Fernando Di Leo
1932 - 2003Fernando Di Leo was born on 11 January 1932 in San Ferdinando di Puglia. After briefly working in Rome's film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, di Leo made his debut as a director as part of the omnibus comedy Gli eroi di ieri, oggi, domani with his episode titled Un posto in paradiso (transl. A Place in Heaven). Following this Di Leo wrote several scripts for Westerns, often uncredited. This included work on A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More. Some of his Westerns had uncredited literary sources, such as Days of Vengeance which is loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.
Di Leo was a fan of film noir and wanted to make an Italian version of these films. Among his first efforts was the script for Mino Guerrini's Date for a Murder based on Franco Enna's novel Tempo di massacro written in 1955. In Di Leo's version, the setting is moved to a contemporary Rome and has elements of contemporary spy films. Di Leo worked with Guerrini again on the film Gangsters '70 which did not do well at the box office. Di Leo began directing more of his own films at the time including the war film Red Roses for the Fuhrer and a few erotic films: A Woman on Fire, A Wrong Way to Love and Seduction. From 1969 to 1976, di Leo was able to produce many of his own works with his production company Duania cineproduzioni 70. He followed this with a return to noir with Naked Violence, a film adapting a novel by Giorgio Scerbanenco, a writer who Di Leo would adapt for several future film productions.
Di Leo would make a giallo film with Slaughter Hotel starring Klaus Kinski and Margaret Lee. Following this Di Leo worked on Caliber 9 and The Italian Connection which were both inspired by the writing of Scerbanenco. He followed up this film Il Boss, a film which got Di Leo in trouble with politicians and authorities due to the film's display of connections between the mafia and Italy's major party Democrazia Cristiana. Di Leo followed this up with Shoot First, Die Later in 1974. Di Leo worked through the latter half of the 1970s directing Mister Scarface, Kidnap Syndicate, and Nick the Sting. He also wrote scripts for other directors such as Romolo Guerrieri's Young, Violent, Dangerous, and Ruggero Deodato's Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. Di Leo's last film produced by his company Duania cineproduzioni 70 was Rulers of the City in 1976. He continued with a few more films after with the film noir Blood and Diamonds, the erotic drama To Be Twenty - both in 1978, and Madness in 1980.
Di Leo worked in television in the 1980s, starting with the television series L'assassino ha le ore contate, which involved six one-hour-long made-for-TV films produced by RAI Uno which as of 2013 are unreleased. Di Leo also made The Violent Breed and his last film Killer vs. Killers in the mid-1980s. Killer vs. Killers wasn't released theatrically in Italy and only surfaced 20 years later on DVD.
Di Leo died in December 2003.
Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1
Mike Baronas
Claudio Aliotti, Adelaide Aste
This documentary examines the life and legacy of controversial Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci through interviews with his colleagues, each of whom answers the question, "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?". The responses are as varied as the people who knew the late writer-director, providing a nuanced look at the man behind such gory grindhouse classics as City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.
Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1
Sergio Leone: cinema, cinema
Carles Prats
Tonino Delli Colli, Carla Leone
The life and work of one of the great masters of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone (1929-89); a rich and fascinating portrait through unpublished testimonies of collaborators, actors, directors and critics who reconstruct every aspect of his creative activity.
Sergio Leone: cinema, cinema
Caliber 9
Fernando Di Leo
Gastone Moschin, Barbara Bouchet
Just out of prison, ex-con Ugo Piazza meets his former employer, a psychopathic gangster Rocco who enjoys sick violence and torture. Both the gangsters and the police believe Ugo has hidden $300,000 that should have gone to an American drug syndicate boss.
Caliber 9
The Italian Connection
Fernando Di Leo
Mario Adorf, Henry Silva
When a shipment of heroin disappears between Italy and New York, a small-time pimp in Milan is framed for the theft. Two professional hitmen are dispatched from New York to find him, but the real thieves want to get rid of him before the New York killers get to him to eliminate any chance of them finding out he's the wrong man.
The Italian Connection
The Return of Ringo
Duccio Tessari
Giuliano Gemma, Lorella De Luca
Once again billed as Montgomery Wood, Giuliano Gemma plays a civil war soldier who returns to his family land to find his family decimated, his property taken over by a family of Mexican bandits and his fiancee about to marry the Mexican gangster behind all this. Bent on revenge, he goes undercover disguised as a Mexican and discovers he has a daughter!
The Return of Ringo
Il poliziotto è marcio
Fernando Di Leo
Luc Merenda, Richard Conte
Luc Merenda gives the performance of his career as a highly regarded police detective who is taking syndicate money in exchange for departmental favors. His father, a simple man, also works for the department but on a lower rung; he isn't jealous of his son, but rather proud of him, little knowing that he's a crooked cop. A series of events leads the young detective to ask his father for a favor (he wants a certain police report that is desired by the syndicate) and it doesn't take long for the detective's father to realize his son is on the take... which leads to numerous complications.
Shoot First, Die Later
La città sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori
Fernando Di Leo
Luc Merenda, James Mason
After his son is kidnapped, a millionaire industrialist seeks revenge, in spite of the potential danger that his rash actions will bring about for his child and another kidnapped boy, the son of a poor mechanic.
Kidnap Syndicate
Diamanti sporchi di sangue
Fernando Di Leo
Claudio Cassinelli, Martin Balsam
A man is arrested and condemned to five years in jail for robbery. After serving his term, he is out for revenge on the gang members he considers were to blame for his arrest. The prize for this deadly fight is a large cache of diamonds.
Blood and Diamonds
I padroni della città
Fernando Di Leo
Jack Palance, Al Cliver
Tony, a mob loan collector, is dissatisfied with his station in life. Though he dreams of one day being rich, he is stuck with the dead-end job of beating up borrowers who fall behind in their payments. After meeting up with Napoli, another mob enforcer who's just been fired from his job, the two hatch a plan. Together, they will con mob boss Manzari out of a fortune, after which they can retire and live in luxury. Manzari, however, is not about to let them go so easily.
Rulers of the City
La seduzione
Fernando Di Leo
Jenny Tamburi, Maurice Ronet
After returning to Catania after a long period of time, Giuseppe reunites with his old lover, Caterina. Her 15 year-old daughter, Graziella begins to seduce her mother's lover and he soon breaks down and begins an affair with her. As time passes Caterina begins having sneaking suspicions about Giuseppe's & Graziella's relationship.
Seduction
Gli amici di Nick Hezard
Fernando Di Leo
Luc Merenda, Gabriele Ferzetti
Nick Hezard, a young con man, wants to avenge the death of a friend of his and organizes a swindle trying to cheat Robert Turner, an American businessman he thinks responsible for his friend's death. He succeeds in getting a hundred thousand swiss francs and uses them to carry out the second part of his plan.
Nick the Sting