Kill the Wicked! / Dio non paga il sabato (Tanio Boccia, 1967)

Not too bad but it could have been better. Wild East DVD’s do often have brilliant quality.

Two reasons I really like this movie! ;D

I know this isn’t a great, grand, glorious example of the Italian Western genre; but, I sure do enjoy watching this one. It is quirky, to be sure, but its quirkiness is well suited to my own!
And I love the Wild East disc!

Yes, this film is pretty good. And yes, another one of those minor gems.

I already liked Boccia’s first western, which was nicely directed from a standard screenplay. But this one has more style and a much better story.

More consistent than Matalo, but for the big preferring question, it’s Matalo for me for the pure and weird brilliance of several scenes.

I watch it this weekend. It’s not superb but enough different to be enjoyable, guess I’ll have to see this Matalo! in order to understand general comments posted here.

After I had seen last week Matalo, I have seen yesterday Kill The Wickeds. Also very good. And both films have identical scenes. All parts were simply transfer to Matalo. Nevertheless, the result is quite different. Kill the Wickeds is a traditional Western. It also has a nice dark atmosphere. But Matalo is more experimental.

It might be an individual decision which movie like it better. The crazy Matalo, or rather the original one. I like Matalo a little more. Not much. But it’s the little differences.
The camera work at Matalo is better. The locations are also better.
And Kill the Wickeds has a big weakness: the actors. Only Rod Dana and Vivi Gioi make a good performance (Rod Dana makes a better figure as the villain. Compared to Kill or Be Killed, he is here much better). But the other Actors are weak and miscast in my opinion. For most lack the charisma for a spaghetti Western. OK, the budget was certainly not very large. But there are so many actors are not required fee. Man could have filled the role of the Strangers, for example, with Craig Hill. Do so that is the great vulnerability. And I think the reason why is Matalo a little better.

Despite all KTW is good. My Rating 7 / 10.

didn’t like this much i’m afraid although i agree with Phil H it is boring and weak to begin with and gets better. i will say i liked it better than " Matalo" but both films to me were mediocre.

Finally viewed this one in a decent version. Lots of quirky characters and double crosses, plus I am a sucker for horses that come to their owner when the owner whistles. Especially liked the older woman who had been in the town for years, and the way her eyes light up and her smile re the mention of money. Good fun.

To judge from the trailer even on the visual plane the similarities with Matalo! are rather impressive.

Apart from Dio non paga il sabato and Uno straniero a Paso Bravo (E Dio disse a Caino) do you know other SWs object of remake inside the genre?

Not exactly inside the genre, but Joe, cercati un posto per morire! was a remake (sort of) of Hathaway’s Garden of Evil, with Mexicans replacing Indians.

Also probably not exactly what you had in mind but Johnny Hamlet and Lust in the Dust are both retellings of the same Shakespeare play.

He is talking about SWs remaking SWs.

Strangely I’m not sure if I would call Matalo a remake. It is a remarkably different film using the same screenplay.

While apart from the character’s names Cain and Paso Bravo are so different that I would never have guessed that they had something in common. At least not more as 90 % of all SWs which are similar to another.

Very, very sort of …

[quote=“Stanton, post:31, topic:1570”]He is talking about SWs remaking SWs.

Strangely I’m not sure if I would call Matalo a remake. It is a remarkably different film using the same screenplay.

While apart from the character’s names Cain and Paso Bravo are so different that I would never have guessed that they had something in common. At least not more as 90 % of all SWs which are similar to another.[/quote]

Those discussions have become very popular after Scorsese’s remake of that Chinese movie, that wasn’t, in his words, a remake but a different movie using the same screensplay, or story, or whatever

Of course you can distinguish between a remake and a new adaptation, but the differences seem more gradual than essential to me. Few remakes have the same feel as the original movie. Even that Psycho remake by Van Sant felt differently, even though it almost was a scene-for-scene remake. Walter Hill’s Extreme Prejudice, on the other hand, has a different historic setting and a different storyline, but often breathes a Wild Bunch atmosphere.

Gioi, who plays the older woman, had been a star in the previous decade and this performance was part of a brief comeback; [b]she still looks far too young for the part of the spooky old witch[/b] (she was 49 at the time). (.....) It cannot be denied that some things are done better in Matalo! Some of the characters are better defined and [b]the part of the old woman is played by an actress of the right age[/b].

In spite of appearances the two actresses were practically of the same age (Vivi Gioi was born in January of 1917, Ana Maria Noé in 1914): curiously both died prematurely, age 58 and 55 respectively.

Arghhh… I’ve got watch this one again, it’s been awhile.

Scherps, on your review of the film, I noticed that you have Lisa Gastoni name in the cast, as far i know she’s not in it, maybe i’m wrong. :o

@ Scherps, on your review of the film, I noticed that you have Lisa Gastoni name in the cast, as far i know she’s not in it, maybe i’m wrong

According to IMDB and Giusti she’s not in the movie, so I wonder how I got the idea she is.
I’ll rewatch the film soon, and will look for her.

Glad to see the positive comments about this movie.

It was shown last night as a part of ongoing SW cycle on Croatian TV, which I must praise, except for FaFDM and Quien Sabe? most of the titles they are showing are obscure but quality little gems, some of them hard to find. So far, Dio non paga il sabato, along with I vigliacchi non pregano, is my favorite discovery among them. I agree with most comments, it starts slow and borish but suddenly moves in unpredictable ways and becomes really atmospheric with surprising outbursts of brutal (if not too graphic) violence. Lots of weird camera angels and absolutely great ghost town (indoor and outdoor). Theme song has one of the most ‘rock’ sounding electric guitar solos in genre (rather short though).

It sounds like Croatian television is better than British TV… who’da thunk it?

Well around here BBC has reputation of being the best television in the world, and Croatian national TV (HRT) is looking at it as a role model (and buys a lot of its shows). Croatian TV was actually much better in the 90s, in the last 15 years it was influenced by commercial tv competitors so a lot of junk entered its program. But after long period of pandemic commercialization and degradation, last year national tv started Channel 3, which is showing - check this - no commercials, no news, instead whole day of film and tv classics, contemporary film and series from non-english countries, classic short animation movies, rock concerts and HRT own documentaries and talk-shows about art and culture.

Currently weekly film program includes these cycles: Spaghetti Westerns, John Ford, Luis Bunuel, Satyajit Ray, George Stevens, Michael Powell and Emerico Pressburger, French film, film noir classics, contemporary European (9th COMPANY this week), Asian (13 ASSASSINS this week), around the world (every week movie from another country) and Euro cinema hits.
I almost wept when it was launched, I couldn’t believe that I would ever again see anything but money-first policy :slight_smile:

Very good film this.