Will Have to Agree to Disagree
Leone or No Leone It has To Much Modernization in it for Me to Consider It
Agree It is the Best of the Gimmicky Bond-ish Films. But that Alone isn’t enough to Make Top 20 IMO
2 Likes
Ok, so I just finished this one a few hours ago and my overall feeling about it can be described as disappointment. After the highly enjoyable God Forgives… I hoped this would be as good or maybe even better, but instead I found it to be a jumble of good cinematography, some weak scenes and some quite impressive ones, all melted together in a narrative which doesn’t work.
For much of the film I felt there was no dramaturgic structure, with a clear beginning-middle-end, things just happen for two hours and then it ends - particularly during the second half. That is a big problem because I think a great part of what made God Forgives a very solid film was it’s (comparatively) very well written script. It had a few poor scenes but overall it was very well executed - here, the opposite is true. I feel like Colizzi wanted it to be a paced film, but unlike greater directors such as Leone and Petroni he didn’t quite have the capability to put it all together. That’s not to say he was an incompetent director - not nearly - but that kind of narrative didn’t fit his style.
The pros them? Well, I should mention that the last half hour downsizes your overall impression of the film unfairly, as i found the the last 1/4 to be so boring and outdrawn that it made me give up what remained of my commitment to the story. But now that I’ve thought about the entire film, It has grown a bit. It begins quite promising and it has all of Colizzi’s stilistic qualities, like the creative imagery and the vivid depiction of urban settings or scenes with many extras in general which generally are very well-thought out. The Mexican fort shootout is really well made too, as is the scene where Cacapolous talks about his Greek grandfather. And for all my mention issues with it, it’s still clearly above average.
Due to my chronic decision anxiety, I can’t quite decide wether to give this film a 5 or 6/10, though it leans towards the former. It’s OK, but still a disappointment.
4 Likes
That’s a fair assessment … I thought the opening scenes in the Leone El Paso town showed great promise … but it just meanders and doesn’t add up to much - what a pity!
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Already discussed in the BR news thread, but the revelation of the details of this release may be imminent, as it is already listed on all the Amazons
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Quattro_dell’Ave_Maria,_I/BluRay#USA
Eventually, someoen will have to make a) a detailed schnittberichte.com comparison between the Paramount and the Italian cut and b) a composite of Paramount’s 4K restoration and whatever high quality material can be obtained from the Italian one to create it.
Amazon pre-order links are now active (all but Canada), and the BluRay can now be secured. If you are an Amazon shopper, please use the SWDb’s links, click here to learn more >>
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Quattro_dell’Ave_Maria,_I/BluRay
Any information about the region code? I assume, since it is KL, that it will be region A locked?
I am pretty sure of that, especially because it is under Paramount license, and I heard they want to release it in other territories on their own, so they don’t want importers to eat into that market :))
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In Germany Koch Films tried to get a kind of “sub license” from Paramount to release ACE HIGH uncut (Italian long version) on BD in the same way they did with BOOT HILL.
I really hope they can find an agreement.
For me the cut release of the international Version is a disappointment. Even it will be in 4K or whatever…
I heard P wants to release it here themselves…
This would be a GREAT disappointment.
But anyway…I keep fingers crossed for Koch…even if we wait years 
I would prefer ARROW or EUREKA over Koch since the last one is not always that English friendly. I was quite disappointed that Koch did not provide English subtitles for California… and the fact that they always use the German titles on their covers…
Assuming there will be a European release for Ace High, I’m gonna pass on this one right now
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Not really an either or kinda thing as it’s different territories
Out in 17 days, all about the edition and pre-order links at Quattro dell'Ave Maria, I/BluRay - The Spaghetti Western Database
Received it in the mail today, can’t wait to watch it!
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a raving review of this disc with no mention that it’s the cut version
PS Amazon has still not shipped this
Mine arrived this morning from wowhd.co.uk (10 quid cheaper than the evil amazon).
My glee at now having the Colizzi ‘trilogy’ on blu ray is slightly marred by hearing how savagely cut this one is.
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Didn’t realise it’s cut…that’s pretty grim. Didn’t the God Forgives… Blu have burned in subs on the English dub as well?
Which one is that?
Ignore me I was talking rubbish. I’d have sworn the Soul Media Blu I have had burned in subs…I must’ve been thinking of something else. Strangely the Blu and the database both say it only has Italian audio, I haven’t watched the whole film yet via the Blu but skimming through scene by scene mine definitely has English audio, with no apparent option for Italian. Sorry if this has been mentioned before.
Btw, does anyone know how exactly the Ace High Blu is cut?