Vitals

Woody Strode as Frank Webster, taciturn Mafia hitman

Milan, Italy, Spring 1972

Film: The Italian Connection
(Italian title: La mala ordina)
Release Date: September 2, 1972
Director: Fernando Di Leo
Costume Designer: Francesco Cuppini

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Trailblazing actor and athlete Woody Strode was born 110 years ago today on July 25, 1914 in Los Angeles. Following his service in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, Strode was one of four Black players to break the NFL’s postwar color barrier when he signed with the Rams in 1946. In the years to follow, Strode continued both wrestling and acting, though he became significantly better known for the latter and was also one of the first Black performers to be nominated for a Golden Globe, recognizing his performance in Spartacus (1960).

With a filmography that also includes The Ten Commandments (1956), Pork Chop Hill (1959), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962), Genghis Khan (1965), The Professionals (1966), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), it was difficult to find one of Strode’s prominent roles that wasn’t in a western, war film, or historical drama so that I could highlight the actor dressed in a contemporary wardrobe. (He did have a significant role in the 1960 disaster drama The Last Voyage, but his costume as the sinking ship’s crewman Hank Lawson consisted only of a neckerchief and dark jeans.)

Following his appearance Once Upon a Time in the West, Strode joined fellow other American actors—think the fictional Rick Dalton—by appearing in Italian films through the ’70s, including the 1972 “poliziottesco” The Italian Connection, starring alongside Henry Silva as New York mob hitmen Frank Webster and Dave Catania. Continue reading →