Antonio Margheriti

Directing

Antonio Margheriti

Born 1930-09-19 · Rome, Italy

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Antonio Margheriti (19 September 1930 – 4 November 2002), also known under the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, was a prolific Italian filmmaker. He was born in Rome and died in 2002 from a heart attack in Monterosi, Viterbo, near Rome at the age of 72. Margheriti started out in the Italian film industry in 1956 as a screenwriter. He started directing in 1960, his first film being "Spacemen" (aka "Assignment Outer Space"). Margheriti is known for his science fiction, horror, spaghetti western and action movies. He was the director of such cult movies as Cannibal Apocalypse, Castle of Blood, The Virgin of Nuremberg, Assignment Outer Space, Wild Wild Planet, Naked You Die, Mr. Super Invisible, The Last Hunter, Battle of the Worlds and numerous others. Most of his films were directed under the pseudonym of Anthony M. Dawson. He stopped using his real name in the USA early in his career, when he realized the English translation of the name "Antonio Margheriti" was "Anthony Daisies", and he thought it sounded too effeminate. He was the only Italian director who worked directly for American production companies like MGM, United Artists, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, etc. with films like: Yor, the Hunter from the Future, Take a Hard Ride, Killer Fish, etc. Margheriti said his action/adventure films were his favorites, and his least favorite movies were the sword-and-sandal peplum films he made in the early 1960s (such as "Devil of the Desert" and "Giants of Rome"). For years, director Richard Morrissey disputed Margheriti's claim that he had directed "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" in the early 1970s, saying that Margheriti was mostly just a technical advisor on that film. Morrissey said Margheriti did however direct a very, very brief segment of the movie (mostly the scenes involving the two children roaming around in the lab). Margheriti worked with many well-known genre actors such as Lee Van Cleef, John Saxon, Claude Rains, John Morghen, Klaus Kinski, Barbara Steele, Reb Brown, Donald Pleasence, Yul Brynner, David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi, Marvin Hagler, Terence Hill, Fred Williamson, Christopher Lee and many others. Most of his later films were shot in the Philippines (especially his war films). Margheriti also collaborated on the special effects in two Italian cult films which he did not direct, Sergio Leone's "Fistful of Dynamite" (1971) and Aldo Lado's "The Humanoid" (1979). Margheriti retired from filmmaking in 1996 at age 66. He died in 2002 of natural causes. Margheriti's son Edoardo and his daughter Antonella are both also involved in filmmaking. Eli Roth's character in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Bastards took Margheriti as his namesake. Description above from the Wikipedia article Antonio Margheriti,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Treasure Island poster
5.9

Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer's treasure, in this short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.

Treasure Island

1972

Treasure Island poster
5.9

Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer's treasure, in this short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.

Treasure Island

1972

Killer Fish poster
4.7

Jewel thieves attempt to recover treasure from piranha infested waters. Mistrust and betrayals happen amongst the gang in the quest for gold.

Killer Fish

1979

The Last Blood poster
5.8

A soldier attacks his corrupt superior officer and is court marshalled but before he can be sent to a firing squad he escapes...

The Last Blood

1983

And God Said to Cain poster
6.7

An innocent man sentenced to ten years in prison for a crime he did not commit, is released from jail, promising to seek revenge on the guilty.

And God Said to Cain

1970

And God Said to Cain poster
6.7

An innocent man sentenced to ten years in prison for a crime he did not commit, is released from jail, promising to seek revenge on the guilty.

And God Said to Cain

1970

Naked You Die poster
5.6

A woman is strangled in the bath by a black-gloved killer who disposes of her body in a large trunk. The trunk is delivered to St. Hilda College, an exclusive finishing school. Betty-Anne, one of the female students, is strangled in the school cellar. The police, led by Inspector Durand, are called in to investigate. Suspects include La Floret, the voyeuristic gardener; Di Brazzi, the new swimming instructor; Mrs. Clay, the summer school French mistress; an old professor who collects birds; and a philandering young teacher called Richard. The murders continue but Jill, a keen amateur detective, helps the police identify the unlikely killer...

Naked You Die

1968

Naked You Die poster
5.6

A woman is strangled in the bath by a black-gloved killer who disposes of her body in a large trunk. The trunk is delivered to St. Hilda College, an exclusive finishing school. Betty-Anne, one of the female students, is strangled in the school cellar. The police, led by Inspector Durand, are called in to investigate. Suspects include La Floret, the voyeuristic gardener; Di Brazzi, the new swimming instructor; Mrs. Clay, the summer school French mistress; an old professor who collects birds; and a philandering young teacher called Richard. The murders continue but Jill, a keen amateur detective, helps the police identify the unlikely killer...

Naked You Die

1968

The Last Hunter poster
5.5

During the Vietnam war, an American soldier gets trapped beind enemy lines. A squad of his buddies sets out to rescue him.

The Last Hunter

1980

The Squeeze poster
5.9

A retired safe cracker is recruited by a young conman to return to the "business" for a million dollar heist.

The Squeeze

1978

Take a Hard Ride poster
5.3

After his cattle rancher boss dies, right-hand man Pike is given the job of returning $86,000 to some families who live across the border in Sonora, Mexico. Honest Pike is joined on the trip through the wilderness by a dishonest gambler named Tyree.

Take a Hard Ride

1975

Death Rage poster
5.4

A professional killer is lured into a deadly double-cross when he agrees to assassinate a Mafia kingpin.

Death Rage

1976

The Hunters of the Golden Cobra poster
5.4

An American soldier and a British intelligence agent try to track down an ancient relic called the Golden Cobra, rumored to have supernatural powers. An early Raiders rip-off directed Antonio Margheriti.

The Hunters of the Golden Cobra

1982

Cannibal Apocalypse poster
5.5

Released from captivity in Vietnam, two American Army officers return to civilian life and discover they have acquired an insatiable taste for human flesh. A city is terrorised... as they stalk the inhabitants to satisfy their primitive appetites.

Cannibal Apocalypse

1980

Cannibal Apocalypse poster
5.5

Released from captivity in Vietnam, two American Army officers return to civilian life and discover they have acquired an insatiable taste for human flesh. A city is terrorised... as they stalk the inhabitants to satisfy their primitive appetites.

Cannibal Apocalypse

1980

Yor: The Hunter from the Future poster
4.2

Yor is an extremely blond prehistoric warrior who comes to question his origins, particularly with regard to a mysterious medallion he wears. When he learns of a desert goddess who supposedly wears the same medallion, Yor decides that he must find her and learn his true identity. Along the way, he encounters ape-men, dinosaurs, and a strange futuristic society.

Yor: The Hunter from the Future

1983

Yor: The Hunter from the Future poster
4.2

Yor is an extremely blond prehistoric warrior who comes to question his origins, particularly with regard to a mysterious medallion he wears. When he learns of a desert goddess who supposedly wears the same medallion, Yor decides that he must find her and learn his true identity. Along the way, he encounters ape-men, dinosaurs, and a strange futuristic society.

Yor: The Hunter from the Future

1983

Web of the Spider poster
5.8

Alan Foster, a professional American journalist, travels to London to meet with Edgar Allan Poe for an interview. While in London, Alan soon finds himself in the company of Lord Blackwood, and Alan accepts a bet to spend a night in his castle

Web of the Spider

1971

Web of the Spider poster
5.8

Alan Foster, a professional American journalist, travels to London to meet with Edgar Allan Poe for an interview. While in London, Alan soon finds himself in the company of Lord Blackwood, and Alan accepts a bet to spend a night in his castle

Web of the Spider

1971

Alien from the Deep poster
4.0

Two members of Greenpeace discover that a local factory sheds radioactive waste into an active volcano, which has created a terrifying creature that wreaks havoc in the area.

Alien from the Deep

1989

The Stranger and the Gunfighter poster
5.4

During a hold-up in the Wild West, Dakota kills a rich old Chinese man, Wang. Later, he is captured, sentenced, and is about to be hanged - and he never profitted from Wang's death, has he buried him with the photographs of his four widows, and a few worthless papers. Meanwhile, Ho comes to America in search of his uncle's fortune, and must get Dakota free, as he his the only man who can lead him to Wang's tomb. They open the tomb, retaking the pictures of Wang's widows. It happens he reads the papers and knows that Wang had one quarter of a map tattooed in each of his women's buttocks. Now, the difficult part will really start... Treasure hunt.

The Stranger and the Gunfighter

1974

The Stranger and the Gunfighter poster
5.4

During a hold-up in the Wild West, Dakota kills a rich old Chinese man, Wang. Later, he is captured, sentenced, and is about to be hanged - and he never profitted from Wang's death, has he buried him with the photographs of his four widows, and a few worthless papers. Meanwhile, Ho comes to America in search of his uncle's fortune, and must get Dakota free, as he his the only man who can lead him to Wang's tomb. They open the tomb, retaking the pictures of Wang's widows. It happens he reads the papers and knows that Wang had one quarter of a map tattooed in each of his women's buttocks. Now, the difficult part will really start... Treasure hunt.

The Stranger and the Gunfighter

1974

Indio 2 - The Revolt poster
4.0

A corporation building a highway through the rainforest hires a gang of mercenaries to get rid of the local Indians, who don't want the highway built through their lands. The mercenaries resort to murder, massacres and enslavement to rid the company of its Indian problem. Sgt. Irons, a former Marine NCO, helps to unite the jungle tribes and leads them in their fight to protect their homes and their families.

Indio 2 - The Revolt

1991

Horror Castle poster
5.7

Women are being tortured to death with various devices in the dungeon of an old castle by a mysterious, hooded figure who may be a notorious executioner from medieval times.

Horror Castle

1963