Between God, the Devil and a Winchester / Anche nel West c’era una volta Dio (Marino Girolami, 1968)

[Mickey13]

Copied from the Spagvemberfest 2023 thread:

@Mickey13

The literary source material perforce confers a degree of class and dignity to the motion picture and though Girolami’s execution evidently does not rise to the full potential of the tale, at the very least he does not muff the deal and handles the narrative in a moderately balanced fashion. The movie works best as a sort of old-school adventure in that it features both the treasure hunt as well as the laggard journey sporadically disrupted by shootouts and doublecrossings en route. The itinerary nature of the plot renders the narration somewhat different in that it does not pivot around some town getting overwhelmed by banditry as usual, but rather lays out the quest for the treasure trove in a pretty pleasing fashion.

The cast consisting of Roland, Camardiel and Baldassarre among others turns out decent enough, though with the exception of Roland, the performances do not stand out in any way, shape or form which is in line with the middling quality of Girolami’s execution as well as lackluster appearance of film’s locations. There is no denying that the movie fails to introduce much in the way of novelty into the equation, but the storyline flows just fine and the work is not too bad for a marathon of this sort; it might not score high in terms of its originality or quality of overall craftsmanship, but the material here is rendered in a predominantly acceptable manner and albeit bland, the flick does not veer off course and stays rather coherent throughout.