A Man Called Blade / Mannaja (Sergio Martino, 1977)

This movie had its moments but in the end they were to few and far between and the script simply wasnt enough to make a decent film.

The script seemed like little more than fist and gun fights strung together by a very thin strand and when it did attempt to actually do something it was extremely contrieved or just lame.

Iā€™m getting worried Goodfella. It seems you donā€™t really like the spaghetti westerns beyond Keoma jango or the Great Silence. Not trying to ridicule you. Just out of curiousity, what do you like in your spaghettis? And Iā€™m starting to get even more worried when one of my favorites is letting you down.

haha I agree! Goodfella, I admire your persistence, but I probably wouldnā€™t even bother searching through a genre when I only like maybe 20-33 percent of the films that I see. Perhaps this genre just isnā€™t for you.

It depends what you mean with the 20-33 percent. If you have seen 20 films and you only liked two of them, then yes, maybe spaghettis arenā€™t for you. On the other hand, if someone has seen 500 spaghettis and he really liked 33% of them, now thatā€™s a very good score i think.

33% is not a bad rate.

Goodfella is obviously interested in SWs, otherwise he wouldnā€™t watch them. But so far, if I remember correctly, he only liked 3 of them (donā€™t know how much he has tried, but sure a lot).
Interesting is that most (all?) of the others for him are not only weak, average or acceptable, no they are all very bad, poor etc.

His strong disliking (even of many which are considered as ā€œclassicsā€ by us) is quite interesting. And it leads to the gripping question if he will be able to spot a 4th goodie and how long it takes.
Or if he gives up in the meantime.

I somehow enjoy his rummage in the mud.

Well I hope youā€™re right, because heā€™s already seen many of the best SWā€™s ever made and has been dissapointed by most of them. Its gonna go downhill from here Iā€™m afraid.

And Goodfella also like Sabata as well from what I can remember, so perhaps he might like the Sartanas.

Goodfella, Iā€™m really pulling for you man. Iā€™m always happy to hear about new fans of the genre who have ā€œdiscoveredā€ this genre. I myself was a newcomer once as well. I hope you find something you enjoy but Iā€™m a little skeptical if its really worth your while.

I like the movie Enter the Dragon but that doesnā€™t mean Iā€™ll go through every Kungfu film ever made to find another one that I like cause I know that Enter the Dragon was probably just an anomaly.

Ge said h likes Django so maybe, Goodfella, you should try more Corbucci movies. My all time second favorite is Companeros. Blinman is my favorite so far. Maybe even some Sollima. Big Gundown was good. Hvenā€™t sen face though. Will eventually.

faccia a faccia is really great!

But to Mannaja: I actually donā€™t like it that much. I donā€™t like its look and the one thing I really hate is the cave-part, where Merli fixes his iceage-axes.

[quote=ā€œDillinger, post:128, topic:292ā€]faccia a faccia is really great!

But to Mannaja: I actually donā€™t like it that much. I donā€™t like its look and the one thing I really hate is the cave-part, where Merli fixes his iceage-axes.[/quote]

lolā€¦ thats probably my favourite part, mainly because I love that ā€˜just like a snakeā€™ song and Merliā€™s blind acting impressed me.

Have to disagree with you - I despise that song! Good film apart from that though.

[quote=ā€œDillinger, post:128, topic:292ā€]faccia a faccia is really great!

But to Mannaja: I actually donā€™t like it that much. I donā€™t like its look and the one thing I really hate is the cave-part, where Merli fixes his iceage-axes.[/quote]

Ice ageā€¦hahahaha. Come to think of it, Merli does look alot like a caveman in this film, with all them furs and pelts heā€™s wearing.

I hate the snake song! I love the wolf song though. Not the beginning when the black leonard cohen sings, but when the real singing beginsā€¦

This here was your fathers land, nothing bad you canā€™t pretend. You love justice and you love peace.
When the time will come to kill, to destroy who love to kill, and your hand will stop the eye (?) and your conscious will be satisfiedā€¦

I think this was a great sw!

Makes Barry White sound like Frankie Valli.
Anyways, Mannaja does have an eerie feel at times. He kills with an axe & the villain dons a long black cape with evil dogs. Sounds gothic to me.

hahaha good one

Not sure what you meanā€¦

I just think the De Angelis brothers are amazing, writing that whole snake song for one small scene.

[quote=ā€œchuck connors brother, post:135, topic:292ā€]Not sure what you meanā€¦

I just think the De Angelis brothers are amazing, writing that whole snake song for one small scene.[/quote]

His voice is real deep!

Will I ever rewatch Mannaja? Will I ever give it a second chance?

From time to time I see the Mannaja pictures in my Bruckner. Then I see Merli being tortured with sticks. All that looks so cheap so patheticā€¦

A second chance is hard to comeā€¦

It deserves it. What have you got to lose? Other than 1 hour, 36 minutes & 31 seconds of your life that youā€™ll never get back.

Weā€™ll seeā€¦

make sure you watch itā€¦ ALONE!