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Richard Harrison (actor)
Encyclopedia
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie
actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.
Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation
films shot all over the world in the early 1970s. He worked with directors ranging from established names like Antonio Margheriti
and Marino Girolami
to infamous Z-movie directors like Paolo Solvay and Alfonso Brescia
. Harrison's co-stars ranged from major and minor stars of the time like Anita Ekberg
, Klaus Kinski
, Fernando Sancho
and Helmut Berger
to obscure cult actors such as Mike Monty
, Romano Kristoff
and Mike Cohen.
, Harrison left for Los Angeles at 17, where he found work first at the Vic Tanny
and Bert Goodrich gyms. Many people working in the film industry trained at the gym and these encounters led Harrison to study acting. In 1961 he married Loretta Nicholson, the daughter of American International Pictures
co-chief James H. Nicholson
.
stage production, then in TV, then in small parts in feature films. Harrison worked at Twentieth Century Fox under acting coach Sandy Meiser where he made an appearance at the beginning of South Pacific along with Tom Laughlin
and Ron Ely. He eventually signed a three film deal with American International Pictures
, which led him to Italy, where he remained for almost three decades, appearing in sword and sandal
films, then Eurospy films
and spaghetti western
s. Formal acting studies set Harrison apart from other muscular American actors working in Italy in the early 1960s, such as Brad Harris
and Steve Reeves
, with whom he is often grouped.
Harrison relocated to Italy
in the early 1960s with his first wife Loretta and became a minor star in sword and sandal
films, Eurospy films and spaghetti western
s. His first Italian film and first starring role was in The Invincible Gladiator
(1962), directed by Alberto De Martino
and Antonio Momplet. Arguably Harrison's most well known film from his early career is the western Gunfight at Red Sands AKA Duello nel Texas, directed by Ricardo Blasco in 1963. Gunfight at Red Sands is also noteworthy for being the first Italian Western to feature an Ennio Morricone
score. Harrison turned down Sergio Leone
's A Fistful of Dollars
and recommended Clint Eastwood
for the role. Harrison joked that was his greatest contribution to the cinema.
The 1968 film Joko Invoca Dio...I Muori AKA Vengeance, directed by Antonio Margheriti
, is another favorite among spaghetti western fans. Luciano Martino's 1965 movie Secret Agent Fireball, Harrison's first Eurospy film, is also often cited as his best film in the genre, and one of his better earlier films. He again played the role of CIA Agent Fleming in a sequel Killers Are Challenged in 1966.
The Italian actor Bruno Piergentili who made European features during this period was given the name "Dan Harrison", perhaps to evoke Richard's name.
Harrison's career dwindled slowly in the 1970s at the same rate as the spaghetti western died. He began appearing in low-budget movies shot all over the world: In Egypt
(You Can Do a Lot with 7 Women (1971), with the Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong
starring in the title role of Marco Polo (1975) and playing the German commander Von Waldensee in The Boxer Rebellion (1976). Harrison worked in Turkey
(The Godfather's Friend, 1972), Farouk "Frank" Agrama
and in a Yugoslavian
war film, the 1979 effort Pakleni Otok, directed by Vladimir Tadej.
He made most of his better quality 70s films during the earlier half of the decade, like the comic spaghetti western Due Fratelli AKA Two Brothers in Trinity (1972), which he also directed. His co-star in Due Fratelli was the Irish-American actor Donald O'Brien
, another veteran of Italian B-films. Harrison and O'Brien played two estranged brothers rejoined after receiving an inheritance, Harrison a "lovable rogue", O'Brien a pious Mormon
. Harrison wants to spend his money on building a bordello, and comic adventures in the spirit of the Terence Hill
/Bud Spencer
hit My Name is Trinity (1971) follow.
Other notable early 70s films were Churchill's Leopards (1970), directed by Maurizio Pradeaux and also starring Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Klaus Kinski
, in which Harrison got to play a double role; Acquasanta Joe (1971), directed by Mario Gariazzo and starring Ty Hardin
and Lincoln Tate, an otherwise mediocre western worth mentioning for having Harrison cast against type as a villain; and Dig Your Grave, Friend...Sabata's Coming (1971), directed by Juan Bosch, a western livened up by the presence of Spanish actor Fernando Sancho
. Harrison acted in several films with Sancho, the archetypal Mexican bandit of paella and spaghetti westerns, most of which were produced and/or directed by Ignacio F. Iquino
.
Some of the arguably most dubious films Harrison made during the decade were Achtung! The Desert Tigers! (1977) for Paolo Solvay; Black Gold Dossier (1979), also by Solvay; and Voodoo Baby AKA Black Orgasm (1980), by notorious Italian director Aristide Massaccessi, also known as Joe D'Amato
. Achtung! The Desert Tigers, also starring Harrison's friend and frequent co-star Gordon Mitchell
and featuring Mike Monty
in a small role, was a collage of footage from Solvay's previous World War II
films mixed with new prison camp and war action scenes, including somewhat tasteless torture footage. Black Gold Dossier, again co-starring Gordon Mitchell
, was a spy
epic set in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, spiced up by liberal use of stock footage
and female lead Florence Cayrol, who spends the majority of the film in different stages of undress. Voodoo Baby was a sexploitation
film that Massaccessi added hardcore
porno
scenes to without Harrison's knowledge and much to his disgust.
One of the more successful Harrison films from the latter half of the 70s was the Italian crime thriller
La Belva Col Mitra (1977) AKA Beast With A Gun, directed by Sergio Grieco, also starring Helmut Berger
and Marisa Mell
. Harrison played the part of Police Commissioner Giulio Santini, with top-billed Berger as psychotic criminal Nanni Vitali, out to kill Santini and everyone else who testified against him in court. Although La Belva Col Mitra is no classic, it's a well-directed movie and the contrast between Harrison's underplayed style and Berger's manic performance works to its favor. However, La Belva Col Mitra is not without some controversy. Apparently, at Berger's request, Harrison's scenes were cut down in the film. For additional trivia, a scene from La Belva Col Mitra shows up on TV in the Quentin Tarantino
film Jackie Brown (1997).
Probably the most interesting curio in Harrison's 70s filmography is the 1971 film L'Explosion, directed by Marc Simenon (the son of Georges Simenon
) and co-starring Mylène Demongeot. The 1978 martial arts
/spy film Gymkata Killer is also of curio interest, if only for the presence of Bruce Lee
imitator Bruce Le
(who also directed the film, with uncredited help from Paolo Solvay), European softcore
star Nadiuska and Harrison's son Sebastian.
and Hong Kong
. Although generally considered the lowest point of Harrison's career, some of his 80s' films have gained a cult audience of their own.
In the Philippines, Harrison acted in five ultralow-budget actioners, best classified as Z-movies, produced by K.Y. Lim for Silver Star Film Company (called Kinavesa in the Philippines). Three, Fireback, Hunter's Crossing and Blood Debts
(1983), were directed by Teddy Page
, and two, Intrusion Cambodia (1984) and Rescue Team by John Gale
. All were bad, but the three Page films exceptionally so, mixing near-sadistic violence with childlike, enthusiastic naivety reminiscent of the films of Ed Wood. In the books Gods In Polyester and Gods In Spandex, Harrison states that he wrote some of the screenplays for the Filipino films practically overnight, using a pseudonym
. The Fireback screenplay Harrison wrote is credited to "Timothy Jorge", a pseudonym usually used by Don Gordon Bell, one of the expatriate American actors working for Silver Star. Harrison also mentions that the Silver Star films he acted in didn't have complete shooting scripts and many scenes were improvised on the spot, which contributed to their disjointed narrative.
Silver Star recycled the same group of American and European expatriate
actors from film to film, all of whom appeared in the Harrison vehicles. Mike Monty
, an old acquaintance of Harrison from the Italian days who had migrated to the archipelago, James Gaines
, Romano Kristoff
, Bruce Baron
, Ann Milhench and others. Harrison struck a friendship with Kristoff, one of the leading Silver Star actors, and later invited him to Italy
to act in a film he produced and directed, Three Men on Fire (1986).
At the time they were made, the poor quality of the Filipino films hurt Harrison's reputation. Over the years, they have attracted some cult interest in bad movie fandom. Although he remembers Teddy Page fondly, Harrison doesn't have too many kind words for Lim and working for Silver Star.
In Hong Kong, Harrison starred in what was supposed to be a small number of low-budget martial arts "ninja" films, directed by Chinese filmmaker Godfrey Ho
, with whom he was already familiar from working for the Shaw Brothers in the 1970s. However, Ho later re-edited his scenes into several more films in a cut-and-paste style of filmmaking that has since made him infamous. Harrison found himself the unwilling star of almost a dozen different movies, with titles like Cobra Vs. Ninja, Golden ninja warrior and Diamond Nínja Force. Like the Silver Star productions, the "ninja" films have since become cult films.
Disgusted with that outcome, Harrison returned to the United States, slowed down his film work and quit acting in the early nineties. His last films to date were the 1993 erotic thriller Angel Eyes, directed by the prolific cinematographer/director Gary Graver
and starring Erik Estrada
, John Phillip Law
and Monique Gabrielle
, and the 2000 film Jerks.
Some of the more noteworthy movies in Harrison's later career were the Moroccan
film Amok (1982) and Dark Mission (1987), by the both loved and hated Spanish
director Jesus Franco
. The latter might not be much better than Harrison's Filipino films in terms of quality, but did have a more-interesting-than-usual cast featuring Christopher Lee
, Christopher Mitchum
and French
adult film star Brigitte Lahaie
(also known from the horror films of Jean Rollin
).
One of few serious roles that Harrison portrayed in the 1980s was that of American President Andrew Johnson
in Ali Hatami
's Iranian production Hajji Washington
. The film was completed in 1982 but was not screened in Iran until 1998.
Although Harrison remains little known in the English-speaking world, he is a cult figure among B-movie
, sword and sandal
and Eurospy (a fan name for European, usually Italian, spy movies) fans. The recent resurgence of spaghetti western fandom has also generated new interest in Harrison's work in the genre. Despite that, he is still often somewhat unfairly labeled as a camp
Z-actor, probably because Harrison's worst movies are the easiest to find today. Many of the Godfrey Ho
Ninja films are available on midprice Region 1 and Region 2 DVD
, while most of Harrison's 1960s spaghetti westerns are available only on ex-rental video tapes (usually in European PAL
format only, often not in English) found at fleamarkets, second hand movie stores and eBay
, if at all. Before the damage done to his reputation by the Z-movie era of the 1980s, Harrison had a long, solid career in European B-movies, which is often overlooked by fans of his weaker films.
He has now founded a multisystem electronics company named Gladiator Electronics with his son Sebastian.
, and recommending Clint for the part."
"It was a sad way to make films." – On Fireback
and the Filipino action films.
Richard Harrison and his movies:
Miscellaneous:
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.
Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation
Exploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...
films shot all over the world in the early 1970s. He worked with directors ranging from established names like Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti , also known under the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, was a prolific Italian filmmaker. He was born in Rome and died in 2002 from a heart attack in Monterosi, Viterbo, near Rome at the age of 72....
and Marino Girolami
Marino Girolami
Marino Girolami was an Italian film director who gained a cult following for his horror movies like Zombie Holocaust. He was the father of the Italian film maker Enzo G...
to infamous Z-movie directors like Paolo Solvay and Alfonso Brescia
Alfonso Brescia
Alfonso Brescia was an Italian film director of low budget films, sometimes credited as Al Bradley or Al Bradly. Film buffs mainly know him for the 4 low budget sci-fi films he hurriedly directed in 1977-78 to capitalize on the success of "Star Wars"...
. Harrison's co-stars ranged from major and minor stars of the time like Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...
, Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
, Fernando Sancho
Fernando Sancho
Fernando Sancho was a Spanish actor. Sancho was born in Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, and died in Madrid after surgery....
and Helmut Berger
Helmut Berger
Helmut Berger is an Austrian-born German film and television actor. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award.He appears primarily in European cinema, but...
to obscure cult actors such as Mike Monty
Mike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
, Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff was a Spanish-born B-movie actor working in the Philippines in the 80's and early 90's. He was also credited as Rom Kristoff, Ron Kristoff, Run Kristoff, Ron Krastoff, and other similar variants...
and Mike Cohen.
Early life
Born in Salt Lake City, UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Harrison left for Los Angeles at 17, where he found work first at the Vic Tanny
Vic Tanny
Victor "Vic" Tanny was a pioneer in the creation of the modern health club.In 1935 he opened his first club in his hometown of Rochester, New York. In 1939 he sold the club and opened a new one in Santa Monica, California...
and Bert Goodrich gyms. Many people working in the film industry trained at the gym and these encounters led Harrison to study acting. In 1961 he married Loretta Nicholson, the daughter of American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
co-chief James H. Nicholson
James H. Nicholson
James Harvey Nicholson was an American film producer. He is best known as the co-founder, with Samuel Z. Arkoff, of American International Pictures.-Biography:...
.
American film appearances
He appeared in a Santa MonicaSanta Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
stage production, then in TV, then in small parts in feature films. Harrison worked at Twentieth Century Fox under acting coach Sandy Meiser where he made an appearance at the beginning of South Pacific along with Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator and political activist. Laughlin is best known for his series of Billy Jack films. He has been married to Delores Taylor since 1954. Taylor has also co-produced and acted in all four of the Billy Jack films...
and Ron Ely. He eventually signed a three film deal with American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
, which led him to Italy, where he remained for almost three decades, appearing in sword and sandal
Sword and sandal
The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...
films, then Eurospy films
Eurospy films
Eurospy films is a nickname for the genre of European films that imitated and spoofed the James Bond 007 series of films. The Eurospy genre was highly prolific in the years from the end of 1964 when Goldfinger was released until 1967 following the release of You Only Live Twice or the demise of...
and spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s. Formal acting studies set Harrison apart from other muscular American actors working in Italy in the early 1960s, such as Brad Harris
Brad Harris
Bradford Harris is an American actor, stuntman, and executive producer. He appeared in a variety of roles in over 50 films, mostly in European productions. He is a member of the Stuntman's Hall of Fame.- Life and career :...
and Steve Reeves
Steve Reeves
Stephen L. Reeves was an American bodybuilder and actor. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.-Childhood:...
, with whom he is often grouped.
1960s B-movies
During the 1960s Harrison appeared mostly in B-movies, many of which are now considered to be cult films.Harrison relocated to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the early 1960s with his first wife Loretta and became a minor star in sword and sandal
Sword and sandal
The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...
films, Eurospy films and spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s. His first Italian film and first starring role was in The Invincible Gladiator
The Invincible Gladiator
The Invincible Gladiator is a 1962 Spanish/Italian film directed by Alberto De Martino and Antonio Momplet...
(1962), directed by Alberto De Martino
Alberto De Martino
Alberto De Martino is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed 28 films between 1962 and 1985. He also wrote for 23 films between 1959 and 1985.He was born in Rome, Italy.-Selected filmography:...
and Antonio Momplet. Arguably Harrison's most well known film from his early career is the western Gunfight at Red Sands AKA Duello nel Texas, directed by Ricardo Blasco in 1963. Gunfight at Red Sands is also noteworthy for being the first Italian Western to feature an Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
score. Harrison turned down Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
and recommended Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
for the role. Harrison joked that was his greatest contribution to the cinema.
The 1968 film Joko Invoca Dio...I Muori AKA Vengeance, directed by Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti , also known under the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, was a prolific Italian filmmaker. He was born in Rome and died in 2002 from a heart attack in Monterosi, Viterbo, near Rome at the age of 72....
, is another favorite among spaghetti western fans. Luciano Martino's 1965 movie Secret Agent Fireball, Harrison's first Eurospy film, is also often cited as his best film in the genre, and one of his better earlier films. He again played the role of CIA Agent Fleming in a sequel Killers Are Challenged in 1966.
The Italian actor Bruno Piergentili who made European features during this period was given the name "Dan Harrison", perhaps to evoke Richard's name.
1970s exploitation films
It was during this time that Richard Harrison started to show up in more and more low-budget features all over the globe. Harrison started sporting a moustache, which became something of a trademark for him in the coming years. Although the general quality of his 1970s' filmography is somewhat low, some films from the time have gone on to cult status.Harrison's career dwindled slowly in the 1970s at the same rate as the spaghetti western died. He began appearing in low-budget movies shot all over the world: In Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
(You Can Do a Lot with 7 Women (1971), with the Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
starring in the title role of Marco Polo (1975) and playing the German commander Von Waldensee in The Boxer Rebellion (1976). Harrison worked in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
(The Godfather's Friend, 1972), Farouk "Frank" Agrama
Frank Agrama
Frank Agrama , also known and credited by his birth name Farouk Agrama, is a director, producer and writer. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Harmony Gold USA, Inc...
and in a Yugoslavian
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
war film, the 1979 effort Pakleni Otok, directed by Vladimir Tadej.
He made most of his better quality 70s films during the earlier half of the decade, like the comic spaghetti western Due Fratelli AKA Two Brothers in Trinity (1972), which he also directed. His co-star in Due Fratelli was the Irish-American actor Donald O'Brien
Donald O'Brien (actor)
Donal "Donald" O'Brien was a French-born Italian film and television actor of Irish descent. In his near 40-year career, O'Brien appeared in dozens of stage performances and in more than 60 film and television productions.O'Brien was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, raised in both Northern...
, another veteran of Italian B-films. Harrison and O'Brien played two estranged brothers rejoined after receiving an inheritance, Harrison a "lovable rogue", O'Brien a pious Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
. Harrison wants to spend his money on building a bordello, and comic adventures in the spirit of the Terence Hill
Terence Hill
Terence Hill is an Italian actor. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime filmpartner Bud Spencer.-Biography:...
/Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer
Bud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
hit My Name is Trinity (1971) follow.
Other notable early 70s films were Churchill's Leopards (1970), directed by Maurizio Pradeaux and also starring Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
, in which Harrison got to play a double role; Acquasanta Joe (1971), directed by Mario Gariazzo and starring Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin, born Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr., is a former American actor best known as the star of the 1950s ABC western television series Bronco.-Early life:...
and Lincoln Tate, an otherwise mediocre western worth mentioning for having Harrison cast against type as a villain; and Dig Your Grave, Friend...Sabata's Coming (1971), directed by Juan Bosch, a western livened up by the presence of Spanish actor Fernando Sancho
Fernando Sancho
Fernando Sancho was a Spanish actor. Sancho was born in Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, and died in Madrid after surgery....
. Harrison acted in several films with Sancho, the archetypal Mexican bandit of paella and spaghetti westerns, most of which were produced and/or directed by Ignacio F. Iquino
Ignacio F. Iquino
Ignacio F. Iquino, also credited as John Wood, Steve MacCohy, Prada-Iquino, Steve McCoy, Steve McCohy and Ignacio Iquino, was a Spanish film director...
.
Some of the arguably most dubious films Harrison made during the decade were Achtung! The Desert Tigers! (1977) for Paolo Solvay; Black Gold Dossier (1979), also by Solvay; and Voodoo Baby AKA Black Orgasm (1980), by notorious Italian director Aristide Massaccessi, also known as Joe D'Amato
Joe D'Amato
Joe D'Amato, was a prolific Italian filmmaker who directed roughly 200 films, usually at the same time acting as producer and cinematographer, and sometimes providing the script as well...
. Achtung! The Desert Tigers, also starring Harrison's friend and frequent co-star Gordon Mitchell
Gordon Mitchell
Gordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder.-Biography:Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in his Denver neighbourhood to deal with his tough companions. During World War II he served in the U.S...
and featuring Mike Monty
Mike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
in a small role, was a collage of footage from Solvay's previous World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
films mixed with new prison camp and war action scenes, including somewhat tasteless torture footage. Black Gold Dossier, again co-starring Gordon Mitchell
Gordon Mitchell
Gordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder.-Biography:Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in his Denver neighbourhood to deal with his tough companions. During World War II he served in the U.S...
, was a spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
epic set in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, spiced up by liberal use of stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
and female lead Florence Cayrol, who spends the majority of the film in different stages of undress. Voodoo Baby was a sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
film that Massaccessi added hardcore
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
porno
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
scenes to without Harrison's knowledge and much to his disgust.
One of the more successful Harrison films from the latter half of the 70s was the Italian crime thriller
Poliziotteschi
Poliziotteschi films constitute a sub-genre of crime and action film that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s...
La Belva Col Mitra (1977) AKA Beast With A Gun, directed by Sergio Grieco, also starring Helmut Berger
Helmut Berger
Helmut Berger is an Austrian-born German film and television actor. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award.He appears primarily in European cinema, but...
and Marisa Mell
Marisa Mell
Marisa Mell was an Austrian actress who became a cult figure of 1960s Italian B-movies. She was born as Marlies Theres Moitzi in Graz, Austria.-Biography:...
. Harrison played the part of Police Commissioner Giulio Santini, with top-billed Berger as psychotic criminal Nanni Vitali, out to kill Santini and everyone else who testified against him in court. Although La Belva Col Mitra is no classic, it's a well-directed movie and the contrast between Harrison's underplayed style and Berger's manic performance works to its favor. However, La Belva Col Mitra is not without some controversy. Apparently, at Berger's request, Harrison's scenes were cut down in the film. For additional trivia, a scene from La Belva Col Mitra shows up on TV in the Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
film Jackie Brown (1997).
Probably the most interesting curio in Harrison's 70s filmography is the 1971 film L'Explosion, directed by Marc Simenon (the son of Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
) and co-starring Mylène Demongeot. The 1978 martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
/spy film Gymkata Killer is also of curio interest, if only for the presence of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
imitator Bruce Le
Bruce Le
Bruce Le is a martial artist and actor who is known for the martial arts films he made in the 1970s and '80s...
(who also directed the film, with uncredited help from Paolo Solvay), European softcore
Softcore
Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...
star Nadiuska and Harrison's son Sebastian.
Overseas for Z-movies
In the 1980s, Harrison found himself mostly stranded in B-movie action films made in the PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Although generally considered the lowest point of Harrison's career, some of his 80s' films have gained a cult audience of their own.
In the Philippines, Harrison acted in five ultralow-budget actioners, best classified as Z-movies, produced by K.Y. Lim for Silver Star Film Company (called Kinavesa in the Philippines). Three, Fireback, Hunter's Crossing and Blood Debts
Blood Debts
Blood Debts is a Philippines action movie directed by Teddy Page starring Richard Harrison.-Plot:While enjoying a picnic, Sarah Collins and her boyfriend are surprised by a gang of juvenile hunters...
(1983), were directed by Teddy Page
Teddy Page
Teddy Page is a Filipino film director and occasional writer. Page, whose real name is Teddy Chiu, began his career as a young man in the early 1980s, directing low-budget action movies for producer K.Y...
, and two, Intrusion Cambodia (1984) and Rescue Team by John Gale
John Gale (director)
John Gale, born Jun Gallardo, was a Filipino B-movie director, who started his career with martial arts movies in the 70's and continued to Z-movie actioners in the 80's, often produced by K.Y. Lim's Silver Star Film Company...
. All were bad, but the three Page films exceptionally so, mixing near-sadistic violence with childlike, enthusiastic naivety reminiscent of the films of Ed Wood. In the books Gods In Polyester and Gods In Spandex, Harrison states that he wrote some of the screenplays for the Filipino films practically overnight, using a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
. The Fireback screenplay Harrison wrote is credited to "Timothy Jorge", a pseudonym usually used by Don Gordon Bell, one of the expatriate American actors working for Silver Star. Harrison also mentions that the Silver Star films he acted in didn't have complete shooting scripts and many scenes were improvised on the spot, which contributed to their disjointed narrative.
Silver Star recycled the same group of American and European expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
actors from film to film, all of whom appeared in the Harrison vehicles. Mike Monty
Mike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
, an old acquaintance of Harrison from the Italian days who had migrated to the archipelago, James Gaines
James Gaines
James Gaines, birth name James Larry M. Gaines Jr., is an African-American-Filipino character actor, writer and director with dual nationality, born on May 18, 1955, in Maui, Hawaii. He was sometimes also credited as Jaimes Gaines, Jim Gaines, and James Gainers...
, Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff was a Spanish-born B-movie actor working in the Philippines in the 80's and early 90's. He was also credited as Rom Kristoff, Ron Kristoff, Run Kristoff, Ron Krastoff, and other similar variants...
, Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron is an American movie actor.Born in New York, he graduated from Cornell University . He starred in several Asian movies, playing over a dozen lead roles in Hong Kong and Manila productions, including among others, in Godfrey Ho's "Ninja" features and Filipino low-budget action films for...
, Ann Milhench and others. Harrison struck a friendship with Kristoff, one of the leading Silver Star actors, and later invited him to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to act in a film he produced and directed, Three Men on Fire (1986).
At the time they were made, the poor quality of the Filipino films hurt Harrison's reputation. Over the years, they have attracted some cult interest in bad movie fandom. Although he remembers Teddy Page fondly, Harrison doesn't have too many kind words for Lim and working for Silver Star.
In Hong Kong, Harrison starred in what was supposed to be a small number of low-budget martial arts "ninja" films, directed by Chinese filmmaker Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Ho is a former Hong Kong-based prolific film director and screenwriter, sometimes considered the Ed Wood of Hong Kong cinema. Ho is believed to having directed more than one hundred films, including over 80 movies from 1980 to 1990, but only one film since 1995, apparently retiring from...
, with whom he was already familiar from working for the Shaw Brothers in the 1970s. However, Ho later re-edited his scenes into several more films in a cut-and-paste style of filmmaking that has since made him infamous. Harrison found himself the unwilling star of almost a dozen different movies, with titles like Cobra Vs. Ninja, Golden ninja warrior and Diamond Nínja Force. Like the Silver Star productions, the "ninja" films have since become cult films.
Disgusted with that outcome, Harrison returned to the United States, slowed down his film work and quit acting in the early nineties. His last films to date were the 1993 erotic thriller Angel Eyes, directed by the prolific cinematographer/director Gary Graver
Gary Graver
Gary Graver was an American film director and cinematographer. He was a prolific film-maker but is perhaps best known as Orson Welles' final cinematographer. Under the pseudonym of Robert McCallum he also directed adult films.Graver was born and raised in Portland, Oregon...
and starring Erik Estrada
Erik Estrada
Henry Enrique "Erik" Estrada is an American police officer and actor, known for his co-starring lead role in the 1977–1983 United States police television series CHiPs...
, John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
and Monique Gabrielle
Monique Gabrielle
Monique Gabrielle is an American model and actress.Gabrielle was the Penthouse Pet of the Month for December 1982 and appeared in Bachelor Party in 1984. Since then, she has had a career as a B-movie actress. Many of Gabrielle's films have had overtly erotic overtones...
, and the 2000 film Jerks.
Some of the more noteworthy movies in Harrison's later career were the Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
film Amok (1982) and Dark Mission (1987), by the both loved and hated Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
director Jesus Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
. The latter might not be much better than Harrison's Filipino films in terms of quality, but did have a more-interesting-than-usual cast featuring Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
, Christopher Mitchum
Christopher Mitchum
Christopher Mitchum , is an American actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the second son of film star Robert Mitchum and his wife Dorothy. He is also the younger brother of actor James Mitchum....
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
adult film star Brigitte Lahaie
Brigitte Lahaie
Brigitte Lahaie is a radio talk show host, actress and former pornographic actress from France. She began her career at age 15 with a minor role in Africa Erotica and performed in pornographic films from 1976 through 1980....
(also known from the horror films of Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin
Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his films in the fantastique genre such as the vampire film Le Viol du Vampire and the first French gore film Les Raisins de la Mort .-Early life:Jean Rollin was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine , France to...
).
One of few serious roles that Harrison portrayed in the 1980s was that of American President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
in Ali Hatami
Ali Hatami
Ali Hatami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, art Director and costume designer.-Background:Graduated in cinema from Faculty of Dramatic Arts, his debut was Hasan Kachal , the first Iranian musical film...
's Iranian production Hajji Washington
Hajji Washington
Hajji Washington is an Iranian comedy/drama film directed by Ali Hatami. The film recounts the story of Iran's first ambassador Haji Washington to the United States.The movie finished production in 1982, but was not publicly screened in Iran until 1998...
. The film was completed in 1982 but was not screened in Iran until 1998.
Although Harrison remains little known in the English-speaking world, he is a cult figure among B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
, sword and sandal
Sword and sandal
The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...
and Eurospy (a fan name for European, usually Italian, spy movies) fans. The recent resurgence of spaghetti western fandom has also generated new interest in Harrison's work in the genre. Despite that, he is still often somewhat unfairly labeled as a camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
Z-actor, probably because Harrison's worst movies are the easiest to find today. Many of the Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Ho is a former Hong Kong-based prolific film director and screenwriter, sometimes considered the Ed Wood of Hong Kong cinema. Ho is believed to having directed more than one hundred films, including over 80 movies from 1980 to 1990, but only one film since 1995, apparently retiring from...
Ninja films are available on midprice Region 1 and Region 2 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, while most of Harrison's 1960s spaghetti westerns are available only on ex-rental video tapes (usually in European PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
format only, often not in English) found at fleamarkets, second hand movie stores and eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, if at all. Before the damage done to his reputation by the Z-movie era of the 1980s, Harrison had a long, solid career in European B-movies, which is often overlooked by fans of his weaker films.
He has now founded a multisystem electronics company named Gladiator Electronics with his son Sebastian.
Memorable quotes
"In my opinion, it is a death wish for an actor to be in too many B or should I say C movies. Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing A Fistful of DollarsA Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
, and recommending Clint for the part."
"It was a sad way to make films." – On Fireback
Fireback
Fireback is a Filipino low-budget action movie directed by Teddy Page and starring Richard Harrison, Bruce Baron, James Gaines, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Mike Monty, Ronnie Patterson, and Ruel Vernal.- Characters :...
and the Filipino action films.
Partial filmography
- South PacificSouth Pacific (film)South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...
(1958) - Master Of The WorldMaster of the World (1961 film)Master of the World is a 1961 science fiction film based upon the Jules Verne novels Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World. The movie stars Vincent Price, Charles Bronson, and Henry Hull, was written by Richard Matheson, and directed by William Witney.The film was an attempt by American...
(1961) - Rana Toro AKA Bullfrog (1962)
- I Sette Gladiatori AKA GladiatorsGladiatorsGladiators is a British television series produced by LWT for ITV on Saturdays nights from 10 October 1992 to 1 January 2000. It is an adaptation of the United States game show American Gladiators. An Australian spin-off and a Swedish one followed...
7 (1962) - Duello nel Texas AKA Gunfight at Red Sands (1963)
- Revolt of the PraetoriansRevolt of the PraetoriansLa Rivolta dei Pretoriani is a 1964 film about the conspiracy to assassinate the emperor Domitian in the year AD 96, though the historical facts have been heavily fictionized...
(1964) - Secret Agent Fireball (1965)/ A 077, sfida ai killers/Killers are Challenged (1966) as Robert Fleming
- Fantabulous Inc.Fantabulous Inc.Fantabulous Inc. is a 1967 crime film directed by Sergio Spina and starring Richard Harrison. "Fantabulous" is a portmanteau of :fabulous and :fantastic.-Cast:* Richard Harrison - Richard* Judi West - Deborah* Adolfo Celi - Von Beethoven...
(1967) - Master StrokeMaster StrokeMaster Stroke is a 1967 Italian crime film directed by Michele Lupo and starring Richard Harrison.-Cast:* Richard Harrison - Arthur Lang* Adolfo Celi - Mr. Bernard* Margaret Lee - Evelyn* Gérard Tichy - Max* Antonio Casas - Col. Jenkins...
(1967) - El Rojo (1967)
- Joko Invoca Dio...I Muori AKA Vengeance (1968)
- Churchill's LeopardsChurchill's LeopardsChurchill's Leopards is a 1970 Italian"macaroni combat" war film directed by Maurizio Pradeaux and starring Richard Harrison.-Plot:A German SS officer suspects that an officer in command of a dam may not be the loyal Nazi he claims to be...
(1970) - You Can Do a Lot with 7 Women (1971)
- Lo Chiamovano KingHis Name Was KingHis Name Was King is a 1971 Italian Western film directed by Giancarlo Romitelli and starring Klaus Kinski.-Cast:* Richard Harrison - John 'King' Marley* Klaus Kinski - Brian Foster* Anne Puskin* Tom Felleghy* Lorenzo Fineschi* Vassili Karis...
(1971) - L'Explosion (1971)
- Reverendo Colt (1971)
- Due Fratelli (1972)
- The Godfather's Friend (1972)
- Marco Polo (1975)
- Achtung! The Desert Tigers (1977)
- La Belva Col Mitra AKA Beast with a Gun (1977)
- Gymkata Killer (1978)
- Chubby Chiro's Big Con (1978)
- FirebackFirebackFireback is a Filipino low-budget action movie directed by Teddy Page and starring Richard Harrison, Bruce Baron, James Gaines, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Mike Monty, Ronnie Patterson, and Ruel Vernal.- Characters :...
(credited as a 1978 film on imdB, probably incorrectly)
- On a nanarland.com interview Bruce BaronBruce BaronBruce Baron is an American movie actor.Born in New York, he graduated from Cornell University . He starred in several Asian movies, playing over a dozen lead roles in Hong Kong and Manila productions, including among others, in Godfrey Ho's "Ninja" features and Filipino low-budget action films for...
, who acted in Fireback, says that he made no Filipino films before the 80's. In the book Gods in Polyester, Richard Harrison credits Fireback as a 1978 film, as does the IMDb. Different video editions of the film credit different years. As with Harrison's other Filipino films, there's no final word on which of the multiple years Fireback is credited under is correct. In all likelihood all his Filipino films were made sometime in between 1980 and 1985.- Black Gold Dossier (1979)
- Voodoo Baby AKA Orgasmo Nero (1980)
- Hajji WashingtonHajji WashingtonHajji Washington is an Iranian comedy/drama film directed by Ali Hatami. The film recounts the story of Iran's first ambassador Haji Washington to the United States.The movie finished production in 1982, but was not publicly screened in Iran until 1998...
(1982) - Amok (1982)
- Blood DebtsBlood DebtsBlood Debts is a Philippines action movie directed by Teddy Page starring Richard Harrison.-Plot:While enjoying a picnic, Sarah Collins and her boyfriend are surprised by a gang of juvenile hunters...
AKA Eliminator (1983) - Intrusion Cambodia AKA Rescue Team (1984)
- Ninja Terminator (1985)
- Ninja Holocaust (1985)
- Ninja Champion (1985)
- Ninja Thunderbolt (1985)
- Diamond Ninja Force (1986)
- Ninja Hunt (1986)
- Ninja Dragon (1986)
- Golden ninja warrior (1986)
- Ninja Squad (1986)
- Ninja the Protector (1986)
- Cobra vs. Ninja (1987)
- Ninja Kill (1987)
- Ninja Commandments (1987)
- Ninja Operation: Licensed to Terminate (1987)
- Ninja: Silent Assassin (1987)
- Ninja Avengers (1987)
- Ninja Strike Force (1988)
- Ninja Powerforce (1988)
- Ninja: The Bootlace Philosophy (1988)
- Three Men on Fire (1988)
- "Gemini, The Twin Stars" (1988)
- Operation Las Vegas (1988)
- Dark Mission (1988)
- Angel Eyes (1993)
- Jerks (2000)
External links
In-depth interview on videoRichard Harrison and his movies:
- semi-official Richard Harrison site by John. P. Dulaney
- Interview Nanarland.com interviews Richard Harrison about his career
- Brian's Drive-In Theater A B-movie website with a section on Richard Harrison
- Richard Harrison biography on (re)Search my Trash
Miscellaneous:
- An interview of Kent Wills at www.dighkmovies.com, featuring a lot on information on Godfrey Ho and the seedier side of the Hong Kong film industry
- The Spaghetti Western Database
- An article on spaghetti western at www.wildeast.net
- The spaghetti western web board, a discussion forum for all things spaghetti western related.
- A Fistful of Westerns, a spaghetti western site with basic profiles on some actors, general information and an interesting image gallery featuring vintage poster art
- A gallery of cover scans from vintage sword and sandal videos