I reluctantly bought the Koch disc a few years ago … discouraged by the 4:3 aspect ratio as much as anything … but was pleasantly surprised by the movie. Watched it again recently - twice - and now hold the flick in high esteem … (really, no kidding.). Kinski has a big part and nails it in his crazy way. He looks even loonier and more dangerous with his longer hair. Love the scene where he kneels down to mourn the loss of his brothers, then abruptly and viciously guns down the gunman who survived - his own guy. Hell, we’re not talking about a Roy Rogers movie here, that’s for sure! I like Jeff Cameron but special praise goes to Jack Betts/Hunt Powers as Kinski’s Mexican henchman - I found him convincing, wig and all. Finally, the lovely Simone - best eye make-up award, always - acquits herself very well. If I revise my Top 20 lists, BARREL FULL will have a place somewhere.
You really have to be in the right frame of mind for Klaus … and always approach with caution! Never got around to seeing this one, but I must do sometime - maybe during ‘Spagvember’ 
I understand about Kinski … he’s really something … but I recommend this movie most highly … hope you enjoy it, believe you will. Cheers!
If there is one Fidani movie everyone should have in their collection, it is this one in my opinion. Jeff Cameron is pulling off some of the coolest stunts ever. Gordon Mitchell as a wacky bounty hunter, Hunt Powers as a mexican and Kinski going full-on bananas.
Very true… 
But that’s closer to the original aspect ratio, isn’t it? A widescreen version would be cropped.
I’m not sure about the original aspect ratio, you may well be right. I don’t want to watch a cropped movie … but I was surprised it was not shot in a widescreen format, like virtually every SW was, I believe. Anyway, ultimately I trusted Koch to get it right, and they did. I do prefer widescreen, if it’s legit.
Fidani didn’t use widesceen formats much. He usually shot his films in open matte. In fact, I don’t remember a single Fidani film that wasn’t either full frame or 1:85 but perhaps someone can correct me if I’m wrong.
I doubt that any Spag was shot for a 1,37:1 aspect ratio, that aspect ratio wasn’t used any more for mainstream films, actually it is rarely used for any kind of film since the 50s.
While all Fidani films were shot on 35mm non-anamorphic 1,37:1 film stock, they were all shot for a 1,66:1 or a 1,85:1 masking (or matting) when projected, which means that parts at the top and bottom of the image were not intended to be seen at the theatre, but are still on the original negative, and are than visible on a still possible “open-matte” version of the film.
I knew once an explanation why A Barrel Full of Dollars and also Hate Thy Neighbor do not feature the original aspect ratio on the Koch DVDs. It had something to do with the master they got from Italy, which were code for the released open matte 1,37:1, but I forgot why they were not able to mask the discs themselves for their release.
Interesting info, appreciate it.