Yes, itâs uneven, but on the whole I thought it was a lot of fun. The Blue Underground release is the only way to go. The villain also is lively (esp. the use of the dogs) and he has the oddest shifting accent, too. One minute he seems German, later itâs almost an Irish brogue. And is it just me, or does Merli take the award for the whitest teeth of anyone in SW?
A solid 3 stars in my book and well worth the effort, understanding that it is a fun late entry, but not great.
quote=âGarko Forever, post:21, topic:292â And is it just me, or does Merli take the award for the whitest teeth of anyone in SW? (âŚ)
(âŚ) it is a fun late entry, but not great. [/quote]
I think Merli made a few Dirty Harry like thrillers, very popular in Italy in the '70s, and with his impeccable coiffure and shiny white teeth he looks more like a detective than a western hero, at least to me.
Yes, a late entry, twilight stuff so to speak, but not great and not much fun either*. The dogs and the villain were Ok, though.
This doesnât mean a thing, since this is a man who dislikes twighlight spaghettis!
I liked this movie alot. Well above average but stops short of being a true classic. Iâm not really into the tough cop movie genre, so this is the only movie Iâve seen Merli in. I think this movie has a good sense of atmosphere, good action, good actors, but like alot of other SWâs, could stand to have a better english dub.
Never new Twiggie made spaghetti.
But agree with you, without having tasted her specialities, a girl that skinny cannot cook.
I think itâs a ver good movie, that could have been a classic but thereâs something missing. I loved some unusual touches in this one [the villain with the dogs] and the score [yes, iâm crazy i know that ;d ].
Gnothi Seauton !
(Pausanias, Temple of Apollo, Delphi)
[quote=âscherpschutter, post:27, topic:292â]Gnothi Seauton !
(Pausanias, Temple of Apollo, Delphi)[/quote]
I wonder if ancient Greeks would have liked Mannaja score.
[quote=âscherpschutter, post:22, topic:292â]Yes, a late entry, twilight stuff so to speak, but not great and not much fun either*. The dogs and the villain were Ok, though.
Letâs define this term. What exactly is a âTwilight SWâ?
I think in the USA Twilight Western is a so called sub genre for westerns which were made mainly between 1961 (Ride the High Country) and 1976 (The Shootist) or maybe 1981 (Heavenâs Gate). Eastwoodâs Unforgiven is a newer example.
In Germany this type of films is called âLate Westernâ, not only because they were made relative late in the evolution of the genre, but also because many (but not all) were set in a time after the settlement of the territory was finished. And these films were reflecting about the myths and how society and social patterns have changed. Peckinpahâs films (with their unchanged men in changing times) are the model for this sub genre (like Leoneâs were for the SW).
But meanwhile many critics use the term Late Western incorrectly for nearly every american western made after 1960, and it is also (again incorrectly imo) used for all serious SWs made after My Name is Nobody ( which by the way WAS a Twilight Western).
Maybe the term Twilight Western was used in SWs for Keoma and Mannaja and maybe California because these films have a twilight atmosphere due to their (cliche) photography effects and their end of the world mood. But they donât contain the typical american twilight motives as described above.
[quote=âstanton, post:29, topic:292â]Letâs define this term. What exactly is a âTwilight SWâ?
Maybe the term Twilight Western was used in SWs for Keoma and Mannaja and maybe California because these films have a twilight atmosphere due to their (cliche) photography effects and their end of the world mood.[/quote]
I think the term âTwilight Spaghettiâ poetically embraces both the temporal, âmade late in the dayâ, season for these films - but they may also have a world-weary cynical âsneerâ. Particularly, films such as Keoma, muddy, plague-ridden and bitter; California, mud-soaked and war-weary; and to a lesser extent - Mannaja (still a great muddy, misty and brutal beginning), have that darker edge that sticks two fingers up at the Trinity rip-off rubbish. I am therefore very fond of these films.
Iâm also fond of the great sounding word (and try to drop it into every conversation/sermon round the pub/church) - âcrepuscularâ - as used by Glittering Images/WAI in relation to California and the ilk. Great word ⌠and has something of the darker, indistinct, misty, menacing night about it.
In summary - both temporally ⌠and atmospherically - âtwilightâ. Perfect word and great films!
[quote=âscherpschutter, post:25, topic:292â]Never new Twiggie made spaghetti.
But agree with you, without having tasted her specialities, a girl that skinny cannot cook.[/quote]
I think youâve been on those âmushroomsâ again scherp! Never mind Twiggyâs (note spelling) cooking ⌠I think you need our great Brit- cookâs new book
â101 Recipes for Magic Mushroomsâ by Psychedelia Smith 
I guess they wouldâve liked spaghetti westerns.
The western sometimes was described as Victorian drama transported to the Old West* (Shakespeare wouldâve made a perfect western, dixit Clint Eastwood); Victorian drama certainly was tributary to Greek drama, so âŚ
He went to his scherpie, he covered his head
And told to his scherpie what his revvie had said
The scherpie he laughed, he said, go man go!
Your Twiggy aint your Twiggie but your revvie donât* know!
Woe, it worries me
ââŚshroomsâ, and scherpieâs gone done eat 'em all
Woe, it worries me
Shame, now itâs scandal in the forum yâall!
Of course that Delia Smith joke-thing would only work if youâre a Brit or a Norwich City supporter - not too many of the latter about thoâ. And Iâm a bit worried about your taste in music scherp.
[quote=âReverend Danite, post:33, topic:292â]Woe, it worries me
ââŚshroomsâ, and scherpieâs gone done eat 'em all
Woe, it worries me
Shame, now itâs scandal in the forum yâall!
Of course that Delia Smith joke-thing would only work if youâre a Brit or a Norwich City supporter - not too many of the latter about thoâ. And Iâm a bit worried about your taste in music scherp.[/quote]
Well, if youâre only worried about the music, and not about the lyrics âŚ
'Course, there is a dubious link to spaghettis, if not directly to Mannaja ⌠calypso led to reggae, reggae picked up on, and made shed loads of songs (on Tojan/studio 1/ songbird etc. Jamaican lables) that picked up and referenced sw films. Many great toooons and songs from my youth ⌠and âThe harder they Comeâ with Jimmy Cliff and Django ⌠;D
I had never heard about Delia Smith, shareholder of Norwich City.
A quick trip to Wikepedia land and her site also told me she was quite a beauty in her glory years. She seems to be in the twilight zone now, thoâ.
Folded omelette, French style is a good alternative to mushrooms or space cake, I would say.
Yes - your sanity is in question amigo 
The term sounds fine, but Iâm uncertain if I need it in my vocabulary. Does twilight spaghetti just mean relatively new SWs with something more solemn than Trinity comedy going on? I guess one should try to define what was the actual contribution of the twilight SWs (whatever they are) to the genre, what content sets them apart from non-twilight or pre-twilight SWs. Muddy and war-torn scenery isnât really specific to the 70s Italian westerns, it was there earlier. As for the âfin de siecleâ mood, Iâd say some 60s entries such as Once Upon a Time in the West and The Specialist have more of that than Keoma and Mannaia, though fans may âprojectâ it onto them concious of their status as genre latecomersâŚ
Itâll do for me. If the word âTwilightâ simply defines a late entry, post-Trinity-crap, back to basics, mud and gloom, nihalistic, âpretend-Trinity-never-happenedâ, donât-matter-if-itâs-not-so-original-even, back on form, anti-slapstick, spaghetti western ⌠fine. Saves a whole bunch of words. Iâd never really considered these films to be âanti-Trinityâ particularly, or a reaction against slapstick, but as Leonard Mann said when interviewed (see the podcast thread), he talks of Trinity and rip-offs/offshoots in terms of ââŚthat genre had almost the effect of sort of killing the western.â And this is from the man that was in the frame for the Terence Hill role. And, of course I agree with this sentiment.
Mannaja, California, Keoma, and surely other post-Trinity films - The Grand Duel, Four of the apocalypse, Apache Woman, ⌠all of these try to re-discover some aspect of the âethosâ of what the grittier sw films were. There is a place for tongue-in-cheek humour, for Demofilo Fidani (oh yes!), self-referential jokes, and a dark wry inward grin (theyâve always been there) ⌠but God preserve us from âMan of the Eastâ et all! âTwilightâ - says it for me.
[edit: I suppose even thoâ Grand Duel postdates Trinity, it is almost certainly too early to be âTwilightâ of course, because the âeffectâ and ripples caused by Trinity would not have been felt until at least a couple of years afterwards, when all the copyists were churning out the âcomedyâ shit (IMO). I donât know (without doing some dates research) what date could be put on âtwilightâ - if it is to be defined (at least partly) as a reaction to a glut of this stuff. ⌠What year could that be? 1974? Any views?]
IMO My Name Is Nobody was something like a fitting end for the genre, but it surely wasnât the last SW. From the Trinity films up to Nobody there were enough tough (and occasional good) SWs, which were relying on the tradition of the 60s, without renewing the genre. These are no Twilight Spaghettis.
In 73 and 74 there was (apart from Nobody) nearly nothing worth a look, mostly idiotic and unfunny comedies.
So I use the term Twilight SW only for a few attempts at making a last serious SW from 1975 onwards.
All in all for me there are only 4 of them:
Four of the Apocalypse
Keoma
Manaja
California
(And the last 2 of them are by the way not particularly interesting, average stuff.)