[quote=“Phil H, post:20, topic:1434”]Also watched the audio dub from the SNC disc.
Typical Marchent film for me in that it is entertaining throughout but tends towards the overly wordy. the opening scene is a perfect case in point. The poor old sheriff did so much talking to set up the plot he could have been called Basil Exposition.
Nice to see Martell in a lead and the pacifist Brother element gave the ‘revenge for a slaughtered family’ plot something of an original edge. But considering that one of the leads is a pacifist the body count is pretty bloody high. We even get an extended full scale town shoot out after the final showdown has concluded. Also liked the ‘vengeance solves nothing’ angle a la Cemetery Without Crosses.
Enjoyable mid range Spaghetti (Paella).
Oh, and extra brownie points for a resounding theme song from Raoul too. :)[/quote]
Who has the English fandub of this one, Phil? Any info. would be appreciated!
I have an old VHS version ripped to DVD-R (fullscreen and not so good quality).
This is actually a personal favorite of mine.
I like these Marchent films!
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:21, topic:1434”]Who has the English fandub of this one, Phil? Any info. would be appreciated!
I have an old VHS version ripped to DVD-R (fullscreen and not so good quality).
This is actually a personal favorite of mine.
I like these Marchent films![/quote]
Without being anything too exceptional, I thought this one passed the time sufficiently. Not a lot of plot or substance but enjoyable as another simple Rafael Marchent spaghetti.
We start with an intense theme song, even though I do not really understand the lyrics. Shame about the family at the start as was starting to like them. Nice to see Peter Martell in a serious lead role. He did not do enough lead roles, so tend to remember his supporting roles the best. Has the look, but someone say like Peter Lee Lawrence had more leading Spaghetti roles of course. Film treads the familar path of revenge and delivers the goods for Spaghetti fans for this level of film. The ending suited the film.
I’ve seen this one through a spanish tv rip. Despite Martell’s lack of acting talent, the film is interesting.
Would like to have it in my DVD collection but it seems that only french DVD is availabre. :-[
Had a reasonable copy of this floating around for a while, but hadn’t realised that I hadn’t watched it yet - so put that to rights last night…
…and was very pleased to do so.
As said previously, although a paella, this chorizo and clam mix is mightily spaghetti flavoured.
The plot revolves around Peter Martell (Alex) being rescued as a kid and growing up in a peace and love Quaker family, after his parents are cold-bloodily dispatched and his kid sister (Judy) whipped, kidnapped, (all witnessed by him) - and her being brought up as a slave to the evil Moran family.
Peace and love don’t sit easily with either of the now grown up youngsters, >:( >:( and we see Alex at a marvellously clichéd signpost, leaving ‘Pleasant Valley’ behind him and heading into ‘Danger Pass’, to avenge his family and rescue his twisted sister. But, he is followed by his conscience (in the form of his Quaker ‘brother’) who tries his best to deflect Alex from his revenge, but ending up himself being compromised at times. This premise of weighing up good against evil is a little clumpy but adds a nice slant… but we all know which way this is gonna go. By “clumpy” I mean that one minute Alex starts to see that the violence begets violence thing makes some sense, then he’s gonna throw dynamite into a wedding party taking a load of innocents to heaven as well as dispatching the Moran clan to hell after spouting some terroristy-type logic. ;D
So - there’s overblown black/white pontificating with some shades of grey in-between; there’s f*cked-up families (besides Alex and Judy’s twisted revenge desire, there’s some bubbling hatred within the Moran gang as well); there’s a bit of adult girly whip action (but unfortunately not in the same kink-league of others mentioned on the “whip it…” thread); there’s revenge girly kidnap violence a la Cemetery Without Crosses (but not as moodily good either); there’s a recycled song from Raoul (which is great) and a couple of sultry extra songs from the pretty barroom-gal.
All we need now - including a nihilistic ending (I’ll say no more) - would be all the remaining cast, primarily comprised of stuntmen, to climb onto roofs, pull out their hardware and indulge in a few acrobatics, whilst everybody else joins 'em in a protracted shoot-em-up on the ground.
So - some poor comparisons to some other films , some wooden acting, some overly talky moralistic-cy stuff - but plenty of good stuff as well.
I was in the mood for a ‘proper’ spag-feel last night… and that’s what I got.
Half marks… rounded up for the chorizo being nicely spiced and the clam being a touch more delicate. :
3 outa 5 and recommended.
I never cared much for Peter Martell’s acting ability, but in this decent spaghie, I thought he was alright. Marchent injects just enough action scenes to make this an entertaining and enjoyable one for me.
A good Spaghetti, not exceptional, but - by no means - rubbish. Great opening theme by Franceso de Masi, and Raoul (even if it was re-cycled from another film).
Always nice to see the ‘Fistful of Dollars’ town in any film. Peter Martell was okay in the part, and the saloon lady sang a couple of nice ditties.
Martell’s adopted Quaker brother - the voice of conscience - reminded me of Jimminy Cricket, from ‘Pinocchio’.
All in all, a pleasant way to pass the evening. Not the best, and certainly not the worst of the ‘Spaghettie’ genre.
I just watched Two Crosses At Danger Pass for the first time, which was included on the DVD with Garringo which in turn was the cause of my purchase.
These SWs, by the same director Rafael Romero Marchent are similar in the motif with a small boy who later revenges his parent’s death(s). Both are shot in well known locations around Madrid.
I think Peter Martell (Pietro Martellanza) was a little better in The Forgotten Pistolero and The Unholy Four. The first shooting at his father’s home was a bit boring, too long. Otherwise it is fairly entertaining but I need to watch it a second time to get a better feeling for this SW . As mentioned in this thread there is a similar kidnapping performed by the antihero as in Cemetery Without Crosses (8/10 IMO), but not depicted with the same finess and underlying darker mood with hinted abuse.
Just now I tend to lean more to a 6/10 rating rather than higher.
The other scene to check is towards the end of the film:
‘‘Eliminazione, nella scena finale del duello tra Charles e Mark (that is to say Anthony Freeman and Luis Gaspar), della parte in cui si vede Charles che spara e colpisce le mani di Mark’’.
I ask because I only know cut versions (with Italian, English and Spanish opening credits!).
Both are the same. Mark says these hands will never kill. The hands are fine. Then after Alex shoots the gun out of Charles’ hand, Marks hands are bloody.
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Have the Wild East version of this and it’s heavily censored (by the Italian censors to get an unrestricted rating). I’ve not seen a film as badly cut as this by the Italian censors.
It went though the censors September 25-27 1967. So the Feb-March 67 shooting times seems correct.
The sequence up to the killing of the parents lasts an excessive 20m. I would have cut the whole opening sequence in the town and began with the gunmen riding towards the sheriff’s ranch. But I mean the sheriff was just an idiot keeping that guy at his family home.
Fairly shoddy I thought.
It’s got a similar opening to Requiscant - sole boy survivor runs into a travelling preacher who adopts him - but Requiescant wasn’t released till March 1967 so I assume the biggest influence was Nevada Smith with Steve McQueen which I think also influenced Death Rides a Horse which was also made around the same time.
