Enzo G. Castellari

Infobox actor


caption =
birthname = Enzo Girolami Castellari
birthdate = birth date and age|1938|7|29
birthplace = Rome, Italy
yearsactive = 1960–present

Enzo G. Castellari (born July 29, 1938 in Rome, as Enzo Girolami) is an Italian film director. He is the son of director Marino Girolami, aka Franco Martinelli. He made a name for himself during the 1960s by directing several spaghetti westerns with such titles as "Go Kill and Come Back", "Seven Winchesters for a Massacre" and "Go Kill Everybody and Come Back Alone". His films exhibited a flair for violent action and gunfights, often utilizing slow-motion to spectacular effect. His film "Keoma" (1976) is considered the last great film of the genre.

Castellari was a pioneer in the early Italian crime film genre, with "High Crime" (1973) and "Big Racket" (1976). In the 1980s, his career suffered somewhat from the drop of quality in Italian genre films, and he found himself churning out financially successful but rather cheesy B-movies like "The New Barbarians" or "". His film "Great White" was pulled from theaters following a successful lawsuit from Universal Pictures, who accused the filmmakers of plagiarizing Steven Spielberg's "Jaws". As Italian cinema declined, Castellari found work in television and as an action scene consultant.

His son Adriano Girolami plays for Barry Town Football Club, and in his spare time Castellari coaches young players.

On the German DVD of Johnny Hamlet Castellari states that he's working on a new western (called "The Badlanders") , starring his favorite actor Franco Nero in the lead again, also revealing that Liam Neeson and Ethan Hawke were eager to play a part in it. Later rumors had Mickey Rourke and Quentin Tarantino being involved. It has been quiet around the project for a while now.

Enzo is mainly remembered for his westerns, war and crime films, and has been called the "european Sam Peckinpah" and "The action master"Enzo also made Inglorious Bastards and Battle Squadron, two very successful war films, he also made another shark film called Shark Hunter.

External links

*imdb name|0144758|Enzo G. Castellari
* [http://www.enzogcastellari.com Enzo G. Castellari official site]
* [http://www.searchmytrash.com/articles/enzogcastellari(12-07).shtml Enzo G.Castellari-biography] on (re)Search my Trash