Gianfranco Parolini

Often working under the pseudonym Frank Kramer, writer/director Gianfranco Parolini has a tireless imagination. While he purports to having authored upwards of 100 novels, there is no disputing his extensive contributions to Italian film. His directorial debut came on "Il Bacio dell'Aurora" in 1953, an adaptation of Luciana Peverelli's novel. However, it wasn't long before the twenty-something storyteller was committing his own ideas to screen. He contributed '60s sword and sandal epics like the Biblical blockbuster "The Old Testament" and the fantasy adventure "Samson," but true creative control wouldn't come until later that decade. Westerns proved a favorite genre of Parolini's, and his best remembered contribution to the genre is the "Sabata" trilogy. Starring Lee Van Cleef of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" fame, the films helped shape the Spaghetti Western movement. Also that decade were the director's gunslingin' "Left Handed Johnny West" and the stagecoach spectacular "If You Meet Sartana, Pray for Your Death." Parolini reteamed with Van Cleef in 1975 for his final western, "God's Gun." A genre jack-of-all-trades, Parolini also lensed war flicks, mysteries, and fantasies over the course of his storied career. His final film was the sci-fi adventure "Alla Ricerca del'Impero Sepolto" in 1988.