Death Played the Flute / Lo ammazzò come un cane … ma lui rideva ancora (Angelo Pannacciò, 1972)

Watched this again last night… I like it even more than the first time I watched it. Very dark and weird!

I watched the film yesterday.
Strange film. I dont know, I should find in good or not.
The locations are different than in most other SW. Not bad, something different.
And yes, there are some good ideas. But then again there are passages that are just boring. Much is riding. Just as in films by Fidani. Since you probably wanted to increase the running time (just over 70 minutes)
In addition, the movie looks very cheap.

And I quite agree with Silence, the end is reminiscent of the cemetery without crosses.

But the main score is bad. It fits more into a U.S. series from the 80’s.

Considering all its obvious failings (see others comments above to get a complete list) and its ultra low budget (possibly the cheapest looking western I’ve seen) this one strangely manages to be far more enjoyable than it should be. I genuinely can’t quite work out why but somehow, on a very low level it seems to work. And, for the record, I kind of liked the cheesy, middle of the road score too. Not sure how that happened either.
Can perfectly understand why anyone might dislike this one but I found it strangely enjoyable.

[quote=“Phil H, post:23, topic:63”]Considering all its obvious failings (see others comments above to get a complete list) and its ultra low budget (possibly the cheapest looking western I’ve seen) this one strangely manages to be far more enjoyable than it should be. I genuinely can’t quite work out why but somehow, on a very low level it seems to work. And, for the record, I kind of liked the cheesy, middle of the road score too. Not sure how that happened either.
Can perfectly understand why anyone might dislike this one but I found it strangely enjoyable.[/quote]

Strangely enjoyable. Very good description for this movie. :wink:

The comments on the thread got me curious so I went ahead and watched this. The weird directing, poor editing and sometime eerie music (even though most of the time it’s just okay) makes for some quasi-surreal moments and it does have a nice ugly, dirty look. One of the few films that probably benefits from the fact that the print is relatively worn. But in the end, the truly bizarre moments are too few and those moments and it’s ultra-sleazy aspect do not make up for the fact that it’s badly structured, disjointed story and that it’s filled with boring unnecessary scenes and subplots that were probably only there so the film could have a decent running time. It’s the second time I watch a spagh with Steven Tedd and I’ve got to say I don’t like him very much, plus he looks… off. Some action scenes border on the incoherent. I was looking forward for the last scene, but I was a bit disappointed, it’s not as excessive as I would have hoped and it could have been more convincing.

The film in itself should have been more excessive, sleazy stuff like this needs to go all the way. Not the worst in the genre, watchable and at times pretty fun, but overall meh.

Watched it today. Nothing to write home about, it’s an OK simple little film that borrows an idea or two from DEATH RIDES A HORSE with the finale bringing strongly CEMETERY WITHOUT CROSSES on mind. Unfortunately the lousy cinematography and editing kept ruining the mood for me. M.E. Kay is also right, it’s a badly structured film, the story is disjointed and the plot loses its focus at some point. On the other hand the score was incredible , so dark and atmospheric, felt like it slipped through some obscure satanic 70s film. For the time it lasts is OK, 15 more minutes and it wouldn’t be so OK though.

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This is the spaghetti western answer to the Supertramp album Crisis? What Crisis?:


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Elvis? What Elvis?
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[size=12pt][url=http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Death_Played_the_Flute_Review]http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Death_Played_the_Flute_Review[url]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/854/rideva.jpg/[/url] [/size]

Yeah, yeah… probably blasphemy to most… but this is probably my all time favorite spaghetti western. It’s undeniable that Angelo Panaccio’s films are very weird!

Oooh - interesting :o
Have you done a top 20 for Stanton?

Very interesting :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“Reverend Danite, post:29, topic:63”]Oooh - interesting :o
Have you done a top 20 for Stanton?[/quote]

Not for me, for everybody.

I’m only the list’s servant.

Death Played the Flute has at the moment about zero points, he probably hasn’t.

;D
I put myself in the position of being the list’s servant’s servant - trying to provoke a list from this brother :wink:
Indeed - I think we’d all be fascinated in a list that has DPTF at the top…

Yes, cm215 (btw what could that mean?) let’s see what more surprises you have in store.

There weren’t much new lists lately anyway … not a single one this year … no Easter update for the main list … it’s oh so quiet sshhh

I recently reviewed the Flute but saw no reason to review my Top 20, to put it mildly

oh yes, cm 215, show us your TOP 20 list, we are curious about it :wink:

Yeah, I can make a top 20! It’ll be very surprising to many because I’m not big on the the more “mainstream” flicks. Where can I post it? By the way, cm215 doesn’t mean much… CM are my initials and 215 is my telephone area code!

Here : http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,190.1900.html

I’m also curious to see it!

And despite not liking Death Played the Flute very much, I almost feel like giving it another watch. I’m in the mood for one dirty spagh.

Thanks… My top 20 has now been posted in the Top 20 thread. Death Played The Flute is still number one :slight_smile:

I’ve just watched this one…

I knew it was a low-budgeted movie, but the ensemble looks astonishingly cheap. I wonder if there was real booze in bottles or just tea pretending to be whiskey. Unfortunately, the director, in spite of his best intentions, is unsurprisingly unable to make this better. The first half isn’t totally engaging, full of really badly edited action sequences, some hand-held camerawork and other bad stuff, while I found the second half a bit more interesting. Sure, it’s still as amateurish as the first one, but one can spot apart some incompetence surreal-like scenes which weren’t too bad and left me even fascinated. Nonetheless it doesn’t diminish the fact it’s a poorly directed flick with some bad and good ideas merged in one piece, the upshot is rather negative though. Anyway it remains a nice curio, even though it’s an unsuccessful effort. Not to mention an unintentionally amusing acting that made me chuckle a couple of times. I loved some expressions of actors’ faces, particularly this one ::):

As for the ending, I think it was “trashingly” creepy - it’s bad, but it left me with an uneasy feeling, so I guess it succeeded in astonishing me in its own way. It reminds me something else as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzK6VN-hwhw

To sum up, the first half sucks, while the second one manages to conjure up a genuinely bizarre climax that will leave you… disgusted or fascinated with its trashiness. Kinda. 3/10

Oh, I forgot to mention - I love the soundtrack.

Scherp, was the fellatio scene described below (posts #8, see #14 too) present in the version of the film you have reviewed?

[url]http://www.gentedirispetto.com/forum/showthread.php?15584-Lo-ammazz-come-un-cane-ma-lui-rideva-ancora[/url]

To sum up:

  1. Apparently Death Played the Flute was written and directed entirely by Luigi Petrini, who then found himself in disagreement with the producer because of editing and refused to recognize the film. The source is Petrini himself.

  2. Porno Erotico Western was patched together from Lo ammazzò come un cane… ma lui rideva ancora/Death Played the Flute and another Pannacciò production - in all probability Sei una carogna… e t’ammazzo!/You Are Carrion and I Will Kill You - with the addition of sex scenes directed by Pannacciò and filmed (but when?) in Gordon Mitchell’s Western Town. The source is Maurizio Centini, cinematographer on Porno Erotico Western.