El Rojo (Leopoldo Savona, 1966)

EL ROJO 1966 Richard Harrison Susan Scott Peter Carter

Directed by : Leopoldo Savona Written By: Mario Casacci R.Furlan

Classic revenge SW with a fearsome avenging Richard Harrison coming to help a family.

Discuss please your views, memories, opinions of RICHARD HARRISON and Susan Scott :smiley:


For more info visit:
Database page: Rojo, El - The Spaghetti Western Database

Give El Rojo your rating out of five stars!
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

0 voters

I actually just got a tape of this from my good friend Cinehound on eBay, havenā€™t had a chance to watch it yet but am looking forward to another fine adventure with Mr. Harrison. Oddly, the cover art for the video has the same design that Kult X-Rated used for their DVD of VENGEANCE.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful revenger EL ROJO 1966 and give a good review :slight_smile:

I have just received this one and looking forward to viewing :).

I am going to get this excellent revenger on DVD soon .

In what country is there a DVD out from El Rojo? I bought it in Serbia but like all dvdā€™s I bought there it looked sorta illegalā€¦(Still bought it though since I buy dvdā€™s in every country I go to xD).

Excellent little film which I recently enjoyed viewing!

1 Like

I have seen this great classic revenger on DVD-R but really want a proper DVD release.

Good film. It has lot of common with another Harrison film, Vengeance. In both films heā€™s after his revenge which is executed in different ways and both films have a episodic structure. Margheritiā€™s direction and Claudio Camasoā€™s great performance makes Vengeance a bit better film but El Rojo also has itā€™s benefits. Good cast: Piero Lulli as the main villain, Raf Baldassarre as his sidekick and most importantly we have the beautiful Nieves Navarro/Susan Scott. What really makes this film so memorable is one of the characters who has mutilated face and is wearing strange looking mask to cover it. Itā€™s like something out of the horror film. The last scene of the film with this character is one of the strangest ending Iā€™ve seen in spaghetti western. Totally bizarre!

One of the reasons why I love this genre that every now and then Iā€™ll come across with new film that can surprise me completely. This ending was so great. Itā€™s no wonder why Takashi Miike loves this genre.

1 Like

That just about sums it up for me as well.

This needs another viewing.

1 Like

EL ROJO= Good stuff!
I like a lot of things about this film and the quirky bits never get in the way, at all.
In fact, they make it that much better!

Good Saloon song, too! :wink:

1 Like

Finally got to rewatch it last night ā€¦ Richard Harrison in a standard and otherwise average revenge for his murdered family flick ā€¦ā€˜scept it has a few weird bits thrown in but not really developed. With a bit more care or time, this couldā€™ve been a much more inventively nastier or quirky film. The elements were there, but the film seems to add themes in that come to little, as Iā€™ll intend to demonstrate.
Playing a sort of man-with-no-name character, with a penchant for offering the ladies sugar(?), heā€™s asked at the beginning of the film what his name is and replies ā€œI ainā€™t got no nameā€ ā€¦ ā€˜scepting then Harrisonā€™s character is variously referred to at various times as Joe/Rojo(The Red)/ Michelangelo(!) and then by his actual name of Donny Sorenson.
The weirdish bits (other than the sugar) include the picture/portrait that he draws at the bar, that isnā€™t the sort of behaviour we expect from our protagonists. But this doesnā€™t develop or go anywhere ā€¦ I was hoping it would lead to a naked bedroom session with Nieves Navarro (obviously), as it does point in that direction with smouldering (past history) looks of lust :-* passing between the two of them, and the request for a portrait actually made by her fellah, and arch-baddy - played by Lulli. Anyway, Raf Baldassare shoots the original portrait full of holes and Rojo obviously takes this comment on his artistic skills to heart ā€˜cos the latter picture doesnā€™t (and probably wasnā€™t meant to) happen (shame thoā€™ ;)).
The weirdest bit in it though is ā€˜The Blackā€™ ā€¦ the facially disfigured character. But again, personally I wouldā€™ve liked this character to have to have ā€˜saidā€™ more about himself, in a moody silent-ish, but definately in a more involved way.
Thereā€™s also the confederate sidekick, Hank, who turns out to be a bit of a low-tech James Bond Q character whoā€™s soaked himself in Tequila ā€¦ "Empty! You know you canā€™t trust a bottle. No sooner than you get fond of it, it deserts you. Jusā€™ like a woman!". Besides this drunken mysogyny, the olā€™ scrote invents and adapts guns, including showing us a rifle ā€œthat is something uniqueā€, but whatever is unique about it we are left to guess for ourselves, as the gun is neither used nor is it explained. And thereā€™s another pistol - one with a silencer - well actually something that looks like a tatty bit of modern-day pipe insulation(?) wrapped around it. Youā€™d think thatā€™d get used in anger - nope, not a chance - when he does need to kill a fellah silently, he has the olā€™ scrote put on a firework display to cover the noise!
I like this film, donā€™t get me wrong. But, it had so much more potential to make more of all these undeveloped bits. The vengeance bits were ok, but there was, as I mentioned recently, more use of ā€˜poeticā€™ justice in the nastier Black Jack. Here, the ā€˜one after anotherā€™ style revenge is a bit too simply attained, other than the Navarro bit (the mexi-baddy blokeā€™s called Navarro, so weā€™re not referring to darling Nieves in this bit). This is the part that includes the fireworks as the cover.

IMO Harrisonā€™s finest hour still has to be the film made later actually called One After Another (1968).

A topside of 3 outa 5 from me, and as Chris Casey has mentioned, thereā€™s a jolly good bit of saloon singing to hum along to as well. Enjoyable.

In a pre-titles sequence, a family set up camp and are subsequently murdered, seemingly by a lone Indian. Cut to some time later and Richard Harrison hitches a lift to Gold Hill from an old man he saves from an attack. In the town four men (Lasky, Navarro, Wallace and Ortega) are being honoured. They own the mine, bank and saloon. The indian from the beginning fires and arrow with a threatening note attached at them. Harrison also seems interested in the four men, especially when he witnesses the killing of a man who accuses the four of them of being ā€œland grabbersā€. One by one, through various ruses and disguises, Harrison confronts each man, revealing his name, and dispatches them, aided in part by the old man, who invents bizarre weapons and the indian who he rescues from torture by the villainsā€™ henchmen. Matters are complicated by the presence of Harrisonā€™s ex (Nieves Navarro) who is now married to Lasky.

Really enjoyed this one. The comedy was kept to a bare minimum and the acts of vengeance were varied and well orchestrated, much better than if Harrison had simply confronted the men and gunned them down immediately. The only silly moment was when a masked (and hideously disfigured) gunman arrives and introduces himself as Black Bart!!? This character also reappeared right at the end, giving the film a slightly confusing conclusion. But all in all a very good, moody entry. Oh, the revelation concerning harrisonā€™s identity, the murdered family and the indian comes as no surprise but to be honest, in these kinds of films it usually is. Very good. And a good role for Harrison. Have to agree with the above post from the Reverend though, Uno Dopo Lā€™Altro is still his best.

1 Like

[quote=ā€œSilver, post:13, topic:836ā€]The only silly moment was when a masked (and hideously disfigured) gunman arrives and introduces himself as Black Bart!!? This character also reappeared right at the end, giving the film a slightly confusing conclusion. But all in all a very good, moody entry. [/quote]I thought this character was the best thing in the film. Otherwise it would have been just too average film but this weird character makes this film memorable. I especially love the ending, itā€™s very strangeā€¦ I thought that the character of black Bart is some sort of symbol of Satan or something like that.

Yeah the character himself wasnā€™t badā€¦it was just that nameā€¦it sounded like something out of a kidā€™s comic. But, your comment about him maybe symbolising Satanā€¦and thinking of the end sceneā€¦thatā€™s very interesting. Certainly makes me think about his closing lines in a different wayā€¦

1 Like

Canā€™t say that I saw anything diabolic in this guy, but he sure was the only surprising thing in this otherwise predictable film.

I saw this on the greek tape yesterday and loved it, not as good as Vengeance and not in my top 30, but stillā€¦ what a hidden gem.

Completely agreed hereā€¦

I expected it to be a little bit better but was still entertained by this nice piece of B-Western material with good cast.

watched this film last night and this is an entertaining but uneven and rather odd spaghetti western. It starts off well but after about 20 minutes or so it becomes fragmented and scrambled for what up until then was a simply plotted film.Who or what is the mysterious deformed cowboy? itā€™s never explained, and the ending just leaves you wanting an explanation.It certainly holds the attention while itā€™s on , but had the potential to be better. an oddity.

Sugar?

1 Like