[quote=āSilence, post:79, topic:203ā]My favorite Baldi of the ones Iāve seen. The others easily get too melodramic.[/quote]Same here, I like the Leonard Mann one but i think itās a bit overrated.
Yes. For me, even the best of Western Baldi.
And as already described by Stanton, I also believe that Anthony has brought his ideas. For Baldi has in principle a different style. His stories are more focused on family dramas. Most background greek tragedies. Such as Il pistolero dellāAve Mary or Texas addio. This is clear from his previous job as a history teacher.
Blindmanās totally different. Near the Stranger series. One could almost describe it as a continuation. The only difference is the blindness of Anthony.
Although I am of the opinion that the story after āUn dollaro tra i dentiā, āUn uomo, un cavallo, una pistolaā and āLo straniero di silenzioā is very exhausted. And then came with Get Mean a film that is even crazier. But all the movies are based on the Stranger series.
This is really a spaghetti western i need to watch again before i evaluate it. I remembert being totally hyped when Koch released the DVD and when i watched i felt somehow slightly dissapointed due to itĀ“s tremendous reputation. Baldi did incorporate some pretty unique styles and elements in the movie. But somehow the story line felt quite repetetive with Blindman getting cheated each time and getting his 50 women back. But like i said itĀ“s been some time so maybe i should rewatch it one of these days.
It was for me the other way round.
I bought the DVD just out of an impulsive feeling due to a beautiful looking package, and it was a DVD from a film I wouldnāt have had as a present only a few years ago, and from a director which I ranked then as lousy (well, his films often are still lousy). I was sure I would regret this spontaneous buy.
And then I couldnāt believe my eyes, when I saw how amazing the first scene was, and I went on, and I expected it always to went down qualitywise, but to my surprise it mostly kept the level.
This phenomenon sunds quite familiar. The same thing happened to me with several SWs.
First viewed this one sourced from the Japanese disc (the shorter version) but as heavily cut did not enjoy, but all this changed when viewed the Koch disc.
Blindman overall is a bit too bizarre for me to like. However, I do think it has some of the best one liners ever heard in a western. Definitely one of the top 10 most quotable SWs.
Blindman (Baldi/71)
āBlindmanā (1971) is a Spaghetti Western directed by Ferdinando Baldi.
The plot is simple, almost a mere showcase for the highlights that are contain in this film: a blind, if deadly, gunfighter played by the great Tony Anthony, is hired to escort 50 mail order brides to their miner husbands. But heās double-crossed by his associates who sell them to the dangerous Mexican bandit (Lloyd Battista) Domingo. Blindman tracks down the bandit to get his bridesā¦
This is more bizarre Spaghetti than usual as it has Ringo Starr of The Beatles fame playing a Mex outlaw and, surprisingly, equips himself well and is much better than one has any right to expect. Tony Anthony is the best actor in the movie, playing Blindman excellently and makes us believe he can kill five Mexican crooks, who all of weapons, with his rifle. There are some rather mean jokes played at his expense (i. e. knocking over pots, breaking mirrors), but these thankfully stop after the beginning. The rest of the cast are good, if not exactly memorable and the music by Stelvio Cipriani is pleasant enough. The cinematography by Riccardo Pallottini just does the job of telling the story, but then, that is the first priority for photography. Baldiās direction is very good, even if the cruelty to women is overdone. There is also more nudity in this Spaghetti Western than in any other I have seen.
So, the action and shootouts are well done, there is at least one great performance and the direction couldnāt be more spirited. What more could you ask from from a Spaghetti Western?
Two great performances?
ā¦ a bit more nudity?
Yeah, some FFN scenes.
Two Beatles in it ?
Why not the Stones? Stones, especially big ones, are always good in westerns.
There are some really cool things about this movie, for example the line āYou damn crazy gringo!ā. I just loved it.
However, the rough scene where Domingoās men massacre the women doesnāt fit its light style. I also didnāt like some things about the end - more precisely, it would be much cooler if the Blindman hadnāt killed Domingo. There would have been room for a sequel, called āBlindmenā 
You mean Ringo Starr? I didnāt actually know which character he played until after watching the film. Iām not sure if this is a good thing or not.
Me to when I viewed for the first time.
No, my answer wasnāt directly about Blindman.
The question was what more we could ask from a SW.
But Starr was good in the role. I had generally no complaints about the acting in Blindman.
Ken Loach had some in Raining Stones
Very good indeed
[quote=āStanton, post:97, topic:203ā]No, my answer wasnāt directly about Blindman.
The question was what more we could ask from a SW.
But Starr was good in the role. I had generally no complaints about the acting in Blindman.[/quote]
Ah yes, I get your meaning now.
And I agree the acting on the whole was very compertant.
Database comment (with a little help from a friend, even if I only know his name):
āAfter the surprising worldwide success of the first 2 Stranger films, actor-producer Tony Anthony seemed to have realised that his odd sense of humour (which remains singular many years after) deserves much of the āsuccess creditā. ā¦ With Blindman, Anthony, in collaboration with director Ferdinando Baldi, decides to really push the boundaries of the SW. The result was another international success, and one of the most unusual films ever made.ā (William Connolly)
And Blindman is really a western of exorbitances, and excesses, and crudities, but succeeds in building on an overall feel of a tasteful tastelessness. Even the beautiful music seems to be aggressive. And the greatest exorbitance is, that it is after all a surprisingly stylishly made film.