Watched this last night. As usual, some great posts from many years ago in here. Surprised (and happy) to have stumbled across it.
After Black Jack last week, I’m on a bit of a Robert Woods binge and caught El Puro. Headed into the flick blind so wasn’t sure what to expect. Spoilers ahead!
Well wow, it was a total surprise. I feel like El Puro is an extremely polarising movie. Noticed lots of very negative views on the film listing off all of the issues - the story, the extreme slowness, the lack of explanations, the gay kiss, the bleak and darkness of the film, the lack of action and gunplay, the brutal death scene - and more…
However, all of those things are the main reasons I loved the film, to be honest. It was different and unique compared to many others. It was purposely slow (at times painfully slow) and I don’t think I’ve witnessed that before in a SW. Especially combined with a lack of action. But I liked it. I also liked the way in which the gang were built up as these horrendous monsters. Oh and Rosalba Neri playing Rosie was nice, I recognised her instantly having watched Killer, Adios a few nights ago!
I usually highlight bad dubbing so I have to credit good dubbing, it seemed better than most. Also, a user named Carlos mentioned that some of the duels were a little weak in the latter stages and I’d agree. The final 5 or so minutes could have been a little stronger and more impactful (especially El Puro’s death). Also if we’re going to show a gay kiss between Cassidy and Gypsy, then when Cassidy gets killed in the final duel, why aren’t we seeing some sort of reaction from Gypsy, we got nothing. I wanted something. I wanted a camera shot to Gypsies face, I wanted anything.
The biggest strength? I think it was the ghost town effect. The idea of having this set in a ghost town was genius imo. As another user stated, it meant all focus went on the main characters and story. We had no distraction. It fit perfectly.
Score was great, albeit similar to others of the same era. But I didn’t “get” or like the little kid that was protecting El Puro and the entire point of that sub plot but oh well.
Overall though, 9/10. Maybe even a 9.5.