Alfonso Brescia (6 January 1930 – 6 June 2001) was an Italian
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
. Brescia began working in film against his father's wishes, and eventually directed his first film ''
Revolt of the Praetorians
''La Rivolta dei Pretoriani'' (AKA: ''Revolt of the Praetorians'') is a 1964 sword and sandal film about the conspiracy to assassinate the emperor Domitian in the year AD 96, though the historical facts have been heavily fictionized. This film was ...
'' in 1964. 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.
Biography
Alfonso Brescia was born in Rome on January 6, 1930. Brescia was the son of a film producer and entered the film business against his father's will. 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. 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.
Following the release of ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'', he shot five science fiction films in a row, ''
Anno zero: guerra nello spazio'', ''Battaglie negli spazi stellari'' (aka ''Battle of the Stars''
), ''
La guerra dei robot'', ''
Star Odyssey
''Star Odyssey'' (Italian: ''Sette uomini d'oro nello spazio'' / ''Seven Gold Men in Space'') is a 1979 Italian film directed by Alfonso Brescia. The film is also known as ''Space Odyssey'', ''Metallica'' and ''Captive Planet'' in other video ma ...
'' and ''The Beast in Space''. ''The Beast in Space'' was a science fiction pornography film based on
Walerian Borowczyk's ''
The Beast''. In the 1980s, with the decline of genre cinema, Brescia's output drastically diminished. His final works included ''
Iron Warrior'' and ''
Miami Cops
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
'' and ''
Omicidio a luci blu''. He directed his last film in 1995, ''Club Vacanze'', which failed to interest a distributor, making it the only film he lost money on.
Brescia died in Rome on May 5, 2001.
Style
Italian film historian Roberto Curti described Brescia as "a hack, but a reliable one". Curti referred to Brescia as "one of the most prolific and versatile Italian filmmakers of the 1970s". Brescia worked in popular film genres of their respective eras in Italy, including sword and sandal films, Westerns, war films, ''
mondo'' films, ''
gialli
In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, l ...
'', erotic films, superhero films, children's films, erotic films, and science fiction films.
Selected filmography
:Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brescia, Alfonso
1930 births
2001 deaths
Film directors from Rome
Giallo film directors