Sergio Sollima is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 former film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and script writer

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

.

Like many Italian cult

Cult following

A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...

 directors, Sollima started his career by directing mostly sword and sandal

Sword and sandal

The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...

 movies that were very popular in the early 1960s. After the genre's popularity quickly died out, Sollima was among the first ones to move to spaghetti westerns. The Big Gundown

The Big Gundown

The Big Gundown is a 1966 spaghetti western directed by Sergio Sollima and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian...

(starring Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...

 and Tomas Milian

Tomas Milian

Tomás Milián is a Cuban-American actor best known for having worked extensively in Italian films from the late 1950s to the 1980s.-Career in Italy:...

) was released in 1966 with big success, despite the fact that it had to compete with Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...

's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...

and Sergio Corbucci

Sergio Corbucci

Sergio Corbucci was an Italian film director. He is best known for his very violent yet intelligent spaghetti westerns...

's Django

Django (film)

Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film earned a reputation as being one of the most violent films ever made up to that point and was subsequently refused a certificate in Britain until 1993, when it was...

. Sollima soon filmed two more westerns. Face to Face (Milian and Gian Maria Volonté

Gian Maria Volontè

Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor. He is perhaps most famous outside of Italy for his roles as the main villain in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.-Early life:Volonté was born in Milan, and graduated in Rome in 1957...

) was released in 1967 and Run, Man, Run!

Run, Man, Run!

Run, Man, Run! is is an Italian Zapata-themed spaghetti western movie. It is the second movie of Sergio Sollima centered on the character of Cuchillo, again played by Tomas Milian, after the two-years earlier successful western The Big Gundown. It is also the final chapter of the...

(Milian) in 1968. Although Sollima directed only three westerns and they never reached the level of popularity as the ones by the other Sergios (Leone and Corbucci), each of them is highly regarded among genre enthusiasts.

In 1970, Sollima switched genres again and directed the Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...

 and Telly Savalas

Telly Savalas

Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...

 starred Violent City, which was one of the first violent and fast-paced Italian crime film

Crime film

Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

s often known as poliziotteschi

Poliziotteschi

Poliziotteschi films constitute a sub-genre of crime and action film that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s...

. Like for all of his westerns, the soundtrack was provided by Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...

. Sollima's last well-known film is Revolver

Revolver (1973 film)

Revolver is a poliziottesco film directed by Sergio Sollima and released in 1973. It stars Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi and the film's theme "Un Amico" which was scored by Ennio Morricone was also featured in Quentin Tarantino movie Inglorious Basterds - Plot :An Italian official's wife is...

, a poliziotteschi film starring Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...

 and Fabio Testi

Fabio Testi

Fabio Testi is an Italian film actor, notable as the star of, among many other films, First Action Hero.Born in Peschiera del Garda, Italy, the 1.84m tall actor started his film career as a stuntman in his college years...

.

Selected filmography

• The Big Gundown
  The Big Gundown
  The Big Gundown is a 1966 spaghetti western directed by Sergio Sollima and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian...
  
  (1966)
• Face to Face (1967)
• Run, Man, Run!
  Run, Man, Run!
  Run, Man, Run! is is an Italian Zapata-themed spaghetti western movie. It is the second movie of Sergio Sollima centered on the character of Cuchillo, again played by Tomas Milian, after the two-years earlier successful western The Big Gundown. It is also the final chapter of the...
  
  (1968)
• Violent City (1970)
• Revolver
  Revolver (1973 film)
  Revolver is a poliziottesco film directed by Sergio Sollima and released in 1973. It stars Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi and the film's theme "Un Amico" which was scored by Ennio Morricone was also featured in Quentin Tarantino movie Inglorious Basterds - Plot :An Italian official's wife is...
  
  (1973)
• Sandokan (1976)
• La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!
  La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!
  La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa! is a 1977 Italian adventure film directed by Sergio Sollima and starring Kabir Bedi.-Cast:* Kabir Bedi - Sandokan* Philippe Leroy - Yanez de Gomera* Massimo Foschi - Teotokris...
  
  (1977)

External links