Luciano Vincenzoni, Who Co-Wrote Spaghetti Westerns, Dies at 87

Italian screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, who worked with Billy Wilder and Dino De Laurentiis and co-penned Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” which launched Clint Eastwood’s career, died Sept. 22 in Rome, reportedly of lung cancer. He was 87.

In 1965 he co-wrote with his friend Sergio Leone “For a Few Dollars More” and shrewdly helped Leone sell the film to United Artists and secure a deal for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (pictured above).

Born in Treviso, the prolific Vincenzoni started his screenwriting career in 1954 with Aldo Fabrizi comedy “They Stole a Tram,” followed by Pietro Germi’s “The Railroad Man” in 1956.

That year Vincenzoni started his long collaboration with producer De Laurentiis for whom, among other works, he penned Mario Monicelli’s “The Great War,” the ironic army buddy movie that won the 1959 Venice Golden Lion; Guy Hamilton’s wartime comedy “The Best of Enemies,” nominated for three Golden Globes in 1963; and Carlo Lizzani’s “The Hunchback of Rome.”

In 1964 Vincenzoni was among the writers of Germi’s Stefania Sandrelli starrer “Seduced and Abandoned,” a classic that screened at Cannes.
Vincenzoni also worked with Wilder on the 1972 comedy “Avanti!”; with Peter Bogdanovich; and with French director Rene Clement, on 1975 crime thriller “Babysitter.”

More recently he had a hand in 1986 Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer “Raw Deal” and Giuseppe Tornatore’s 2000 effort “Malena,” produced by Harvey Weinstein.

Known for his ability as a script doctor, Vincenzoni contributed to about 70 films and was a WGA member emeritus.

Survivors include a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.

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