The Arts - Rome - page 709

kept the neo-realist ball rolling in 1948 with Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves), again
filmed in Rome's sprawling suburbs.
Federico Fellini (1920−94) took the creative baton from the neo-realists and carried it
into the following decades. His disquieting style demands more of audiences, abandoning
realistic shots for pointed images at once laden with humour, pathos and double meaning.
Fellini's greatest international hit was La Dolce Vita (1960), starring Marcello Mastroi-
anni and Anita Ekberg.
The films of Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922−75) are similarly demanding. A communist
Catholic homosexual, he made films that not only reflect his ideological and sexual tend-
encies but also offer a unique portrayal of Rome's urban wasteland.
SERGIO LEONE, MR SPAGHETTI WESTERN
Best known for virtually single-handedly creating the spaghetti western, Sergio Leone (1929−89) is a hero to
many. Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are among the directors who count him as a ma-
jor influence, while Clint Eastwood owes him his cinematic breakthrough. Astonishingly, he only ever directed
seven films.
The son of a silent-movie director, Leone cut his teeth as a screenwriter on a series of sword-and-sandal epics,
before working as assistant director on Quo Vadis? (1951) and Ben-Hur (1959). He made his directorial debut
three years later on Il Colosso di Rodi (The Colossus of Rhodes; 1961).
However, it was with his famous dollar trilogy - Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars; 1964), Per
qualche dollari in piu (For a Few Dollars More; 1965) and Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly; 1966) - that he really hit the big time. The first, filmed in Spain and based on the 1961 samurai flick
Yojimbo, set the style for the genre. No longer were clean-cut, morally upright heroes pitted against cartoon-style
villains, but characters were more complex, often morally ambiguous and driven by self-interest.
Stylistically, Leone introduced a series of innovations that were later to become trademarks. Chief among these
was his use of musical themes to identify his characters. And in this he was brilliantly supported by his old
schoolmate, Ennio Morricone. One of Hollywood's most prolific composers, Morricone (b 1928) has worked on
more than 500 films, but his masterpiece remains his haunting score for Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good,
the Bad and the Ugly). A unique orchestration of trumpets, whistles, gunshots, church bells, harmonicas and elec-
tric guitars, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.
Television
The real interest in Italian TV is not so much what's on the screen as the political
shenanigans that go on behind it. Unfortunately, none of this real-life drama translates to
on-screen programming, which remains ratings-driven and advert-drenched. Soap operas,
quizzes and reality shows are staples and homemade drama rarely goes beyond the tried
and tested, with an incessant stream of films on popes, priests, saints and martyrs.