Everyone has seen at some point The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, or Death Wish, but few know the directors who were behind these successful films. This book approaches their universe with admiration, respect and curiosity.
In this making of Tirso Calero explains the reasons that led him to write Winner & Thompson: The artisanal cinema of Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson (Sílex).
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When I was eight years old and living in Alcoy (Alicante), my best friend was a VHS player that my parents had just given me. I had no siblings and they worked long hours, so I spent many hours alone at home. They realized that this video machine helped me stay calm and happy. That is where my love for cinema was born. It was the 1980s. I used to watch a rental-video store movie every day, expanding the selection when the weekend arrived.
In those days, one of the kings of the videoclub was Charles Bronson. I loved his films, and soon two names began to echo in my head. Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson. Both kept appearing in those movies I enjoyed so much. Why? They were Bronson’s favorite directors, and thus they had also become my favorite directors. Film lovers always talk about when they discovered Ford, Truffaut, Welles… I discovered Winner and Thompson first. And then good cinema would come.
When I contacted the interviewees, many were surprised. A book about these two directors forgotten from Spain? Indeed, today both directors are forgotten. Everyone knows The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear or Death Wish, but almost no one knows who their directors were.
With this small book, I intend that cinema lovers learn a little more about these two directors who made directing cinema their true passion. Both loved cinema and, above all, loved shooting films. For them, being able to shoot was like breathing. Without a film, they would die. For that reason, they accepted the lopsided contract offered by Cannon in the 1980s. They hardly had resources to shoot, but there they were, two at the front, chaining one film to another without faltering. And thanks to those films, I was a happy child. Undoubtedly, cinema will always have a healing power.
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Author: Tirso Calero. Title: Winner & Thompson: The artisanal cinema of Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson. Publisher: Sílex. For sale: Todos tus libros.