Man, Pride and Vengeance / L’uomo, l’orgoglio, la vendetta (Luigi Bazzoni, 1967)

Spaghetti Westerns 🎬 Eurowestern & Hybrids
1

Just got done watching this but don’t expect a classic SW, not hardly any shoot outs or gun play at all but its amazing to see the landscape un-linked to the myths of the American West. and re-hitched to a what you can only call a "Spanish Western "or maybe a “Spanish Almerian”.

For instance, you get familiar SW scenery and landscapes with riders going across but where your standard SW will cut away we follow as the rider approaches a medieval wall and goes through the gate, it aint Arizona or Texas anymore, lol. I suppose if we all went back and watched the Hercules and other Sword & Sandal Epics we may see more familiar landscapes.

And its based on the classic novella Carmen that in turn the Opera was also based on.

Carmen is the beautiful gypsie seductress that is constantly conning guys that get trapped in her schemes through out her life, so basically that is what you get, but its very well made.

Dir. Luigi Bazzoni does a pretty good job with his treatment of the original material, instead of gunfights & battles you got some incredibly well shot action in fight scenes and knife fights. What you get is not the basic standard shot that you see in 99 % of films but a series of close in camera angles intercut with wider shots, it feels like you are part of the action.

There is also a bull fight sequence that is pretty cool, for the fact that it looks like it may be the same ring used in The Mercenary. There is some shooting but nothing like your standard SW. Its a great way to see the classic Carmen “Spaghetti” style.

Carmen is played by Tina Aumont and she will remind you a lot of Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero plays the officer Jose driven insane by Carmen and Klaus Kinsky in another cameo plays Carmen’s out of the way in prison husband, so when he is finally released there is a settiling of accounts with Nero.

In fact there are a number of settling of accounts between Nero and Aumont.

There are a couple of regular SW actors you’ll recognize in the cast, too.

The score is Spanish guitar and fits the film really well, its definitely a change of pace the story worked for me. Its one of those genre bending films that is more similar to SWs than anything else.

For more info visit:
Database page: Uomo, l’orgoglio, la vendetta, L’ - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

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2

Spot on there Cigar Joe, it’s a favourite of mine. I love the scene where Aumont dances with that guitar piece that plays over it:

http://rapidshare.de/files/11554667/Pride_and_Vengeance__Fandango___-__Gianni_Ferrio.wma.html

Cheers

Martin

3

this movie is very peculiar indeed, coz they really made this like a Spaghetti Western, but it doesn’t even take place in America at all. So only the marketing makes us believe that, especially in Germany, where this is called a Django movie…

4

Saw this yesterday. Not much spaghetti western about it like mentioned above. This more of a love drama than an ordinary spaghetti western action movie. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, Cemetery Without Crosses is another movie which doesn’t follow the ‘usual’ genre rules but is still a splendid movie within the genre.

Man, Pride and Vengeance is not so good as that though. Franco Nero is fine in the role as the soldier turned villian and the few minutes Kinksi participates he is as mean a bastard as he usually plays in these movies. All in all it didn’t catch me though.

5

Aumont has not the charisma to play a femme fatale, she looks much too friendly (instead of erotic) to make believe that men lose their reason because of her. And I think Nero is also not the great actor required for the Jose character.
And Bazzoni is a more indifferent director.

Best part is the middle section with Kinski and the stagecoach robberey, which is also the most Spaghetti like.

The whole rest is boring.

6

I really like this film and although it is somewhat boring, I find it strangley watchable. It has a verystrong plotline I think.

7

I forgot to say that one of the reasons I love it is because of the strange locale. Spain. But I consider it western because it has many western characteristics to it. You guys must understand that western is not a location but a feel and theme.

8

Works good enough if you don’t see it as a SW. As a SW however, it fails.

9

I thought it was quite good. Nero is very good in this one and we get some very nice locations and interesting atmosphere. It tends to drag from time to time and that woman playing Carmen was irritating in my opinion, but it’s still a good one in my book.

10

I agree. Although I cringe at violence towards women, I thought she deserved every smack Nero gave her.

11

I thought this one was a good movie as it evoked several emotions from me. Anger/frustration: for the number of times Carmen duped Jose and manipulated him. Pity: for the place that Carmen came from and perhaps understanding why she manipulated people. Lust: Tina Aumont is playfully sexy and no one can dispute that!

I thought the best part of the movie was the first 30 minutes, where Jose really has a battle between his duty and his lust for the woman. I thought Nero was excellent in this. If that part hadn’t been done so well I think the rest of the movie wouldn’t have been so enjoyable for me.

All in all I didn’t regard this so much as a SW as a Euro-Western adaptation of opera. I haven’t seen the opera Carmen but perhaps I need to expand my horizons!!

12

I don’t know. It is a good movie, but eventually, it is NO western. It is just a carmen-version set somewhere in Spain or even in Mexico, nothing else. Why is it a western? because there is like one gun in it? Because there is Franco Nero in it? Because there is Kinski in it? I don’t get it.

Is every movie, that is set somewhere in Mexico, or a country that looks like Mexico a western?

Is it a western, because some German genius calles it “Mit Django kam der Tod”?

As far as I know, this really is a modern Carmen-version, and because westerns were sold quite welle those days, it was branded as a one.

13

It is a western because there is a stagecoach robbery, bandits, and horses. If you read my review, you’ll see more of this opinion. But it is set in Spain. This is all just my ideas about it and not necessarily true or untrue.

14

Aha! You say it is a wetsern, because it contains several typical ingredients. But you also say, it is in Spain.
So, a western can also be set in the Austrian Alps, if it contains a stagecoach robbery, bandidts and horses.

15

Yes.

16

Good to know :wink:

17

Apart from this stagecoach part, it is not a western.
But MPV was made in a western environment, so it is still interesting to compare it with the westerns made at the time.

18

The same here,it’s not more than a opera (western) :smiley:

19

Do you know Collera del vento? A flick with Girotti. THis is even less a western than MPV, but they branded it as well as one (Der Teufel kennt kein Halleluja). Awful!

20

Trinity Sees Red, right? I thought it was iteresting but very preachy and anti climactic. The Spanish Western setting is less so than in MPV.

But before we go into these arguements about where the west ends, all we have to know is that we all have different interpretations. Similar to the Mud and Blood trilogy. I think I’ve made my stance very clear but I understand the other ideas.

But about the film, I like it for the unique sets and cool costumes. Maye it is that Spanish bandits living out a western scenario (IMO) that intrigues me about this film. Not to mention the locations.

But when it comes to the western aspect, I think of this film as the Spanish west. With Spanish saddles/horses, villages, bandits, etc. But I believe it to be a different west.