Tony Anthony (born Tony Roger Petitto; October 16, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director best known for his starring roles in Spaghetti Westerns, most of which were produced with the aid of his friends and associates
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...
The Stranger Returns
''The Stranger Returns'' (Italian: ''Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola'', lit. ''A Man, a Horse, a Gun'') also known as ''Shoot First... Laugh Last!'', is a 1967 Italian-German-American Spaghetti Western film directed by Luigi Vanzi. It is a seque ...
Zatoichi
is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay , part of Shimozawa's ''Futokoro Techō'' se ...
''-inspired '' Blindman'' (1971). Anthony also wrote, produced and starred in '' Comin' at Ya!'' (1981) and '' Treasure of the Four Crowns'' (1983), the first film being largely credited with beginning the 1980s revival of 3D films in Hollywood.
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...
. The three men would become his frequent collaborators. The film won a Gold Leaf award at the Venice International Children's Film Festival. Following that short, Anthony and Swimmer co-wrote the Swimmer-directed independent features ''
Force of Impulse
'' Force of Impulse'' is a 1961 American drama film directed by Saul Swimmer and starring Robert Alda, Jeff Donnell and J. Carrol Naish.McCarty p.192 A high school student robs his own father's grocery store in order to raise the money to take h ...
high school football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...
.
Spaghetti Westerns
Anthony was in Europe when Sergio Leone's Westerns were setting box office records, but had not yet been released in America. Anthony contacted Klein, then a major stockholder at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, about releasing a Spaghetti Western, for which he had played the lead role, in the United States. Anthony had also served as an uncredited executive producer on the film, having raised $40,000 with another American, James Hagar. The film Klein released was called '' A Stranger in Town'', starring Anthony as the Stranger, a shotgun-wielding
antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...
who helps a group of Mexican bandits steal gold from the US Army and
Federales
''Federales'' (singular ''Federale'' or, rarely but aligning with Spanish, ''Federal'') is a Spanglish word used in an informal context to denote security forces operating under a federal political system. The term gained widespread usage by E ...
, and then steals it right back from them. Released by MGM to compete with
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
' ''
Dollars Trilogy
''Dollars Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia del dollaro), also known as the ''Man with No Name Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia dell'Uomo senza nome) or the ''Blood Money Trilogy'', is an Italian film series consisting of three Spaghetti Weste ...
'' starring Clint Eastwood, it became a surprise success, and spawned three sequels in which Anthony reprised his role.
With these films, some felt Anthony's persona was not the typical tough spaghetti western hero; the Stranger was vulnerable and sneaky, with a sardonic sense of humor. Anthony recalled that director
Luigi Vanzi
is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...
constantly described the character to him as "a bad guy but you do good in spite of yourself. You're not
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...
. You're not John Wayne. You're not the 'tall in the saddle' cowboy. You're the street guy. The audience can identify with you because you look like the guy that goes into movie theaters and says 'Well, I could be like him'." Anthony himself described the Stranger as "a dirty coal-mining cowboy". The second Stranger film, ''
The Stranger Returns
''The Stranger Returns'' (Italian: ''Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola'', lit. ''A Man, a Horse, a Gun'') also known as ''Shoot First... Laugh Last!'', is a 1967 Italian-German-American Spaghetti Western film directed by Luigi Vanzi. It is a seque ...
'' has a golden stagecoach as its
MacGuffin
In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for ...
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s by various orchestras. Anthony's willingness to experiment with the genre resulted in the third series entry, '' The Silent Stranger'' with another Cipriani score. Considered by some the first "East-meets-West Western", predating ''
Red Sun
''Red Sun'' (french: Soleil rouge, it, Sole rosso) is a 1971 Franco-Italian international co-production Spaghetti Western film directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine. ...
'' by three years, its release was delayed for seven years in the US due to a dispute between Klein and MGM, and never received a European release. Anthony later declared the film his best and lamented the cuts that MGM made to it.
His next film was '' Blindman'', a Spaghetti Western variation on the ''
Zatoichi
is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay , part of Shimozawa's ''Futokoro Techō'' se ...
'' series. Anthony plays a blind gunslinger hired to escort 50 mail-order brides to their husbands. By that time, Klein had been the manager of the Beatles, and Swimmer had directed many of their music videos and concert films. Both were producers on ''Blindman'', and their presence led to Ringo Starr accepting a supporting role as one of the bandits. Starr would produce Anthony's next film, which Swimmer would direct: a
road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...
called ''
Come Together
"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on their 1969 album ''Abbey Road'' and was also released as a single coupled with " Somethi ...
''. In this film, Anthony plays an American stuntman working on Spaghetti Westerns in Rome. The film contains behind the scenes-footage of a Spaghetti Western being shot.
In 1975, long after the heyday of the genre, Anthony starred as the Stranger for a fourth time in '' Get Mean'' produced by Ron Schneider. A unique film often compared to Sam Raimi's '' Army of Darkness'', the film takes place in Spain, where the Stranger has to battle invading
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...
and
Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
after escorting a princess there. It failed to find a wide audience.
3D years
In 1981, Anthony returned to the spaghetti well for '' Comin' at Ya!'', a 3D
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
he wrote, produced, and starred in. In order for the film to receive a wide release, Anthony designed a low-cost projection lens which was cheaper than conventional 3-D lenses.
Anthony would star in one more 3D film, '' Treasure of the Four Crowns''. Anthony next announced a 3D science-fiction movie called ''Seeing is Believing'', but with the 3D craze over, it could not find a financier and was never made.
Later career
Anthony's last acting role was in '' Treasure of the Four Crowns''. He went on to occasionally produce films, such as '' Wild Orchid'' and the spaghetti-western throwback '' Dollar for the Dead'', and ran an optical equipment company that he said sold an estimated $1 million worth of lenses up to the release of ''
Jaws 3-D
''Jaws 3-D'' (titled ''Jaws III'' in its 2-D form) is a 1983 American thriller film directed by Joe Alves and starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Lea Thompson and Louis Gossett Jr. It is the second sequel to Steven Spielberg's '' Jaws'' and t ...
'' in 1983.
In late August 2009, Anthony announced he had taken the "over and under 3-D" format of ''Comin' At Ya!'' and converted it to "digital 3-D" as a part of the film's reissue. Following an exhibition at
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Giant'' and ''Secondhand ...
in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
on September 25, 2011, the film was restored and digitalized for a 30th anniversary theatrical re-release and played in theaters throughout Texas starting on February 24, 2012.