WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.780 I want you to picture something for a second. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:05.919 Picture that brilliantly tense, but completely 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:08.439 hilarious scene in Quentin Tarantino's movie 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:10.640 Inglourious Basterds. Oh, I know exactly the 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.580 one you went. Right. Like they're in that grand 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:15.869 cinema lobby. The tension is. just thick enough 00:00:15.869 --> 00:00:17.850 to cut with a knife, and they're desperately 00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:20.449 trying to maintain these undercover identities. 00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:22.929 Right. Right in front of the terrifying Colonel 00:00:22.929 --> 00:00:26.190 Hans Landa. Exactly. And Eli Roth's character, 00:00:26.329 --> 00:00:28.730 Donnie Donowitz, is trying to pass himself off 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:32.049 as this elegant Italian gentleman. Which he's 00:00:32.049 --> 00:00:35.109 very much not. Not at all. And when Landa leans 00:00:35.109 --> 00:00:38.549 in and asks his name, Donnie just confidently, 00:00:38.549 --> 00:00:41.189 like aggressively gestures with his hands and 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:44.329 barks out, Antonio Margheriti. It is honest. 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:46.659 such an iconic, breathless moment of cinema. 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:49.399 You have that exaggerated accent, the sheer panic 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:52.119 just sort of hidden behind this totally fabricated 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:54.439 bravado. And Landon even makes him repeat it 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:56.399 three times just to watch him sweat. Exactly. 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.810 It's this massive pop culture Easter egg. But 00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:01.969 here's the thing that absolutely blew my mind 00:01:01.969 --> 00:01:04.290 when I started digging into our sources for today's 00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:07.129 deep dive. Antonio Margheriti wasn't just some 00:01:07.129 --> 00:01:09.950 random musical sounding Italian name that Tarantino 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:12.049 pulled out of thin air to get a laugh. No, not 00:01:12.049 --> 00:01:14.930 at all. So today, our mission is to pull from 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:18.090 the Wikipedia archives to uncover the incredibly 00:01:18.090 --> 00:01:22.109 prolific real world Italian filmmaker behind 00:01:22.109 --> 00:01:25.340 that famous cinematic alias. I mean, we are looking 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:28.239 at a guy who practically defined an entire era 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.400 of international movie making. We really are. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:32.519 And the source material we're working with today 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:35.439 gives us a truly comprehensive look at his life. 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.540 Which is just massive. It really is. We're examining 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:41.319 the archives, detailing Margheriti's massive 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:45.140 filmography, his highly specific technical style, 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.400 and really his unique place in cinema history. 00:01:47.459 --> 00:01:49.760 Right. To put a frame around this, we're looking 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:52.260 at the evolution of the ultimate cinematic hacker. 00:01:52.420 --> 00:01:55.140 The ultimate cinematic hacker. I love that. And 00:01:55.140 --> 00:01:56.939 the reason you should care about this, even if 00:01:56.939 --> 00:01:58.819 you've never consciously watched a low budget 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:02.439 1970s Italian genre film, is that Margheriti's 00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:05.519 career is the absolute master class in doing 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:07.859 more with less. If you've ever been fascinated 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:11.780 by how international cinema directly mimics or 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:14.620 reverse -engineers and sometimes even influences 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:17.120 Hollywood blockbusters, well this is the guy 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.319 you need to know. Right, because he didn't just 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:21.860 make a few movies, he made a mountain of them. 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:24.340 A literal mountain. But let's start at the beginning 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.740 because his background perfectly explains, you 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:29.819 know, how he pulled this off. Antonio Margheriti 00:02:29.819 --> 00:02:33.949 was born in Rome in 1930. OK. And interestingly, 00:02:34.349 --> 00:02:37.490 his father was a railroad engineer. Oh, wow. 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:40.629 Yeah. So that mechanical, structural mindset 00:02:40.629 --> 00:02:43.750 seems to have trickled down. But Margheriti went 00:02:43.750 --> 00:02:46.550 a totally different route. By 1950, he's jumping 00:02:46.550 --> 00:02:48.849 into the Italian film industry. Right. Working 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:51.870 with a highly respected editor named Mario Sarandre. 00:02:52.009 --> 00:02:53.909 Exactly. Which, I mean, that was an incredible 00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:56.569 time to enter Italian cinema. The post -war industry 00:02:56.569 --> 00:02:59.210 in Rome was absolutely booming. Sinistita Studios, 00:02:59.289 --> 00:03:01.449 right? Yeah. Sinistita was essentially the Hollywood 00:03:01.449 --> 00:03:03.750 of Europe at that time. Yeah. So by 1953, he's 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:06.069 making short documentaries. And then by 1954, 00:03:06.270 --> 00:03:09.129 he finds his first real calling. Special effects. 00:03:09.370 --> 00:03:12.069 Special effects. He's credited with the effects 00:03:12.069 --> 00:03:15.569 on films like Y Sancto Del Adaglio and La Norte 00:03:15.569 --> 00:03:18.050 Que La Tierra Tremo. Wow. He isn't just playing 00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:20.509 a camera, you know. He's building things. He's 00:03:20.509 --> 00:03:22.770 creating massive physical illusions. Okay, let's 00:03:22.770 --> 00:03:24.750 unpack this for a second because when we say 00:03:24.750 --> 00:03:27.789 special effects in 1954, we aren't talking about 00:03:27.789 --> 00:03:30.949 like rendering a digital explosion on a Mac. 00:03:31.030 --> 00:03:33.889 Oh, definitely not. We're talking about practical 00:03:33.889 --> 00:03:38.250 in -camera trickery. So how exactly is a guy 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:41.310 in his 20s pulling off earthquakes and avalanches 00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:44.509 on a shoestring post -war budget? Basically by 00:03:44.509 --> 00:03:46.750 becoming an absolute master of force perspective 00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:48.990 in miniatures. Right. Because without computers, 00:03:49.069 --> 00:03:51.310 if you need a dam to burst or a mountain to collapse, 00:03:51.590 --> 00:03:53.330 you have to physically build in miniature and 00:03:53.330 --> 00:03:56.349 film it. Right, right. But to make a three -foot 00:03:56.349 --> 00:03:58.889 -tall mountain look massive, you have to understand 00:03:58.889 --> 00:04:01.469 the deep mathematics of filmmaking. Like frame 00:04:01.469 --> 00:04:04.310 rates and stuff? Exactly. You have to over -crank 00:04:04.310 --> 00:04:06.650 the camera, which means shooting at a much higher 00:04:06.650 --> 00:04:09.229 frame rate, so that when the tiny rocks fall, 00:04:09.530 --> 00:04:11.990 they appear to fall slowly. Oh, giving them the 00:04:11.990 --> 00:04:15.409 illusion of massive weight and scale. Exactly. 00:04:15.750 --> 00:04:18.110 He learned exactly how to manipulate the camera's 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:21.230 depth of field to trick the human eye. So he's 00:04:21.230 --> 00:04:23.389 essentially an optical illusionist from day one. 00:04:23.550 --> 00:04:26.879 Yep. But while he's doing all this, he is famously 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.360 using pseudonyms. All the pseudonyms are the 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.699 best part. They really are. His choice of fake 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:34.839 names is just amazing. He goes by Anthony M. 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:37.360 Dawson, which sounds like a very respectable 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.019 mid -century American bank manager. Very distinguished. 00:04:41.100 --> 00:04:43.699 Right. But his other pseudonym is Anthony Daisies. 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:47.060 Anthony Daisies. Daisies. Because the literal 00:04:47.060 --> 00:04:50.620 Italian translation of the word marguerite is 00:04:50.620 --> 00:04:53.370 daisies. That's just brilliant. Using a name 00:04:53.370 --> 00:04:55.990 like Anthony Daisy's is like a secret agent choosing 00:04:55.990 --> 00:04:58.589 the least intimidating cover identity possible. 00:04:58.610 --> 00:05:01.629 It really is. But why on earth would a working 00:05:01.629 --> 00:05:04.389 director need to hide behind so many aliases, 00:05:04.670 --> 00:05:07.490 let alone flower -themed ones? So what's fascinating 00:05:07.490 --> 00:05:09.810 here is that this wasn't just a quirky personal 00:05:09.810 --> 00:05:12.410 choice. It wasn't. No, it was a highly calculated 00:05:12.410 --> 00:05:14.709 business tactic. It was really his first major 00:05:14.709 --> 00:05:17.970 hack of the industry. OK, how so? Well... In 00:05:17.970 --> 00:05:21.170 the post -war global market, there was a massive 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:24.370 insatiable appetite for American movies. American 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:26.269 culture was king. Oh, right. Everyone wanted 00:05:26.269 --> 00:05:29.709 Hollywood. Exactly. So Italian producers realized 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:32.610 a glaring loophole. If they anglicized the names 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:35.029 of their directors and cast members on the posters, 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:37.990 they could successfully market these Roman productions 00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:41.029 internationally. Oh, wow. Yeah, as highly desirable 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:44.050 American or British imports. Wait, wow. So they're 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:47.230 literally tricking cinema owners in Tokyo or 00:05:47.230 --> 00:05:49.889 Buenos Aires into thinking they are buying a 00:05:49.889 --> 00:05:52.449 Hollywood picture. Precisely. They were hacking 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:55.329 the global distribution system. That is wild. 00:05:55.649 --> 00:05:57.610 Margariti wasn't hiding from the law or doing 00:05:57.610 --> 00:05:59.850 this out of embarrassment. You know, he was being 00:05:59.850 --> 00:06:03.199 a chameleon. to ensure his films bypassed international 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:06.040 prejudices and actually got seen worldwide. It's 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.339 a brilliant marketing trick. It really is. But 00:06:08.339 --> 00:06:10.420 he didn't stay behind the scenes in special effects 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:12.439 forever. The sources point out that Mark Greedy 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:14.540 grew up obsessed with science fiction comics. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.500 Oh, huge sci -fi fan. Yeah. So when the opportunity 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:20.600 came up in 1960 to direct a sci -fi movie called 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.470 Assignment... Outer space, he just jumped right 00:06:23.470 --> 00:06:25.569 into the director's chair. And that transition 00:06:25.569 --> 00:06:28.129 to directing makes perfect sense when you look 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:30.750 at his skill set. How so? Well, a background 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:33.410 in practical special effects is essentially an 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:36.029 education in absolute visual efficiency. Right, 00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:38.230 because you have to be so precise. Exactly. You 00:06:38.230 --> 00:06:41.389 learn exactly what the lens sees and, crucially, 00:06:41.569 --> 00:06:44.069 what it doesn't see. You learn where you can 00:06:44.069 --> 00:06:47.370 cut corners outside the frame. That foundation 00:06:47.370 --> 00:06:49.610 perfectly primed him to become one of the most 00:06:49.610 --> 00:06:52.889 famously fast, time -saving directors in all 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:55.069 of Italy. Which brings us to the actual physical 00:06:55.069 --> 00:06:57.670 reality of how he made his movies. Because reading 00:06:57.670 --> 00:07:00.089 through this filmography, the sheer volume of 00:07:00.089 --> 00:07:02.970 his output is staggering. It's unbelievable. 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:06.189 He specialized in low -budget action, horror, 00:07:06.490 --> 00:07:09.209 and sci -fi. And to get them done, he relied 00:07:09.209 --> 00:07:11.569 on a very specific technical trick. the multi 00:07:11.569 --> 00:07:14.949 -camera setup. Yes. He would shoot scenes with 00:07:14.949 --> 00:07:17.889 several cameras simultaneously. So he's capturing 00:07:17.889 --> 00:07:21.470 his wide master shot of the whole room and his 00:07:21.470 --> 00:07:24.370 tight closeups of the actor's faces all at the 00:07:24.370 --> 00:07:27.050 exact same time. Right. It allowed him to churn 00:07:27.050 --> 00:07:30.029 out several feature films in a single year. But 00:07:30.029 --> 00:07:32.269 I mean, I have to push back on this from a pure 00:07:32.269 --> 00:07:34.860 film theory perspective. OK, go for it. If you 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:37.639 just slap three cameras around a room, you can't 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:39.860 put a light stand near the actor for the close 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:42.699 -up, because the wide camera will see the equipment, 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:44.800 right? That is exactly the primary challenge 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:47.199 of multi -camera setups, yes. Right. So to avoid 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.279 seeing the lights, you have to pull all the lights 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.139 way back, blast the whole set with illumination, 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:55.259 and what you end up with is flat, featureless 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:58.279 lighting. Like a sitcom. Exactly. It sounds less 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:00.420 like an art studio and more like a fast food 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:02.860 kitchen during a lunch rush. Just getting empty 00:08:02.860 --> 00:08:04.779 calories out the door so it ends up looking like 00:08:04.779 --> 00:08:07.459 a cheap daytime soap opera. How is this even 00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:09.819 watchable? It's a completely fair assumption. 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:13.040 And honestly, it's why most directors hate multi 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.540 -camera setups. But here's where his background 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:19.139 as an illusionist saves him. Because he couldn't 00:08:19.139 --> 00:08:21.240 put lights close to the actors without ruining 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.610 the wide shots. He leaned heavily. into chiaroscuro 00:08:24.610 --> 00:08:26.550 lighting. OK, for those of us who didn't go to 00:08:26.550 --> 00:08:29.410 film school, define chiaroscuro. So it's an Italian 00:08:29.410 --> 00:08:31.970 term from Renaissance painting. It refers to 00:08:31.970 --> 00:08:34.649 the strong, dramatic contrast between light and 00:08:34.649 --> 00:08:37.009 dark. OK. Instead of trying to light the whole 00:08:37.009 --> 00:08:40.269 room perfectly flat, Margheriti would selectively 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:43.230 blast harsh, focused lights from outside the 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:45.789 frame and let the rest of the set fall into deep. 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:49.259 pitch black shadow. Ah, so the shadows physically 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:51.600 hide the other cameras in the cheap set. Exactly. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:54.059 The deep shadows hid the boom mics, the other 00:08:54.059 --> 00:08:56.600 camera operators, and the unpainted walls. That 00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.240 is so clever. This multi -camera setup, which 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:00.759 really should have made the movies look like 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:03.659 cheap sitcoms, actually forced him to be a deeply 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:06.600 meticulous craftsman. Wow. By needing to hide 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.080 equipment in the darkness, he accidentally created 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:13.620 this highly stylized, moody. gothic visual signature. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:17.519 It's a perfect example of how severe budget limitations 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:20.659 often breed the greatest cinematic innovations. 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:23.980 He couldn't afford to waste a single hour, so 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:26.500 he made extreme lighting work as both a time 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:29.970 saver and a stylistic choice. That is actually 00:09:29.970 --> 00:09:32.690 brilliant. He turned a massive budgetary constraint 00:09:32.690 --> 00:09:35.809 into a total vibe. He really did. And that incredible 00:09:35.809 --> 00:09:39.090 speed, that visual efficiency, it gave Margariti 00:09:39.090 --> 00:09:42.070 a superpower in the European film market. He 00:09:42.070 --> 00:09:44.549 had the ability to chase Hollywood trends faster 00:09:44.549 --> 00:09:46.870 than almost anyone else in the business. Absolutely. 00:09:47.169 --> 00:09:49.850 Which leads us right into what I think is his 00:09:49.850 --> 00:09:53.049 wildest era, the sheer unapologetic genre hopping 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:56.090 of the 1960s and then his massive explosion in 00:09:56.090 --> 00:09:59.440 the 1980s. The breadth of his film really is 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:01.559 something to behold, because he wasn't just directing, 00:10:02.019 --> 00:10:04.440 he was rapidly decoding what audiences wanted. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.000 Right. In the 1960s, the market wanted gothic 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.500 horror, so he delivers stunning atmospheric films 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:11.720 like Castle of Blood and The Virgin of Nuremberg. 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:14.080 Gothic titles. But the minute the cultural winds 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.679 shift, he pivots entirely to the peplum genre. 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.600 And for those keeping track at home, peplum is 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:22.879 the film nerd term for those big sweeping sword 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:26.269 and sandal epics. You know, guys in loincloths 00:10:26.269 --> 00:10:28.809 fighting mythical monsters among cheap cardboard 00:10:28.809 --> 00:10:32.509 pillars. Exactly. So he just knocks out the fall 00:10:32.509 --> 00:10:34.789 of Rome and giants of Rome. That's like that. 00:10:34.950 --> 00:10:37.690 And then, naturally, when James Bond takes over 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:40.090 the world, Margheriti immediately jumps onto 00:10:40.090 --> 00:10:42.909 the Euro spy trend with films like Bob Fleming, 00:10:43.370 --> 00:10:45.649 Mission Casablanca. We have to explain the Euro 00:10:45.649 --> 00:10:48.149 spy phenomena. Oh, please do. Because when Sean 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:51.370 Connery hit the screen as W07, Hollywood just 00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:53.429 couldn't make spy movies fast enough. They couldn't. 00:10:53.669 --> 00:10:56.610 So European studios rapidly spun up their own 00:10:56.610 --> 00:10:59.129 continental knockoffs. You get these incredibly 00:10:59.129 --> 00:11:01.649 stylish, slightly sleazy spy films shot in Rome 00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:04.389 or Yugoslavia featuring actors in sharp suits 00:11:04.389 --> 00:11:06.669 using gadgets that were clearly made out of hardware 00:11:06.669 --> 00:11:08.789 store parts. Totally. And Margheriti was the 00:11:08.789 --> 00:11:11.149 king of this rapid response filmmaking. He was. 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:14.470 But the 1980s are where he just goes into absolute 00:11:14.470 --> 00:11:17.529 overdrive, really riding the co - tales of massive 00:11:17.529 --> 00:11:20.190 Hollywood blockbusters. This is the golden age 00:11:20.190 --> 00:11:22.870 of the Italian mock buster. Yes. Here's where 00:11:22.870 --> 00:11:26.009 it gets really interesting because in the 80s 00:11:26.009 --> 00:11:30.429 his strategy is just flawless. Oliver Stone makes 00:11:30.429 --> 00:11:33.570 platoon winning Oscars for a harrowing Vietnam 00:11:33.570 --> 00:11:35.769 epic. Margheriti immediately fires back with 00:11:35.769 --> 00:11:38.389 The Last Hunter. Steven Spielberg dominates the 00:11:38.389 --> 00:11:40.669 global box office with Raiders of the Lost Ark. 00:11:40.850 --> 00:11:43.129 Margheriti delivers Hunters of the Golden Cobra. 00:11:43.289 --> 00:11:46.049 starring David Warbeck. You've got the huge British 00:11:46.049 --> 00:11:48.730 mercenary film The Wild Geese. And Margariti 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:51.690 directly matches it with code name. Wild Geese, 00:11:51.690 --> 00:11:54.029 starring Lewis Collins. I mean, he's basically 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:56.629 the cinematic equivalent of a cover band playing 00:11:56.629 --> 00:11:59.830 all the hits. He is a cover band, but the mechanism 00:11:59.830 --> 00:12:01.950 of how he pulled off these cover songs is what 00:12:01.950 --> 00:12:04.710 makes him a genius. How so? Well, how do you 00:12:04.710 --> 00:12:07.769 mimic a 15 million dollar Hollywood jungle epic 00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:10.389 on a five hundred thousand dollar budget? Right. 00:12:10.409 --> 00:12:13.149 How do you? You exploit infrastructure. OK. When 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:15.730 Francis Ford Coppola spent years and millions 00:12:15.730 --> 00:12:17.929 of dollars building sets and infrastructure in 00:12:17.929 --> 00:12:21.389 the Philippines for Apocalypse. Oh. Yeah. Guys 00:12:21.389 --> 00:12:23.309 like Margariti realize they could just fly down 00:12:23.309 --> 00:12:25.970 there, rent the helicopters for cheap, use the 00:12:25.970 --> 00:12:28.330 same jungles, and shoot three action movies back 00:12:28.330 --> 00:12:30.509 to back using the same crew and costumes. Wait, 00:12:30.529 --> 00:12:33.610 so he's literally recycling the discarded physical 00:12:33.610 --> 00:12:35.909 footprint of Hollywood blockbusters. Exactly. 00:12:36.049 --> 00:12:39.129 That is the ultimate hack. He is a cover band, 00:12:39.389 --> 00:12:41.549 but a cover band that somehow manages to book 00:12:41.549 --> 00:12:45.850 a massive 1400 seat stadium tour, especially 00:12:45.850 --> 00:12:47.570 when you look at his biggest hit. Oh, you're 00:12:47.570 --> 00:12:49.200 talking about his response to Kona the Barbarian. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:53.000 Yes. In 1983, Conan and Star Wars are the biggest 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.720 things on the planet. Undeniably. So Margariti 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:58.720 directs You're the Hunter from the Future. Such 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.580 a wild movie. It really is. It stars Reb Brown. 00:13:01.860 --> 00:13:03.960 It's shot in Turkey to take advantage of favorable 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:06.580 exchange rates and incredibly cheap extras. And 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:09.539 it is a completely unhinged blend of sword and 00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:12.320 sorcery and lasers. Lasers and loincloths. Exactly. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.379 And it was so commercially viable, so wildly 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:18.639 entertaining that Columbia Pictures... A massive, 00:13:18.899 --> 00:13:21.100 prestigious Hollywood studio actually bought 00:13:21.100 --> 00:13:23.820 it and gave it an American theatrical release 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:28.960 in 1 ,400 theaters. 1 ,400 screens for a low 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.759 -budget Italian knockoff shot in the Turkish 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.360 desert. It's crazy. It's an incredible hustle. 00:13:35.019 --> 00:13:36.860 And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:13:37.340 --> 00:13:39.500 we really have to look at the why behind all 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:42.059 of this mimicry. Right. Margheriti wasn't just 00:13:42.059 --> 00:13:44.080 cynically ripping Hollywood off for a quick butt. 00:13:44.269 --> 00:13:48.509 He was providing the supply for a massive insatiable 00:13:48.509 --> 00:13:50.730 global demand. Because Hollywood simply couldn't 00:13:50.730 --> 00:13:53.070 produce enough product, right? Exactly. Hollywood 00:13:53.070 --> 00:13:55.809 blockbusters took years to make. They couldn't 00:13:55.809 --> 00:13:59.210 produce enough action, sci -fi, and horror to 00:13:59.210 --> 00:14:01.850 keep every cinema in the world full every single 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:05.250 weekend, especially in secondary global markets. 00:14:05.309 --> 00:14:07.649 That makes total sense. Margheriti and his Italian 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:10.330 contemporaries were the backbone of the international 00:14:10.330 --> 00:14:13.100 theatrical distribution system. They provided 00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:15.360 the thrills, the explosions, and the monsters 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.700 that audiences were demanding at a fraction of 00:14:17.700 --> 00:14:20.059 the cost, and they did it with an undeniable 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:22.620 scrappy style. But doing it at a fraction of 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.139 the cost and doing it that incredibly fast had 00:14:25.139 --> 00:14:27.879 real consequences. It did. The sources point 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:31.279 out a really tragic reality of this fast -paced, 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:34.340 practical action filmmaking. It wasn't just fun 00:14:34.340 --> 00:14:36.940 and games in the jungle with fake names and camera 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:38.940 tricks. No, it wasn't. And it's important to 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:40.940 slow down here and acknowledge the human cost 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:43.120 of this era. Yeah. During the filming of his 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:47.399 1982 movie Tiger Joe, Margariti's longtime cinematographer, 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:51.120 Riccardo Palatini, died in a horrific plane crash 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.919 while they were attempting to get the final spectacular 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:57.139 shot of the film. Ah, man. I want you, the listener, 00:14:57.340 --> 00:14:59.460 to really think about that for a second. Think 00:14:59.460 --> 00:15:02.580 about the last massive Marvel or Hollywood action 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:04.700 movie you watched. Right. If an actor falls out 00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:06.720 of the sky, they are falling three feet onto 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:09.120 a blue mat in an air -conditioned studio in Atlanta, 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:11.360 and the sky is painted in later by a computer. 00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:14.179 In Margariti's world, the physical reality was 00:15:14.179 --> 00:15:17.639 visceral and deadly. It's a stark reminder that 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:21.080 even in what critics affectionately or... you 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:23.820 know, dismissively called B movies, the human 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:26.059 stakes and the physical risks of practical filmmaking 00:15:26.059 --> 00:15:28.299 were very, very real. They were out there in 00:15:28.299 --> 00:15:31.259 actual helicopters and rusted planes, rigging 00:15:31.259 --> 00:15:34.259 real dynamite for explosions, doing dangerous 00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:37.639 physical stunts without the safety net of modern 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:42.059 CGI or massive union safety budgets. Wow. The 00:15:42.059 --> 00:15:44.000 dedication to getting the shot to delivering 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.340 that thrill to the audience literally cost people 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:50.299 their lives. It fundamentally reframes how you 00:15:50.299 --> 00:15:52.320 look at those wild action scenes from the 80s. 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:54.460 You realize someone was actually hanging by a 00:15:54.460 --> 00:15:56.580 harness out of a moving aircraft with a heavy 00:15:56.580 --> 00:15:59.340 35 millimeter camera to get that shot. Exactly. 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:01.620 Mainstream critics at the time might have completely 00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:05.120 dismissed Margariti's massive varied output as 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.399 just cheap thrills and disposable entertainment. 00:16:07.779 --> 00:16:09.759 But while the critics were turning their noses 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.850 up at the B movies, one highly influential segment 00:16:12.850 --> 00:16:14.950 of the audience was paying very close attention 00:16:14.950 --> 00:16:17.370 and taking frantic notes on his camera moves. 00:16:17.629 --> 00:16:19.929 The future auteurs of Hollywood. Exactly, which 00:16:19.929 --> 00:16:22.230 brings this entire narrative full circle right 00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:24.169 back to the cinema lobby where we started. Right 00:16:24.169 --> 00:16:27.850 back to Inglorious Basterds. Yes. Why does the 00:16:27.850 --> 00:16:30.809 name Antonio Margheriti echo so loudly in modern 00:16:30.809 --> 00:16:35.029 pop culture? Well, it turns out his grim 1980 00:16:35.029 --> 00:16:37.370 action -horror film, Cannibal Apocalypse, is 00:16:37.370 --> 00:16:39.789 famously Quentin Tarantino's favorite Margheriti 00:16:39.789 --> 00:16:42.269 film. Tarantino is arguably his biggest modern 00:16:42.269 --> 00:16:44.669 champion. Oh, for sure. We talked about the alias 00:16:44.669 --> 00:16:47.169 Donnie Donowitz uses at the Stoltz Nation film 00:16:47.169 --> 00:16:50.149 screening in Inglourious Basterds, but the homage 00:16:50.149 --> 00:16:52.950 doesn't stop there. No, it doesn't. In Tarantino's 00:16:52.950 --> 00:16:55.379 love letter to 1960s Hollywood... Once upon a 00:16:55.379 --> 00:16:57.840 time in Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio's character, 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.399 the fading star Rick Dalton, has to go to Italy 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.840 in 1969 to revive his dying career. Right. He 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.740 shoots spaghetti westerns, but he specifically 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:09.220 shoots a Eurospy thriller directed by Antonio 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:12.670 Margheriti, titled Operazione Dynamite. So what 00:17:12.670 --> 00:17:15.089 does this all mean? Why does a massive, critically 00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:17.690 acclaimed blockbuster director like Quentin Tarantino, 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:20.069 a guy with blank check Hollywood budgets and 00:17:20.069 --> 00:17:22.930 access to any technology he wants, obsess over 00:17:22.930 --> 00:17:25.170 a low budget, trend -chasing Italian director 00:17:25.170 --> 00:17:27.690 from the 60s and 80s? I think it's because game 00:17:27.690 --> 00:17:31.950 recognizes game. Tarantino recognizes Margheriti's 00:17:31.950 --> 00:17:34.609 raw, unfiltered passion for the actual physical 00:17:34.609 --> 00:17:37.869 craft of moviemaking. Right. Margheriti never 00:17:37.869 --> 00:17:40.460 had. the massive Hollywood budgets. He never 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:43.220 had the luxury of endless time or infinite resources 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:46.299 to get a shot perfect. Never. But despite all 00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:48.759 of those limitations, he consistently delivered 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:52.099 immense style, incredible kinetic action, and 00:17:52.099 --> 00:17:54.940 pure, unadulterated entertainment against all 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.700 odds. He really did. To filmmakers who study 00:17:57.700 --> 00:18:00.019 the mechanics of cinema, Margheriti represents 00:18:00.019 --> 00:18:02.980 the ultimate working class hero of international 00:18:02.980 --> 00:18:06.119 film. He didn't make high art to impress the 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.279 critics at film festivals. No. He ate movies 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.299 for the people, sitting in the dark on a Friday 00:18:10.299 --> 00:18:12.819 night, eating popcorn, waiting to be thrilled. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.279 He was a working class hacker with a camera. 00:18:15.529 --> 00:18:17.069 When we look back at the journey we've taken 00:18:17.069 --> 00:18:19.269 today, Antonio Margheriti is so much more than 00:18:19.269 --> 00:18:21.329 just a punchline or a frantic name yelled in 00:18:21.329 --> 00:18:23.769 a Tarantino movie. So much more. He was a special 00:18:23.769 --> 00:18:26.190 effects wizard who learned how to build convincing 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:28.750 worlds out of miniatures. He was a master of 00:18:28.750 --> 00:18:30.849 efficiency who turned the absolute nightmare 00:18:30.849 --> 00:18:33.269 of multi -camera lighting into a moody signature 00:18:33.269 --> 00:18:37.089 art form. Curoscuro. Exactly. And he was a genre 00:18:37.089 --> 00:18:40.130 -hopping chameleon who left an absolutely indelible 00:18:40.130 --> 00:18:43.009 mark on cult cinema, hacking the global market 00:18:43.009 --> 00:18:45.099 to give the world exactly what it wanted. right 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:47.660 when it wanted it, he was the ultimate human 00:18:47.660 --> 00:18:50.859 content engine. He really was. And looking at 00:18:50.859 --> 00:18:53.539 that incredible rapid -fire output, it raises 00:18:53.539 --> 00:18:55.960 a deeply provocative question for you to consider 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:58.299 today. Let's hear it. We look at Margheriti's 00:18:58.299 --> 00:19:00.779 era, this ultra -efficient Italian film factory 00:19:00.779 --> 00:19:03.160 churning out movies to chase the latest Hollywood 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:05.960 trends. And we think of it as a quaint physical 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:08.180 relic of the past. Right. But look at our current 00:19:08.180 --> 00:19:11.170 digital landscape. We now have algorithms and 00:19:11.170 --> 00:19:13.490 AI tools that are starting to rapidly generate 00:19:13.490 --> 00:19:16.349 content, perfectly mimicking our favorite styles, 00:19:16.950 --> 00:19:18.970 reverse engineering what we want to see, and 00:19:18.970 --> 00:19:21.849 chasing the latest viral trends at literal lightning 00:19:21.849 --> 00:19:24.789 speed. They're doing exactly what he did, but 00:19:24.789 --> 00:19:27.470 doing it digitally and instantly. Are we simply 00:19:27.470 --> 00:19:30.789 seeing a modern algorithmic version of Antonio 00:19:30.789 --> 00:19:34.160 Margheriti's 1980s studio? That is a wild thought. 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:37.960 In a way, you have to wonder, is all of our modern 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:40.940 rapid -fire digital culture just living in Margariti's 00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:41.079 world?