Alfonso Brescia (6 January 1930 – 6 June 2001) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He began working in film against his father's wishes, and eventually directed his first film Revolt of the Praetorians in 1964.[2] Brescia worked in several genres in the Italian film industry, including five science fiction films he directed following the release of Star Wars. His work slowed down towards the late 1980s, and his last film Club Vacanze could not get distribution.
Alfonso Brescia | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 January 1930 Rome, Italy |
| Died | 6 June 2001 (aged 71) Rome, Italy |
| Other names | Al Bradley[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
Biography
editAlfonso Brescia was born in Rome on 6 January 1930.[3] He was the son of a film producer and entered the film business against his father's will.[3] His father had him work as a production driver, which involved getting up early to persuade him against entering the business which did not work.[3] He began work as an assistant director as well as working in production offices, eventually directing his first film Revolt of the Praetorians in 1964.[3]
Following the release of Star Wars, Brescia shot five science fiction films in a row, Anno zero: guerra nello spazio, Battaglie negli spazi stellari (aka Battle of the Stars[4]), La guerra dei robot, Star Odyssey and The Beast in Space.[3] The Beast in Space was a science fiction pornography film based on Walerian Borowczyk's The Beast.[3] In the 1980s, with the decline of genre cinema, Brescia's output drastically diminished.[3] His final works included Iron Warrior and Miami Cops and Omicidio a luci blu.[3] He directed his last film in 1995, Club Vacanze, which failed to interest a distributor, making it the only film he lost money on.[3]
Brescia died in Rome on 5 May 2001.[3]
Style
editItalian film historian Roberto Curti described Brescia as "a hack, but a reliable one".[3] Curti referred to Brescia as "one of the most prolific and versatile Italian filmmakers of the 1970s".[3] Brescia worked in popular film genres of their respective eras in Italy, including sword and sandal films, Westerns, war films, mondo films, gialli, erotic films, superhero films, children's films, and science fiction films.[3]
Selected filmography
edit- Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.
| Title | Year | Credited as | Notes | Ref(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Screenwriter | Screen story writer | Other | ||||
| Gladiators 7 | 1962 | Yes | Assistant director | [5][6] | |||
| The Magnificent Gladiator | 1964 | Yes | Yes | [7] | |||
| The Conqueror of Atlantis | 1965 | Yes | Yes | [8] | |||
| The Colt is My Law | 1965 | Yes | Yes | Yes | [9][10] | ||
| 30 Winchester per El Diablo | 1965 | Yes | [9][11] | ||||
| Days of Violence | 1967 | Yes | [12] | ||||
| Battle of the Amazons | 1973 | Yes | [13] | ||||
| Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women | 1974 | Yes | Yes | [14][15] | |||
| Blood and Bullets | 1976 | Yes | Yes | [16] | |||
| The New Godfathers | 1979 | Yes | [17][18] | ||||
| Iron Warrior | 1987 | Yes | Yes | Yes | [1] | ||
| Cosmos: War of the Planets | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | [19] | ||
| Battle of the Stars | — | Yes | Yes | [20][21] | |||
| War of the Robots (film) | — | Yes | Yes | [22] | |||
| Star Odyssey | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | [23] | ||
| The Beast in Space | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | [24] | ||
Notes
edit- ^ a b Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 203.
- ^ Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968–1980. McFarland. ISBN 0786469765.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Curti 2013, p. 289.
- ^ Battaglie negli spazi stellari. 1978.
- ^ Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 65.
- ^ Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 67.
- ^ Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 111.
- ^ Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 40.
- ^ a b Grant 2011, p. 437.
- ^ "La Colt è la mia legge (1965)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- ^ "30 Winchester per El Diablo (1965)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 8 September 2019.
- ^ Grant 2011, p. 444.
- ^ Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 26.
- ^ Curti 2016, p. 146.
- ^ Gomarasca, Manlio (May 2009). "Beyond the Screen. Il cinema di Ovidio G. Assonitis". Nocturno Dossier. No. 82. p. 20.
- ^ Curti 2013, p. 161.
- ^ Curti 2013, p. 266.
- ^ Curti 2013, p. 267.
- ^ "Anno zero – Guerra nello spazio (1977)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ Battaglie negli spazi stellari. 1978.
- ^ "scheda". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "La guerra dei robot (1978)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "Sette uomini d'oro nello spazio (1979)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "La bestia nello spazio (1980)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
References
edit- Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968–1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6976-5.
- Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6.
- Grant, Kevin (2011). Any Gun Can Play. Fab Press. ISBN 978-1-903254-61-5.
- Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony (2017). Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908–1990. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-6291-6.