Sort of a 4th entry in the Stranger series.
But a disappointing one. The film is as idiotic as the story sounds. After Anthony and Baldi had made such a surprisingly good film like Blindman, it’s amazing what a messy thing they did with this one.
When Blindman was made in a sovereign style, Get Mean looks often helpless.
Mostly boring
That’s what I think about the movie !!! It has its (very few) moments though !!! For instance, when Anthony puts a bunch of scorpions in Diego’s (Raf Baldassare) armor !!!
Usually I love all the strange spaghetti westerns (Matalo!, Silent Stranger, Death walks in Laredo etc.) but this one is just too annoying and silly. It contains only few western elements then it changes to pure fantasy/adventure film. It does have some decent action in the end but not as good as in other Tony Anthony films.
Yes, it’s silly, but not in a positive way like in My Name Is Hallelujah.
After reading all the opinions i thought it might be something that i will like because of it’s sheer weirdness. This was not the case, to be honest really don’t know what to think about this one. I am big fan of all the other Tony Anthony westerns [except “The silent stranger” which i haven’t seen], but this one just left me confused. All the wierd ideas could have been this film’s benefit if the script would have been more thoghtful, but istead of that we have lots of plot holes [especially in the last 30 minutes]. I wouldn’t say Anthony’s character is the same guy he played in Vanzi’s stranger movies. He’s less likeable, more of a loudmouth and Anthony hams up his role more than he did before, sometimes it’s bordering on irritating. I like Lloyd Battista performance, he’s easily the best thing about this movie. The music score is unremarkable. Still we get some nice action and it’s not boring or irritating, so i give it 5/10
Review for “Get Mean”
Oddness ensues in this spaghetti western as everybodies favorite under dog of the genre “The Stranger”, is hired by a witch to escort a princess to Spain. Once in Spain The Stranger must ward off evil Barbarians, a crazed Hunchback, a gay man(played by Anthony’s brother), Lesbian warriors, a raging bull, magic and even spirits who want to turn him into a wolf ( ? ) in order to escort the Princess back to her castle and collect his reward of 50,000 dollars. Unfortunatly for our poor anti-hero the princess is kidnapped by the leader of the barbarians, Diego(played by Raf Baldessare), and so The Stranger must rescue her. By the first hour of the film Anthony’s character has been buRnt, hung up by his feet, beaten down and roasted like a pig until finally he takes up his trusty four barreled shotgun, some dynamite and a jar full of scorpions and decides to GET MEAN!
This is the fourth and final flick in “The Stranger” series and it is easily the weakest, however it still manages to be highly entertaining(certainly more entertaining than the plodding A Stranger in Town). In fact the only dull moment I can think of is when Anthony must go through some sort of quest to uncover a magical artifact hidden in a cave (once he aquires it he never even uses it). The scene is tedious and unfunny.
As far as acting goes Anthony is in his usual bad acting form (which mysteriously took a hike during the filming of “Blindman”) but that is part of Anthony’s charm and one wonders if he is really that bad or he just acts bad to get a laugh. Either way his hammy performance works!
There is also an inspired role by Loyd Battista as a crazy hunchback who fancies himself a great shakespearean actor!
Some money was thrown into this one. Big sets, large scale battles and explosive pyrotechnics litter the film. Baldi’s direction keeps the film moving at a brisk pace and doesn’t let little things like logic and plot hamper the procceedings.
The intention was that if “Get Mean” was a hit, sequels with the Stranger as a time traveler would follow. Unfortunatly, but not surprisingly, the film failed to find an audience.
Hey everyone, I found someowne selling Get Mean on ebay. Thinking it was probably the only chance I’d get to see the film, I ordered it. But it stinks (the DVD). No title menu, you have to stop the disc and restart it to get the movie going, and then it goes into a chapter menu about 20 minutes into the film! On the chapter menu it has a website for lfvw.com, looked 'em up and they seem to be a legitimate company selling rare SW’s. So why does the disc suck? Does anyone know where to get a good copy of the film, in English?
Buying discs off ebay is always a risky business. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Crappy bootleg copies abound, which sounds like what you bought. If the disc doesn’t work properly though you should contact the seller and ask for a replacement or money back. If you paid with Paypal you can start a dispute with them and chances are good they’ll refund you.
As for an official release, sorry, I don’t know of one but there are obviously people on this forum who have seen the film and presumably have a copy of some sort. Maybe you can organise a trade with someone.
The best thing you can do to expand your collection: If there isn’t an official release, trade them with other fans, they will probably have the best versions around.
Heck yes it is! I finally am getting to see this thanks to a very passable DVD-R from www.lfvw.com. It’s actually a very contexturally subversive little film with some delightfully post-modernist thinking going on. What Tony Anthony did is essentially make a Euro Western set in Europe, or at least a fantasy vision of Europe, set at the time of a Western. The fact that it was actually made in Europe is the key, since it sort of defies the usual “that isn’t really a Western” stigma that mainstream viewers often have in regards to Spaghetti since capturing the look of a Western really wasn’t the idea. The history being shown is no more accurate than MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, but it has a kind of dialectic reality to it that does away with the facade of a Western that is usually imposed upon Spaghetti’s by the needs of capturing that “Wild West” look. It looks more like a Gothic Horror or period costumer than a Western, other than the hero packs a six shooter and rides a horse.
More than anything else though it’s a Tony Anthony movie, with all the good bad and totally demented things that implies. Does anyone know what the actual date of production was? I am wondering if maybe this didn’t spend some time shelved in legal limbo like STRANGER IN JAPAN: The “look” of the film appears to be germane to the same time BLINDMAN would have been made, 1976 sounds a bit late.
Giusti says 1975 but I’m not sure how accurate that is.
All books say 75, and that’s all of the avaiable information.
I volunteer to sit down with Mr. Anthony with a notebook and a tape recorder and get it all down correct, once and for all. Including how he managed to not flinch when all of the explosions were going off during the big climax scene.
I must say I enjoyed this one somewhat more than STRANGER IN JAPAN which is kind of hard to follow at times. This one is also kind of hard to follow but its all so absurd that you just sort of stop bothering trying to piece it together and simply enjoy the show. I am also a huge Raf Baldesarre fan so this one had a lot of interest in it for me and like the other Tony Anthony’s in my collection will be commanding repeat viewings.
Just for the record too, the LFVW.com disc shows a widescreen picture, very good color with Dutch subtitles sort of high up in the screen, but nice sharp picture and ran just short of 86 minutes. Cost was about $18 with postage, which I consider fair for a movie that I might not otherwise get a chance to see.
I like this movie. Instead of the used town boss plot, it has this strange, fun, and interesting new theme and plot. Tony Anthony is a better actor than he gets credit for. He is very good in this one. Lloyd Battista however is great in this one. One of the better SW performances.
I really don’t know what to make of this one.
Is it a western? I would say no despite Anthony’s Stranger character clearly being a western one. But on the other hand, I often view westerns as pure mythological fantasy rather than historical drama so in that way it may qualify after all.
Whatever, it’s a bizarre mix and no mistake. Can’t say I really liked it to be honest but it had it’s moments so not an entire train wreck. Ill conceived would be the best way for me to describe it really. Not one of Tony’s triumphs for me. Much prefer the previous Stranger films. Even in Japan. And of course Blind Man.
Like the Anthony character. Is it a western ? Sometimes when Anthony is just on the screen tend to think it is, but when some of the other characters are just on screen I think not. Viewed this in the eighties for the first time and hated it. Viewed a few times since and find myself liking more each time, mainly due to how weird the film is. Prefer the first two films with the stranger character in though, but not viewed The Stranger In Japan yet.
“Listen lady. Business is business, and I happen to be a business man.”
One of my all time favorite SW lines.
Maybe it’s not a SW, but it’s very entertaining and that’s enough for me.
Jody Klein has just made a deal with the films owner (Ron Schneider).
Apparently Jody wants to put together a box set of most of Tony’s stuff.
[quote=“YourPallbearer, post:22, topic:695”]Jody Klein has just made a deal with the films owner (Ron Schneider).
Apparently Jody wants to put together a box set of most of Tony’s stuff.[/quote]
Sounds excellent!