On Saturday 25 May, director and screenwriter Enzo G. Castellari presents to the public a double screening of the films The Great Racket (1976) and The Drug Route (1977).
A cult of Italian-style detective/noir, Il grande racket is one of the must-see films in Castellari’s filmography in which the distinctive traits of his highly personal style can be recognised.
A year after Il grande racket, Enzo G. Castellari continues in the police film vein by directing the adrenaline-fuelled gangster-movie La via della droga. Castellari co-wrote the screenplay with Massimo De Rita and builds the film from a long chase with spectacular action scenes and escalating suspense.
BIOGRAPHY
Son of director Marino Girolami and nephew of director Romolo Guerrieri, Enzo G. Castellari, pseudonym of Enzo Girolami, is a director, screenwriter and actor. After studying architecture, he entered the world of cinema in various roles: from production assistant to assistant director, screenwriter and editor. In the 1960s he became famous for directing spaghetti-westerns such as Sette Winchesters for a Massacre (1967), Vado… l’ammazzo e torno (1967) and Ammazzali tutti e torna solo (1968). Considered one of the pioneers of the Italian-style detective genre, he made films such as La polizia incrimina, la legge assolve (1973), Il cittadino si ribella (1974), Il grande racket (1976) and La via della droga (1977). A fine connoisseur of the film medium, he approached genre cinema with eclecticism and versatility, also directing detective stories (The Cold Eyes of Fear, 1971), adventure films (The Shark Hunter, 1976) and post-atomic films (Escape from the Bronx, 1983). Internationally acclaimed, he has influenced directors such as Bob Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, who with Inglourious Basterds (2009) offered his own remake of That Damn Armoured Train (1977).