Hey Amigo! A Toast to Your Death / Ehi amigo … sei morto! (Paolo Bianchini, 1970)

Database entry: https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Ehi_amigo…_sei_morto%21

Very nice little surprise from the director of I Want Him Dead and Machine Gun Killers. A cheap film, but made with craftmanshap. Really one more about atmosphere than anything else. The plot is not so special, but the execution is. Wayde Preston does alright as the hero (of sorts), and Marco Zuanelli makes a good sidekick but Aldo Berto is most memorable as the psycho sexual bad guy.
It’s a pretty moody flick, apart from the mild comic relief provided by Zuanelli. The song “Hey Amigo, Your Dead” sung by Don Powell is a good one.
The version I saw was of a widescreen Italian television broadcast. No subtitles, but they’re not really needed anyway.
Beware of the synopsis on the database entry page. It contains spoilers.

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Didn’t care for this very much when I first saw it, but you’ve prompted me to give it that all-important second viewing.

Nice. I listed this on my post about obscure westerns not available in English the other day, because they weren’t really talked about. I only previewed it, but it looked interesting.

One thing I wonder about though, is the length of many Italian and Spanish TV broadcasts. Many times they are only about 80 minutes long, so they could be cut.

Beware of the synopsis on the database entry page. It contains spoilers.

I have noted this before. Actually, the database is chock-full of spoilers. It could use a cleanup.

Just watched this one. Sounds like I watched the same version that the Lieutenant did, widescreen (but still a bit cropped) from Italian TV, no subtitles. It wasn’t too bad, good atmosphere, as the Lieutenant said, though I didn’t care for Preston much. The always reliable Marco Zuanelli, on the other hand, is very good. About what Durango said above: what is it really about these Italian TV prints that are only 80 minutes long? Are they all cut or do they just show really short SWs?

Very easy to follow story in this one. Preston is the man after some gold which has been robbed from the town he lives in. Preston does what is expected, but prefer the offbeat character he sort of teams up with. Nice empty type of feel in the towns, but like Bad Lieutenant says this one is about atmosphere.

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About what Durango said above: what is it really about these Italian TV prints that are only 80 minutes long?

In fact, I’ve been told the Italian TV print is missing a few minutes, right at the beginning. Haven’t seen the extra footage myself.

Also, Spanish DVD and TV prints are often missing footage as well. What really sticks out is that Spanish prints generally leave out prolonged kissing scenes or similar ‘promiscuity’. Strange but true. Seen it in Dynamite Joe, Gunfighters of Casa Grande, and there’s of course the toned-down bathtub scene in Requiem for a Gringo.

Watched this one with English subs today and echo what has been said above.
Obviously very little budget to work with here but Bianchini is to be applauded for what he manages to eke out of it.
The mood is the key but also some good performances. Berti is the stand out for me.

The great majority of 80 minutes long Italian TV prints are cut, but this one - a film that as a whole I like very much despite the already mentioned budget limitations - is really a short SW (84 minutes).

That not particularly inspired scene was missing from an incomplete TV recording and refers to the introduction of El Loco and the nine bandits before the opening credits.

Watched this last night via an English dubbed screening copy, really liked it a lot. Constant action, lots of zooms and just really enjoyable spaghetti.

This one should really be fandubbed over to the Italian print, surprised someone hasn’t already done so

Just finished watching this via a recent fandubbed upgrade. Ok spaghie with a likeable Wayde Preston in the lead who’s after bandits for robbing a stagecoach of it’s gold. Some familiar faces in this, but found Marco Zuanelli kinda of annoying though.

Just viewed this one again via the widescreen english audio version mentioned above. Simple film, but loads of atmosphere. Alot of twangy guitar music reused from Dynamite Joe . A film just made before the big comedy explosion of Spaghetti westerns.

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And here’s our Amigo, read the review before he’s dead!

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Hey_Amigo_…_You%27re_Dead!_Review

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The 84 minutes running time is correct but there were cuts here and there*, so as is often the case a restoration from original camera negative would be desirable.

*part of the trough scene at the beginning
overhead shot of the rape
Doc’s head repeatedly slammed against the wooden wall
part of the fistfight with Black
Statement ‘‘è bello vedere bruciare il culo ai porci’’

What tomas would call ‘family friendly stuff’, in conclusion… :grin:

900
One Damned Day at Dawn…

Now I have no idea what that means, but I bet it must be very harsh statement and kids would go all clocwork orange on society if they heard it, so I’m glad they cut it out.
hashtag/mothersagainstviolence

Pleasantly surprised by this one.

Yet another decent SW with no DVD release. The music is pretty good aswell.

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I just watched Hey Amigo, You’re Dead/Hey Amigo ! A Toast To Your Death (Paolo Bianchini) for the first time and especially the first half hour was interesting.
With a gang of outlaws entering a western town, with their strongly motivated and decently charismatic leader and where otherwise Aldo Berti’s character was the most profiled, the SW roughly reminded me of the beginning of El Puro story-wise.
So it started a little bit “arty-like” but that tendency was diminished further on. It hasn’t the more psychological moody edge as El Puro and less finesse in style, and of course not as good main musical theme.

The antihero played by Wayde Preston looked like he might be 50 years old or so, but obviously was only just over 40. His charisma was not so good. The two main villians were better in that respect, that is for their purpose.
The so called sidekick, known from Once Upon A Time In The West, didn’t irritate me much.

Even if it is a simple story the execution overall is quite good, especially the first half hour. The raping scenes were unnecessarily extended but on the other hand there was no boring long torturing in this SW.

However I find the music a bit irritating sometimes with too much suspense/thriller alike incidental music, but better during riding scenes for example when there is a more traditional SW style.

According to IMDb Hey Amigo, You’re Dead was shot in Almeria, Spain but I didn’t caught a glimpse of any Spanish soil and these cheap SWs produced in Italy were shot their, often in Lazio.
I wonder though where the rather rundown western town was located with its totally green surroundings. I think have seen it before once or twice. The locations appeared slightly better than usual for SWs shot in Italy.

It is not easy to rate (especially the relative rank) this SW after just one watching, but once more I lean toward a weak 6/10, good for rank 62 on my SW Top 68. The lack of comedy except for the sidekick means that it might have potential to climb on my SW Top list later.

It’s the De laurentiis studio set.

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Thanks aldo, that solved my question. I now remember having watched the position of this location (probably regarding some scenes in Navajo Joe) on http://y-yasuda.net/Laurentiis%20studio.htm

The nature close by still looks very green in the surroundings on Googlemaps 3D so maybe it would be possible to recognize a certain view of the landscape ?


And a correction of my first comment : There actually were two-three short shots from Tabernas desert early in the movie with the statecoach (maybe borrowed from another film ?).

That’s right … there are some strange cuts between Italy and Southern Spain … one second we’re in the De Laurentiss studio and then miraculously the entire terrain changes to desert !! Movie magic :wink:

Yeah, that’s one theoretically circumstance to consider regarding Esperanza railway station even if I haven’t found any valid so far…