Alfonso Brescia

Alfonso Brescia (6 January 1930 – 6 June 2001) was an Italian film director. Brescia 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. Brescia's work slowed down towards the late 1980s, and his last film Club Vacanze could not get distribution.

Alfonso Brescia
Born
Alfonso Brescia

(1930-01-06)6 January 1930
Rome, Italy
Died6 June 2001(2001-06-06) (aged 71)
Rome, Italy
Other namesAl Bradley[1]
OccupationDirector

Biography

Alfonso Brescia was born in Rome on January 6, 1930.[3] Brescia 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, he 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 May 5, 2001.[3]

Style

Italian 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
Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.
TitleYearCredited asNotesRef(s)
DirectorScreenwriterScreen story writerOther
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
  1. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 203.
  2. Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 0786469765.
  3. Curti 2013, p. 289.
  4. Battaglie negli spazi stellari. 1978.
  5. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 65.
  6. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 67.
  7. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 111.
  8. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 40.
  9. Grant 2011, p. 437.
  10. "La Colt è la mia legge (1965)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  11. "30 Winchester per El Diablo (1965)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  12. Grant 2011, p. 444.
  13. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 26.
  14. Curti 2016, p. 146.
  15. Gomarasca, Manlio (May 2009). "Beyond the Screen. Il cinema di Ovidio G. Assonitis". Nocturno Dossier. No. 82. p. 20.
  16. Curti 2013, p. 161.
  17. Curti 2013, p. 266.
  18. Curti 2013, p. 267.
  19. "Anno zero - Guerra nello spazio (1977)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  20. Battaglie negli spazi stellari. 1978.
  21. "scheda". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  22. "La guerra dei robot (1978)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  23. "Sette uomini d'oro nello spazio (1979)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  24. "La bestia nello spazio (1980)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.

References
  • Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786469765.
  • 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 9781903254615.
  • Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony (2017). Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908-1990. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476662916.
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