A bandit called Ramon and his gang are looking for hidden treasure in a town. The men folk of the town are held hostage and / or killed. This only leaves the women and children in the town who look for the treasure in order to give to the bandits. Four men arrive in town who are looking for Ramon agree to protect the town from the bandits.
A bunch of different characters kept me we watching in between the action, with Ramon played by Dan Vadis being my favourite character as he is a mean spirited kind of fella who does not discriminate who he kills.
Giuseppe Variās first foray into the genre is styled like a classic US Western but is very much a transitional title. The siege scenario and the blandness of Giacomo Rossi-Stuartās hero (I really canāt warm to that actor at all, certainly not in lead roles) belong to an earlier era, while Dan Vadisā over-the-top bandido points towards new-fangled European excess.
Possible spoiler: one particularly daft scene early on has Rossi-Stuart, who has ridden into town after bandits have killed his father on their ranch, break up a fistfight in the saloon before casually announcing the murder to the sheriff, almost like an afterthought. Very sloppy writing.
I wouldnāt count Deguejo to the circle of early SWs, which were to greater parts still inspired in a negative way by US b-picture standards.
For me this is a ārealā Spagie. Characters, dialogues, costumes, motivations are typical SW, as is the violent action. If my memories of the film do not betray me.
Not an early SW, no; as I said, itās a transitional title, one of many clustered around the period 1965-66 to be inspired equally by the established concept of a āWesternā (ie American) and the crazy stuff that guys like Leone were trying.
Based on luke warm reviews of this film I went into it expecting little but was very happily surprised.
It is, as mentioned above, something of a mix in terms of style between the traditional and European but, as the story progresses, it gets progressively nastier and wound up being a very enjoyable ride for me.
Vadis in particular, without giving any real depth to his character, (to be fair he doesnāt have many lines in which to do that) is nevertheless a stand out performance. Possibly my favourite of his to date in the genre. His Ramon is downright nasty, not only killing indescriminately but doing it up close and dirty whenever possible. Men, women, in the back or whilst holding them by the scruff of the neck, heāll shoot anything anywhere any time which is just as a proper Mexican bandito chief should be his excesses lift the whole thing above what could easily have turned into a blandish b picture. He also delivers a nice, extended and writhing death scene which I always enjoy. In the end the whole thing becomes almost Shakespearian in its blood letting with every major character bar one winding up in the dust. Which is another feature that always satisfies. So, all in all, a much better experience than I expected and well worth its time.
I watched a download of this taken from Italian TV and although it was fandubbed into English I could only copy it onto disc with the first (Italian) audio track. (I use Nero for this) Annoying but not a difficult film to understand in Italian and Iād rather watch it that way on my TV than on my computer in English. Does anyone else have these problems when copying downloaded files onto disc? It has happened to me on a few occasions and is sometimes more frustrating than it was here.
[quote=āPhil H, post:7, topic:1716ā]I watched a download of this taken from Italian TV and although it was fandubbed into English I could only copy it onto disc with the first (Italian) audio track. (I use Nero for this) Annoying but not a difficult film to understand in Italian and Iād rather watch it that way on my TV than on my computer in English. Does anyone else have these problems when copying downloaded files onto disc? It has happened to me on a few occasions and is sometimes more frustrating than it was here.[/quote]I use program called ConvertXtoDVD. Easy to use, faster than Nero and I never had problem including dual audio layers or subtitles.
I remember this one very fondly - in fact it could make my alternative top 20 next time - it certainly needs another viewing.
Danny boy is indeed ādownright nastyā and I remember his demise being mentioned in the ābest deathsā thread.
I also remember tickling Romaineās funnybone when I mentioned the underwealmingness of the mountain rescue - as we have to climb higher hills in west yorkshire to get to the shops.
Iāll have a look at the quality of my dvd Phil - can always bring one down nexttime Londonway?
There are two solutions: connect your PC directly to the TV, or watch the thing on your PC
I bought myself an easy chair a while ago, and found a nice corner in the house where I can install myself with my chair and PC. Once youāre a bit accustomed to it, itās very comfortable. I also have this direct-connection-to-TV possibility, but watch the downloads most of the time in my private corner
Very good image quality (see link below, penultimate post) for the version that was recently broadcast on RaiMovie, but thereās a slight problem: if for some unknown reason the introductory scene is placed immediately after the title sequence showing Norman travelling to town - and that is the case here - the opening on the whole is obviously less effective.
Just viewed this one agian via the new fandub at CG. Never noticed before but the Ramon characters voice sounds a bit out of place on the english dub. Yes there is violent action in this one, but the story I am not sure on at times. Perhaps a little padded out. But the main character is a good one, and their are a few plot turns to keep you interested.
