Enzo G. Castellari

Italian B-movie king Enzo G. Castellari is most often associated with his outrageously violent Spaghetti Westerns 1960s and '70s, including "One Dollar Too Many," "Go Kill Everybody and Come Back Alone," and "Keoma," dubbed the quintessential film of the genre. Born into a filmmaking family--his father is director Marino Girolami, and his brother, actor Enio Girolami--Castellari entered the business as an assistant director on several of his father's films before directing his first project, "Renegade Riders," in 1967. His early film, "High Crime," is considered by many critics as the original Italian crime film that would be imitated for years to come. Among his countless works in the 1970s, Castellari directed "The Inglorious Bastards," which served as the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's 2009 hit "Inglourious Basterds," in which Castellari made a cameo appearance as a German general. After the wave of Spaghetti Westerns ended, the director helmed a series of B-movies, and his shark thriller "Great White" fell victim to a plagiarism lawsuit from Universal, who claimed that the film was too similar to their mega-hit "Jaws" and removed it from theaters. Castellari turned his talents to education in the 2000s, teaching film studies at Spanish and Italian schools. Throughout his career of pitting heroes against villains in bloody showdowns, the filmmaker stuck by one principle: "The target for me is to do a movie for the spectator."