A Man Called Amen / Either All or None / O tutto o niente (Guido Zurli, 1968)

[Mickey13]

Copied from the Spagvemberfest 2022 thread:

@Mickey13

George Ardisson’s best western far and away and one of those hidden, cheap gems one feels lucky to excavate from the vault of cinematic history. Albeit nothing inordinately grand, film’s graceful simplicity combined with its cheapness informs the viewing with the mellow atmosphere characteristic of those lesser-known but none the less entertaining outings whose compromises as well as frugal pragmatism shaped them in some distinctive, charming ways.

It is superior to multiple more renowned entries not only by virtue of the aforementioned constituents, but also by reason of its leisurely pacing which imparts some extra character. Additionally, Ardisson turns in probably his most charismatic performance yet in that he does not appear to be reprising this or that role, pretending to be this or that spaghetti A-lister, but rather finds his own voice and produces a genuinely convincing persona in the course of film’s developments. Throw in some solid directing courtesy of Zurli as well as some decent photography and you obtain the highly enjoyable mid-tier entry which is a lot better than what its obscurity would betoken.