Mainguest Enzo G. Castellari

Enzo G. Castellari: Kill them all and come back alone

Ironically enough, Italian director Enzo Girolami (Rome, 1938), better known by his pseudonym Enzo G. Castellari, probably never got so much attention during his career than after the release of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The film, initially conceived as a remake of Castellari's splendid B-movie Quel maledetto treno blindato / The Inglorious Bastards (1978), in the end didn’t look one bit like the original.

But how could it have been otherwise? Unlike his American confrère, Castellari always worked with modest budgets, a limitation which he managed to reverse to his advantage and with which he developed a singular and inimitable style.

In the long series of spaghetti westerns and action films the director made a name for himself with, he virtuously played with the rules of the Italian B-movie: take a successful American production (e.g. The French Connection or Dirty Harry), place the themes and story in an Italian context and add more ultra-realistic violence to it than is seen in the example.

This is how Castellari (helped by a fixed team of employees, such as the unsurpassed cinematographer Giovanni Bergamini and the eminent actor Franco Nero) made his films, ranging from modest successes (Ammazzali tutti e torna solo / Kill Them All and Come Back Alone, 1968) to unexpected blockbusters such as 1990: I Guerrieri del Bronx / 1990: the Bronx Warriors (1982), which even in the USA had cinemas filled up.

Castellari's best film, also according to him, is the extremely stylised spaghetti western Keoma (1976), which is therefore screened at BUTFF, introduced by an interview with the director himself. In 2016, Keoma is still an intense movie experience, in which the director raises issues such as racism and incorporates existentialist overtones, but also does not forget to show lyrical violence excesses in slow motion. The leading role by Franco Nero is unforgettable and is one of the highlights of his career. In short: a dream night for fans of Italian cult films.

Especially for the BUTFF, the maestro already answered some questions and discussed his masterpiece Keoma.

Castellari: “I dearly love Keoma. I shot the movie in a style and with the vision of my favourite film directors. During the entire shooting period, we, by the way, did not use a script. The original story was very good, but when we wanted to start with the film, the script was seriously below par[t1] . Therefore Franco Nero, producer Manolo Bolognini (who had also produced Django) and myself decided to just go on without a script and improvise all the time. Manolo and Franco trusted me completely and that feeling was mutual. This way, we have created a masterpiece, for Franco plays an extraordinary role in Keoma. Just as in Street Law and High Crime, in which he also played, we had a bond as if we were brothers. Franco intensely loves cinema, and so do I, so this common love makes us a special cinematographic couple. I worship that man!”

Mike Lebbing