Sergio Sollima(1921-2015)

Sergio Sollima was born on April 27, 1921 in Rome, Italy. Like many of his colleagues, he began his career as a film critic before gaining entry into the movie industry as a screenwriter. After authorizing a number of book volumes on film history, Sollima used his contacts to began his career as a script writer and assistant director.

His early writing career includes penning a number of scripts for Italian-produced "sword-and-sandal" fantasy sagas like Ursus (1961) (The Mighty Ursus), Goliath contro i giganti (1961) (Goliath Against the Giants), and I dieci gladiatori (1963) (The Ten Gladiators). Working on pepla, Sollima also did double duty as both a writer and assistant director, working for various film directors such as Gianfraco Parolini and Domenico Paolella, filming action scenes as an 2nd unit director. This provided Sollima with invaluable experience and he was soon able to move into the director's chair with ease.

Although best known as a director of a few Spaghetti Westerns or Italo-Westerns alongside two other 'Sergio' directors whom include Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci, Sollima excelled at a number of different genres. After testing waters with the short film La Donne for the comedy L'amore difficile (1962) (Of Wayward Love), Sollima helmed a trio of spy films designed to capitalize on the popularity of the British produced James Bond film series. Sollima wrote the scripts to the first two films, Agente 3S3: Passaporto per l'inferno (1965) (Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell), and Agente 3S3, massacro al sole (1966) (Agent 3S3: Massacre in the Sun) on the condition that he would direct them personally. The films were shot back to back with Sollima credited under the pseudonym 'Simon Sterling'.

Sollima's third spy film, Requiem per un agente segreto (1966) was a far out more ambitious project that is seen as a re-working of the James Bond films. Here, Sollima peels away from the suave and sophisticated exterior of Bond by portraying the Italian spy Bingo (played by Stewart Granger) as a cold and sadistic thug.

The following year, Sollima made what some Spaghetti Western fans would say as one of the best Italo Western films ever which was La resa dei conti (1966) (The Big Gundown) which the director sought to transcend the traditional limits of the genre by capitalizing on the political aspects of the story. The central clash of the story is that a falsely accused Mexican peasant (played by Tomas Milian) and a corrupt businessman (played by Walter Barnes) was much broader in implication which Sollima compared to either an American solider to a Viet Cong, or a British Army officer against an African native youth. He also took a shot with comparing to the Sergio Leone westerns that audiences with sympathize better with Milian's character than a "cold and remote superhero like Clint Eastwood."

After the international success of The Big Gundown, Sollima made another Western which was Faccia a faccia (1967) (Face to Face), which Sollima claims it to be his personal favorite. Sollima claims that Face to Face was born from the idea that people change from good to bad or bad to good when they find themselves in exceptional circumstances where the role reversal of a bandit to a schoolteacher and vice versa.

Sollima's final Western was Corri uomo corri (1968) (Run Man Run) which was an indirect sequel to The Big Gundown in which featured Tomas Milian returning to his role as Cuchillo. Although entertaining and action packed, Run Man Run did not match the popularity of the first film and was never released internationally outside Italy. Its limited success motivated Sollima to explore different genres and his next picture was Città violenta (1970) transported the themes and concerns of his Westerns to an urban contemporary setting in Milan, Italy. Released as Violent City in the USA, the film featured Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland and Telly Savalas in a complex and serpentine story of betrayal and brutal vengeance. Despite its commercial success, Sollima had at this point grown tired of staging elaborate action scenes and in 1972 he directed the low-key, psychological mystery Il diavolo nel cervello (1972) (A Devil in the Brain). Sollima clashed with his producers who wanted to market the film as a fast-paced giallo and he later blamed the pictures misleading advertising for its disappointing box office returns.

Sollima returned to directing crime thrillers (poliziotteschi) with Revolver (1973) which starred Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi. Transporting the basic premise and character of The Big Showdown to a modern urban setting, Sollima also added a darker spin to the classic story of corruption and betrayal. The final film, with its uncompromisingly grim finale, is Sollima's most highly politicized work to date.

Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sollima worked almost exclusively for television, finding success with a mini-series of feature films which included "Sandokan" (1976), a desert adventure series based on a series of pulp fiction novels by Emilio Salgari. He briefly returned to the big screen with directing a feature film of the Sandokan series and then directed the action thriller Berlin '39 (1993). His latest TV film series "Il figlio di Sandokan" (1998) (Son of Sandokan) never aired, after which at age 77, Sollima retired from film making.

Sergio Sollima died on July 1, 2015 at his home in Rome, Italy at age 94 of undisclosed causes.