My first viewing from the Vengeance Trails set - and what a perfect movie to start with. My main worry when watching was that the tornado was only going to be in the last 5 mins or so - similar to how the eclipse in Requiem for a Gringo was just for the end gunfight - but I was gladly surprised to find the majority of the film takes place during it. The spooky atmosphere while all of Acombar’s men are sneaking around looking for Gary was great, and the way Gary dispatches of some of the head henchmen were super cool (my favourite being the church bell). I thought that Acombar accidentally shooting his son was a really cool twist. The final showdown between Gary and Acombar reminded me a lot of Enter the Dragon and was really awesome. Overall, I’d probably give it an 8 or 9 out of ten, with my only issue being the slower than usual start.
One little bit I didn’t quite get was when one of Acombar’s men (I think he was called Frank) shot the Butler to save Gary. I don’t really get why he did this, unless I maybe missed something earlier on?
What is the last line of Don Powell’s big opening song (for that matter also the closing words of the movie)? “You’ll face the judge / and he won’t …” what??? The “Vengeance Trails” subtitles have “be me”. Which to me doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I keep listening and I can’t do any better.
I have an Italian soundtracks playlist on Spotify that I listen to frequently that includes “Rocks, Blood and Sand,” as this film is a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, even after hearing it so many times, I still don’t know those last words of the song.
I do agree with you that it would not make sense for it to end as you described.
The line ‘You’ll face the judge - and he won’t be me’, presumably refers to God’s Judgement. Which fits with some of the dialogue in the Italian dub at least.
And God Said to Cain is one of my favorite spaghettis, especially with how Hamilton’s revenge is portrayed atmospherically. I thought the horror vibes it gave off were an effective balance with the main SW genre material. It wasn’t contrived or disjointed like it could have been. The dubbed voice for Kinski threw me when I first heard him speak. But, I got used to it quickly.
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Dir: Antonio Margheriti - Cast: Klaus Kinski, Peter Carsten, Marcella Michelangeli, Antonio Cantafora, Giuliano Raffaelli, Guido Lollobrigida
After ten years of forced labour, for a crime he never committed, Gary Hamilton (Klaus Kinski) is pardoned. He was framed by his former friend Acombar and betrayed by his girlfriend Maria, who now are a couple.
I didn’t realise it’s come from A Stranger In Paso Bravo - mainly because I’ve not seen this one. But I do have it and I think this could be tomorrow’s viewing in that case.
Fantastic review again scherps - and I ain’t just saying that, I’ve seen AGSTC maybe 4 times and I still learn something new from these reviews of yours - you really should be putting this stuff together … I’ll buy the book for sure.
Let me add my compliments Scherp. I always enjoy your reviews but I think this is your best yet. Very well written indeed. Moreover, this is a film I have been meaning to see for ages and have never managed and after reading your review it has just gone to the very top of my ‘must get’ list.
Out of interest, what DVD edition did you watch?
I watched a DVDr and compared it to a recording I made on VHS some ten years ago
The VHS (French audio) still has good video quality, but is heavily cut (guess what kind of scenes were cut!), the DVDr was sent to me by someone from San Antonio and was uncut, but had rather poor video quality
I have already ordered the German DVD
It’s a must have, in the best possible version
Release date:
IMDB says it premiered on february 5th in Italy, but Giusti (who usually is very precise on these things) says 1969; Casadio has '69 too. The italian SWdb has both dates, '69 in their list of films, '70 on the film’s page …
and I think this could be tomorrow’s viewing in that case.