Watched this tonight and enjoyed it a lot even though the acting is pretty bad. Itâs an odd mix since itâs quite dark but thereâs many parts that feel like The Waltons or a Lassie film. The Koch release is very good and Iâll definitely be giving it another watch.
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Debris from an ambitious but abortive attempt to write something readable about Ocaso de un pistolero:
Evidently, Ocaso de un pistoleroâs German dubbing editors set little store by their germanophone audienceâs proficiency in elliptical comprehension skills and thus deemed it due to the prospective viewerâs unimpeded entertainment to inform him or her via voice-over at the beginning of the credits sequence that âDan Murphy lebte, aber sein Sohn war tot. DafĂŒr rĂ€chte er sich an Sheriff Rogers. Er kidnappte dessen Sohn und floh in einen anderen Bundesstaat.â (âDan Murphy lived, but his son was dead. For that, he took revenge on Sheriff Rogers. He kidnapped the sheriffâs son and fled to another state.â) The Spanish and English dubbing editors, on the other hand, placed more confidence in their respective countriesâ cinemagoersâ grasp of elliptical storytelling techniques and let them puzzle out for themselves the filmâs confusing exposition.
In its pre-credits sequence, Ocaso de un pistolero (âdecline of a gunmanâ) introduces a revenge motive: Arriving with his wife and baby-son in a small desert town, ex-gunfighter Dan Murphy (Craig [credits: Graig] Hill), retired but still wanted by the law, is recognized by the local sheriffâs deputy, a man named Mack (Raf Baldassarre). During the ensuing brief encounter, Sheriff Rogers (JesĂșs Puente) accidentally shoots Murphyâs son. Terrified, Murphy and his wife, Miriam (Gloria Milland [Mara FiĂš]), flee town in their covered wagon. If the film conformed to conventional narrative patterns, it would now tell of Murphyâs taking revenge on Sheriff Rogers. But it doesnât.
After the credits, Dan Murphy awakes with a start from a nightmare. Or is he dreaming that he has been dreaming? The credits sequence itself certainly has an oneiric quality to it, accentuated by its slow-motion imagesâ pale-purple hue. A couple â assumedly Mr. and Mrs. Murphy â in a covered wagon, drawn by four horses at full gallop, being pursued by a bunch of riders who never catch up. What follows is in any case too weird to be taken as an attempt to tell a ârealisticâ Western story.
The filmâs strange narrative omissions â most importantly Andyâs kidnapping â and its storyâs aimless meandering make it tempting to view everything that happens after the pre-credits sequence as the traumatic delirium of a father trying to cope with the death of his baby-son. Consider, for example, the filmâs lengthy depiction of Margaret and Patâs marriage, irrelevant to Murphyâs revenge story. The couple (Conchita NĂșñez and Carlos Romero Marchent), with their German Shepherd Custer (SultĂĄn), might represent Murphyâs wishful projection of a happy life he will never have. Of course, Margaret, Pat, Custer and Margaretâs father, Alex Dixon, the saloon-keeper (Paco [Francisco] Sanz), are brutally killed by the Castle brothers (German dubbed version: Carter-BrĂŒder, donât ask), who suspect that gunslinger Murphy has assumed a new identity under the name of Richard Markey. The Castle brosâ behavior is nothing but irrational right from the beginning. They are
evil and mean but, surprisingly, donât pursue materialistic goals (land, property, money), rather carnal desires (projected onto Miriam Murphy and Margaret Dixon).
The Cartwrights from hell: Ben-Johnny (José Guardiola [not to be confused with the singer of the same name]), Adam-Slim (Lorenzo Robledo), Hoss-Davy (Piero Lulli), Little-Joe-Charlie (Hugo Blanco)
Gee! Mine your own beeswax, buster! Sign painted by the winner of the Grand Ole Hicksville Spelling Bee.
A: O. d. u. p. is an uneven, early effort by the Romero Marchent bros, Rafael (director), JoaquĂn Luis (screenwriter) and Carlos (actor). Its biggest problems: a direction lacking a screenplay and a screenplay lacking direction.
B: O. d. u. p. is a brilliant, early example of a surreal, dreamlike European Western, concerned with questions of identity, morality, trauma sequelae, atavistic behavior, fear of loss, and the fragility of interpersonal relationships. Its biggest assets: a direction lacking a screenplay and a screenplay lacking direction.
C: âŠ
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As you may know there is also a 3-minute title sequence in typical SW style (referred to by Bill in his post?), maybe released in Italian movie theaters already in 1965, that precedes the initial Murphyâs son scene. In this version the sequence that you mentioned has natural colours and, of course, no superimposed text.
What is certain is that there arenât other differences between the two versions (Italian and Spanish).
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No, thanks, JC, I didnât know that. The only version Iâve watched is Kochâs 2018 DVD release.
Too bad. The film does feel truncated.
I didnât get that impression, in my opinion the main problem is that the film revolves around a totally improbable situation. In addition, the opening scene is not very inspired and the first thirty-five minutes are just so-so.
On the other hand the feud (sort of) with the Castle brothers is great for an early Spagh, and the concluding part with psychological implications maintains a fairly good level.
My rating 3/5
My favourite part starts from here
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Do you know where the information that the film runs for 100 minutes comes from? Should we change the runtime to 77 minutes in the database?
I would say so. The German page on Wikipedia, last edited three years ago, shows the correct running time of both versions.
From some book, I presume, or maybe from the old, not very reliable Anica website. But if anyone is aware of the existence of an extended cut please let us know.
Yes, maybe someone here on the forum knows of a longer version of this movie. However, it seems unlikely to me that more than 20 minutes are missing.
An overview of the runtimes:
- 100 min â SWDb
- 88 min â Spanish and English Wikipedia, IMDb, Tom_Bâs blog
- 80/77 min â German Wikipedia
- 76 min 47 s â Pre-Cert Video
- 76 min â Italian Wikipedia
- approx. 74 min â Western Maniac
Cool promotional materials:
A very impressive debut by Craig Hill in his first Euro-Western containing dark elements of predestination anticipating A BULLET FOR SANDOVAL with impressive screenplay by J.R. Marchent whose influence on the genre needs further exploration.
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This filmâs page in the database has been upgraded to the new 3.0 format. Please have a look and let me know if changes are needed. Contribue links, reviews, trivia, other texts or facts, or submit pictures, too.
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I think I just saw this for the first time and oh boy, this is damn near amazing all things considered. Sort of a poor manâs Hathaway western. Excellent writing, characters and story, and even the English dub is pretty solid too. Recommended.
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New poll to vote on, if youâre so inclined, for Hands of a Gunfighter at the top of the page under the original post!
Copied from the Spagvemberfest 2023 thread:
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I think this film is a 7.4/10 so good but my brother hated it and gave it a 1/10 cause he thinks its stupidly âovertragicalâ which i think is sort of valid but i like the movie because of that. I actually thought everyone here was gonna hate it here but nobody does which is cool since i liked it myself and i actually felt bad for it cause my brother was saying things like âWhy does this movie existâ âWhy is every character dyingâ and things line that and i was actually liking the film so i felt bad for liking it but now i dont because everyone here likes it also he doesnt like westerns much as i do.
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This one looks waaay better than the pink one