Heads You Die, Tails I Kill You aka they calle me Halleluja (1971/Carnimeo)

Iā€™ve been a bit quiet of late, so I thought it was about time I unleashed my next write up on you all!

Database article linkhttp://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Testa_t'ammazzo%2C_croceā€¦_sei_mortoā€¦_Mi_chiamano_Alleluja

HEADS YOU DIE, TAILS I KILL YOU
Any film with a title as memorable and eye-catching as ā€œHeads You Die, Tails I Kill Youā€ has a lot to live up to. Luckily this one doesā€¦ well, for the first half at least.

The story centres around George Hiltonā€™s character named ā€œHalleluyahā€ (thus the films alternative title ā€œThey Call Me Hallelujahā€). He has been hired by Mexican general Ramirez (Roberto Camardiel) to steal jewels from the army, allegedly to help fund the revolution.

The beginning of the movie is very strong, as Ramirez is led to the firing line by the army, to Cipraniā€™s fantastic score. Some onlookers are already grieving, but proceedings are intervened when Halleluyah appears with his very novel machine gun. Great stuff.

The plot has more twists and turns than, ummmmm, a very twisty turney thing! It is not just Halleluyah searching for the jewels, but a secret agent disguised as a Nun (Agata Flori), the Russian Alexei (Charles Southwood) and a gang of arms dealers led by Fortune (Paulo Gozlino).

Whilst the movie is a real roller-coaster of a ride, it does reach new levels of stupidity with the introduction of Alexei. As I said at the beginning of this write up, the film doesnā€™t disappoint - it just (in my opinion) has one eccentric character too many. This makes the second half just a bit too farcical to me at times.

Most of the best scenes are based around Halleluyahā€™s interaction with the gang - particularly near the beginning where disguised as monks they successfully steal the jewels (and soon face a confrontation with ā€œBrotherā€ Hallelujah). There is also a hilarious scene in which our hero poisons the gangā€™s food, resulting in much belly ache and diarrhoea enforced swift exists! As far as the cast are concerned, Hilton makes a good leading man for the less serious westerns. Regular spaghetti stalwart Federico Boido is also well cast as the weasel like gang member Slocum.

I would definitely recommend this film (despite my reservations about the Russian!). It is a well plotted, good fun view, with enough double crosses and twists to keep you interested and entertained throughout.

pretty entertaining comedy western, but thatā€™s not the sort of spaghetti i dig :slight_smile:

hereā€™s my review of the DVD:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Halleluja_Italowestern_DVD_Box_review

Just finished watching the Koch Media dvd. What a great film, lots of action, lots of fun! George Hilton is amazingly cool as Hallelujah and Southwood is just hilarious. Reminds me much of Sartanaā€™s here, Trade your Pistol for a Coffin which also has Hilton/Southwood pairing but Hallelujah works even better in my opinion. Oh, and Agata Flori is the sexiest nun Iā€™ve ever seen!

Yepā€¦agree with all this. Lots of fun. This pairing of Hilton and Southwood really works and I enjoyed both films. Must get myself a copy of this one cos I am sure it will get well used. A film that would definitely bear a rewatch every so often. A good one for people who want to include the kids as wellā€¦my son will probably grow up with a nun fetish but that donā€™t seem to have done The Rev any harm :wink: :wink:

Iā€™m not a big fan of the comedy SW but this one was OK. I had the right mindset tonight and didnā€™t expect a whole lot and wasnā€™t disappointed.

I agree wholeheartedly, that is one hell of a sexy nun. That catfight didnā€™t last near long enough!

Seems to be the most memorable feature of the movieā€¦ Agata Floriā€¦

Man, the picture of her inside the KOCH-box is chicken soup for the soul of an old gunslingerā€¦

I do like sexy nuns ;).

Unfortunately they are a quite uncommon visual feast in everydayā€™s street lifeā€¦

This is a shame.

Maybe we should move to Mexico, where things like that seem to happenā€¦

Iā€™m in.

Sounds good to me.

Perhaps the good Reverend could give us tips on some of the finer nunneries.

Please Reverend we need your advice ;).

Sorry chaps - all the nuns around here are a wizened and dry as my beef jerky - and nowhere near as tasty.
Brother RF very kindly sent me an original special edition of Der Nonnenspiegle (1973) with Eleonora Giorgi, Catherine Spaak and Suzy Kendall as much juicer examples of the sisterhood :-*. This I would recommend and so far Iā€™ve only looked at the pictures on the cover! Whippingā€¦ nudityā€¦ nunsā€¦ oh dear Lord ā€¦ one for the vault I fear!

I love reading your posts out loud in an English/London accent. Beautiful.

Another superb sw from Carnimeo. This style of violent action with cartoonish feel always does it for me. 5/5 and easily among the 10 best spaghettis iā€™ve ever seen.

IMO this is a good one, but Carnimeo made better stuffā€¦ Sartana, Cemeteryā€¦ so itā€™s a top 10 Carnimeo for me :wink:

hilton said in the interview that this film was one of his best roles
this and tempo di masacro

[size=18pt][/size]just watched this movie, for the third time now I think. A comedy western so they say though the only thing funny thing about these so caled comedy westerns is that the are thought to be funny at all. anyway,that apart, it is an enjoyable film for all the reasons aready posted here but for me especially cos i like Hilton,and Southwood as it hapens. The score was bit off at times, some say it is a good score and inparts it is but I felt some sections seemed to have music plucked from some sort of ā€˜film score libraryā€™ for certain situations.
Anyway, if you like spag wests then this is wel worth a viewing. I am making my way through the ā€˜dead or alive westernā€™ collection at the moment,the one with Kinski on the cover in a blue/purple ish waistcoat. The quality of alll the films is good. If you are familiar with a lot of these genre films you will understand what I am saying.[size=18pt][/size]