Jesús Franco

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Jesús Franco
Born Jesús Franco Manera
12 May 1930 (age 79)
Madrid, Spain
Occupation Director, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor
Years active 1959 to present

Jesús "Jess" Franco (born 12 May 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. Though he had an American box office success with his first women in prison film, 99 Women, in 1969, he never achieved wide commercial success. Franco has nevertheless retained a small cult following with his sexually-charged horror films. He was very prolific during the 1960s through the late 1980s, and while he continues to work, his output has slowed down in recent years.

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[edit] Career

Franco has sometimes worked under various pseudonyms, including David Khune and Frank Hollmann. A big fan of jazz music (and a musician himself), many of his pseudonyms are taken from famous jazz musicians, such as Clifford Brown and James P. Johnson.

Franco's themes often revolved around lesbian vampires, women in prison, and sexual exploration (including several films based on the writings of Marquis de Sade). Franco also worked in other exploitation film genres, such as cannibal films and nunsploitation.

His movies often contain long, uninterrupted shots of nude women writhing uncontrollably on the floor or in bed (such as in Lorna The Exorcist and La comtesse noire). He is also notorious for his use of hand-held camera and zoom shots, especially between 1968 and 1975.

He has frequently worked with actors Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Paul Müller, Christopher Lee, Soledad Miranda, Maria Rohm, Lina Romay (his longtime companion) and Klaus Kinski. Kinski is famous for his dislike of directors, but according to Franco, he never had any trouble working with him.

[edit] Fictional Portrayal

Spanish comic-book Iberia Inc. by Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marín mentioned a fictional movie, Casta de Heroes directed by Jesús Franco, about Spanish superheroes of the past where Paul Naschy played "the Ogre", a character inspired in lycantropic villain Lince Dorado. Unsatisfied with this portrayal of himself, Lince Dorado arranged for the original to be lost, and no copy of the film is supposed to remain.

[edit] Filmography

Franco has made more than 200 films. Some of these include:

[edit] Further reading

  • Jess Franco, Memorias del tío Jess (2004) (autobiography, in Spanish)
  • Stéphane du Mesnilot, Jess Franco - Énergies du fantasme (2004, in French)
  • Alain Petit, Manacoa Files (1994-1999, in French)
  • Lucas Balbo, Peter Blumenstock, Christian Kessler, Tim Lucas, Obsession - The Films of Jess Franco (1993)
  • Tim Lucas, How to Read a Franco Film, in Video Watchdog n. 1 (1990)
  • The book Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 (1994) by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs dedicates a chapter to him.
  • Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer Maedchen, Machos und Moneten: Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. Mit einem Vorwort von Jess Franco. Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, Zurich, 2006, ISBN 3-033-00960-3
  • (Italian) Robert Monell, Il codice segreto di Jesus Franco, in Nocturno Dossier n. 60, luglio 2007

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jes%C3%BAs_Franco"