portrayed as rational and somewhat sympathetic characters. Italian westerns are notorious for the way they refuse to offer typical examples of good guys and bad guys that are so often found in American westerns. A Bullet For the General is a great example of a movie that refuses to easily define any of the characters that populate it.

Gian Maria Volonté is truly magnificent as the bandidos’ leader El Chuncho. Volonté was a respected Italian actor and he had previously acted in two of Sergio Leone’s westerns, A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965), but he passed up the chance to play Tuco (a role later given to Eli Wallach) in Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) in order to play Chuncho. Volonté preferred the more blatant political leanings found in the script for A Bullet For the General to the subtle politics at play in The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Some thought it was a bad decision on his part since Leone’s popular film could have catapulted his career but his role in A Bullet For the General is much more complex and in the films final frames the actor is transformed into one of Italian cinema’s most enduring heroes.

A Bullet For the General chronicles the birthing pains of a new nation. And the personal trials that Volonté’s character Chuncho must endure on his troubled journey to self-discovery brilliantly mirror what’s historically happening all around him. Mexico’s revolution is Chuncho’s revolution and we celebrate the country’s victories as we celebrate Chuncho’s final choices.

Klaus Kinski also has one of his best minor roles in the film as Chuncho’s half-brother Santo but unfortunately he doesn’t get enough screen time. Kinski’s Santo is a religious zealot who dresses in dirty monks robes and shouts political slogans while brutally killing his enemies. He seems driven a bit mad by the government made horrors he has seen the Mexican people suffer and he uses his rage to help the people fight back against their oppressors.

Lou Castel is perfectly cast as the heartless young “gringo” Bill. Castel had previously starred in the complex and dark Italian drama Fists in the Pocket (1965) where he played a deeply disturbed young man who wants to murder his family. He was only 23 when he made A Bullet For the General and his innocent appearance and youth easily mislead the audience into believing that he may not be the cold-hearted killer that he really is.

Like most westerns, there aren’t many women to be found in the film but the two actresses that do get to share the spotlight with the men are exceptional and breathe a lot of life into their roles. Spaghetti westerns are often accused of having badly written female characters but critics would have a tough time trying to find any poorly defined female roles in A Bullet For the General.

Martine Beswick plays the beautiful Adelita, a tough señorita who’s deeply scarred from being raped by a rich land owner when she was only fifteen years old. She’s desperately trying to forge some kind of loving relationship with one of the bandits but their life on the run offers them very few intimate moments together. Stolen kisses and a few hours of passion don’t hold much weight in the violent world they inhabit and Adelita longs for a stable home.

When the American arrives she seems attracted to his stoic silence and independence, which often mirrors her own demeanor. She’s pleased when he finally starts paying attention to her but the pleasure she gains from his attention is short lived after he suggests that she should return with him to the United States. Adelita is smart enough to know that a relationship with the gringo would never work in his country. She’s fought hard to be treated as an equal among the men that she rides with and she would loose her hard earned pride and independence if she went to America. Adelita quickly refuses his offer and she stays with her Mexican bandit until his bitter demise.

The name “Adelita” is associated with one of the most famous folks songs of the Mexican revolution and there’s no doubt that the writers purposefully selected the name for Beswick’s character. The “Adelita” song tells the story of a brave woman known as a soldadera (a female soldier) who cares and cooks for the troops but also bravely fights alongside them. Soldaderas became a vital part of the Mexican revolution and were idolized for being beautiful, strong and courageous women, just like the character of Adelita in A Bullet For the General.

Carla Gravina also has a small but memorable role as Rosario, the wife of a rich land owner named Don Feliciano (Andrea Checchi). When the bandidos arrive at Don Feliciano’s home and demand justice for the crimes he’s committed against the Mexican people, he crumbles and feigns heart troubles so he can hide in his bedroom. Rosario is unfazed and she confronts the unruly bandits alone. The audience is not asked to sympathize with her politics but it’s hard not be impressed with her grace under pressure. Rosario is unwilling to easily succumb to the bandit’s threats and she verbally assaults them while trying to diplomatically resolve the highly volatile situation she’s found herself in. All does not go well and Rosario is almost raped but she retains her dignity throughout the ordeal.

A Bullet For the General is undoubtedly one of the greatest spaghetti westerns made during the sixties and I’m thrilled to see DVD companies like Blue Underground keeping the film available for new audiences to discover.

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The Eurotrash Pinnacle Project

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 22, 2007

Categories | Movie Reviews, News, Horror, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp, Klaus Kinski, Helmut Berger, John Phillip Law

David Zuzelo who runs the terrific blog Tomb it May Concern started what he refers to as The Eurotrash Pinnacle Project. It’s an effort to bring together a list of favorite Eurotrash films from every genre imaginable including eurohorror, giallo, eurospy and spaghetti westerns. I recently contributed my own list of Top 10 Eurotrash films with an additional 10 titles tacked on the end for good measure, since selecting only 10 was an impossible task.

In my brief commentary for the first 10 films I listed, I used the word “sexy” a lot, which isn’t too surprising since sex often plays an important part in Eurotrash films and some of my favorite actors (Klaus Kinski, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp, Helmut Berger and John Phillip Law) often show up looking very sexy in the movies I mentioned.

You can find my list of favorite Eurotrash films now posted over at Tomb it May Concern. Be sure to click on the label link “Eurotrash Film Pinnacle Project” at the bottom of the entry because it will take you to the the rest of the great movie lists contributed by others.

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Favorite DVD Releases of 2006 - Part III.

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 10, 2007

Categories | Movie Reviews, Favorite 2006 DVDs, Giallo, Italian Cinema, Crime, Spanish Cinema, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jess Franco, Criterion, Klaus Kinski, John Barry

This is the final part of my 30 Favorite DVD Releases of 2006 list that I’ve been slowly putting together. You can find Parts I. and II. HERE.

Please keep in mind that these are all official NTSC Region 1 DVDs of films originally released between 1960 and 1979 and the numerical order means absolutely nothing except that I got these brief reviews written up in the order that they appear.

30 FAVORITE DVD RELEASES OF 2006 PART III.

The Fifth Cord
21. The Fifth Cord (Blue Underground)
Luigi Bazzoni’s impressive giallo stars the handsome Italian actor Franco Nero in one of his best roles as a journalist struggling with alcoholism, while trying to solve a series of brutal murders. The cast also includes acclaimed actors and genre favorites Wolfgang Preiss, Edmund Purdom, Renato Romano, Silvia Monti, Ira von Fürstenberg and Rossella Falk, who all give fine performances in the film. The Fifth Cord (1971) also features some truly incredible photography by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and an amazing score by Ennio Morricone, which really compliments Bazzoni’s story. Blue Underground released some terrific gialli titles last year, but The Fifth Cord was easily my favorite of the bunch and I can’t recommend it enough. The DVD is presented in widescreen and looks terrific. It also comes with an extra feature called Giornata Nera (Black Days) which contains some insightful interviews with actor Franco Nero and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, as well as a theatrical trailer. Hopefully Blue Underground will continue to release more hard-to-find gialli titles this year!

The Loved One
22. The Loved One (Warner Home Video)
After the talented British filmmaker Tony Richardson won the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars in 1964 for Tom Jones, Hollywood was at his feet and MGM offered him complete creative control over his next project. No one expected that Richardson would take the opportunity to make “The motion picture with something to offend everyone,” but that’s exactly what he did. The Loved One is a blacker then black comedy that satirizes the Hollywood funeral business and definitely contains something to offend everyone. The script was written by Christopher Isherwood & Terry Southern, and it’s based on the original novel by Evelyn Waugh. Isherwood & Southern manage to retain Waugh’s uncompromising wit while giving the story a completely modern twist. The Loved One has an impressive cast that includes Robert Morse, John Gielgud, Roddy McDowall, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer, Dana Andrews, Milton Berle, James Coburn, Tab Hunter, Paul Williams and Liberace, but the real star of the film is Rod Steiger who gives one of his best performance as the embalmer Mr. Joyboy. The Loved One should appeal to anyone who’s ever imagined what it might be like if John Waters had directed Dr. Strangelove. The DVD is presented in widescreen and features some great extras including the theatrical trailer and a new featurette called Trying to Offend Everyone. The film was universally panned when it was originally released and that’s probably because it was so ahead of its’ time. It’s gained a sort of cult following over the years and I think modern audiences might be able to appreciate it’s humor more so it’s great to see Warner making an impressive effort to release it on DVD.

Spirit of the Beehive
23. Spirit of the Beehive (Criterion)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) is a beautiful and spellbinding film that will stay with you long after it has ended. It centers around an enchanting six-year-old girl named Ana (a very young Ana Torrent) who attends a traveling movie show of James Whale’s classic Frankenstein and becomes haunted by her memory of the film. This memory begins to shape her world view and effect the way she see’s the harsh world around her. The story takes place in 1940 following the Spanish Civil War and offers a deeply moving look at a troubled nation trapped under Franco’s tyranny. Director Víctor Erice bathes the film in honeycomb colors and recurring metaphors that give the film a timeless and ethereal quality. The sparse score by Luis de Pablo adds to the somber mood of the film and Luis Cuadrado’s breathtaking cinematography beautifully captures the rural landscapes. The impressive 2 Disc Criterion DVD features a restored widescreen print of the movie and contains lots of great extras including a documentary about the making of the film called The Footsteps of a Spirit and an extensive interview with the director conducted by Japanese filmmaker Hideyuki Miyaoka.

The Conformist
24. The Conformist (Paramount Home Video)
Director Bernardo Bertolucci has made a lot of terrific films and The Conformist (1970) is easily one of his best. The story centers around the disturbed and repressed Marcello, who works as an assassin for the Italian Fascist movement in 1938 and is desperately trying to “conform” to societal expectations. In various flashbacks we learn about his troubling past. Jean-Louis Trintignant gives one of his best performances in the demanding role of Marcello and the rest of the cast is also exceptional. Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography (previously mentioned above in my review for The Fifth Cord) is especially impressive here and Georges Delerue score for the film is haunting. Aldo Lado also worked on the project as Assistant Director and I think fans of Lado’s great giallo films and various thrillers will notice his fingerprints on the movie along with Bertolucci’s. Previous prints of the The Conformist that I’ve seen have been very dull in comparison to the beautifully restored widescreen Paramount print featured on this DVD. The DVD also contains important previously cut footage and features some wonderful extras including three new featurettes about the making of the film.

Deadfall
25. Deadfall (20th Century Fox)
In Deadfall (1968), Michael Caine plays a jewel thief who finds himself caught up in a complex romantic relationship. Is he being played, or is he the player? The movie will keep you guessing and offers plenty of unusual twists and turns along the way. The exotic locations, stylish period clothing and shiny sport cars provide a lot of eye-candy in the movie, but British director Bryan Forbes’ real achievement in Deadfall is getting the incredible composer John Barry to score the film and make an appearance as himself. In one of the greatest combinations of music and cinema that I’ve ever come across, John Barry conducts a concert while Michael Caine makes a desperate attempt to steal some jewels in unison with the music. It has to be seen! Deadfall is presented in widescreen and includes a theatrical trailer as well as an interesting new featurette about the life and music of the British composer John Barry, who’s scored many great films. Deadfall is an under appreciated movie that really deserves another look.

Succubus
26. Succubus (Blue Underground)
Succubus (1968) is one of my favorite Jess Franco films so I was thrilled when Blue Underground announced that they were going to remaster the film and re-release it on DVD in widescreen for the first time last year. The film stars Janine Reynaud in one of her best roles as an exotic nightclub performer named Lorna who is plagued with sadistic hallucinations that she doesn’t understand. As her dream world becomes more violent and depraved, Lorna seems to loose her grip on reality and the audience is left wondering if she is a victim of some plot to drive her insane, suffering from demonic possession or are her psychedelic hallucinations just a product of her wild imagination and decadent lifestyle? Franco regular’s Jack Taylor and Howard Vernon both have interesting roles in the film, but Janine Reynaud is especially memorable as the seductive Lorna. Franco’s directing is really impressive in Succubus and he manages to beautifully capture Lorna’s frenzied dream states. Extras on the DVD include an insightful interview with Franco and actor Jack Taylor as well as the original theatrical trailer.

The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion
27. The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (Blue Underground)
2006 was a great year for fans of the Italian director Luciano Ercoli. It marked the first time that any of his films had been released officially on DVD in the US and we were treated to three impressive gialli films made by the director. I’ve already reviewed the terrific Luciano Ercoli Death Box Set released by NoShame that contained Death Walks on High Heels & Death Walks at Midnight, so I couldn’t resist including this Erocoli thriller released by Blue Underground in my list of Favorite 2006 DVDs as well. In The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970) the beautiful Dagmar Lassander plays a repressed newly married woman named Minou who’s traumatized by a sexual assault as well as obsessed with her attacker. Passions turn deadly and soon Minou finds herself being blackmailed. Genre favorite Nieves Navarro shows up in a memorable supporting role and really spices up the film. Ercoli’s directing is impressive and it’s complimented by Ennio Morriocne’s fantastic score, which is easily one of his best. The film is presented in widescreen and looks fabulous. The DVD also includes the theatrical trailer and a nice featurette called Forbidden Screenplays which contains an interview with co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi. The basic premise of The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is bound to offend some, but if you enjoy erotic films from the 60s & 70s that are more concerned with eroticism & aesthetics then political correctness, you might enjoy the film as much as I did.

The Passenger
28. The Passenger (Sony Pictures)
In The Passenger (1975), the talented Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni once again explores his favorite themes involving identity and isolation. Antonioni has made many brilliant films and I think The Passenger is one of his best, as well as one of his most accessible due to the presence of Jack Nicholson. Nicholson gives one of his most interesting performances here as a burned out journalist named David Locke who decides to assume a dead man’s identity and start his life again as a new person. Locke doesn’t know about the dead man’s past or what he did for a living, and he soon finds himself in over his head. The beautiful Maria Schneider is memorable in her role as the “Girl” and Luciano Tovoli’s cinematography is really impressive, but Antonioni’s directing is the real reason to watch The Passenger. Antonioni knows how to perfectly capture the isolation that his characters feel as well as the world they occupy, which is filled with detached people who rarely understand one another’s motives. The Sony DVD is presented in widescreen and the print looks terrific. I’ve never seen the movie look or sound better. The DVD also includes some insightful commentary tracks by Jack Nicholson, screenwriter Mark Peploe and journalist Aurora Irvine. It’s a shame that it has taken Sony so long to release the film on DVD, but thankfully this release was well worth the wait.

The Black Belly of the Tarantula
29. The Black Belly of the Tarantula (Blue Underground)
Director Paolo Cavara started his career making “Mondo” movies alongside filmmakers like Gualtiero Jacopetti. In 1970 Cavara decided to try his hand at making a genre thriller and The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) was the interesting result. This unusual giallo stars the talented Giancarlo Giannini as the suave Inspector Tellini. Tellini finds himself investigating a series of vicious murders involving a killer who injects his victims with the paralyzing poison of a rare wasp and then forces them to witness their own deaths. The rest of the cast includes many beautiful Bond girls as well as actresses who have appeared in other gialli films including Claudine Auger, Barbara Bouchet, Rossella Falk and Barbara Bach. Paolo Cavara’s directing is inspired and complimented by Ennio Morricone’s effective score. One of the most interesting elements of the movie is Cavara’s use of documentary footage showing deadly insects fighting for their lives, which is added throughout the film. It brings to mind the directors previous Mondo films and adds an interesting touch to this entertaining giallo. The Blue Underground DVD is presented in widescreen. It also includes the theatrical trailer and an interview with the scriptwriter’s son Lorenzo Danon. The Black Belly of the Tarantula is not the best giallo Blue Underground has released, but it is one of the most unique and I couldn’t resist adding it to this list.

Two Undercover Angels
30. Red Lips Double Feature: Two Undercover Angels & Kiss Me Monster (Blue Underground)
This great double feature DVD contains two of director Jess Franco’s best spy spoofs. Both films star Franco regulars Janine Reynaud & Rosanna Yanni who seem to be having a lot of fun playing the “red lips” spy team of Diana (Janine Reynaud) & Regina (Rosanna Yanni) while they seduce their enemies, solve crimes and travel to exotic locations wearing stylish late-60s fashions. Two Undercover Angels (1969) is definitely the best of the two films, while Kiss Me Monster (1969) seems a lot less inspired. Both movies are played for laughs and filled with slapstick comedy routines that get a little tired at times, but Janine Reynaud & Rosanna Yanni keep things entertaining. These are not Franco’s best films but they will appeal to anyone who enjoys spy spoofs featuring beautiful female agents like Modesty Blaise (1966) and Fathom (1967) backed by terrific jazzy scores. Previous DVDs of these films were rather bland and the movies were presented in fullscreen so viewers missed a lot of the action. Thankfully Blue Underground remastered them and the DVD features nice widescreen prints of both films as well as the original trailers and interviews with director Jess Franco.

- TV shows released on DVD in 2006 that deserve a mention: Ultraman: Series One, Vol. 1 and The Wild Wild West - The Complete First Season

- Honorable mentions that didn’t make my list: Magic (1978), The Other (1972) , Scorpion - Female Prisoner 701: Grudge Song (1973) and Satan’s Blood (977).

- DVDs that might have made my list if I had the chance to see them: The Witch’s Mirror (1962), Brainiac aka El Baron Del Terror (1963), The Curse of the Crying Woman (1969), , The Quiller Memorandum (1966), Red Angel (1966), Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales (1970-72) and The Anniversary (1968).

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The Music of Ennio Morricone

by Kimberly Lindbergs | February 25, 2007

Categories | News, Soundtracks, Composers, Giallo, Westerns, Oscars, Ennio Morricone, Klaus Kinski, Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone

On Sunday (Feb. 25th) Ennio Morricone will receiving an Honorary “Lifetime Achievement” Oscar at this years’ Academy Awards ceremony to celebrate his contribution to the art of film music. It’s unbelievable that it’s taken the Academy so long to recognize Morricone’s incredible contribution to cinema, but thankfully they’re going to try and make up for past mistakes on Sunday night.

Unfortunately it seems that during the Oscar show Celine Dion will be performing a tribute to Morricone, which I can’t understand. The talented Edda Dell’Orso, who has contributed amazing vocals to countless Morricone tunes is still alive and performing, so it seems really strange to me that Dion will be performing at the Oscars to honor Morricone instead of Dell’Orso. I also think Celine Dion’s vocal abilities pale in comparison to Edda Dell’Orso’s.

Ennio Morricone has long been one of my favorite film composers. I grew up in a household where Hugo Montenegro’s Music From ‘The Good, The Bad And The Ugly’ & ‘A Fistful Of Dollars’ & ‘For A Few Dollars More’ got a lot of play and even though it wasn’t exactly Morricone’s original score, that record definitely made a huge impression on me and helped shape my deep appreciation of film scores. When I started collecting soundtracks in the 1980s, Morricone’s original score for The Good, The Bad And The Ugly was one of the first ones I bought and it’s still my favorite Morricone-Leone score.

Trailer for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (music by Ennio Morricone)

When I think about my favorite westerns, Ennio Morricone’s music immediately comes to mind. It’s hard not to be moved by the somber sounds of wailing harmonicas, Spanish horns, echoing whistles and Edda Dell’Orso’s haunting vocals that manage to perfectly bring to life the dirty, dusty and violent west that lives in my imagination. It’s tough to pick a favorite when it comes to Morricone’s soundtracks for spaghetti westerns because he composed so many great ones, including the scores for A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For A Few Dollars More (1965), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Death Rides A Horse (1967), My Name Is Nobody (1973), and A Bullet for the General (1966). Besides his amazing score for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), I’m also really fond of Morricone’s score for The Great Silence (aka Il Grande silenzio) which he recorded in 1968.

The Great Silence is one of my favorite westerns directed by Sergio Corbucci and it stars Klaus Kinski in one of his most memorable roles as a vicious bounty hunter who’s being tracked down by a gunman out for revenge called Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant). Morricone’s score for The Great Silence perfectly captures the mood of Corbucci’s film, which is set in a small dirty town as well as the snow-covered mountains of Utah. The main character of the film is called Silence because he can not speak due to having his tongue violently cut out when he was a young boy, so the film has very little dialogue compared to some other westerns. The “silence” in the film gives Morricone’s score room to really breath and come alive in ways that are extremely powerful and often very moving. It’s an incredible score for a really exceptional western that is filled with many beautiful as well as brutal moments.

Trailer for The Great Silence (music by Ennio Morricone)

Besides Italian westerns, Ennio Morricone has created some incredible scores for some of my favorite Italian horror films and thrillers including Nightmare Castle (1965),The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970), The Fifth Cord (1971), My Dear Killer (1972), Who Saw Her Die? (1972), Bluebeard (1972) A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971) and Mario Bava’s action-packed Danger: Diabolik (1968).

I think Morricone’s giallo scores are among the best film scores he ever recorded and I find myself listening to them more then any other soundtracks that I own. These scores really show off his diversity as a composer since they often include a wide variety of musical styles. From jazzy beats to haunting melodies, Morricone’s giallo soundtracks are filled with memorable music that is often complemented by the vocal stylings of the great Edda Dell’Orso.

One of Morricone’s best giallo scores was composed for Massimo Dallamano’s film What Have They Done to Solange? (aka Cosa Avete Fatto a Solange?) recorded in 1972. This complex soundtrack features moody instrumentals, unusual rhythms and sharp horns. It also includes some surprisingly playful pieces of music as well. His score for What Have They Done to Solange? is one of Morricone’s most experimental and it’s also one of his darkest, which makes it extremely complimentary to Dallamano’s disturbing giallo.

Trailer for What Have They Done to Solange? (music by Ennio Morricone)

Another one of Ennio Morricone’s best giallo scores was created for Luciano Ercoli’s Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (aka Le Foto proibite di una signora per bene) recorded in 1970. Ercoli’s fascinating film is more mystery then horror and has lots of bare skin and very little bloodshed. Morricone’s score for the film is fantastic and includes lots of Bossa influences and pop beats. The music highlights the sexier aspects of Ercoli’s giallo, but still manages to be extremely suspenseful at all the right moments.

Trailer for Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (music by Ennio Morricone)

I have a lot of favorite Morricone scores and this post only highlights a few of them. Hopefully it has introduced a couple of people to scores they haven’t heard or at least encouraged someone to seek out Morricone’s more obscure soundtracks. He’s composed hundreds of amazing scores for films and I’ve only heard about 30 or 40 myself, so I’m looking forward to discovering a lot more gems hidden away in Ennio Morricone’s incredible discography. I’m also looking forward to seeing Clint Eastwood (I hope!) present Morricone with his long overdue Oscar on Sunday night.

Ennio Morricone’s Offical Website - EnnioMorricone.com

Fan Run Music Blog - Morricone Lover

For lots more Oscar talk and links to more Morricone related articles stop by Dennis Cozzalio’s great film blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule

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