Gene Quintano

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Gene Quintano (born 1946 as Eugene Francis Quintano Jr.) is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer and director. He is best known for writing sequels to the film Police Academy and directing the western Dollar for the Dead and action parody Loaded Weapon 1, both starring Emilio Estevez.

Career[edit]

3-D Films[edit]

Quintano was a Xerox salesman who had his own office supply company and was interested in getting into filmmaking. He was partners in a publishing firm with Tony Anthony, a filmmaker who had made a number of Spaghetti Westerns. Looking for an angle they decided to make a film in 3-D, believing many younger film goers would not be familiar with it. It resulted in Comin' at Ya!. Quintano and his partners worked for four years on the film, experimenting and testing the technology. They raised money to make the films, shot it in Spain and Rome, and sold it to Filmways.[1]

Quintano was a writer and producer on the film. He also starred in the film "mostly as a matter of economics."[2] The film was a surprise success at the box office, leading to a brief revival of 3-D films.[3]

Quintano wanted to follow it with a Topkapi-type film about people stealing an item on an island.[4] This became Treasure of the Four Crowns (1983). Quintano helped provide the story and produced, as well as appearing in the cast. The film was a box office disappointment.[5]

Screenwriter[edit]

Treasure had been distributed by Cannon Films, and Quintano wrote a series of films for that company, including the comedy Making the Grade (1984) and the adventure films King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986).[6]

He wrote Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987).[7]

Director[edit]

Quintano turned director with a TV movie For Better or for Worse (1989) aka Honeymoon Academy.

He followed it with Why Me? (1990) and Loaded Weapon 1 (1993). He did an uncredited rewrite on Cop and a Half (1993).

He was meant to write and direct a western for TNT, Scratch. He sold a script to Cinergi called Beauty for $500,000 as a vehicle for Bruce Willis. He also wrote films for Jean-Claude Van Damme (Quest) and John Candy (Our Father) and worked on a big screen adaptation of the comic Spy vs Spy.[8] None of these films were made.[9]

Quintano was a writer only on Operation Dumbo Drop (1995) and Sudden Death (1995) (originally called Arena).

He wrote and directed Dollar for the Dead (1998) and wrote The Long Kill (1999). Both were westerns.[10]

In 2001, Quintano wrote a kung-fu reimagining of The Three Musketeers for director Peter Hyams. The Musketeer was a critical and commercial failure.[11][12]

He wrote a TV movie Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2002).

His last credit was on the family feature Funky Monkey, which ended up being released straight-to-video, despite its $30 million budget.

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1981 Comin' at Ya! Yes Executive Role: Pike Thompson
1983 Treasure of the Four Crowns Story Yes Role: Edmond
1984 Making the Grade Yes Yes
1985 King Solomon's Mines Yes
1986 Police Academy 3: Back in Training Yes
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold Yes
1987 Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol Yes
1990 Honeymoon Academy Yes Yes Direct-to-video
Why Me? Yes
1993 Loaded Weapon 1 Yes Yes
1995 Operation Dumbo Drop Yes
Sudden Death Yes
1998 Dollar for the Dead Yes Yes TV movie
1999 Outlaw Justice Yes
2001 The Musketeer Yes
2004 Funky Monkey Yes Second unit director: France

TV writer

Year Title Notes
2002 The Wonderful World of Disney Episode "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister"

References[edit]

  1. ^ TRIO TAKES 3-D FILM TO MARKETs Caulfield, Deborah. Los Angeles Times 4 Apr 1981: b13.
  2. ^ Movies' Next Dimension: Look Out, 3-D is 'Comin' at Ya!' 3-D 'Comin' at Ya!' By Christian Williams. The Washington Post 14 Aug 1981: C1.
  3. ^ 'COMIN' AT YA' A SURPRISE HIT: FOLLOW-UPS Caulfield, Deborah. Los Angeles Times 6 Sep 1981: p22.
  4. ^ 'COMIN' AT YA' A SURPRISE HIT: FOLLOW-UPS Caulfield, Deborah. Los Angeles Times 6 Sep 1981: p22.
  5. ^ 3-D FILM FLOPS: EFFECT AND CAUSE Ryan, Desmond. Philadelphia Inquirer 30 Aug 1983: F.1.
  6. ^ MOVIE REVIEWS: AN 'F' FOR ANOTHER GROSS SCHOOL SAGA Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 18 May 1984: sd_c9.
  7. ^ PARTY OVER FOR THIN TEEN COMEDIES?: [Home Edition] Friendly, David T. Los Angeles Times 16 Oct 1986: 1.
  8. ^ "Quintano builds from 'Scratch'". Variety. 9 July 1993.
  9. ^ "Quintano to script 'Spy' pic". Variety. 11 November 1993.
  10. ^ ESTEVEZ MOVIE MADE FOR CABLE TV PROVIDES A FISTFUL OF SERGIO LEONE: [FIVE STAR LIFT Edition] Nye, Doug; Knight Ridder Newspapers. St. Louis Post - Dispatch; St. Louis, Mo. [St. Louis, Mo]10 Oct 1998: 37.
  11. ^ "The Musketeer (2001) - Weekend Box Office". Boxofficemojo.com. 2001-09-07. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  12. ^ "The Musketeer". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-02-12.

External links[edit]

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