The Specialists / Gli specialisti (Sergio Corbucci, 1969)

99:02 is the French version which - not counting the colourful closing credits (+100 sec) - is 80 seconds shorter than the Italian one (Medusa DVD).

Ten seconds at the very beginning, about sixty seconds showing close-ups of hot-headed crowd towards the end of the film and ten seconds from the butt-naked scene are missing.

The dubbing was fine for me.

Oh interesting - so the French DVD is cut after all! Iā€™m assuming then also that the German DVD is cut (I vaguely remember reading that they were from the same source)?

The German DVD is from a French master.


Now the question is whether these were the original Italian closing credits too.


TotĆ²ā€™s straight man :wink:

Thanks. Didnā€™t know that, the word isnā€™t in my dictionary
In Dutch we use an odd term for such a straight man: aangever (literally: ā€œthe one who offers/hands overā€ - the idea is that he offers the other the opportunity to be funny)

Term taken from this guy (and his straight face)?

Thatā€™s disappointing.

Are this scenes anywhere in the net?

I havenā€™t found them, in any case

At 1:28:29 (French version runtime) between burning money and watching ā€œhippiesā€ is placed this scene consisting mainly of close-ups of citizens (that Corbucci ironically intended as the Specialists, always ready to be accomplices of lynch rule)

From Database Review:

Who are those specialists? The citizens from Blackstone, specialists in lynching? In the Italian language version thereā€™s a small reference to this idea, Hud referring to the citizens as ā€˜specialistsā€™.

At 1:33:38 these ten seconds are skipped (pics 2,3 & 4)

The seconds at the beginning (see first pic above) are rather irrelevant, just a slightly different way to start the film.

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Thank you so much for posting that!

Is the scene when Hud makes this reference to the citizens as ā€œspecialistsā€ the same one that was cut here that focuses on the citizens/specialists? It does seem weird to cut a scene that focuses on them since the filmā€™s name refers to them.

What I still donā€™t understand is why the name started in the singular as part of a longer name for a Lee Van Cleef vehicle, then stayed in the singular (without the rest of the name) for the French release (Hallyday now playing the LVC role as ā€œThe specialistā€), but then switched to the plural in the Italian release to refer to the citizens instead of Hud. Perhaps Corbucci just changed his mind along the way and decided it would be a funny twist? Perhaps this also explains why the French release excludes this scene focusing on the citizens?

No, the reference is at the end of the first sequence with Hud.

However, it must be kept in mind that talking about the origin of Gli specialisti the director did not mention those two previous projects, and in France the movie was released only in April 1970.

This was the directorā€™s idea (ā€œGli specialisti is a film against the oppression from rich peopleā€), but evidently the producers didnā€™t like a ā€˜decentralizedā€™ title and so Hud, El Diablo and the Sheriff were presented as the Specialists on Italian posters, which makes no sense at all.


[quote=ā€œfurango, post:157, topic:243ā€]
is cool when you see the rich poeple crying over the money and the poor poeple laughingā€¦ better impact why Hud burn it [/quote]

Was it Giusti who suggested it might have been a fusion of the two? Iā€™m going to have to look back at some of my Corbucci interviews.

Oh wow - Iā€™d never seen that before! So essentially, even with the name retained in the plural, it still wasnā€™t used in the intended manner. The more I learn about this (including that whole medieval undertone mentioned above), the more interesting it becomes. This discussion is making me want to re-watch it.

Does Anybody know if this has an english friendly dvd? Iā€™ve seen the trailer and it looked really good, Iā€™m usually in the mood to watch a Corbucci film once a month.

No, as far as I know. You have to look for fan made versions. I think thereā€™s several, I have english subbed version but thereā€™s also a dubbed version.

Thank You Sir. Ive checked amazon, ebay, and had no luck. Is your englsh subbed version for sale?

Dunno, got it in a trade myself.

http://rarelust.com/specialists-1969/

This one has an English version and subs

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Thanks. Canā€™t wait to see this!

A film that for me is definitely deserving of its Alternative 20 place. I enjoy it more each time I see it. How reliable are the French closing credits, which most databases seem to have used? In the scene where the ā€˜no goodsā€™ are introduced to the sheriff by ā€˜Buddy ?ā€™, the other dark haired young man is called Apache, the blond as Rosencranz and the girl as Kit. So something is out of whack here. Who is Cabot? Iā€™m not hearing that name or the gravedigger called Lord (Oscar in English). Perhaps these are in the French version (my French fandub does not have complete French audio)? Romero and the deputy are right but are the others?

In the Italian version

  1. Apache is the girl and Kit the 2nd dark haired guy
  2. Cabot is Gino Perniceā€™s character
  3. Pinciroli is called Lord

There seems to be an error in both French and Italian credits on the two Castellani: I think Franco is the judge and Mario Woody and not vice versa.

According to Italian closing credits Hudā€™s brother Charlie (that appears only in a picture) is Brizio Montinaro.

Lastly, Iā€™m not sure about who Mac Lane is: maybe the lawyer? In any case the actorā€™s correct surname is Domenici: what I know is that he was costume and/or scene designer on many SWs (10.000 Dollars for a Massacre, The Great Silence, A Train for Durango, Django Defies Sartana, Revenge of the Resurrected, God in Heavenā€¦ Arizona on Earth, The Fighting Fist of Shanghai Joe).

Interesting. So the English dub has the names switched. Odd they would use the same names and assign them differently.

In the argument before the widow arrives, in the English the characters are called MacLane (on the left), Woody in the back and Jenkins the lawyer (also in your pic and sounds like Jenkins in Italian to me). Would that be the doctor on the right?

Switched, yes. Maybe they havenā€™t noticed the headbandā€¦ :slight_smile: Sheā€™s called Apache in the Spanish dub too.

The judge.

So we have from left to right Riccardo Domenici, FranƧoise Fabian, Mario Castellani, uncredited actor and Franco Castellani: the ā€œspecialistsā€ responsible for the lynching.

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