Gene Quintano

Gene Quintano (born 1946 as Eugene Francis Quintano Jr.) is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer and director. He is best known for writing sequels to the film ''Police Academy'' and directing the western ''Dollar for the Dead'' and action parody ''Loaded Weapon 1'', both starring Emilio Estevez.

Career

3-D Films

Quintano was a Xerox salesman who had his own office supply company and was interested in getting into filmmaking. He was partners in a publishing firm with Tony Anthony, a filmmaker who had made a number of Spaghetti Westerns. Looking for an angle they decided to make a film in 3-D, believing many younger film goers would not be familiar with it. It resulted in ''Comin' at Ya!''. Quintano and his partners worked for four years on the film, experimenting and testing the technology. They raised money to make the films, shot it in Spain and Rome, and sold it to Filmways.TRIO TAKES 3-D FILM TO MARKETs
Caulfield, Deborah. Los Angeles Times 4 Apr 1981: b13.

Quintano was a writer and producer on the film. He also starred in the film "mostly as a matter of economics."Movies' Next Dimension: Look Out, 3-D is 'Comin' at Ya!' 3-D 'Comin' at Ya!'
By Christian Williams. The Washington Post 14 Aug 1981: C1. The film was a surprise success at the box office, leading to a brief revival of 3-D films.'COMIN' AT YA' A SURPRISE HIT: FOLLOW-UPS Caulfield, Deborah. Los Angeles Times 6 Sep 1981: p22.

Quintano wanted to follow it with a '' Topkapi''-type film about people stealing an item on an island. This became ''Treasure of the Four Crowns'' (1983). Quintano helped provide the story and produced, as well as appearing in the cast. The film was a box office disappointment.

Screenwriter

''Treasure'' had been distributed by Cannon Films, and Quintano wrote a series of films for that company, including the comedy '' Making the Grade'' (1984) and the adventure films ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1985) and ''Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold'' (1986).

He wrote '' Police Academy 3: Back in Training'' (1986) and '' Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol'' (1987).

Director

Quintano turned director with a TV movie '' For Better or for Worse'' (1989) aka ''Honeymoon Academy''.

He followed it with '' Why Me?'' (1990) and ''Loaded Weapon 1'' (1993). He did an uncredited rewrite on ''Cop and a Half'' (1993).

He was meant to write and direct a western for TNT, ''Scratch''. He sold a script to Cinergi called ''Beauty'' for $500,000 as a vehicle for Bruce Willis. He also wrote films for Jean-Claude Van Damme (''Quest'') and John Candy (''Our Father'') and worked on a big screen adaptation of the comic '' Spy vs Spy''. None of these films were made.

Quintano was a writer only on '' Operation Dumbo Drop'' (1995) and ''Sudden Death'' (1995) (originally called ''Arena'').

He wrote and directed ''Dollar for the Dead'' (1998) and wrote '' The Long Kill'' (1999). Both were westerns.

In 2001, Quintano wrote a kung-fu reimagining of ''The Three Musketeers'' for director Peter Hyams. '' The Musketeer'' was a critical and commercial failure.

He wrote a TV movie '' Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'' (2002).

His last credit was on the family feature ''Funky Monkey'', which ended up being released straight-to-video, despite its $30 million budget.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

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Living people
1946 births
American film directors
American film producers
American male screenwriters