I enjoyed this movie. To be honest I wasn’t sure Edd Byrnes was going to work for me but he was ok as the slick banker while George Hilton was good as the bounty hunter and Gilbert Rowland also shone as the bandit leader. I also liked the plot line of constant cross and double cross between all the major players.
This is a real caper movie which I haven’t seen much of in the spaghetti genre and is light hearted enough to be fun without stepping over the line into slapstick which I really don’t like. You also get Pedro Sanchez early on as the double crossing bandit. Always good.
The opening scene is obviously great, but the rest can’t live up to this standard. It’s an entertaining film going in the direction of the Carnimeo/Hilton films which followed the years after. In Germany it was redubbed as a Hallelujah film in the mid seventies.
Unfortunately the greater action scenes are staticly done and there are too much needless, boring, and badly directed fist-fights. Typical for Castellari.
Could have been a good film with a better director at the helm.
Yes the opening scene is good fun. The twist on the 3 way showdown in the end is also a nice touch. I agree that the fist fights are a bit over done though, but that is very common in the less serious spaghettis in general I think. And like I said, at least it doesn’t spill over into open slapstick which is where I have to turn off.
[quote=“Phil H, post:1, topic:611”]I enjoyed this movie. To be honest I wasn’t sure Edd Byrnes was going to work for me but he was ok as the slick banker while George Hilton was good as the bounty hunter and Gilbert Rowland also shone as the bandit leader. I also liked the plot line of constant cross and double cross between all the major players.
This is a real caper movie which I haven’t seen much of in the spaghetti genre and is light hearted enough to be fun without stepping over the line into slapstick which I really don’t like. You also get Pedro Sanchez early on as the double crossing bandit. Always good.
Yeah the fighting gets a little silly, however this is a much underrated film. I enjoyed the twists and turns, the score is very good and Byrnes, Hilton and Roland are excellent.
Sorry ENNIOO, I have to disagree - Gilbert Roland brings a kind of “classy bandit” dash to the role which I enjoyed. Go Montenero!!!
In my humble opinion, an enjoyable film and one that everyone should check out.
I dunno if it’s really underrated (maybe by some but what movie isn’t), Castellari’s cult following is surprisingly big and I’ve seen ANY GUN CAN PLAY in more top 20 SW lists than for example JOHNNY HAMLET, no surprise as ANY GUN must have been much more widely distributed. I like the opening and have tried to enjoy the rest, without much success. If only there were bigger amounts of no-nonsense (like in Carnimeo’s SARTANA movies) cutting through the hilarity and giving the film some balance. For example the final shower of dollars scene is basically clever and spectacular but has an air of self-congratulation and fakeness that doesn’t make me want to applaud…
It’s a GBU ripoff, but an enjoyable one. Gilbert Roland fits better in Johnny Hamlet than in this one. Need to watch it again. Haven’t seen it in a while. Did rewatch the opening scene though, which is great (as pointed out by many).
There is a very funny thing in the opening scene which is the three bandits. The first one looks like The Man With No Name, the second like Col. Douglas Mortimer and the third one like Django.
[quote=“Silence, post:11, topic:611”]There is a very funny thing in the opening scene which is the three bandits. The first one looks like The Man With No Name, the second like Col. Douglas Mortimer and the third one like Django.[/quote]I think this is the best part of the film.
I had seen this film about 10 years ago and didn’t really like it. However last night I devided to give it another go now that I have a few spaghettis under my belt.
Enjoyed it far more this time. However I felt the more serious first half dragged slightly. Hilton was great as “The Stranger” and I enjoyed the twisty turny plot and the continual conning between all the parties. Music was great for the most part (bar the jarring fight scene tune) and I enjoyed the humorous bits for the most part. I felt that Castellari’s direction was a bit hum-drum though (workmanlike might be a fairer term to be honest) but it certainly did the job.
Absolutely loved the three-way gunfight at the end and the finale, did not see that coming at all.
Coolest part for me - has to be the terrific opening sequence 8)
Not very original, but managed to survive well. The setup for the ending wasn’t working, because Byrnes showed no quick-draw skills previously. Though the ending did work. But the sound didn’t… an annoying tape-loop.
I didn’t have any problems with the film except for the (hidden) trampoline-stunts during the market fight. It distracted from the scene’s grittiness.
After my second watching of Any Gun Can Play but now on my received DVD I rate it as a weak 6/10 good for ranking 57 on my Top SW list.
The two long fist fights especially the second one are a big minus. They are probably the only supposed real comedy but for me just boring and irritating. Without them this SW would feel more even and rather serious.
The beginning is the highlight with the three outlaws looking like some of the most famous SW-characters.
The day I knew it would likely arrive shortly was Oct 6, so a 6/10 actually might seem even more appropriate if there was such a dependance which you probably never can rule out in cases where some subjectivity could be involved regarding the “mechanism of action” !
We know that in the intro sequence the Colonel Mortimer-type and the Django-type characters are played by José Torres and Luciano Odorisio (uncredited).
Does anybody know the guy who plays the Man With No Name-type character named Jesus Sanchez? He also appears in The Moment to Kill (see below on the right)
