I feel the revenge theme is beautifully illustrated here and the twists etc, with no easy answers (which I don’t think are important anyhow) but artistically so nice with irresistible music, mood, atmosphere, Almeria landscapes and the minimal dialogue and so on.
Ranking 9 on my SW Top list and with an 8/10 rating.
‘Une corde, un colt’ (aka ‘Cemetery Without Crosses’) didn’t get a theatrical release in the United States but it got one in Canada. It premiered at the French Film Festival in Montreal (September 26 1969 - October 2 1969) before going on general release in Quebec in early November 1969 as a double-feature with ‘48 heures d’amour’.
‘Cemetery Without Crosses’ was finally screened in the U.S. as part of a spaghetti western retrospective by American Cinematheque at Raleigh Studios, Hollywood on November 29 1996. “Watching a bunch of greasy, stubble-faced gunslingers speak French takes some getting used to, but ultimately it makes no difference, since there are probably only two dozen lines of dialogue in the whole film.” The LA Weekly reviewer even threw in a passing reference to our elusive ‘Chrysanthemums for a Bunch of Swine’.
Sources below: (1) (Le Devoir, [Montreal], September 11, 1969) (2) (The Montreal Star, January 30 1971)
I’m getting the feeling that those so called ‘bizarre’ film title references may be pinched from the 1968 Frank Wolff narrated documentary - ‘Westerns Italian Style’, which many of us first saw on the Blue Underground release of ‘Run Man, Run’ - just seems a little specific to be coincidental.
Rewatched again.
Such a GREAT film. It’s a shame that Hossein didn’t make more Westerns because this and Le Gout de la Violence are absolutely masterpieces.
There aren’t many duels in all of spaghetti westerns better than the staring duel between Maria and Manuel halfway through the film. So much is said without words (in fact, I think Maria’s confession before dying is practically unnecessary).
8 out of 10 for me.
P.S.: the soundtrack, especially the score in that “duel” sounds like a ripoff of the Adagio from El Concierto de Aranjuez. Does anyone else thinks the same?
