128-419: Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato , was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres ( westerns , decamerotici , peplum , war films , swashbuckler , comedy , fantasy , postapocalyptic film , and erotic thriller ) but is best known for his horror , erotic and adult films. D'Amato worked in
256-613: A camera operator on numerous films including Mario Bava 's Hercules in the Haunted World . In 1969, Piero Livi 's Pelle di bandito and Silvio Amadio 's No Man's Island (Italian: L'Isola delle Svedesi ) were D'Amato's first films as cinematographer . In the next few years, D'Amato continued to work as cinematographer on Italian productions such as Umberto Lenzi 's A Quiet Place to Kill , Massimo Dallamano 's What Have You Done to Solange? and some of Demofilo Fidani 's low-budget Spaghetti Westerns . D'Amato took on
384-561: A "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel. The Western genre sometimes portrays
512-557: A Murderer Death Smiles on a Murderer ( Italian : La morte ha sorriso all'assassino ; English title sequence : Death Smiles at Murder ) is a 1973 Italian horror film directed by Joe D'Amato and starring Ewa Aulin , Klaus Kinski and Luciano Rossi . 1906. In a crypt -like room, hunchbacked Franz von Holstein mourns over the body of Greta, his young sister and only love. A first flashback shows him sexually assaulting her, after which she expresses her wish to leave this cursed place with him, to live and to be among people. In
640-446: A bouquet of white flowers. He tells her triumphantly that he brought her back to life and that she is his now, puts the medallion inscribed with the year of her "new creation" around her neck and promises her they will leave and start a new life together. As "proof of love", Greta throws the white flowers at his face. They turn into the dark cat in mid-air, which kills him. Greta, whose dress has magically turned red, giggles and leaves with
768-520: A company from producer Ermanno Donati . D'Amato had renamed the company to "Filmirage" and used it to produce his own and, from 1987 onwards, also other directors' films for the international market. In 1982, D'Amato used Filmirage to produce, shoot and direct the first film of the Ator series : Ator l'invincibile ( Ator, the Fighting Eagle ) starring Miles O'Keeffe and Sabrina Siani , which
896-787: A hardcore and a softcore version, starring David Brandon , Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti . It recounted the final days of the Roman Emperor Caligula and was followed by two purely hardcore pornographic films – Una vergine per l'impero romano and Messalina orgasmo imperiale – in which D'Amato reused sets and costumes from the first film, albeit on a significantly lower budget. The three films were signed by D'Amato as director under different pseudonyms and released separately in December 1982, May 1983 and July 1983. They have been called his "porno- peplum trilogy ". Messalina orgasmo imperiale (shot in 1982) also happened to be
1024-424: A kiss, her face again suddenly turns rotten. Herbert, terrified, attempts to escape. He seeks refuge inside a crypt. When the door suddenly shuts tight, Eva's freshly laid corpse slowly gets up and walks towards him. Walter lies in his bed, falling asleep. The dark cat enters his room, and Walter suddenly notices Greta sitting near his bedside. As she crawls into bed and starts kissing him, her face turns rotten. In
1152-450: A masquerade ball is held at the villa. In a party game, Eva has to guess the identities of the masked guests. A woman in red whose name she cannot guess puts aside her creepily deformed mask, revealing herself as Greta and vanishing. In disbelief, Eva checks for the body, when the dark cat jumps through the wall opening at her face and runs up the stairs, where Greta appears, smiling. Eva follows her, and Greta's face suddenly turns into that of
1280-572: A modern take on the traditional Frankenstein story with elements of the rape and revenge film . In 1993, inspired by the success of the Chinese erotic comedy Sex and Zen (1991), D'Amato then went to the Philippines to shoot a number of Asian themed softcore films, for which he often used Chinese pseudonyms. Among them are such diverse films as Chinese Kamasutra , China and Sex and I racconti della camera rossa (translation: The Tales of
1408-445: A number of new pseudo-oriental pseudonyms. For I racconti della camera rossa he used Robert Yip as director, Lim Seng Yee as scenarist and Boy Tan Bien as cinematographer. For Chinese kamasutra he signed with the pseudonyms Chang Lee Sun (director), Fu Shen (scenarist) and Hsu Hsien (cinematographer). And for Il labirinto dei sensi , he signed his scenario with Leslie Wong while using Joe D'Amato and Federico Slonsiko for
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#17327796217631536-481: A number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff! , Cat Ballou , Mel Brooks 's Blazing Saddles , and Rustler's Rhapsody . George Lucas 's Star Wars films use many elements of a Western, and Lucas has said he intended for Star Wars to revitalize cinematic mythology, a part the Western once held. The Jedi , who take their name from Jidaigeki , are modeled after samurai, showing
1664-415: A path at whose end she is approached by an unseen assailant, who - despite her assertion that she has not told anyone and is leaving for good - murders her. Meanwhile, Doctor Sturges is working in his underground laboratory. The medallion's symbols contain a formula for the creation of life. Just as Sturges succeeds in bringing one of his corpses to life, he is strangled by an unseen assailant, who also kills
1792-646: A period of eight years exclusively shot softcore and horror films . According to an interview D'Amato gave in 1990, hardcore, as opposed to softcore, had only been profitable the first four years in the late 1970s and early 1980s while the novelty and controversy lasted. D'Amato began this hardcore-free period by directing four softcore dramas set during fascism in Italy and starring Lilli Carati and Laura Gemser : L'alcova ( The Alcove ), Il piacere ( The Pleasure ), Lussuria ( A Lustful Mind ), and Voglia di guardare ( Midnight Gigolo ). The four films recall
1920-474: A phase in which D'Amato directed softcore films predominantly in the United States, often takes on popular American films. First, he went to New Orleans to produce and shoot two films starring Jessica Moore as the novelist Sarah Asproon: 11 Days, 11 Nights (1987) and Top Model (1988). 11 Days, 11 Nights was inspired by Adrian Lyne 's film 9½ Weeks but reversed the roles with the woman being
2048-452: A popular art form. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear Stetson hats, bandannas , spurs, and buckskins , use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. The first films that belong to
2176-647: A punning title which can mean both "The Essence of Sex" and "The Juice of Sex") was the only film of this period that was directed but not produced by D'Amato, being a "Promo Film" production of Giovanni Perrucci's. The average Cinema 80 or M.A.D. film cost 55 million lire, was shot in 10 days, edited over a period of two months, and had a generic title such as Super climax , Super hard love or Voglia di sesso (literally: Lust for Sex ). A group of three films produced through Cinema 80 stands out. In 1981, building on Tinto Brass 's Caligula (1979), D'Amato produced, shot and directed Caligula... The Untold Story in both
2304-527: A remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice , before shooting two softcore films starring Carmen di Pietro in 1991, both with a more violent angle than the preceding ones: Devil in the Flesh follows a group of mercenaries who encounter some nurses at an isolated hospital, and Dangerous Obsession tells of a woman who turns the tables on her assailant. After these, D'Amato directed Return from Death (Frankenstein 2000) (1992), his last horror film, which combined
2432-510: A rotten corpse. She chases Eva up into the attic, from where she falls to her death, screaming. Herbert, Walter's father, returns for Eva's funeral. During the ceremony, he catches a glimpse of Greta standing in the distance, which causes him to have a flashback to 1906: Greta dies in childbirth and Franz points his finger at him in accusation. After Eva's funeral, Herbert stays behind to visit Greta's grave. Greta comes up from behind and reminds him of their baby's prenatal death. When she asks for
2560-429: A scar on Greta's neck on the same spot. He inserts a needle into her right eyeball, causing neither damage nor pain and confirming that Greta is undead. For the coachman's death certificate, he opens the coffin to discover the corpse's rapid decomposition - an indication that he was undead at the time of the crash. Sturges keeps both facts secret. Gertrud packs her things, leaves, and is chased by Franz's apparition along
2688-502: A second flashback, she teases him into chasing her when she stumbles upon Doctor Herbert von Ravensbrück; they get romantically involved while Franz watches from hiding. 1909. Walter von Ravensbrück (Herbert's son) and his wife Eva are being served tea by butler Simeon when a carriage driving by at high speed is overturned and the coachman fatally impaled. Inside the coach is Greta, unconscious. Inspector Dannick wants to question her, but Walter convinces him otherwise. Instead, Doctor Sturges
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#17327796217632816-469: A sequel only in name.) Although the main character's name in the Black Emanuelle series alluded to the original French Emmanuelle, it was spelled slightly differently in order to avoid a plagiarism lawsuit. Also, the character itself is different: Black Emanuelle is an international reporter and photographer who travels to exotic locations. D'Amato added some violence and horror to the series such as
2944-570: A setting, where it tasked players to lead a party of settlers moving westward in a covered wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The game only grew popular in the 1980s and 1990s as an educational game. The first video game Westerns to engage the mass public arrived in arcade games focused on the gunfighter in Westerns based on depictions in television shows, films and Electro-mechanical games such as Dale Six Shooter (1950), and Sega 's Gun Fight (1970). The first of these games
3072-688: A sheriff in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming . Originally aired on the A&;E network from 2012 to 2014, it was picked up by Netflix in 2015 until the show's conclusion in 2017. AMC and Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad is a much more modern take on the Western genre. Set in New Mexico from 2008 through 2013, it follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with Stage III Lung Cancer who cooks and sells crystal meth to provide money for his family after he dies, while slowly growing further and further into
3200-533: A smile. Dannick, now entering this room in 1909, discovers Franz's corpse. At the cemetery, Dannick looks at Greta's photograph on her empty grave, wondering whether he will ever solve the mystery about this woman who he has never even seen. When he returns home, the figure he previously addressed as his wife and which hitherto has been sitting with her back to the viewer turns around. It is an aged Greta smiling at Dannick, who reacts to seeing her, perhaps recognizing her face as Greta's. Source: Credited, but not in
3328-507: A working title of 7 strani cadaveri ( lit. ' Seven Strange Corpses ' ). Some scenes were not in the script and were improvised on set. These include a scene in which Luciano Rossi is attacked by a cat, which D'Amato achieved by throwing the cat against Rossi's face. Death Smiles on a Murderer was released in Italy on 11 July 1973. Film historian Roberto Curti referred to this box office as "scarce business" noting its unimportant distributor Florida Cinematografica. In Italy,
3456-589: Is a genre of literature set in the American Old West, most commonly between 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister . Other well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey , from the early 1900s, Ernest Haycox , Luke Short , and Louis L'Amour , from the mid 20th century. Many writers better known in other genres, such as Leigh Brackett , Elmore Leonard , and Larry McMurtry , have also written Western novels. The genre's popularity peaked in
3584-512: Is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, high fantasy , science fiction, and horror. The protagonist Roland Deschain is a gunslinger whose image and personality are largely inspired by the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's films. In addition, the superhero fantasy genre has been described as having been derived from the cowboy hero, only powered up to omnipotence in a primarily urban setting. The Western genre has been parodied on
3712-443: Is a war film, but its action and characters are Western-like. The character played by Humphrey Bogart in noir films such as Casablanca and To Have and Have Not —an individual bound only by his own private code of honor—has a lot in common with the classic Western hero. In turn, the Western has also explored noir elements, as with films such as Colorado Territory and Pursued . In many of Robert A. Heinlein 's books,
3840-485: Is called to check on her. He hears no heartbeat and discovers her gold medallion carrying the inscription "Greta 1906" as well as mysterious symbols, which he recognizes, perturbed. Getrud, the Ravensbrücks' servant, having recognized Greta, is haunted in her room by Franz von Holstein, who repeatedly vanishes and reappears and cuts her neck open with a scalpel - a wound that bleeds but disappears. Sturges discovers
3968-402: Is due to the fact that I wrote the script on my own. When you don't work with someone else....it's much harder to come up with a good product.....and I really was inexperienced as far as screenwriting goes" The script takes several elements from works of Gothic fiction . Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 's novella Carmilla similarly contains a carriage accident that introduces the female character to
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4096-413: Is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms . The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered
4224-741: Is the anglicized Joe D'Amato , which he first adopted as director of Giubbe Rosse (1975). In 1991, D'Amato stated he had discovered the name in some calendar and chosen to use it because it sounded promising: in its mixture of American and Italian, it was similar to those of Brian de Palma and Martin Scorsese . Joe D'Amato became the name Massaccesi was most associated with, even more than his birth name. D'Amato used this main pseudonym of his exclusively for credits as producer and director and not for credits as cinematographer or writer. The pseudonym Federiko Slonisko , sometimes also spelled Federico Slonisco or any mixture of these two spellings (including
4352-757: Is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often prostitutes ), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ( beer , whiskey , or tequila if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as Sergio Leone said, "where life has no value". Author and screenwriter Frank Gruber identified seven basic plots for Westerns: Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in
4480-412: Is usually punctuated with a Western music score , including American folk music and Spanish / Mexican folk music such as country , Native American music , New Mexico music , and rancheras . Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid , desolate landscape of deserts and mountains . Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting
4608-1342: The Atari 2600 and Gun Fight (1978) for the Bally Astrocade were derivative of Midway's Gun Fight . These early video games featured limited graphical capabilities , which had developers create Westerns to the most easily recognizable and popular tropes of the gunfighter shootouts. Western radio dramas were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. There were five types of Western radio dramas during this period: anthology programs, such as Empire Builders and Frontier Fighters ; juvenile adventure programs such as Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy ; legend and lore like Red Goose Indian Tales and Cowboy Tom's Round-Up ; adult Westerns like Fort Laramie and Frontier Gentleman ; and soap operas such as Cactus Kate . Some popular shows include The Lone Ranger (first broadcast in 1933), The Cisco Kid (first broadcast in 1942), Dr. Sixgun (first broadcast in 1954), Have Gun–Will Travel (first broadcast in 1958), and Gunsmoke (first broadcast in 1952). Many shows were done live, while others were transcribed. Westerns have been showcased in short-episodic web series. Examples include League of STEAM , Red Bird , and Arkansas Traveler . Within
4736-657: The Black Emanuelle series of films starring Laura Gemser (1976–1978) and his horror/pornography crossover films Erotic Nights of the Living Dead and Porno Holocaust (both shot in Santo Domingo in 1979). In the horror genre, he is above all remembered for his films Beyond the Darkness (1979) and Antropophagus (1980), which have gained cult status, as well as Absurd (1981). Joe D'Amato
4864-779: The Dominican Republic . In a 1982 interview, he said that once the trip was paid for, the costs were low and the setting suggestive ("the Caribbean... all for free"; Italian: "i Caraibi... tutto gratis"). The first time D'Amato went to Santo Domingo was in May 1978 for the erotic horror film Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals . He returned there in September to shoot the mercenaries-at-war film Tough to Kill . In mid-October 1978, back in Italy, D'Amato started shooting
4992-537: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called
5120-460: The Incans believed they contained a formula which could bring their king back to life. Franz von Holstein, a brilliant former student of his, had worked on deciphering it, but had given up after his sister's death. Kempte gives Dannick Franz's address. In a final flashback to 1906 and to the room in which the film started, now brightly lit, Franz walks up to Greta, who is dressed in white and holding
5248-563: The erotic thriller The Hyena starring Cinzia Roccaforte, which received a limited theatrical release in Italy. In 1998, D'Amato directed the swashbuckler I predatori delle Antille (aka Sexy Pirates ), starring Anita Rinaldi. On 23 January 1999, Joe D'Amato died of a heart attack in Monterotondo , a comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital . According to Luigi Cozzi , his death happened unexpectedly while he
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5376-468: The nunsploitation film Images in a Convent , and in early 1979, which was to become a particularly productive year, he directed the violent erotic thriller Il porno shop della settima strada ( The Pleasure Shop on Seventh Avenue ) on location in New York , both films produced by Franco Gaudenzi's company Kristal Film. From late June to early July 1979, D'Amato went to South Tyrol to shoot and direct
5504-457: The space opera series Firefly used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop , Trigun and Outlaw Star have been similar mixes of science-fiction and Western elements. The science fiction Western can be seen as a subgenre of either Westerns or science fiction. Elements of Western films can be found also in some films belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes
5632-419: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including Robert Aldrich , Budd Boetticher , Delmer Daves , John Ford , and others. Some of the popular films during this era include Apache (1954), Broken Arrow (1950), and My Darling Clementine (1946). The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time. During
5760-591: The 1950s as electric and set photographer, in the 1960s as camera operator, and from 1969 onwards as cinematographer. Starting in 1972, he directed and co-directed around 200 films under numerous pseudonyms, regularly acting as cinematographer as well. Starting in the early 1980s, D'Amato produced many of his own and other directors' genre films through the companies he founded or co-founded, the best known being Filmirage. From 1979 to 1982 and from 1993 to 1999, D'Amato also produced and directed about 120 adult films. Among his best known erotic films are his five entries into
5888-432: The 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Unforgiven (1992), and Geronimo (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity. When television became popular in
6016-416: The 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of televised Westerns , and the rise of the spy novel. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few Western states, now only carry a small number of Western novels and short-story collections. Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of
6144-458: The 1970s. These games and drew on the imagery of a mythic West portrayed in stories, films, television shows, and other assorted Western-themed toys. When game developers went to the imaginary West to create new experiences, they often drew consciously or unconsciously from Western stories and films. The 1971 text-based, Mainframe computer game The Oregon Trail was first game to use the West as
6272-435: The 1980s and early 1990s would also regularly work as costume designer for his productions. In this first film, she only played the small part of a French maid, but it was during the shoot that D'Amato got the idea to use her as star in his next film. Eva nera was the exotic erotic drama which D'Amato directed starring Gemser as topless snake dancer alongside Jack Palance and Gabriele Tinti – her future husband. The film
6400-582: The American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill Cody's . The term "Western", used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular Western fiction , and were firmly in place before film became
6528-570: The American frontier, the gaucho literature of Argentina , and tales of the settlement of the Australian Outback. A number of visual artists focused their work on representations of the American Old West. American West-oriented art is sometimes referred to as "Western Art" by Americans. This relatively new category of art includes paintings, sculptures, and sometimes Native American crafts. Initially, subjects included exploration of
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#17327796217636656-547: The Bible ( Sodom & Gamorra ), Greco-Roman mythology ( Olympus , Amor & Psyche , Ulysses , Hercules – A Sex Adventure ), Roman emperors ( Nero – Orgy of Fire , Caligula – The Deviant Emperor ) and other famous people ( Robin Hood , Goya , Amadeus Mozart , Thief of Love – Giacomo Casanova , Rudy – Valentino's story , Scarface ). Two recurring actresses in his films from 1996 to 1999 were Selen ( Raw & Naked , Queen of
6784-672: The Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and the Basmachi rebellion. Many elements of space-travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the Western genre. This is particularly the case in the space Western subgenre of science fiction. Peter Hyams 's Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to Io, moon of Jupiter. More recently,
6912-605: The Elephants , Sahara , and Selen the Girl from Treasure Island ) and Éva Henger , with whom he shot the time travel films Experiences and Experiences 2 , a trilogy on the capital sins , Phantom (using footage from the silent film The Phantom of the Opera ), and Showgirl . Whereas D'Amato's adult films were very rarely without a plot entirely, D'Amato stated in a 1997 interview that one had used to include more plot whereas now
7040-537: The Living Dead ) – as well as three adult thrillers: Hard Sensation , Porno Esotic Love and Sesso Nero . For Porno Esotic Love , D'Amato reused material from Eva nera (1976), especially those scenes D'Amato had shot with Laura Gemser in Hong Kong. ( Eva nera had done very poorly at the Italian box office and therefore was still relatively unknown.) The voodoo-themed Sesso nero , written by George Eastman ,
7168-524: The Prairie , McCloud , The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams , and the short-lived but highly acclaimed How the West Was Won that originated from a miniseries with the same name. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as Lonesome Dove (1989) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . Also, new elements were once again added to
7296-522: The Red Chamber ; named after China's classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber ), the latter two structurally and thematically reminiscent of Italian decamerotici . Later in 1993, D'Amato went back to predominantly producing and directing hardcore pornography . In order to return to adult filmmaking more easily, D'Amato initially teamed up with Luca Damiano , with whom he shot roughly 20 films before continuing on his own. Although video had become
7424-458: The Red Death , the Red Death enters Prospero's masquerade ball in a blood-spattered robe and a mask resembling that of the corpses that died from the plague, Greta enters the masked ball of the von Ravensbrücks clad in red and wearing a corpse-like mask. The film was given a low budget of 150 million Italian lire . Death Smiles on a Murderer was shot between November and December 1972 with
7552-419: The Western formula, such as the space Western , Firefly , created by Joss Whedon in 2002. Deadwood was a critically acclaimed Western series that aired on HBO from 2004 through 2006. Hell on Wheels , a fictionalized story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad , aired on AMC for five seasons between 2011 and 2016. Longmire is a Western series that centered on Walt Longmire ,
7680-881: The Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by Edison Studios at their Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey . These featured veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included Annie Oakley (shooting) and members of the Sioux (dancing). The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on
7808-705: The Western states and cowboy themes. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are two artists who captured the "Wild West" in paintings and sculpture. After the death of Remington Richard Lorenz became the preeminent artist painting in the Western genre. Some art museums, such as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming and the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, feature American Western Art. With anime and manga ,
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#17327796217637936-478: The Wild West and modern technology like cars and cellphones, while also focusing primarily on being a Crime drama makes the show a unique spin on both genres. Walter's reliance on the desert environment makes the Western-feel a pivotal role in the show, and would continue to be used in the spinoff series Better Call Saul . The neo-Western drama Yellowstone was streamed from 2018-2024. Western fiction
8064-418: The biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the leading man in director Raoul Walsh 's spectacular widescreen The Big Trail , which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including
8192-618: The classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s (namely Kid Colt, Outlaw , Rawhide Kid , and Red Ryder ) or more modern ones as Blueberry ), cartoons, and parodies (such as Cocco Bill and Lucky Luke ). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned towards the fantasy , horror and science fiction genres, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in Preacher . More traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, though (e.g., Jonah Hex and Loveless ). Video game Westerns emerged in
8320-577: The closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States , particularly the Southwestern United States , as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada . The frontier is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys , outlaws , sheriffs , and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern
8448-578: The companies to produce and direct the gore film Antropophagus (1980, produced through P.C.M. and Filmirage) and its follow-up, the slasher film Absurd (1981, co-produced by Filmirage and Metaxa), both of which starred George Eastman and later became cult films for fans of extreme cinema. D'Amato also founded and co-founded two further production companies "Cinema 80" and "M.A.D." (an acronym for [Aristide] Massaccesi, Alessandroni, and [Donatella] Donati) on 15 January 1980 and 9 January 1981, respectively. For M.A.D., Alessandroni, an engineer, provided
8576-752: The conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order
8704-437: The corpse and the doctor's deaf lab assistant. Walter and Eva both gradually fall in love with Greta. Spying on a love meeting between Walter and Greta, Eva's jealousy escalates. In Walter's absence, she lures Greta into the villa's cellar, where she declares her hate and walls her up alive. She lies to Walter about an unexpected departure of Greta's. Dannick investigates Greta's disappearance, remaining clueless. A month later,
8832-428: The credits: Aristide Massaccesi. He said in an interview, he signed his own name to the film because "I felt encouraged by the budget....and by the presence of two important actors like Ewa Aulin and Klaus Kinski, who were appearing at the time in several Italian films.....Kinski, in spite of everything, is an excellent professional actor." The film credits the script to D'Amato, Romano Scandariato and Claudio Bernabei;
8960-428: The culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India). Being period drama pieces, both the Western and samurai genre influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years. The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Akira Kurosawa 's film Seven Samurai , and A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo , which itself
9088-553: The directorial and cinematographic credits respectively. An allonym is distinguished from a pseudonym in that it is the given name or pseudonym of a different person from the one who should be credited. Western (genre) The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and
9216-529: The dissolute character; it was a commercial success. In 1989, D'Amato's main actress was Valentine Demy with whom he produced and directed Afternoon and Dirty Love , the latter reminiscent of another of Adrian Lyne 's films, Flashdance . After these, D'Amato produced and directed two erotic dramas with Tara Buckman : Blue Angel Cafe and High Finance Woman . Beyond producing his own softcore films, D'Amato also used Filmirage to produce other directors' films: Michele Soavi 's debut Stage Fright (which
9344-407: The earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary ), Edwin S. Porter 's film starring Broncho Billy Anderson , is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and William K. Everson point out (as mentioned above) that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to The Great Train Robbery ". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set
9472-463: The early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color. Traditional Westerns died out in the late 1960s as a result of network changes in demographic targeting along with pressure from parental television groups. Future entries in the genre would incorporate elements from other genera, such as crime drama and mystery whodunit elements. Western shows from the 1970s included Hec Ramsey , Kung Fu , Little House on
9600-741: The fake snuff film footage in Emanuelle in America , a gang rape scene in Emanuelle Around the World (1977), and gore scenes in the cannibal film Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals . As D'Amato later remembered, this "was a very good period in my life. Movie business was very good. We travelled round the world, finding new and fascinating locations for our movies." Of the 12 films D'Amato directed in 1978 and 1979, 9 were shot in
9728-403: The family granary, Greta lures Simeon out of his hiding place, acknowledging that he did not betray her identity and promising him anything he could wish for: money, or better even, love. She then kills him. As the police are covering up Simeon's body, Walter's body is discovered clutching Greta's medallion. Inspector Dannick visits Professor Kempte about the medallion's symbols, who explains that
9856-476: The film grossed a total of 70,990,000 Italian lire. It was released in the United States as Death Smiles on a Murderer and Death Smiles at Murder . A blu-ray of the film was released on 21 May 2018 by Arrow Video in a "2k restoration from the original camera negative", containing English and Italian audio, a commentary track by film historian Tim Lucas and the original English and Italian trailers. In Matthew Edwards' book on Klaus Kinski published in 2016,
9984-569: The films ( Blue erotic climax , Labbra vogliose and Le porno investigatrici ) were directed by Claudio Bernabei. Officially, Bernabei was both executive manager and director, his pseudonym Alexander (or Alexandre) Borsky being used for almost all directorial credits although the films were for the most part directed by D'Amato personally, who was only given credit in the non-committal phrase "a Joe D'Amato film" ( Italian : un film di Joe D'Amato ) used for marketing purposes. The reason for this lay in avoiding one of two criminal charges per film since
10112-493: The funding, while his son acted as producer on set. Donatella Donati, the daughter of Ermanno Donati , became D'Amato's assistant and constant collaborator, usually acting as production secretary and assistant director . The two companies were the main vehicles for D'Amato's film production of this period. From 1980 until 1982, D'Amato produced 14 hardcore pornographic films through both companies (Cinema 80: 9 films, M.A.D.: 5), 10 of which he directed and lensed himself, while 3 of
10240-426: The genre tends towards the science-fiction Western – e.g., Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Trigun (1995–2007 manga), and Outlaw Star (1996–1999 manga). Although contemporary Westerns also appear, such as Koya no Shonen Isamu , a 1971 shonen manga about a boy with a Japanese father and a Native American mother, or El Cazador de la Bruja , a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico. Part 7 of
10368-576: The gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice , freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny , and the national history and identity of the United States . Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages . Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction , the genre popularized the Western lifestyle , country - Western music , and Western wear globally. Throughout
10496-464: The harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the Wild West ; it
10624-466: The heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress . Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , about an old contract killer ) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress
10752-676: The history of the genre, it has seen popular revivals and been incorporated into various subgenres. The classic Western is a morality drama , presenting the conflict between wilderness and civilization . Stories commonly center on the life of a male drifter , cowboy , or gunslinger who rides a horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle . The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas , vests , and cowboy boots with spurs . While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters . Women are generally cast in secondary roles as love interests for
10880-640: The horror film Buio Omega starring Kieran Canter and Cinzia Monreale , a remake of Mino Guerrini 's The Third Eye produced by Dario Rossetti and Ermanno Donati with music by Goblin . Immediately afterwards, D'Amato went back to Santo Domingo to film Paradiso blu , an Italian counterpart to The Blue Lagoon starring Anna Bergman and Lucia Ramirez, and the voodoo-themed Orgasmo nero ( Sex and Black Magic ) starring Ramirez, Susan Scott and Richard Harrison , before directing two films combining hardcore pornography and horror – Porno Holocaust and Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi ( Erotic Nights of
11008-657: The horror film Killing Birds and but for the first scene directed the sharksploitation drama Deep Blood . At the beginning of the 1990s, D'Amato revisited his Ator series with a concluding entry entitled Quest for the Mighty Sword , featuring the Son of Ator. Then, he revived the character of Sarah Asproon in 11 Days, 11 Nights 2 , this time played by Kristine Rose and again set in New Orleans. With Rose as protagonist, D'Amato also directed Passion's Flower ,
11136-491: The household, and there is also a cat connection in that, similarly to Carmilla in Laura's nightmares, Greta either shapeshifts into or controls a cat. In Edgar Allan Poe 's short story The Black Cat , a woman is walled in alive and a cat is found inside upon reopening, just like Greta is walled in by Eva and a cat emerges when Eva tears down the wall to check. In another one of Edgar Allan Poe 's short stories, The Masque of
11264-401: The illicit drug market, eventually turning into a ruthless drug dealer and killer. While the show has scenes in a populated suburban neighborhood and nearby Albuquerque , much of the show takes place in the desert, where Walter often takes his RV car out into the open desert to cook his meth, and most action sequences occur in the desert, similar to old-fashioned Western movies. The clash between
11392-666: The influence of Kurosawa. The character Han Solo dressed like an archetypal gunslinger, and the Mos Eisley cantina is much like an Old West saloon. Meanwhile, films such as The Big Lebowski , which plucked actor Sam Elliott out of the Old West and into a Los Angeles bowling alley, and Midnight Cowboy , about a Southern-boy-turned-gigolo in New York (who disappoints a client when he does not measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage. Death Smiles on
11520-406: The larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns , maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns . For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with
11648-510: The last film of this period. Another hardcore film that D'Amato originally intended to shoot himself for producer Riccardo Billy in co-production with a Chinese company, Love in Hong Kong (1983, starring Mark Shannon and Marianne Aubert), ended up being entirely delegated to his assistant Bernabei for lack of time, who directed the film on location in Hong Kong . It survives only in a truncated softcore version. In 1980, D'Amato had taken over
11776-788: The late 1940s and 1950s, Television Westerns quickly became an audience favorite. Beginning with rebroadcasts of existing films, a number of movie cowboys had their own TV shows. As demand for the Western increased, new stories and stars were introduced. A number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right, such as: The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Death Valley Days (1952–1970), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), Cheyenne (1955–1962), Gunsmoke (1955–1975), Maverick (1957–1962), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963), Wagon Train (1957–1965), The Rifleman (1958–1963), Rawhide (1959–1966), Bonanza (1959–1973), The Virginian (1962–1971), and The Big Valley (1965–1969). The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
11904-424: The latter was said to just be a typist by Scandariato. The story is credited to D'Amato, which Scandariato said was "more or less one page." Scandariato stated the film was originally written with more suspense and as more of a giallo , but this was changed out of necessity. D'Amato later claimed he wrote the screenplay entirely on his own, saying in an interview "I'm afraid it's a very imperfect film.....but this
12032-485: The literary descendants of the knights-errant , who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian romances . Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant,
12160-461: The major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity
12288-563: The male lead; or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as the wives of pioneers and settlers . The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief . Other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans , Chinese Americans , Spaniards , Mexicans , law enforcement officers , bounty hunters , outlaws , bartenders , merchants , gamblers , soldiers (especially mounted cavalry ), and settlers ( farmers , ranchers , and townsfolk). The ambience
12416-683: The manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is based in the American Western setting. The story follows racers in a transcontinental horse race, the "Steel Ball Run". Golden Kamuy (2014–2022) shifts its setting to the fallout of the Russo-Japanese War , specifically focusing on Hokkaido and Sakhalin , and featuring the Ainu people and other local tribes instead of Native Americans, as well other recognizable Western tropes. Western comics have included serious entries, (such as
12544-430: The most enterprising of the three sons, D'Amato took on the task of delivering the movie cameras his father sold. D'Amato also assisted in the dubbing of Italian film productions and designed title and end credits with Eugenio Bava , cutting the letters out by hand. In 1952, D'Amato worked as a still photographer on the set of The Golden Coach , later as electric . In the 1960s, D'Amato eventually moved on to work as
12672-515: The name Dario Donati as director and editor on Convent of Sinners (1986) and as director on Delizia (1986). The female pseudonym Joan Russell was used for D'Amato's directorial credit on Una tenera storia (1992). It was also used not for D'Amato, but for Donatella Donati and Antonio Tentori as story and screenwriting credit in Frankenstein 2000 (1992), which D'Amato produced and directed. For his oriental films of 1993, D'Amato used
12800-464: The only thing they wanted was porn – and very hard one at that: "double, triple, quadruple penetrations, anal ...". In between shooting adult films from 1994 to 1999, D'Amato also made efforts at returning to genre films, four of which came to fruition. In 1995, he directed the erotic drama Provocation set in the Italian countryside of the 1930s starring Erika Savastani, and in 1997 the erotic comedy Top Girl set in and around an American TV station and
12928-432: The pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre". The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from Tom Mix and William S. Hart . Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928,
13056-402: The picture: Uncredited: Death Smiles on a Murderer was produced by Franco Gaudenzi, whom D'Amato had met through production manager Oscar Santaniello. Their first collaboration led to D'Amato directing Un Bounty Killer a Trinità , one of the several films directed by D'Amato with someone else taking credit. This was the first film D'Amato directed himself in which he used his real name in
13184-528: The role of director for the first time in 1972. He started out with a number of small western films ( Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado and A Bounty Killer in Trinity ) and decamerotici ( More Sexy Canterbury Tales and Novelle licenziose di vergini vogliose ) which he partly directed, partly co-directed before going on to direct the gothic horror film Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) and
13312-637: The settlement of other planets is depicted in ways explicitly modeled on American settlement of the West. For example, in his Tunnel in the Sky , settlers set out to the planet New Canaan, via an interstellar teleporter portal across the galaxy, in Conestoga wagons , their captain sporting mustaches and a little goatee and riding a Palomino horse—with Heinlein explaining that the colonists would need to survive on their own for some years, so horses are more practical than machines. Stephen King 's The Dark Tower
13440-431: The short form Fred and several other mis- or variant spellings), was regularly used for D'Amato's work as cinematographer starting in 1982. The pseudonyms Federico Slonisco Jr. and Dan Slonisko (including variant spellings) are also sometimes considered to belong to D'Amato. However, D'Amato's son Daniele, a camera operator and cinematographer, started his career working for his father. The pseudonym Michael Wotruba
13568-671: The standard for adult films , D'Amato continued to shoot on 35mm film for a few years before finally transitioning to video for his last productions in 1997 and 1998 – a development which he saw critically: When shooting on video, there was little difference between the individual films in terms of profit, which helped minimise production risk, but the overall profit and hence the quality of the individual productions that were shot on video were lower compared to productions shot on film. The crew on an early 35mm shoot such as Juliet & Romeo had been much larger, including lighting staff, camera assistants, make-up artists, and set decorators; dubbing
13696-463: The state only charged the executive manager of the company and the director; them being the same person, only one charge was brought forth. One notable exception was Porno video (1981; sometimes: Pornovideo ), which was directed entirely by Giuliana Gamba (under the pseudonym Therese Dunn); it was the first film D'Amato produced for another director – a practice he would start expanding six years later in his Filmirage period. Il succo del sesso (1982;
13824-526: The style and themes of Tinto Brass 's La chiave ( The Key ) while their plots and characters are not interconnected in any way. Together with Harry Alan Towers , D'Amato co-produced Warrior Queen (working title: Pompeii ), shot in 1985 at the Elios Studios near Rome to cash in on the success of the miniseries The Last Days of Pompeii (1984). It was a sword-and-sandal film starring Sybil Danning , Donald Pleasence and David Brandon and
13952-456: The success of Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981). In 1984 and early 1985, D'Amato briefly reactivated his company M.A.D. to produce 10 hardcore pornographic films, all of which were directed by Luca Damiano and starred Marina Hedman . D'Amato is reported to have collaborated on some of these himself as well, although it remains speculative in which function and on which ones. Later in 1985 D'Amato left hardcore pornography behind and for
14080-556: The war film Heroes in Hell (1974), both starring Klaus Kinski . D'Amato briefly relinquished directing and reverted to cinematography in films such as Luigi Batzella 's The Devil's Wedding Night , Steve Carver 's The Arena and five films directed by Alberto De Martino : Crime Boss , The Killer Is on the Phone , Counselor at Crime , The Antichrist , and – two years later – Strange Shadows in an Empty Room . When D'Amato
14208-439: Was Midway 's Gun Fight , an adaptation of Taito 's Western Gun (1975) which featured two players against each other in a duel set on a sparse desert landscape with a few cacti and a moving covered wagon to hide behind. Atari 's Outlaw (1976) followed which explicitly framed the shootouts between "good guys" and "outlaws" also borrowing from gunfighter themes and imagery. Early console games such as Outlaw (1978) for
14336-439: Was a "rising name"), was one of several films at the time whose titles alluded to the successful French erotic film Emmanuelle (1974). In retrospect, it was a kind of turning point in D'Amato's career, being his first pornographic film – though still softcore . In his next film, the commedia sexy Voto di castità (1976, scripted by George Eastman ), D'Amato met Laura Gemser , who would star in many of his films and in
14464-635: Was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a pulp genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as Dodge City starring Errol Flynn , Jesse James with Tyrone Power , Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , Destry Rides Again featuring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , and especially John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach starring John Wayne , which became one of
14592-507: Was also the debut of D'Amato's son Daniele Massaccesi as assistant cameraman), Deran Serafian's Interzone , Umberto Lenzi 's Ghosthouse ( La casa 3 ) and Hitcher In The Dark , Fabrizio Laurenti's Witchery ( La casa 4 ) and The Crawlers ( Troll 3 ), George Eastman's Metamorphosis , Claudio Fragasso 's Troll 2 and Beyond Darkness ( La casa 5 ), Franco Molé's The Room of Words , and Lucio Fulci 's Door to Silence . D'Amato not only produced, but also partially directed
14720-627: Was born on 15 December 1936 in Rome , Italy. His father was Renato Massaccesi, who after an incident on a ship had been declared a war invalid and had started to work at the Istituto Luce in Rome first as electrician, fixing power generators left by the United States army at Cinecittà , and then as chief photographic technician. In 1950, at the age of 14, D'Amato joined his father at work together with his brothers Carlo and Fernando (called Nando). Being
14848-406: Was busy preparing a new film. His last film was the adult film Showgirl (1999), a take on Paul Verhoeven 's Showgirls (1995). Throughout his career, D'Amato used his birthname Aristide Massaccesi only once for a directorial credit, namely for Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973). However, it was regularly used for other credits. For his first work as camera operator, it was the only name he
14976-571: Was credited with, and as cinematographer, writer of stories and scriptwriter, he credited himself or was credited with it regularly until the early 1980s. The first pseudonyms used by Aristide Massaccesi were his actor's credits in the Spaghetti Westerns Straniero... fatti il segno della croce! (1968) and Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970), for which he used puns on his birthname: Ariston Massachusetts and Arizona Massachusset , respectively. His best known pseudonym
15104-408: Was directed by Chuck Vincent . In an interview, Larry Revene, Vincent's usual cinematographer, remembered that he worked on the sync sound for this film instead, because "Aristide shot it. He wasn't only a director/producer, he was also a cameraman." In the United States, the film had a brief theatrical run in a cut R rated version before being released in a longer version on video. There followed
15232-624: Was directly inspired by Conan the Barbarian . It was followed by Ator 2 - L'invincibile Orion (English titles: The Blade Master and Cave Dwellers ) the following year, in which O'Keefe was flanked by Lisa Foster . In 1983 and 1984, D'Amato produced and shot the post-apocalyptic action films Endgame (1983) starring Al Cliver , George Eastman, Laura Gemser and Gordon Mitchell , which D'Amato directed alone, and 2020 Texas Gladiators (1984) starring Al Cliver and Sabrina Siani, which D'Amato co-directed with George Eastman. The films follow
15360-445: Was done in post-production. Among D'Amato's best known films from this late hardcore period are his collaborations with Rocco Siffredi ( Tarzan X – Shame of Jane , Marco Polo , Marquis de Sade , Torero ) and Kelly Trump ( Messalina , Kamasutra , Lolita ), his pornographic versions of Shakespearean drama ( Juliet & Romeo , Anthony and Cleopatra , Othello 2000 ), westerns ( Outlaws , Calamity Jane ), swashbucklers ( Raiders ),
15488-563: Was exchanged by the allonym Raf Donato for the official release. As producer, D'Amato used this pseudonym on Troll 2 and Interzone . For the last two films of D'Amato's "porno-peplum trilogy", Una vergine per l'impero and Messalina orgasmo imperiale (both released 1983), D'Amato used Dirk Frey as cinematographer and Robert Hall and O.J. Clarke as director, respectively. The directorial credit of Il succo del sesso (1983), which D'Amato directed, reads Gilbert Damiano - an allusion to Gerard Damiano . The pseudonym Peter Newton
15616-547: Was in Canada shooting a sleigh ride sequence for Lucio Fulci 's Challenge to White Fang , the film's producer Ermanno Donati asked him to stay and direct the adventure film Red Coats for him, in which D'Amato used the pseudonym "Joe D'Amato" for the first time. It turned a good profit, and D'Amato later considered it his best film in this period. D'Amato's next film Emanuelle's Revenge (1975), which he co-directed with Bruno Mattei (who remains uncredited because D'Amato
15744-470: Was inspired by Red Harvest , an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett . Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially John Ford . Despite the Cold War , the Western was a strong influence on Eastern Bloc cinema, which had its own take on the genre, the so-called Red Western or Ostern. Generally, these took two forms: either straight Westerns shot in
15872-485: Was produced by Harry Alan Towers and Lucio Fulcisano and shot both on location in Hong Kong and at the Elios Studios near Rome. Gemser, who had previously starred in Bitto Albertini 's Black Emanuelle (1975), went on to shoot the following five films of the Black Emanuelle series under D'Amato's direction. (Albertini, on the other hand, had to find a new actress for his own Black Emanuelle 2 (1976) –
16000-515: Was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. At least six of them were connected in some extent to Wyatt Earp : The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , Bat Masterson , Tombstone Territory , Broken Arrow , Johnny Ringo , and Gunsmoke . Increasing costs of American television production weeded out most action half-hour series in
16128-426: Was the last film D'Amato shot in the Caribbean, at the end of 1979, and the first film D'Amato produced on his own, through his newly founded company, P.C.M. (Produzioni Cinematografiche Massaccesi). Of the Caribbean group of films it received the earliest theatrical release – the films only being released gradually throughout 1980 and 1981. After his return from the Caribbean, D'Amato also co-founded Filmirage and used
16256-446: Was used as D'Amato's directorial credit on: This pseudonym is also to be found as directorial credit for Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) in the entry at Public Cinematographic Register, but was later changed to D'Amato's birthname for the release. David Hills was used by D'Amato as directorial pseudonym on the following films: David Hills was also used as directorial credit on an early announcement of Deep Blood (1989), but
16384-490: Was used for D'Amato's credit as cinematographer on Paradiso blu (1980) and his directorial credit on Absurd (1981). For the latter, he also used Richard Haller for his credits as cinematographer and co-producer. Kevin Mancuso was used for the directorial credit on 2020 Texas Gladiators (1982); D'Amato co-directed the film with George Eastman so it can be considered a pseudonym for both Eastman and D'Amato. D'Amato used
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