A Town Called Hell / A Town Called Bastard (Robert Parrish, 1971)

There is by now a German relese from Schröder Media: Eine Stadt nimmt Rache. Release date: 2. Oktober 2014. 93 minutes. See Amazon.de

Been wanting to see this one in a decent version for years !

Yes hope this is good! Will definitely get it if so

My German sucks but does the customer review say the theatrical version is 2.35:1 non-anamorphic and the uncut version cropped to 1.78:1 (but anamorphic)? Image & sound quality not on the level of Koch quality?

Looks like that’s the gist of it from what I can tell also Sundance. There’s a couple of comments on the review also remarking about the poor quality

Yes, the comment says that the uncut version is only in 1,78:1 and the cut German version is in 2,35:1, but not anamorphic. Picture quality is ok though, but not on Koch level.

Schröder Media is a cheap label known for mixed releases. They take what they get, and some releases of them are poor or even pretty bad.

Thats a shame re the uncut version being in 1.78.1

Question 1: The children in the town called Bastard, are they all bastard children?

Question 2: Does Django the Bastard actually come from the town called Bastard (hence his name)?

Question 3: What is the altitude below sea level of a town called Hell?

Question 4: If you happen to come from the town called Hell and somebody tells you to go to hell, is he just telling you to go home?

[quote=“Col. Douglas Mortimer, post:68, topic:232”]Question 1: The children in the town called Bastard, are they all bastard children?

Question 2: Does Django the Bastard actually come from the town called Bastard (hence his name)?

Question 3: What is the altitude below sea level of a town called Hell?

Question 4: If you happen to come from the town called Hell and somebody tells you to go to hell, is he just telling you to go home?[/quote]

As a matter of fact, some 80 km south of where I was born, there is a town called Hell. It didn’t have a greater density of bastards than any other place, at least as far as I know, it might have changed. The railroad station is 3.2 meters above sea level.

[quote=“Stanton, post:66, topic:232”]Yes, the comment says that the uncut version is only in 1,78:1 and the cut German version is in 2,35:1, but not anamorphic. Picture quality is ok though, but not on Koch level.

Schröder Media is a cheap label known for mixed releases. They take what they get, and some releases of them are poor or even pretty bad.[/quote]

Just watched it, and the uncut version is not bad at all. Fairly good picture quality, optional German and English audio, no subs (actually some German subs appear now and then, you have to turn them off if you don’t want them). The theatrical version is under bonuses, runs for 87 min, Spanish audio, poor.

Just a warning, there is a cheap UK release under the Town Called Hell title by a company called Excalibur. Avoid this, it is a bootleg with a ‘make your own DVD’ “menu” screen and a great big watermark just off the centre of the print. Unwatchable. Fortunately Amazon UK agreed and refunded me the money.

Kino just announced on their FB they will be releasing this in August on Blu and DVD

Good to hear, like this one.

This film has been lacking a review, so I have taken the liberty to write one. And, believe it or not, it seems I have managed to publish it:

A Town Called Bastard Review - The Spaghetti Western Database

Some questions for the Forum members: It seems most films registered in the SWDB are registered under their original title. This film is registered as A Town Called Hell, while I think it was originally released as A Town Called Bastard. On the DB page the running time is given as 94 minutes, but actually it runs for 97 minutes, while the PAL release is 93 minutes. Should it be changed in the DB? According to the SWDB (and a lot of others) Cris Huerta is in the film. But I didn’t spot him. Did you?

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No did not see Cris Huerta .

It seems you like this film quite a biit, A very nice and informative review. Regarding the runtime, the Spanish database Mundocine lists 97 min, the BBFC has 2 entries with A Town Called Bastard: 97 min, A Town Called Hell: 95 min.

The films are listed under their original title, which seems the most logical thing to do in the light of the chaos that has been created over the years. How many titles they make up, in whatever languange, Per un pugno di dollari will always remain the original title. But in the case of a co-production there’s of course a problem. A Town called Bastard was shot in Spain and co-produced by Spanish company Zurbano Films, located in Madrid. It was a co-production with UK based company Benmar, not a well-known company with only 5 titles on their conto (IMDb). The cast is very international, not predominantly Spanish, therefore imo both the Spanish and the English title can be called ‘original’.

Yes, I like it a lot. It may not be everybody’s SW though. No individual gunfights in this one. The gunfighter, who has put his guns away, only to take them out for one last fight, is of course a familiar western theme. Not so in this one. Only once (except for the flashbacks) the protagonist cocks his rifle, only to uncock it without having fired.

So it seems it was released in UK 1971 as A Town Called Bastard and in Spain 1972 as Una ciudad llamada Bastarda. By the way, Giusti has the original title as A town Called Bastard. The correct running time should be 97 minutes. And if Ennioo has not spotted Huerta in the film, nobody will. I’ll correct it on Sunday if nobody intervenes in the meantime.

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Sounds good. Regarding Shaw’s character, I believe he was called Montes in the flashbacks, I seem to remember that being engraved on his saddle or maybe his saddlebags.

Shaw’s character is called Irlandés (by Benito) in the opening flashback where he kills a priest and later. So we know he is an Irishman. Who is he really? Who was Alvira’s husband? Who killed him? And who is Águila? Those are the enigmas of the film. Yes, the saddle bag has something with them to do …