Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, serving as both an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Charles "Skip" Pitts was an American soul and blues guitarist. He is best known for his distinctive "wah-wah" style, prominently featured on Isaac Hayes' title track from the 1971 movie Shaft. He is widely considered to have been one of the architects of soul, R&B and funk guitar.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the second volume of the two-part Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill. First released on April 13, 2004, it reached #58 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Billboard soundtracks chart in the US. It also reached the ARIA Top 50 album charts in Australia. It was orchestrated by Tarantino's fellow filmmaker and personal friend Robert Rodriguez, as well as RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.
The Whip and the Body is a 1963 gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava under the alias "John M. Old". The film is about Kurt Menliff who is ostracized by his father for his relationship with a servant girl and her eventual suicide. He later returns to reclaim his title and his former fiancée Nevenka who is now his brother's wife. Menliff is later found murdered, but the locals believe his ghost has returned to haunt the castle for revenge.
Truck Turner, also known as Black Bullet, is a 1974 American blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Leigh Chapman, and Oscar Williams. Hayes also scored the music for the soundtrack. The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Foxy Brown.
Poliziotteschi constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as polizieschi all'italiana, Italo-crime, spaghetti crime films, or simply Italian crime films. Influenced primarily by both 1970s French crime films and gritty 1960s and 1970s American cop films and vigilante films, poliziotteschi films were made amidst an atmosphere of socio-political turmoil in Italy known as Years of Lead and amidst increasing Italian crime rates. The films generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels. The protagonists were generally tough working class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system.
Caliber 9 is a 1972 Italian poliziottesco film written and directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Philippe Leroy, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, and Lionel Stander.
The Church is a 1989 Italian supernatural horror film co-written and directed by Michele Soavi, and produced by Dario Argento with Mario Cecchi Gori and Vittorio Cecchi Gori. It stars Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Barbara Cupisti, Asia Argento, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. and Giovanni Lombardo Radice.
The Tough Ones is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Umberto Lenzi and first entry into the Tanzi/Moretto/Monnezza shared universe .
Illustrious Corpses is a 1976 Italian-French thriller film directed by Francesco Rosi and starring Lino Ventura, based on the novel Equal Danger by Leonardo Sciascia (1971).
Mannaja is an Italian 1977 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Martino. The main role, Blade, is played by Maurizio Merli. Other central roles are played by John Steiner, Sonja Jeannine, Donald O'Brien, Philippe Leroy and Martine Brochard.
Rum Runners is a 1971 French-Italian-Spanish adventure film directed by Robert Enrico and produced by Alain Poiré. It is based on Jacques Pecheral's novel of the same name. It stars Brigitte Bardot and Lino Ventura and was released in France on 13 October 1971.
Crazy Joe is a 1974 crime film directed by Carlo Lizzani and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. The Italian-American co-production is a fictionalized account of the murder of Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo, a mobster who was gunned down on April 7, 1972, at a restaurant in Little Italy. The screenplay by Lewis John Carlino is based on a series of articles by journalist Nicholas Gage. The film stars Peter Boyle in the title role, with Paula Prentiss, Fred Williamson, Rip Torn, Luther Adler, Henry Winkler and Eli Wallach.
Uncle Was a Vampire is a 1959 Italian comedy horror film, directed by Steno.
Amori pericolosi is a 1964 anthology film consisting of three segments directed by Alfredo Giannetti, Carlo Lizzani and Giulio Questi.
Terror in the Crypt is a 1964 Italian-Spanish horror film directed by Camillo Mastrocinque. The screenplay was by Tonino Valerii and Ernesto Gastaldi, based on the 1872 novel Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It was the third film adaptation of the novel, following Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr (1932) and Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960).
Tough to Kill is a 1978 Italian action film shot in the Dominican Republic written and directed by Joe D'Amato and starring Luc Merenda and Donald O'Brien.
Madness is a 1980 Italian crime-drama film directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Joe Dallesandro. A low-budget film, it was shot in just twelve days. It was first supposed to be directed by Mario Gariazzo. The film was the last film Dallesandro shot in Italy before returning to United States. The Luis Bacalov's musical score is mainly recycled from his scores for Di Leo's Caliber 9 and Maurizio Lucidi's The Designated Victim.
Luigi Carpentieri (1920-1987) was an Italian assistant director (1940-1949) and film producer (1947-1968). Together with Ermanno Donati, he founded the production company "Athena Cinematografica", which in 1960 became "Panda Cinematografica". All films produced by the company were genre films.
