A Stranger in Town / Un dollaro tra i denti (Luigi Vanzi, 1967)

Dir: Luigi Vanzi - Cast: Tony Anthony, Frank Wolff, Gia Sandri, Aldo Berti, Yolanda Modio, Raf Baldassare - Music: Benedetto Ghilglia

The review is now in the database:

http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/A_Stranger_in_Town_Review_(Scherpschutter)

Wild East have never released this film or any of the ā€˜Strangerā€™ films.

The Alfa Digital release is probably the one you viewed.

I doubt that there are any scenes which were shot in Almeria. All these ultra cheap SWs were made completely in Italy. Same goes for the 2nd Stranger film, as far as I know, and as far as I can judge the locations.

The few outdoor scenes were all shot in a gravel pit, the poorest landscape ever used in a western. Except for these scenes the cheapness of the film is not a problem, the story doesnā€™t demand for more than a few locations and a handful of extras.

Nearly everything of Scherpā€™s review could also be said about The Stranger Returns.

You should bundle your reviews in a book, scherpschutter. Good stuff.
On the film: I think itā€™s pretty weak and lacks the kinetic energy present in most other spaghetti westerns. It is indeed very minimalistic and I donā€™t think thatā€™s a good thing here. In my opinion itā€™s merely an unoriginal snoozefest with Frank Wolff forming the only point of interest.

Itā€™s uncanny Scherp. You and I keep watching and reviewing the same films. I just posted mine here

http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/A_Stranger_in_Town_Review

Seems like we pretty much agree on the film too. And yes, the double bill DVD is from Alfa Digital, which is the same one I watched.

Theyā€™re due a rewatch, but I really like the first two Stranger films. They do it for me. I particularly rate Frank and the haunting music from the first, and the opening of the second where Pussy is scared of a rabbit is genius.
Never seen ā€˜in Japanā€™ but have it (taped of the tele) somewhere. I even like Get Mean, but it is getting very silly by then!
Great reviews again from scherp and Phil!! Funny - you never see 'em both together ā€¦

You are completely right

Well, visitors get two for the price of one today

(Not bad, Iā€™d say, when the entrance is free)

And yes, they couldā€™ve done more with the dominatrix maybe, but her ā€˜sudden deathā€™ is one of the highlights of the genre.

This is one of my absolute favorites of the genre. I love the minimalist aspects of the production (completely shot in Italy)ā€”and the dream-like/nightmarish atmosphere.
I am often the odd man out on this, but I think that A STRANGER IN TOWN is the best of Tony Anthonyā€™s films (with BLINDMAN perhaps tying it, or at the very least being a close second).

The follow-up film, THE STRANGER RETURNS, has much better production values (thanks to the success of the first film in the USA)ā€¦but, it isnā€™t anywhere near as tightly wrapped a package as the first.
I like THE STRANGER RETURNS very muchā€”but, it meanders just a little too much.

Great reviews, amigos!!

Are you absolutely sure it was entirely shot in Italy?
Giusti says in his DIZIONARIO that some scenes were shot in Almeria, but Stanton thinks this is rather unlikely

I love both the films but I liked Stranger returns alot more. While A stranger in town was definitely above average, when I watched stranger returns I got the impression that I was watching greatness. Phil H and Scherp, great reviews both of you!

Positive, amigo. I am not sure about the second Stranger movie, though. Some of it might have been shot in Spain. But, none of UN DOLLARO TRA I DENTI wasā€“and precisely for the reasons stanton states in his post (i.e., not enough of a budget to allow for shooting outside of Italy).

OK, made a small modification

Iā€™ve checked what Brucknwer writes, and he says Italy for both Stranger films.

There were only 7 months between the releases of both, and if you take into consideration that Un dollaro tra i denti did only low at the italian box office, it seems unlikely that the sequel got a higher budget.

For those interested issues 27 and 29 of Tom Bettā€™s excellent fanzine Westerns Allā€™Italiana contains a large interview with Tony Anthony and friends where there is a lot of talk about the production of the Stranger-movies: http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Westernsā€¦_All%27Italiana!

Great reviews from both parties. Iā€™ve only seen The Stranger returns so far, but iā€™m definitely now interested in tracking down this one :slight_smile:

[quote=ā€œstanton, post:34, topic:84ā€]Iā€™ve checked what Brucknwer writes, and he says Italy for both Stranger films.

There were only 7 months between the releases of both, and if you take into consideration that Un dollaro tra i denti did only low at the italian box office, it seems unlikely that the sequel got a higher budget.[/quote]

My understanding is it did badly at the italian box office but much better in the U.S. Which is where it was aimed at largely I believe.

Yes, thatā€™s what I read everywhere: both Hughes and Giusti say the film did very well in the US, and an Italian site calls it ā€˜a box-office failure at home, but a great success everywhere else in the world.ā€™

It might seem unlikely, but it did.
Bill Connolly of SPAGHETTI CINEMA told me that Tony Anthony said the budget doubled from the first film to the second allowing them to have more variety in the sets and, most importantly, more girls! :wink:
Anthony said the reason for the doubling of the budget was because the first Stranger film did so well in the States.

Keep in mind most of the money for these 2 films came from American sources. As I understand it, Anthony and his crew were already shooting the second feature when the budget was doubled due to the success of A STRANGER IN TOWN in America. So, I donā€™t think the Italian box office figures were a deciding factor, one way or the other.

I remember checking the release dates on the IMDB one time and getting a big laugh at the data there. They have the first two Stranger films being releasedā€“in the USA-- pretty much at the same time in 1968!
I know for a fact that the first one came out in early 1967 (Tom Betts can back me up on this, I bet!) because I remember it showing at theaters in Oklahoma City (plus all of the promotional material I have collected for this film has the date of release as 01/1967).
The second Stranger film was released, in the USA, in the latter quarter of 1968 (though it was, as you say stanton, released only 7 months after the first one in Italy).

Since the first Stranger film was shot and released within one monthā€“give or take a day or twoā€”I donā€™t see any problem with that small 7 month gap. These films were made fast (and furiously) in those days.

ā€”edited for mass quantities of spelling errors!ā€”

Makes sense to me.