Just checked out the Robert Woods interview on the new disc and ended up watching it all. Love to see these kind of additions, would have liked to have seen something similar with Fabio Testi on the Four of the Apocalypse one and Garko on the Blood Money set.
Great to see an up to date interview with Woods. Looks like he is doing well. Always great to listen to.
And?
Did he say something about the directing question?
He said he likes the film and thinks it is a very ‘valid’ spaghetti western. He liked working with Mulargia and thought he was a very talented director - gave all credit to him, nothing about anyone else directing. Though he did say he had input on scenes.
things like the kiss, he didn’t want it. But Mulargia decided to keep it and now he agrees. He also said he wanted to put a Buddhist message of life death and rebirth in it but that changed because of the director.
It was surprising that he didn’t know whether or not his friend Mario Brega was still alive.
I was surprised by that too, he’d be 100 by now if he was. I suppose at his age it can be forgiven, you lose touch with people and all that.
I watched it too, and I have to say that Robert was being very much a gentleman in his praise of Mulargia, and it seemed a little repetitive and unnecessary to say the same thing over and over … reason for this was that he mentions being in touch with Mulargia’s family, so he’s not going to shit all over their father’s memory.
He also mentions in the new interview that Muargia was distancing himself from the film when it was released, rather embarrassed by the infamous ‘Kiss’
There’s a big difference what you say in public and in private … and this is a prime example.
I’m not disappointed about this, as Robert Woods is first and foremost a gentleman and a lovely human being who would not knowingly hurt someone’s feelings.
Is there any particular reason they couldn’t get people like Testi and Garko to do interviews? I’d love to hear from those guys… Its a bit of a bummer.
But yes Robert seems like a lovely guy.
There are interviews with both Garko and Testi on other releases of the films you mentioned … it’s a shame they didn’t port them over the Kochmedia and Blue Underground DVDs
This is why I’m keeping my BU DVD’s. They were released at the right time, when people like Tomas Millian were still around to give interviews. Now we mostly get ‘appreciations’ and video essays etc.
I know, dullsville !
“Hi, I’m the editor of some magazine you’ve just heard of now, and I’m here to drone on about this film I’m not familiar with, and mispronounce every Italian word. Try not to cringe”
What times we live in!
It’s nice to see that Explosive Media add on some of the interview materials from Wild East by Eric Mache . I’m really looking forward to his book.
Well, unfortunately it seems we can’t trust Robert’s memories too much. I checked a few weeks ago the thread of Pray to God, another Mulargia film for which we have contradictory statements from involved people, who in the end the real director was.
In 2011:
Then I found that answer by Woods in a German forum from 2013:
And another quote I recently found, again in a German SW forum:
„I believe that PREGO DIO was co-directed by Demofilo and Edoardo, but I actually don´t remember, who got the final credit for it…”
Hmm, yeah, ok …
I’m just saying I like the interview and that was what he had to say about it.
I finally watched the 108 minute long, as I assume, uncut English version of El Puro, and it - if possible - slightly improved my impression further. For example the dying Dolph had some more to say in the long version that I hadn’t heard before. And as suspected the DVD-R version started suspiciously abrupt in the first scene, and I think there were about 2 minutes before that now.
Very fine the interview on the Arrow Bluray or stories told by the vital nice 86 years old Robert Woods. He talked about Mulargia’s ability to induce depth in a movie. El Puro (8/10 rating by me) clearly seems to demonstrate that.
My 2 following Mulargia SWs in rating (both 7/10) are Don’t Wait Django… Shoot! and Go With God, Gringo, but they have no depth at all or very little. But I do think you could argue that they have an appealing somewhat similar SW mood and atmosphere as El Puro which though feels more genuine and serious in spite of its arty style.
But actually I love this opening shot of the short version. It looks beautiful, and is a perfect start in the uncertainness of the whole film.
Hah, I was totally disappointed that the longer version destroyed that …
Still, apart from the longer scene in the trading store I prefer the shorter version.
This is the only thing I miss from the short version. But I don’t mind the very brief part of El Puro looking out at the church.
Well, I’m pretty sure if I check now all the scenes which are only in the longer version, I would find this or that shot worth to include in the shorter one, and actually I also like the 2 opening minutes in the longer version, if they had not destroyed the opening shot of the shorter one. But overall, apart from that trading store scene, the longer version added nothing of interest, made the film only longer.
Me too