I received the El Rojo DVD today and just watched it. Much of the first half felt a bit pre-Leone like The Petiless Three (for the moment downgraded to a 5/10 rating) which also featured Richard Harrison as the leading character. The second half appeared more ānormalā SW including a short fandango dance scene.
This SW felt sometimes a bit loose in the directing/storytelling.
Richard Harisson had as usual nearly always his āgrim eye-lookā, except for in a scene after a shootout when he appeared unusually jolly (without hat as well) and it took some time before I realized it actually was him. The familiar actors Piero Lulli, Franco Ressel and Nieves Navarro strengthened the SW feeling. Nieves part was rarther thin though.
One death of the 4 revenge victims was a bit imaginative in its combination with the mexican feast attribute.
The partly surprising end was acceptable (if not a bit ridiculous).
I was wondering about the locations, since some scenes seemed to be shot near La Pedriza and possibly Colmenar Viejo north of Madrid, while the western town looked like an Italian from very recent films I have seen, and also the Mexican pueblo. IMDb only states Italy but it is often incomplete.
Initially I rate El Rojo as a rather weak 6/10 which in this case means it will hardly reach my SW Top 40, probably somewhere around 45-50 after having watched and ranked some other newly ordered SWs.
Itās a great bonus feature ā¦ really nice to see and hear the American actors talking about their experiences, but I always thought it odd that Dan was the only European actor at a festival dedicated to a Euro phenomenon.
Perhaps at that time it was more difficult to track down surviving actors who would be available and able to speak English.
I think it was just that Tom could access the American actors easier as they were already in L.A.
Dan was already a friend so he got included too. If Iāve got it right Tom brought him over from the UK for the event and Dan stayed at his house while in L.A.
Killer Kid is a couple of months away from my current position in my chronological search for very good SWs, but I donāt like zapatas/war/revolutionary themes. However I accepted Requiescant as very good, and will study facts and opinions on Killer Kid as well. With Steffen the movie probably couldnāt have enormous variation from his usual
Itās still basically an adventure movie rather than one making political statements, and is for me one of the most enjoyable films that the Steff was involved with.
Iād recommend it ā¦ not least for the presence of a stunning leading lady, Luisa Baratto
Iām not a big Zapata fan either, but this one is different. No Circus music, no cars, no joking around. Thatās why I would categorize it more like a Django / Goldhunt- spag. Great little movie.
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Hi - I think you are mistaken about the āRojoā being said by Hank. At about 38.00m on the You Tube print after the bad guys are shot by Hankās machine there is a āHey-hoā that sounds a bit like Rojo but it is Cochise yelling a victory yell. I donāt think itās Hank saying āRojoā. (Unless I have got the scene wrong).
At the end, that āThe Red and the blackā dialogue is dubbed over in a different voice to the rest of the sentence. The actorās back is to camera so impossible to tell what he might have been saying. But I assume it wasnāt red and the black in the original dubbing. Does anyone know what is said in the Italian version now we have the Blu Ray (me not preparing to fork out for this as I thought the movie was poor).
Nowadays I have downgraded it to a 5/10 more due to the competition than anything else, and since the rating numbers are not absolutely defined through a consensus
It was a couple of years ago I did the same with a bunch of former but weak 6/10 ratings.
