Well put, Phil !!!
I agree Phil, you summed it up, disappointing, all that talent.
On a side note perhaps we could start listing the running times and aspect ratios of the versions we view just to see if we are all singing from the same hymn sheet? Just an idea!
good idea
I saw a pretty bad fullscreen version of this. It was over a year ago and I can’t say I remember much, apart from not being impressed. I think I watched it in a spaghetti western marathon, which is fun but nog good for recollecting. I’m still planning to buy a decent widescreen version of this, but it’s not top priority. And yeah, there are way worse spaghettis out there than this one. Kid Vengeance, Trinity & Sartana anyone?
I have Trinity & Sartana to watch this week :D.
Brave man.
My copy is from a company called “Stonevision” its R2, has a running time of 86 mins and is a 16:9 cropped version!
…which seems like the best version out there. Am I right?
Nope, there are a couple of American releases, (e.g. the one Ennioo displays in an earlier post) which are uncropped (2.35:1) … These seem to be the best versions around.
Once was enough for me.
I will probobly will watch this tonight and later offer praise critism or comments.
Just watched this for the first time…I was prepared for the worst, so I guess it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be. I’ve seen worse for sure…but this will be near the bottom of the re-watch list!
High points: LVC, the nice looking ladies, the cool rock theme in the middle.
Low points: Garko’s talent wasted, the plot, the comedy, the freeze frames, the stupid sound effects, et cetera…
I would give it a 2.5 out of 5, on a good day.
How does BAD MANS RIVER remind me of a cartoon? Let me count the ways.
1 - When the banker falls through the floor to find Van Cleef’s gang in mid-heist
2 - When Garko rides up on his bike and wipes the dust off his goggles.
3 - In the saloon shootout, the guns blow huge holes in the bar and table.
4 - Angel rolling and shooting out of a barrel.
5 - Garko running with the barrel stuck on his foot.
6 - They shoot the building with a machine gun until it falls down.
7 - When Colonel Fierro gets his horse blown out from under him (probably the
cartooniest scene in the whole film).
8 - The entire ‘flag of truce’ scene
9 - and of course… the armored car.
I really liked this movie a lot for what it is. Certainly not one to watch when you’re in the mood for a serious SW, but you get cartoonish fun, good lookin’ ladies in the form of G-Lo and Diana Lorys, not to mention Garko and Van Cleef. And that cheezy rock riff works much better than it has any right to. The only thing i would possibly change about this movie would be more Garko.
Fun Factor - 6.5/10
Very good review of a movie with the wasted opportunities,like Scherps said
An action comedy that isn’t as bad as everybody else makes you believe.
I think the reason it is universally derided is because it misses a lot of oppertunities (how often could we get Garko and Van Cleef in one movie?), much like GOD’S GUN.
Anybody know why Garko’s part was so small in this?
Probably because it was produced by an American who didn’t understand or know or Garko’s box office draw in Italy. Probably also the reason the main cast is made of extremely well known actors like Van Cleef, Lollobrigida, and Mason.
You are probably overestimating the international box office draw of SW stars. Apart from Nero and Spencer/Hill none of all the other Italian SW stars was or is here in Germany in any way famous. Gemma and Milian a bit, but only a bit.
And even in Italy Garko didn’t had a really big hit. If You Meet Sartana was his most successful SW with about 2,7 mio admissions in Italy. Not bad, but not enough to make the first 50 (even it it was very tight as it is in my list at #51).
In the mid 70s, at an age of only 40 years his career was already over.
Bad Man’s River only mirrors how popular he was in international terms.
That’s a bit sarcastic but true.
I don’t think many people in Holland knew (or know) the name Garko out of a select group of people devoted to the genre. Only Hill & Spencer were real stars, known to the public; they knew (and know) Eastwood of course, but not mainly from the spaghettis, and Van Cleef was (and is) known to a lot of people, but not a real star i’d say
The spaghetti westerns were more popular in the seventies than in the sixties. I have been talking about those late night showing in Eindhoven in the seventies: they were rather popular, but apart from the Trinities spaghettis were never big business in regular showings, even the Leones only became ‘hits’ when they were re-released in the seventies.