Henry Silva, one of cinema's best tough guys, has died

Probably Silva's most high-profile role was that of Chunjin in the original 1962 "Manchurian Candidate." Although problematic by today's standards, Silva's Sicilian and Spanish heritage gave him a unique enough look that he plays a Korean house boy who was secretly a communist. agent. It was one of his three on-screen appearances with Frank Sinatra. He had a small role in 1960's "Ocean's 11," then appeared again with the entire Rat Pack in the Western "Sergeant's 3" in 1962.

While he was prolific in the 1950s and 1960s, taking on big-screen icons like Randolph Scott in 'The Tall T' and Gregory Peck in 'The Bravados', his real moment of glory came in the 1950s. 1970, when Hollywood underwent a drastic change. The strict Hayes Code was dismantled and audiences demanded more realism and violence from their films.

Some of the most popular films to screen at drive-ins across the country were Italian crime films, and one of the kids who ate them all up was a young Quentin Tarantino. He shared that love with Austin audiences by showing his personal prints of "The Boss" and "The Italian Connection", both directed by the great and unsung Fernando Di Leo.

It's like Silva was born to be a hitman and both of these movies took full advantage of that, creating a kind of proto-John Wick type characters that you absolutely, positively, definitely don't want to be with. and if you do...well, then you'll get what you deserve.