Killer, adios (Primo Zeglio, 1968)

Spaghetti Westerns šŸŽ¬
1

The lead character, Jess(PLL), is not the spaghetti antihero but more of an American Western goodguy. He and the film itself are both rather talky, and the plot plays much like a detective story. Jess is not looking for vengeance as usual, but trying to figure out whodunit in a series of killings.

Directed and shot pretty straight. Not much in the use of artistic camerawork or editing, specifically for the first hour- aside from one flashback scene towards the beginning, which I thought was done well and hide a nice surreal feel to it. Towards the last half hour, there are a handful of the genre styled closeups and whatnot.

The first hour is a bit slow for my tastes. There are a few scenes of action that keep things moving, but nothing too involved. One highlight is Jess taking on a group of guys, throwing his rifle down and proceeding to kick the shit out of them in under 10 seconds. No annoying, dragging fistfight scene here. Unfortunately this is somewhat negated when later we are treated to the usual, longer fistandkickfight(although still not too bad in terms of fistfight scenes).

[Spoilers below]

Being that the lead is a goodguy, most of the film heā€™s doing goodguy things with a goodguy attitude. So its a nice treat when things start to heat up, and in good old cold blooded vengeance, Jess guns down the man heā€™s been defending. This makes for a refreshing change of mood, however it does not last through till the ending and the film quickly reverts back into its goodguy mentality.

The end showdown was a bit of a let-down. The final villain is kind of weird & creepy, but not very threatening, and its not even really a showdown. I think this may also be the only spaghetti Iā€™ve seen that ends on a kiss between the hero and the girl, rather than the hero riding off without the girl, the girl being shot earlier, etcā€¦ Iā€™m sure thereā€™s others, but none are coming to mindā€¦

[End Spoilers]

Not my personal favorite style but all in all, Iā€™d say it was a well done spaghetti and an enjoyable viewing if youā€™re not put off by talky, goodguy type westerns.

For more info visit:
Database Page: Winchester, uno entre mil - The Spaghetti Western Database

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2

Thanks for the review - interesting reading. Another on my to watch pile.
I know what you mean about those ā€˜soppyā€™ endings ā€¦ better that they get shot. Particularly, in Stantonā€™s book - for being so ugly! :wink:
Iā€™ll sell my Skin Dearly is another happy ending - still a good film mind - despite this.

3

Detective style story makes a change, which suited me fine when viewed, and of course reminded me of 32 Calibre Killer ( which I prefer as PLL is so smooth). The ā€˜sweetā€™ style ending like pointed will not be to everyones taste of course, and if all you want is action look elsewhere.

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4

Watch this yesterday evening and think its very entertaining
PLL reminds to Killer Caliber 32,like Ennio said
I like PLL in this smart style,it fits to him,although in KC 32 he was much better

The surprising end of this flic is rather rare,Eduardo Fajardo as a goodie and a baddie on which no one had planned.
The story about the winchester one of 1000 is also a good idea

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5

Even though this movie was in 1968, it has the feel of an early SW, circa 1964-65 or so with the emphasis more on plot and characters than on action. Canā€™t wait for this to be released with KC 32.

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6

I agree,its a slowly movie,but not boring

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7

Well I like Peter Lee Lawrence in the action. This one I didnā€™t see yet, I did try to get it through Spanish Impulso, a couple of days ago, but it seems to be already out of stock. Ill have to try in some retail shopsā€¦

8

I have a german version,if you wouldnā€™t mind

9

My six months of German classes arenā€™t enoughā€¦

10

The same with my Spanish :slight_smile:

11

Good news! I found a copy of Impulso DVD during my latest visit to Spain, as most of theirs editions this one has a pretty good image quality. Later Iā€™ll update the specs in the database .

The movie seemed good too me, I didnā€™t expect such final scenes. Perhaps the director should have cut some of the extra-actors, whose are always walking around behind the main characters.

12

I like this one OK. Not an outstanding film; but, definitely enjoyable. And like Ennioo, I liked it because the ā€œdetectiveā€ feel of the film made it stand out from the pack, so to speak.

This is coming out on a double feature disc from Wild East (coupled with KILLER CALIBER 32), sometime soon (no definite release date, yet).
But, I think Col. Mortimer made reference to this in an earlier post.

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13

Thatā€™s what I thought about the movie after watching it last night.

14

Watched this one for the first time and even though I like PLC, I found it too talky and boring for my taste, not enough action to keep me interested. I did like the young actress that plays PLC love interest she had a nice body, was hopping for some nudity, but no dice on this one.

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16

Enjoy the mystery elements to this one. But a film I seem to have seen to many times re watching upgrade prints, so time for a long rest for this one for me.

17

I thought the mystery elements in both Killer Adios and Killer Calibre 32 are forgettable and easily foreseeable.

About Killer Adios and PLLā€™s acting amazing abilities I wrote in another thread some years ago, and in response to SD (remember him?):

  1. Killer Adios, well, itā€™s not necessary to talk much about this average SW. Itā€™s basically a simple whodunit (westerns and whodunits, never a good idea), predictable of course, after 30 min nearly everything happens as you imagine it for the next scene. Shoot-outs are partly well done in an otherwise standardly directed film, but screenplay, dialogues and most of the acting is mainly routine or sub standard.

Somehow the film manages nevertheless not to be a complete bore, so it is at least a 3/10.

  1. I have to admit I never gave much about PLLs acting, cause for me he has not much charisma. But since I have seen half a dozen of his SWs, I think he was quite ok for the type of films he had made. And in one of his last ones he looked more mature and was halfway good.

Well, charisma is of course a mater of taste, but the acting abilities are a different thing. Truth is, he is a limited actor, and he does all his acting in Killer Adios with about 3 expressions: grinning (for being happy), looking grim (but never too grim), looking indifferent (for most of the scenes).

Thatā€™s enough for simple action films, which donā€™t require more, but there is this scene, where the screenplay asks for him too shoot an innocent man in rage.
Nello Pazafini is the main suspect but of course not guilty. But he knows the truth and wants to disclose it to PLL. It is in the middle of the film, so it was pretty clear that the screenplay wonā€™t reveal the identity of the murderer so soon. So the screenplay wants PLL to become so angry that he did not listen to him and shoots him by mistake by losing his temper. But for that PLL should be angry, but on the screen ā€¦ actually nothing!
He is acting this scene like any other one, he obviously wasnā€™t able to deliver the demanded rage. It was obvious what would happen in this scene, but I thought, whatā€™s this, he is cool as ever, it would be laugable if he shoots him, but of course he does. He has to explain it thereafter, at the end of the sequence (ā€œI was in rageā€), because there was nothing to see of the rage.

Well, it was anyway a ridiculous scene, the way how it was conceived, but it tells you everything about an actor.
At least this scene made me laugh.

18

Iā€™m not a fan of Peter Lee, but I accepted his anger in this particular scene without any problem. I donā€™t like actors who act too much, so to speak. To me the worst actor (or better: the one who pisses me off most) is Nicholas Cage: when he tries to look worried, he always looks as if the world comes to an end (he therefore was quite good in that one movie that was about the end of the world, forgot the title)

As for the identity of the killer: I didnā€™t foresee it. I do agree the mystery plot isnā€™t anything special in either of the two movies, but it kept me watching. And then: what mystery novel or movie is really something special? Some of the best written by Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers (Strong Poison) or Ira Levin (A kiss before Dying) maybe, but the plots of most Christies, Queens etc. are banal.

19

In the end it is mostly simple. If there is someone who is there but hasnā€™t any narrative function (and belongs of course never to the suspects), then he is it. In films often easier (not in this one though) as mostly cast with an half way famous actor.

Strangely a crime novel or film in which there are a few suspects and one of them is it is the exception and not the rule. And as every crime novel/film wants to surprise the audience with an unsuspected culprit it canā€™t be a surprise anymore. Still they always want to surprise us this way.

You really thought PLL was acting in this scene where he kills Pazzafini?
I remember it as laughably bad. It wasnā€™t under acting, I simply saw nothing, but it was 100 % clear how the scene would end. It looked for me like a complete ā€œrefusal to workā€.

20

Well, I didnā€™t think the scene was laughable. At least I felt no urge to laugh. Itā€™s not a great duel scene, thatā€™s true. Apart from this one flashback scene, that wasnā€™t very spectacular or stylish either, but had a certain hauting quality, I thought the action was only so-so.

Youā€™re right about these tricks in relation to the identity of the killer. One of the tricks often used in those serial killer things, was that one of the investigators (an assistent, etc.) was the one. All very stupid. Some of the best crime stories (I mentioned a few) manage to surprise you, not with the identity of the killer, but with some unusual aspects concerning the narrative or premise. Poeā€™s stories like The Murders in the Rue Morgue or The Purloined Letter are a bit ridiculous if you think about them, but Poe is such a good writer, able to explain things in such a facinating way, that it doesnā€™t matter. A kiss before Dying was all plot, no real substance (although itā€™s well-written), but it is very well plotted. And it has a killer whoā€™s really frightning, a sort of twin brother to Ripley.