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Saw this again this week after a gap of about 10 years. Still pretty entertaining despite the misogyny. It does make me laugh and is very nasty and grubby to boot.
There was some comment above about the delayed UK release. It was rejected entirely by the BBFC in February 1972 - this information has recently been restored to the BBFC database - and then classified X (Over 18 only) in June 1972 after about 7m of cuts. Scenes that were significantly cut include the Mexican soldiers groping the women in the ātheatreā, the machine-gunning of the soldiers later in the same room and the scene in the desert in which the girls are stripped and mauled and shot. The torture of Blindman when he is dropped onto a table was also cut. The UK theatrical version didnāt appear for over a year afterwards and ran only 96m.
In contrast Blindman got only a 14 rating in Italy. The Italian censor had got incredibly lenient from about late 1969 as far as I can tell giving virtually everything an unrestricted rating unless there was a lot of nudity and violence. This would have got an 18 if released in 1968.
I felt sorry for Marisa Solinas who had played the heroine in Killer Adios only 3 years previously, who is required to do nothing except take her clothes off for one brief scene (which looks to have been abridged as well). Must have been very short of cash.
The 50 brides include French actress Janine Reynaud, who had major roles in several Jesus Franco movies including leading roles in Succubus (1969), Two Undercover Angels and Kiss Me Monster. I recognised her in several shots and I am pretty sure she was the Bride who attacked Magda Konopka outside the cell and dragged her inside. The database (consistent with the Wikipedia entry) has her credited as āprostituteā but she is one of the Brides. I am guessing Klein and Baldi and Anthony combed the field of European exploitation movies to find āBridesā willing to take their clothes off for nominal cash.
Magda Konopka had been in the news quite a bit over her personal life including a court case so might have been desperate for the work. And Baldi gives us a brief āmoney shotā of her to see what the fuss was about (although I presume that a body double was used for the longer shots of her tied to the post naked).
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Interesting stuff regarding the censorship ā¦ I doubt the nudity was any kind of big deal for āstarletsā of this era ā¦ and the same for Magda in her naked scenes - Iād bet my last cigar there were no body doubles employed for a film of this kind ā¦ besides, itās scorching hot in Almeria and the ābabesā were only too happy to get their kit off ā¦
Credit page has been addedā¦
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Damn, I thought this was going to be a blu-ray announcement
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In the āUnidentifiedā section, the second character, āBunnyā, is, Mal Evans ā¦ Friend and road manager / security, for The Beatles ā¦ who died in tragic circumstances in 1976
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āBlindmanā premiered in the United States at the Oriental Theater, Chicago on January 12 1972.
In the UK it opened at the Astoria Theatre on 27th December 1973, followed by a general release in mid-January 1974 double-billed with āGordonās Warā. After its run ended in July '74 it returned for a few screenings in 1975 before a final showing at Droitwich Film Theatre on 30th July 1978 (1 day only).
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The UK version of Blindman was cut by 7m by the censors following an original rejection (and submitted print missing 2m of footage never dubbed into English).
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Rewatched this one.
This is one of the better SWs. The look of the film is extremely spaghetti-esque with the desert fort, the burial of Candy (Ringo Starr) and the cemetery in the end, et cetera.
Also Blindmanās outfit is both spaghetti-esque and a bit unusual with his floppy hat and coat with one sleeve missing. There is also a lot of dynamite and a machine-gun in the film, typical SW stuff.
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This is also one of the more violent SWs. A lot of abuse is directed both towards Blindman and his 50 women.
The idea of a blind protagonist obviously came from the series of films with the Japanese swordsman Zatoichi. There had also been the series of films with the blind Japanese swordswoman Crimson Bat.
Tony Anthony is great as Blindman, the character can both handle himself and is a bit vulnerable at the same time, this is something that fits Anthony.
Blindmanās horse Boss is his companion and his eyes. Navajo Joe also had a horse who helped out sometimes.
A rather unique SW with influences from both Japanese sword-fighting movies and women-in-prison movies. It doesnāt have depth like the best SWs, but is neverthless entertaining and worth watching.
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Indeed Baldi said in an interview that he didnāt know anything about a blind samurai called Zatoichi and Blindman had nothing to do with the Japanese stuff. Who knowsā¦..maybe Anthony knew but didnāt tell to Baldiā¦..
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Tony Antony may have seen An Eye for an Eye (1966) which features Patrick Wayne as a blind gunfighter and Robert Lansing, who has crippled hands, as his āeyesā.
That could be an explanation. It seems that the Zatoichi-influence isnāt first-hand.
This is a crude theory of mine: the Italian writers, more so than actors either side of the pond, tended to be what we would call nerds. They may have been influenced by Greek tragedies or Japanese b/w flicks alike
I think itās not only a crude theory. Flicks like "Ringo returnsā and āThe forgotten Pistoleroā proofed the ancient Greek-Drama-Influence. And the first Leone is on the Japanese side, obviously. 
I saw some of Blindman over ten years back maybe on the movies for men channel on the Astra satellite - a really poor quality version which was dull to watch. I watched it again last night and quite enjoyed it. The bar was low and I thought I wouldnāt enjoy Ringo Starr but he was quite solid in it. There is much more to blindman than Starr. Anthony is good as the protagonist. Domingo and his sister are really good villains. Domingo is both sadistic and gets a bit crazy. Pilar adds to the plot and the horse is a great lad.
Some quite good use of the locations in the mountains and backgrounds. I liked the Mexican army fort and its buildings. Good use of the cave too. The Mexican general is a good character - I think the same actor is in a stranger returns.
Blindman keeps going at a good pace with no let up and the action and plot move quickly with the double crossing, massacres, escapes and attacks. Lots of explosives and shooting. The attacks on the women are quite gratuitous and trafficking is a theme. Blindman is saving the women but just to traffic them somewhere else?
However overall I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would and give it a solid 4 stars. Itās well made with lots of good action.
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Interesting read:
btw the restored DVD from 2016 is still easily available for under 12 dollars
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the ABKCO restored version is superior to the Koch release. It looks really great.
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One of the very few Koch releases I was disappointed with. The ABKCO DVD has a much better audio track as well
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