A sheriff is killed by the leader of the local bad guys, and the father of the sheriff is not to pleased of course. The father Mr.Piluk (Edmund Purdom) is the local undertaker and also plays a mean violin when he is in a bad mood. His son appoints him a deputy just before he dies, and Piluk seeks revenge for his sons death. Meanwhile a new sheriff arrives in town and starts to fall in love with Piluk’s granddaughter.
Piluk is the reason why I like this one as he is an old man who you think would not hurt a fly, and is therefore interesting when he is seeking revenge. Piluk is a clever man, who also likes some dry humour from time to time. Music by Carlo Savina has some nice themes in the score, including whistling and trumpet tracks.
Just finished this one. Ok Spaghetti. Interesting for the old man character but nothing special. Though the Italian locations do pass for the US this time! Didn’t see Fabio Testi in it though.
I’m with Ennioo on this one. I like it, although I have no defensible reason to do so as it is really quite corny and plays out like something of a 40s B serial and is extremely dated in style for a Spaghetti of 1968. But then I have a soft spot for those old rubbish westerns so maybe that’s the appeal. I do like the idea of the old guy as the avenger too and this is a very original plot device. Can’t remember anything like it elsewhere.
Perhaps it is this originality that seems to have confused everyone re the cast details on this one. I just checked the database and it is completely wrong re who played who. Edmund Purdom is the sheriff not Piluk and Livio Lorenzon sure as hell wasn’t Sebastian Mason, he was Doc Lucas. I checked imdb and that is just as inaccurate so this may well be where the initial errors began. We also list Luis Barboo as appearing which I think is a Weisser error as the actor in this film is Luigi Barber who, according to Giusti, is the old guy who plays Piluk.
I will try and correct the database as best I can. If anyone has any info to help let me know. If you ever wanted an example as to why imdb is not reliable, this is it.
Last Friday I was in Rocca Pia where the exteriors of the film were shot. I managed to interview some locals and found one of the extras, Silvino Tabacco, the one with the red shirt who throws his hat during the dances at the ranch.
He was kind enough to show me some of the filming locations.
Apart from an hour of sunshine that allowed me to take some photos, it was pouring rain all day. I couldn’t reach the locations on the part above the “Altopiano delle 5 miglia” (the plateau), because an Italian film crew was shooting a movie (not a western); I don’t understand how, given the heavy rain, but they came up with about eight cars and four trucks of equipment.
All the scenes with a rocky environment where in fact shot in Chiarano / Montagna Spaccata, above the plateau.
The farm near which the ranch of the set was built still exists and raises the same type of cows used for the film.
I will return to Rocca Pia at the beginning of the summer for a complete exploration to reproduce as more shots as possible. On the occasion I will try to organize a meeting to collect other testimonies of the filming.
It would be nice if we collect questions to ask, even though the local extras knew almost nothing about the production and didn’t even know the names of the actors and stuntmen that I obviously told them.
I managed to acquire a brochure of Piluk, quite rare I think, and I will scan it and publish it very soon on the Pictures page.
In the meantime I post the detailed plot, present in 4 languages in the brochure itself [SPOILER ALERT!]:
For some time things have not been going on so well as they should be, at Boise, a small town in Idaho. The whole area is terror-stricken by the Mason brother’s gang, led by Sebastian, and the law seems unable to restore order. Some time ago even Albert, the Sheriff, has been killed and now Gregory, the Deputy Sheriff, is there alone waiting for his nomination. Albert has left behind him his father and his daughter. The Sheriff’s father is a quaint old man whom everyone calls Piluk: he is no longer a young man but he is still strong and an excellent shot. Since his son was killed his only aim is that of revenge. He knows that Albert was shot by Sebastian Mason and his gang, but this is a secret which nobody, not even the Deputy Sheriff, must know. The old man has made out a list of the Mason gang, fifteen names in all, and has sworn to himself to carry out alone his revenge by putting to death, one by one, those fifteen murderous bandits. Piluk earns his living as a carpenter: he makes coffins and repairs punctually the Saloon’s furniture wrecked by the frequent brawls. Piluk goes around on a wagon and carries with him his son’s gun and his fiddle; with the former he brings about his revenge and with the latter he tunes up a lugubrious funeral march which rings out gruesomly in the surrounding silence whenever one of his enemies comes to death. Piluk lives together with Margaret, his niece. One day the new Sheriff, Roger, arrives. He has been sent to restore order to the town whose life is jeopardized by the crimes of the Mason gang and also by the misterious killings which have followed the death of the former Sheriff. Everybody hates the Masons and their gang, but only few dare to face them openly. Among these are the Wilder brothers. The Wilders own a ranch and plenty of cattle but they are continuously molested by the Masons and their endless raids: robberies, cattle stealing and, finally, even old man Wilder is shot in the back. His death is the cause of a challenge between the three Mason and the three Wilder brothers, but the Masons send out three of their henchmen to lay out an ambush. Piluk manages to stop them and to knock off the three outlaws with the aid of his son’s infallible gun, thus saving the life of the three Wilders and forcing the Masons to beat a hasty retreat, since they are not used to fighting face to face. Roger has made friends with Piluk and recalls with a deep sense of friendship his son Albert, who was once his senior-officer in the Army. He has also got to like Margaret and eventually marries her during a period of comparative peace. But peace does not last long. One of the Masons commits one more crime and murders the doctor. The Sheriff manages to arrest him before he gets away. Roy Mason is sentenced to death but his gang captures Margaret and holds her as ransom in exchange of the murderer’s life. Roger can not accept this illegal alternative but the people of Boise take up the decision in their own hands and, once more, it is Piluk who is able to save Margaret by resorting to an ingenious stratagem. A fierce fight takes place and Gregory – who turns out to be on the outlaw’s side - dies. With Gregory’s death the situation nears it’s end: war is now openly declared and the two sides face each other in a valley between the mountains. And, for the last time, Piluk is the one who brings about the triumph of justice. From a Short Story by GUIDO CELANO « Piluk il timido »
