Francesco De Masi (1930 - 2005) was born in Rome and studied Composition at the Neapolitan Conservatory of music. Besides a successful career with orchestras and conducting (winning RAI'S "Young conductors" award in 1968), he started writing film music in 1955, mostly for Italian genre cinema - Spy films, Sword & sandal films and spaghetti westerns. As directors moved on to other genres in the 70s and 80s, he wrote for Gialli, Poliziotti/Crime films, and cheap, Hollywood-imitating B-movie actioners.