Italian screenwriter Sergio Donati, 91, died on August 13. He was best known for his work with Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in the West, Duck, You Sucker!, For a Few Dollars More) and Dino de Laurentiis (Il Falso Bugiardo, Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, Raw Deal, Orca). Many of his films were spaghetti westerns, others sex, horror and adventure flicks (Mr. Hercules Against Karate, Il Mostro, Buddy Goes West, Bonnie and Clyde Italian Style). He started his career as a crime writer, and his fan Sergio Leone got Donati his start in films. Leone, he recalled, “asked me to write the screenplay for Once Upon a Time in the West as if it was a novel. The final product was a 420-page script, filled with extensive scene descriptions, including each character’s feelings.” “What is film?,” Donati asked, answering forthwith: “In the first act, you hang a man up in a tree. In the second act, you throw stones at him. In the third act, he falls down. If he is alive, it is a comedy. If he is dead, it is a drama.”
Related Posts
