Definitely agree with the above post, but just recently i’ve been taking a lot more notice of Aldo Sambrell…he was definitely the best thing in Navajo Joe. It’s just a shame he didn’t get more primary villain roles…
Yes, Sambrell showed much potential in Navajo Joe.
Since Tom B just posted about Claudio Undari (Robert Hundar) it seemed an appropriate time to mention him here again too. I’ve seen two films recently in which he played the villain very well (Hole In The Forehead & The Relentless Four).
He certainly had the look for a villain with his slightly veiled eyelids (almost snake-like at times).
He was a big man but, as I noticed in The Relentless Four, his neck projected forward, at an angle from his torso so that he appeared at times “crooked”.
I have not seen too many of his films. Maybe five or six.
Not up there with the truly evil greats but certainly a noticeable and fine member of the “Spaghetti-western stock company”.
Anybody have fond memories of any of his particular roles?
It’s funny that a guy who could so easily physically embody the villain played the nominal “good guy” in Cut-Throats Nine.
The more of his performances I’ve seen, the more I enjoy him. 8)
I liked him in Death Rides Alone, which I had just seen.
[quote=“Romaine Fielding, post:63, topic:540”]It’s funny that a guy who could so easily physically embody the villain played the nominal “good guy” in Cut-Throats Nine.[/quote]I haven’t ever considered him as a “good guy” in Cut throats. He isn’t a criminal like the rest of the bunch but still he’s almost as bad as they are.
I’d like to add Peter Martell’s rabid performance in God Forgives, His Life is Mine. He’s a real maniac there.
I find this villain phenomenon curious. On the one hand, I’ve always been into villains/bad boys, something to do with their bestiality that I found sexy (yeah, yeah, just being honest here). Then there are those villains who lack sex appeal and are just despicable to look at, let alone review their evil deeds.
So I’m going to divide the ones who are so evil I find sexy:
- Angel Eyes
- El Indio
Ugly Villains that I just want to see dead:
- German Baron in The Big Gundown - that monocle and cape just made me hate him! His role was actually quite pointless in terms of plot; he just hung around with the ‘real’ villains. Sort of like a decorative magnet for hatred.
- Klaus Kinski as anything
- Franco in Sabata - not just the odious comb-over, but also the eyeliner? Good art direction. It really made people hate him.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:35, topic:540”]Dear SD,
In real life I’m a very decent, nice, friendly and well-educated person
Always on the side of the good guys
But when it comes down to the not-so-real, escapist world of literature and cinema …
I’m on the side of the bad guys and the losers
(Probably even more on the side of the losers)
So in the film par excellence in which the bad guy wins …
… I was on the side of the mute
I love all those Shakespeare villains that take pleasure in their own villainy, as Phil describes it
I love Lee, Fernando, Henry, all those spaghetti villains
I think this formidable villainy, this bleakness, this atmosphere of taking pleasure in cruelty, is the reason for me, and many others, to prefer the Italian western to the American western
But when I close my book, leave cinema or stop my DVD player …
… and turn back to the real world …
I’m that nice, fiendly, decent, well-educated person again
(I guess Lee and Fernando weren’t as bad in real life as they were in cinema either)
Klaus: I hate the person, not the characters he played, but Tigrero is not my favourite part of his. Somehow I find Kinski the weakest link in the movie, a more subdued performance (or actor) would’ve been better. I know I’m defending a minority opinion. Kinsky was OK in E DIO DISSE A CAINO … (his best part as a villain !)
Kojak: he sucks (lollies)
Engelbert: it’s a well know fact that he and Mark Damon are one and the same person. I like him more as an actor than as a singer.[/quote]
Well-said and the same for me (and many others, I imagine). That’s why villains are such powerful symbols. They represent our repressed dark sides and freely express them 
[quote=“Mrs Angel Eyes, post:67, topic:540”]Ugly Villains that I just want to see dead:
- German Baron in The Big Gundown - that monocle and cape just made me hate him! His role was actually quite pointless in terms of plot; he just hung around with the ‘real’ villains. Sort of like a decorative magnet for hatred. [/quote]
This one was actually an austrian.
Don’t make the germans responsible for everything
I liked Kinski better when I rewatched The Great Silence more attentively for my review
At first I found him too nasty, too mean, but then I realised it works for the movie
Two others that made an impression where Frank and Scaife (in Quanto costa morire)
Fernando Sancho is a favourite too, but he’s more the black sheep of the family everbody secretly admires - great fella
Lee van Cleef as Sentenza springs to mind too, of course, but to me he’ll be Colonel Mortimer forever
[quote=“stanton, post:69, topic:540”]This one was actually an austrian.
Don’t make the germans responsible for everything ;)[/quote]
My bad, LOL. I’m sorry. Were there German producers in The Big Gundown? Would that explain why the Baron was Austrian?
Nope, no german producer.
But in the german theatrical version (only 80 mins) the Baron was completely cut out. So maybe the german distributor also recognized the prussian “virtues” in him.
^Wow, very political. Honestly, the Baron really didn’t add much to the plot except his role was more of a foil, representative of the decadent social class that Sollima didn’t like - maybe? Having grown up in post-WW II Italy, Sollima probably didn’t have a very good impression of his Northern neighbors.
But I loved the moments he shared with Lee van Cleef - they were really opposites.
[quote=“Mrs Angel Eyes, post:73, topic:540”]^Wow, very political. Honestly, the Baron really didn’t add much to the plot except his role was more of a foil, representative of the decadent social class that Sollima didn’t like - maybe? Having grown up in post-WW II Italy, Sollima probably didn’t have a very good impression of his Northern neighbors.
But I loved the moments he shared with Lee van Cleef - they were really opposites.[/quote]
The film is also about class struggle and the choice of class (Van Cleef changing sides to help Milian)
I think the baron is a metaphor for both the military (his ‘prussian virtues’ as Stanton puts it), and the upper class decadence and arrogance, here symbolised by a baron going West, more or less like the upper class families in Shalako
I always liked this element of the movie, apart from the metaphorical implications, it’s such a nice idea, the duel between the aristocratic european and ‘uncivilized westerner’
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:74, topic:540”]The film is also about class struggle and the choice of class (Van Cleef changing sides to help Milian)
I think the baron is a metaphor for both the military (his ‘prussian virtues’ as Stanton puts it), and the upper class decadence and arrogance, here symbolised by a baron going West, more or less like the upper class families in Shalako
I always liked this element of the movie, apart from the metaphorical implications, it’s such a nice idea, the duel between the aristocratic european and ‘uncivilized westerner’[/quote]
The reasons you mentioned are also why I loved this film. There were also some cinematographic shots that were very difficult to pull off. The art direction and make-up had a bit of a SW low-budget feel, but that isn’t a big issue. The last scene where Milian and LVC rode off reminded me of Lawrence of Arabia, and I also liked how it had a semi-Zapata theme. This is probably my second favorite SW after GBU, of course.
Yep, and the Austrian Baron’s ramblings about precision and the science of killing men. I guess Sollima made no secret of his leftist leanings by creating this Baron who was the most pompous villain around in contrast to Lee van Cleef who is/was one of the coolest guys ever on screen.
My question is: Did guys really wear capes like that at the time?
i think the best villain is John Steiner in Mannaja.
Two i can think of right now are Tigrero and Nino Castelnuovo (Junior) in Fulci’s Massacre Time.
i loved alfio catabiano from pistoleros one of the most brutal ever!
and franco ressel from sabata really psycho