Dead Men Ride / Anda muchacho, spara! (Aldo Florio, 1971)

Anda muchacho, spara (1971, Aldo Florio)

This one left me with mixed feelings. Filmed in the early '70s, itā€™s extremely dirivative (Leoneā€™s Fistful of Dollars obviously its main influence) lacks the baroque splendour of the best films of the previous decade and tries to hide its shortcomings by adding a few subplots - both presented in flashback style - to the main story, resulting in a rather convoluted film, that looks over-familiar at the same time.

That said, it has some distinctive redeeming qualities. At least director Florio did his plagiaristic homework well: the film looks good and the action scenes are very stylish (so what I call derivative, will be called a homage by others). Testi is effective in aping Eastwood and at last we see a decent performance by Fajardo, who made a good impression in Django but very often was dissapointing in his other appearences. The meandering script holds your attention and for those who care - and I know there a lot who do on this site - there are a few bare breasts.

(I was pretty sure I had read about the film here on the site, but couldnā€™t find its name in the list. Did I overlook it? And wouldnā€™t it be a good idea to make an alphabetical list of the movies discussed? Itā€™s done this way on the Italian Forum I visit regularly)


For more info visit:
Database page: https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Anda_muchacho,_spara!

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[quote=ā€œscherpschutter, post:1, topic:774ā€]Anda muchacho, spara (1971, Aldo Florio)
1 (so what I call derivative, will be called a homage by others).

2 and for those who care - and I know there a lot who do on this site - there are a few bare breasts.

3 (I was pretty sure I had read about the film here on the site, but couldnā€™t find its name in the list. Did I overlook it?[/quote]

1 Yes :wink:
2 Yes :-*
3 Yes ???

Heā€™s damn good in SHANGO as well - playing a mad confederate major - sound familiar!?

Havenā€™t seen that one;
One more for the ever growing list;
It does sound familiar, SHango ā€¦

I agree, itā€™s damn near impossible finding out if a movie already has itā€™s own thread. Donā€™t think this one has one though, think itā€™s been implicitly discussed in a thread concerning something else.

http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,758.15.html

There was some discussion but not a thread devoted to DEAD MEN RIDE.

Not a bad western (probably one of the best of its year) but it left me feeling somehow indifferent, donā€™t remember much except JosĆ© Calvo whoā€™s always good to have around.

I thought the movie was amazing, simply because while SWs were beginning to become ā€œcircus westernsā€, Florio had the sense to revisit the place that started it all and succeeded in creating a homage to the house that Leone built. Despite the movieā€™s greatness, I do agree that the plot seems to be a bit convoluted, especially when Fajaradoā€™s character decides to move the gold. That part left me confused and the flashbacks, which were very well done, did not put Emilianoā€™s role in perspective. But in spite of its imperfections, the movie was a truly admirable effort in revisiting Leoneā€™s old stomping ground.

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Fully agree with that argument.
I shouldā€™ve mentioned it as one of those ā€˜redeeming qualitiesā€™.

And yes, one of the main problems of the SWs of the '70s, at least many of them, was that they became ā€œcircus westernsā€. Of course, the Trinity movies had caused a shift towards slapstick but they did not appear out of the blue; Castellari, Parolini and Carnemeo had, to a certain extend, already made game of the genre with films like Vado, Lā€™ammazzo e Torno, Vado Vedo e Sparo (Castellari) and the Sartana movies. Those films were OK, thereā€™s nothing wrong with some self-irony, but then Barboni came up with his slapstick and the whole thing exploded.
Films like this one, Keoma and California (among others) tried to revive the old magic, but even one decade later, this turned out to be rather difficult. But that doesnā€™t mean that theyā€™re bad movies.

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I would also place this straight SW amongst the best of the 70s.

I always wished Corbucci, with all his talent and no longer interested in being innovative, had done in the 70s such not so ambitious films instead of the confused crap he made.

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[quote=ā€œstanton, post:9, topic:774ā€]I would also place this straight SW amongst the best of the 70s.

I always wished Corbucci, with all his talent and no longer interested in being innovative, had done in the 70s such not so ambitious films instead of the confused crap he made.[/quote]
Too ambitious but not interested in being innovative, what do you mean by that? I think Corbucci made some pretty good westerns in the 70s.

Stanton is some sort of cineast, nicht war? :wink:

Read again, havenā€™t said that.

In regards to my comment, I used the term ā€œCircus Westernsā€ since it correctly defines what they were all about. I myself enjoy Carnimeoā€™s westerns, especially ā€œThey Call me Hallelujahā€. Anyhow, ā€œDead Men Rideā€ is a truly great example of the genre getting back to its roots but proved all for naught.

Hey, I also like both.

I have heard a ais film on JDā€™s site. I like the piece. How othe films? Are there any good releases of this film?

There is a wonderful fan version of the uncut japanese DVD. Italian audio with english subs.

I have had it for a while nowā€¦must get round to watching!

The plot confused me. Convuluted with seemingly alot of holes. Half the time I didnā€™t know what was going on. Where was the gold hidden? Who was the girl? Who was Emiliano? Questions, questions, questions!!! Still decently directed though. The nicolai score was pretty good. I agree with previous comments that alot of it was borrowed from fistful of dollars. I think maybe Fabio Testi tried a bit too hard to be like Eastwood, instead of carving out his own character, like other SW stars have. Even Anthony Steffen, who is rightfully accused of being a poor manā€™s eastwood at least managed to pull off a unique persona, with his worried eyes and more vulnerable side.

I would give it a solid 5 out of 10. Not a bad try. Imdb interestingly enough has it 7.3. A little bit too high if you ask me.

But all the questions are answered. Itā€™s one of the filmā€™s good ideas that Emiliano remains a mystery for most of the running time.

And for me Testi owns what Steffen always lacks: a certain charisma

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I watched this for the first time last week. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit and found it to be a pleasant surprise particularly for the time when it was made when comedies were becoming the rage. I really enjoyed the score, too. I did a review for my site here with a lot of pics from the filmā€¦