Best of Spaghetti Westerns: In the Tradition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

DVD, BluRay & VOD
1

I think this is really good news. A perfect boxed set for someone just starting to explore beyond Leone, Corbucci and Sollima.

The Best of Spaghetti Westerns: In the Tradition of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Timeless Media Group, 2011)( I paid ~$25 including shipping)

– All but one is widescreen (although the box erroneously says fullscreen) and the picture quality is at least a couple of notches above ANY other (non-KochMedia) compilation set, most are quite good in fact.

– Ten DVDs, 20 films:

Una lunga fila di croci (97m)
Una bara per lo scerrifo (85m)
Une corde, un colt (87m)
All’ombra di una colt (78m)
Shanghai Joe (87m) and Return of Shanghai Joe (94m)
A Pistol for Ringo (94m)and The Return of Ringo (96m)
Those Dirty Dogs! (Campa carogna…) (86m)
Spara, gringo, spara (91m)
Gli fumavano le colt…Camposanto (89m)
$10,000 dollari per un massacro (93m)
Ringo: il volto della vendetta (98m)
Un dollaro bucato (91m)
Testa t’ammazzo…Croce sei morto…Alleluja (92m)
Sette dollari sul rosso (95m)
Bandidos (95m)
Forgotten Pistolero (80m)
Il ritorno di Clint il solitario (80m)
A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (93m)

2

Sounds awesome. Might turn out to be the best public domain set of SWs yet. Some good films that were previously not available in R1. I wonder what the source of the prints was though. Clyde, would you be so kind as to provide a sample screenshot of the menus? Thanks.

3

I’d like to, Colonel, but this board has never allowed me to post any photos.

4

I found a great review of this set:

5

Nice set, i like all Movies in it! (exept the bad first Shanghai Joe Film with kinski). Perfect for beginners :wink:

6

So far I’m very happy with this box set…Movies are widescreen & picture is pretty decent. I dont think they’re cropped. They are not Koch quality (But for this price I wouldnt expect that) Happy to have Cemetery Without Crosses! I hope theres not much cut from it though. I’ve seen it once in the theater a few years back and I cant remember that much of it…

7

If it is a Pal version they used. it is most likely uncut.

I think most of these films are uncut, but haven’t checked it.

8

Yeah I think they are mostly uncut, or at least the longest version available. I think alot of the prints are from SPO, X rated Kult, Suevia etc…

9

Now the bad news: They Call Him Cemetery looks (and sounds) more like what I’d expect from a budget box set :frowning:

10

[quote=“Col. Douglas Mortimer, post:4, topic:2725”]I found a great review of this set:
http://cinemaraiders.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-of-spaghetti-westerns.html[/quote]

Thanks for posting that link. I was on the verge of clicking “Buy It Now” at amazon when I saw the bloggers’ breakdown of the cuts in each of the films. Each film is substantially cut, some by as much as 11 minutes. I wonder how many of the uncut European editions have English dubs or English subtitle options. I’ve asked the blogger that very question. If the answer is none of them, or only a few of them, I will buy this set anyhow.

By the way I have no patience with spaghetti western comedies, so I’m glad the Timeless Media Group avoided them when compiling this set. Timeless Media Group releases mostly American-made TV westerns series and some telefilms. The quality varies from set to set, but by and large, they do the best they can. I’ve bought a number of their box-sets. I particularly cherish the Guns of Will Sonnett set. Every episode is included, although they only had to access to syndication prints.

Richard

11

Even if the films are a bit cut, if you are a notice SW fan I would recommend getting it. Its relatively inexpensive, theres not much to lose and its a very good selection of films.

Probably a rip of the franco cleef version.

12

I have no patience with spaghetti western comedies, so I’m glad the Timeless Media Group avoided them when compiling this set.<

This set actually has a few comedies: Deep West aka They Call Me Hallelujah and A Bullet for a Stranger aka They Call him Cemetery, are imo two of THE BEST SW comedies. Also A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof I havent watched yet. Some may consider Shanghai Joe a comedy because its so bad :wink: They used a widescreen German version (the title and credits are all in German) and looks decent.

13

But these are only in parts comedies

14

Its (luckily) not a “comedy” like Dicke Luft in Sacramento but I think They Call Me Hallelujah is mostly comedy :wink: Maybe They Call him Cemetery doesnt have quite so much…

15

Let’s say half of it. But there is still enough shooting and killing and the finale is not a big fistfight (like in the Holy Ghost film) but at least a real shoot-out.

16

The sound of His Name is Cemetery (disc 5) is so terrible that I had to turn it off. I mean, mind blowingly bad. The video is VERY poor, but the sound just hurts it’s so bad. We’re talking worse than VHS. Worse than anything you can imagine.

The rest that I’ve seen look and even sound alright. Most are non-anamorphic widescreen. Most are watchable in terms of quality. It’s no Blue Underground, that’s for sure. Wild East beats them handily, too.

Otherwise, this is a nice set for the right price. Some hard to find ones on here.

Yes, almost all of them are cut.

17

Yeah unfortunately the The Cemetery film is probably a rip from the Franco Cleef version. And Franco Cleef used the only existing english dub at the time, a very old and worn out South African VHS tape.

18

[quote=“Col. Douglas Mortimer, post:4, topic:2725”]I found a great review of this set:
http://cinemaraiders.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-of-spaghetti-westerns.html[/quote]

Just one thing this review misses: On the third disc My Name is Shanghai Joe and The Return of Shanghai Joe have been switched around, so when you play the one called Shanghai Joe (Il mio nome è Shanghai Joe) the film that plays is actually The Return of Shanghai Joe, and vice-versa. So My Name is Shanghai Joe is actually presented in widescreen, while The Return of Shanghai Joe is the one not. This also means that instead of My Name is Shanghai Joe missing 11 minutes it is only missing 4.

I know this because I own two copies of My Name is Shanghai Joe and the one listed as The Return of Shanghai Joe on this set is the same film that I have as My Name is Shanghai Joe on a different DVD. Just thought I’d mention that.

19

Hi, amigos!

I just picked up this box-set, and so far i’m loving it. I’ve REALLY become obssesed with Spaghetti’s over the last few months, so I decided to branch out and pick up some lesser known SW( lesser known to me anyway). I’ve been a casual SW fan for years, so I think this set is good for people looking to get into the genre a bit more after watching Leone’s amazing films. I haven’t watched everything yet, but so far I’ve really enjoyed

Bandidos (Awsome film!)
10,000 For a Massacre
Forgotten Pistolero
Cemetary Without Crosses (Incredible!)

1 Like
20

[quote=“RamonRed, post:19, topic:2725”]Hi, amigos!

I just picked up this box-set, and so far i’m loving it. I’ve REALLY become obssesed with Spaghetti’s over the last few months, so I decided to branch out and pick up some lesser known SW( lesser known to me anyway). I’ve been a casual SW fan for years, so I think this set is good for people looking to get into the genre a bit more after watching Leone’s amazing films. I haven’t watched everything yet, but so far I’ve really enjoyed

Bandidos (Awsome film!)
10,000 For a Massacre
Forgotten Pistolero
Cemetary Without Crosses (Incredible!)[/quote]
Yep, glad to hear that more and more people are interested in spaghetti westerns. You can search for films that are on Tarantino’s Top 20 as well, which includes many great titles.