This western is obscure, sometimes isn’t so clear… but enjoyable
Someway Don Ramirez lost his hacienda for a group of banditos lead Fernando Sancho, when a young boy goes there and got very bad in their hands. His brother, an astronomer dressing a jaguar cover makes revenge!!!
REQUIEM PER UN GRINGO /DUEL IN THE ECLIPSE 1968 Dir. G. Martin/L.Merino
LANG JEFFREYS Fernando Sancho Ruben Rojo Aldo Sambrell
Powerful leading performance from 60s/70s Exploitation Cult Actor LANG JEFFREYS
gives this gritty, tough, revengeful SW an added boost. When his brother is killed by
bandits Ross (Jeffreys) sets out to avenge the death by setting traps to liquidate them.
Useful support from chubby/oily Sancho/Sambrell and Rojo.
Good locations/music/direction, excellent cast, outstanding plot make this a winner.
My Vote for DUEL IN THE ECLIPSE 1968 is 16.7 out of 20
When you start a NEW FILM Topic can you PLZ POST the Title, MAIN CAST, Director
or nobody will know what you are talking about , without having to leave the forum :’(
Have seen Duel in the Eclipse in a heavily cut german version (about 15 min missing). Very violent in spite of all the cuts.
Great engl. title for this refreshing SW, but the original one is also very good :
Requiem para el gringo
Well made SW which tells an uncomplicated (but not simple) revenge story in a fitting straight manner. It’s mainly the stylish direction which sets this film apart from the bulk of all the only half inspired directed SWs. Reminds me of Dead Men Ride, which has similar qualities without aiming too high.
I will get me soon a probably uncut engl. version, then I’ll see if Duel in the Eclipse will enter my exclusive Top 50 club.
This is one of my all-time favorite SW’s! The only things I do not like about it are Lang Jeffries’ leopard skin poncho (way out of place for a story taking place in this time period)…and the gunshot sound effects are a bit thin sounding.
But, even those small things do not keep me from enjoying the heck out of this gem of a film!
Great music, too!
I really wish someone would release a proper DVD of this one…soon!
Hello Cris, I thought that too about the poncho, but its a mexican location. Don´t they have their jaguar God? Just like on Apocalyptho :s Mel Gibson´s… Anyway It´s cinema!!! haha
Ahhh…interesting, Raph_Alv!!
I hadn’t even thought of the connection to the Jaguar God!!!
You know, that actually adds a whole different dimension to Lang Jeffries’ character, too. Looking at it from that angle…it makes him even more mysterious and mystical. He is an expert in the ways of astrology and he wears a poncho made from the skin of a sacred and mythic animal!
This movie just got even better in my mind!!!
[quote=“stanton, post:10, topic:866”]Chris, what do you think of Merino’s other westerns? They are rather unknown.
There are 3 Zorro flics and 3 more Spags, one of them was made in the 80s.
Except of the 1st (Kitosch with George Hilton) none of them were released in Germany.[/quote]
Apart from REQUIEM PER UN GRINGO and ANCORA DOLLARI PER I MACGREGOR, I’ve not seen any other Merino Westerns. I love REQUIEM and I found the MACGREGOR film to be enjoyable, as well; so, I might like to have a look at some of his Zorro stuff, one of these days.
I rate this more highly each time I see and would now place it in my top 20. The music and camerawork are top notch. I especially like the way the Duel is staged with the 360 shot followed by the pendulum effect as Caranza’s world falls apart. It’s very surreal and original and the idea that the hero uses hermetic knowledge is really unusual and interesting. Jeffries was not really a good actor but his remote quality works here for me. I took it that the poncho suggested he was a shapeshifter or a supernatural presence. I’ve seen it just via on old video with the onscreen title REQUIEM FOR GRINGO. It is out on Spanish DVD according to a friend. Thanks to Squonkmatic.
Good to hear from you again, amigo!
Yes, I too rate this one higher each time I see it.
I always found it interesting as a variation on (“remake of” doesn’t quite fit) Masaki Kobayashi’s SEPPUKU (aka HARA-KIRI)—and because of the hermetic touches you mentioned, as well.
Then there was the great music.
And I have a “thing” for Marisa Paredes who portrays Nina in the film (and Femi Benussi is always worth repeated glances, too! ha ha!).
But, each time I view it I am struck by something else–it is almost like the film itself is a “shapeshifter” of sorts!
Haven’t been able to locate an official DVD of this, Spanish or otherwise.
Anyone have a link to the Spanish DVD as mentioned by bobm?
After reading all the positive comments here I needed to rewatch this as I didn’t remember much about it anymore, only that it was average and a bit boring revenge film.
I understand now why I remembered it as boring film because I probably lost my interest with it last time with the beginning where there isn’t much action. But the film’s tension is building all the time up to the last 30 minutes which are awesome. Patient viewer will be rewarded.
Apart from the some minor flaws (unimpressive gunshots) this is a classic film I can recommend to any sw fan.
It was also interesting to watch this now after Chris pointed the Harakiri variation. Is this something you noticed yourself or have you read about it somewhere, Chris? I wonder if critics would have appreciated this film more if they had seen the connection.
I don’t think Harakiri is respected because of it’s story structure but because of it’s political message; the left-wing anti-aristocratic stuff, with Kobayashi trying to show how “the elite” is trampling down “the average folk” while still carrying on with their “noble” and “holier than thou” rhetorics. Duel in the Eclipse has similar structure but no similar political message (if I remember right the baddies are just normal bandidos certainly not belonging to “upper class”), so it wouldn’t be respected by critics no matter what.
I believe Silver Wolf is correct in regards to critics respecting this film. No matter if the movie did have the same political slant as Kobayashi’s film–I feel that most critics would have ignored this film just because it was a lower-tier Euro-Western!
@ Bill san Antonio…
I just noticed the similarities between SEPPUKU (HARA-KIRI) and REQUIEM PER UN GRINGO on my own. But, got confirmation via a conversation I had with Aldo Sanbrell (aka, Sambrell) in 2004. Without any prompting on my part, he said the movie was an uncredited remake of “a Japanese film” and I knew he meant HARA-KIRI.
!!!