Behind the Scenes of Day of the Cobra (1980)

Ex-boxer Enzo G. Castellari blocks a fight scene with Franco Nero.

GREAT WHITE (1980), aka THE LAST SHARK, aka THE LAST JAWS, aka WHITE DEATH, aka L'ULTIMO SQUALO, aka...

With a seemingly unending supply of alternate titles, Enzo G. Castellari crosses the line from homage and into a lawsuit from Universal Studios.

Here he is in on the set in 1980 with a stylish director's chair, a personalized bullhorn, and a clapper that indicates their shooting title was White Death. That's cinematographer Alberto Spagnoli getting sand in his pants behind the camera.

In 2001, I asked Castellari about the trouble he got into with Universal over the U.S. theatrical release. Here was his response:

"The script idea for GREAT WHITE came from Ramón Bravo, a Mexican writer famous for his books with the sea and sharks as themes. In Mexico, many films have been made from his books. He wrote the treatment that was given to the Italian producer, who cunningly had the Italian script written by an Italian screenwriter without buying the rights from Mr. Bravo. When the film came out--only in the Los Angeles area--it made over $2,000,000 at the box office on the opening weekend! It was an extraordinary success, especially for an Italian film. 30...40...50 similar films were made in Italy and without any protests or even acknowledgement from the Americans, because their success was limited. But GREAT WHITE was different. It came out after JAWS 2 (1978) and it was a success, thus motivating lawyers and producers to stop the screening. They succeeded after a month. It's ironic though...if the Italian producer hadn't 'stolen' the idea in the first place, he would have become a multimillionaire! Bravo had written books on sharks even before the original JAWS (1975) came out, and this would have certainly made the difference. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned? A divine intervention?"

And that's probably the only time the phrase "divine intervention" was associated with the film. But I do agree that there are lessons to be learned. The movie has enough humor and silliness that he almost could have argued the case on the grounds that it was a satire of JAWS.

--MW

Behind the Scenes of KEOMA (1977)

Enzo G. Castellari behind the camera for this reverse tracking shot of Franco Nero in the magnificent Spaghetti Western KEOMA. The fearsome Shannon brothers aren't quite so intimidating sitting on boxes.

And here's the view through Castellari's lens.

--MW

On Location, 1990: The Bronx Warriors

Here's a great shot of Enzo G. Castellari directing a scene for 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS (1982) on location in Brooklyn's East River waterfront.

Here's the scene as it appears in the film:

And here's roughly the same spot as it looks today, via Google View. The wider angle lens doesn't make it a perfect match, but you can see the same Empire Stores brick building in the background on the left. The Empire Stores building was also used for a separate action sequence.

--MW

Another Friday...Another Enzo G. Castellari Shot

Well, we took a week off, but we're back with another behind-the-scenes Enzo G. Castellari photo. This time we've got Enzo and Bo Svenson in the trenches on set of the Inglorious Bastards (1978). That's Enzo's son Andrea peeking out from behind dad.

Click the pic for a large file.
--MW

T.G.I...Enzo! A Rare Behind-the-Scenes Enzo G. Castellari Shot Every Friday.

The third week of the blog comes to an end and we've got another rare Castellari still for you. This week it's from the set of the slapstick Western, CIPOLLA COLT (1975), which features Franco Nero treading in Terence Hill territory. Here Enzo and Martin Balsam discuss a scene, while an unnamed crew member prepares Balsam's mechanical hand prop.

Click for the large size, and as always, give us a link back if you want to use these for anything. We're keeping them high res and free from watermarks.

--MW

T.G.I...Enzo! Rare and Unseen Enzo G. Castellari Photos Every Friday.

We started this last Friday, and we've got enough rare Enzo G. Castellari behind-the-scenes production stills to keep this up for a couple years. These are all courtesy of Enzo and his daughter Stefania Girolami. They span his entire career and they're all terrific.

This week's pic is a beautiful shot of Enzo and Franco Nero on the set of the action packed poliziotteschi HIGH CRIME from 1973. Why is this not on DVD/Blu-ray?

Click for the full size version. Please give us a link back if you want to use this for anything, because I'm keeping all of these watermark free.

--MW

T.G.I...Enzo! Rare and Unpublished Enzo G. Castellari Photos

I'm sitting on a mountain of unseen Enzo G. Castellari behind-the-scenes production stills, courtesy of his daughter Stefania Girolami, so I thought it would be a fun idea to post a new one here every Friday. There are a couple hundred, some color, most black and white, so let's see if we can keep this going for a couple years.

The first is the only shot I have that doesn't feature Enzo himself, so it's as good a place as any to start. It was taken in 1968 in Almería, Spain during the filming of the action-packed Kill Them All and Come Back Alone (Ammazzali tutti e torna solo).

Click for the large size. Give us a link back if you want to use these for anything. I'm keeping them watermark free.
--MW