Happy Belated 90th Birthday Tomas Milian

Friday, March 3, 2023, Tomas Milian would have turned 90-years-old. Click here to view a wikipedia entry on him. In honor of this Cuban-born actor with citizenship in both the United States and Italy, I would like to wish Tomas Milian a happy belated 90th birthday. Though primarily remembered as a star of Italy’s two most profitable genres/sub-genres (Spaghetti Westerns and Poliziotteschis), Milian’s interest in acting started when he was a student at New York’s prestigious Actor’s Studio before heading to Italy. As his career took off, Milian proved that he was every bit as comfortable playing charismatic anti-heroes (Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot!) as he was playing no-nonsense cops (The Tough Ones) and sleazy criminals (Almost Human). I still have to see the Nico Giraldi films, but Steve (a regular visitor on here) implies to me that they are unique within the Poliziotteschi sub-genre 🙂 I have loved everything Steve has recommended to me and these films (there are 11 in total) should be no exception 🙂 Milian has also worked with some of the most esteemed European filmmakers of all-time including Luchino Visconti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Claude Chabrol, Bernardo Bertolucci and Michelangelo Antonioni. He has also collaborated with some of the most prominent American/English directors of our time, which include Carol Reed, Dennis Hopper, Abel Ferrara, Tony Scott, Sydney Pollack, Oliver Stone, John Frankenheimer, Steven Spielberg, James Gray and Stephen Soderbergh.

Click here to view a fan site dedicated to Tomas Milian (note: one might have to translate it to English since it is an Italian website)

Click here to view a youtube video link to a 2017 documentary interviewing Tomas Milian entitled The Journey of Tomas Milian

Click here to view a youtube video link to a 2013 Italian television interview with Tomas Milian (note: one might have to go to settings on the video to translate the subtitles to English)

Click here to view a youtube link to an interview with Tomas Milian and actor Fabio Testi on Lucio Fulci’s 1975 spaghetti western Four of the Apocalypse

Last, but not least, here is a list of my favorite Tomas Milian films 🙂 All of which I gave * * * * (out of * * * *) stars to

  1. Boccaccio ’70 (1962) (Segment: The Temptation of Dr. Antonio) (Dir: Luchino Visconti) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  2. Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963) (Segment: La ricotta) (Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  3. The Big Gundown (1967) (Dir: Sergio Sollima) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  4. Face to Face (1967) (Dir: Sergio Sollima) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  5. Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot! (1967) (Dir: Giulio Questi) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  6. Run, Man, Run (1968) (Dir: Sergio Sollima) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  7. Companeros (1970) (Dir: Sergio Corbucci) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  8. Sonny and Jed (1972) (Dir: Sergio Corbucci) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  9. Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) (Dir: Lucio Fulci) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  10. Almost Human (1974) (Dir: Umberto Lenzi) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  11. Four of the Apocalypse (1975) (Dir: Lucio Fulci) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  12. The Tough Ones (1976) (Dir: Umberto Lenzi) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  13. La Luna (1979) (Dir: Bernardo Bertolucci) Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer
  14. Identification of a Woman (1982) (Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni) Click here to view what may be a revival trailer for the film
  15. Miami ViceSeason 2 (1985) (Episode: Bought and Paid For) (Dir: John Nicolella)

What is your favorite Tomas Milian films? If you have seen a good number of them?

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An Alex Cox Intro Gem: Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot! (1967)

I would like to give a special shout-out to Steve (click here to view his youtube channel) – a loyal visitor of this site for finding an Alex Cox intro gem from 1997 that I will discuss shortly. The intro gem I am referring to is director Giulio Questi’s 1967 surreal horror spaghetti western masterpiece Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot!. Unlike the majority of Cox’s intros on here, this one was not for Moviedrome, but for another BBC2 series, albeit a limited one, entitled Forbidden Season. The series was dedicated to airing certain films implicitly or explicitly deemed controversial by the BBFC. Two years earlier in 1995, BBC2 aired a similar limited series under the title Forbidden Weekend and Cox would introduce a few films on there as well. In the youtube video link below, Cox throughly and eloquently examines everything from the film’s controversial history with the BBFC to why the film is such a unique spaghetti western. Not surprised considering that Cox wrote a richly detailed book on the sub-genre entitled 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director’s Take on the Spaghetti Western (read here). Once again, I would like to thank frequent site visitor Steve for finding this wonderful Alex Cox intro gem.

Here is a youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Forbidden Season intro to Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot!