Buon Compleanno, Ennio!

It would be virtually impossible to measure his contributions to the very language of European thrillers and westerns from the early 60s onward, imagine the films of Sergio Leone or Dario Argento without him (and without him, we’d also be without the myriad imitators, both acknowledged and otherwise). But his more mainstream work has been no less important. Would they even have bothered making The Mission without him?

Ennio turns 80 today, and I think we all ought to take some time today to remind ourselves how lucky we are to have him around. If you’ve the means today, try writing Arch Stanton on the bottom of a stone and start backing up, or shuffle your way gleefully over the cobblestone streets just under the Brooklyn Bridge, or slip on a fetching pair of black gloves and thumb through the pictures of your soon-to-be victim – your memory will do the rest.