Well, regardless of whether you like it or not, I’d say is absolutely a must watch for any SW fan since you won’t see anything else like it. I thought it wasn’t good weird, as I said, it felt forced many times, but it’s not without its moments.
I really wanted to like it a lot more than I did, but once the weirdness started to get old the movie began to drag a lot. I didn’t mind the boomerangs so much, and it gave way to a very interesting sequence with some creative camerawork, but the ending was absolutely underwelming. I think it would’ve been better if they’d let some of the weirdness get into the script and have some more bizarre twists in the story, like Django Kill for instance which is also far from being a favorite but wasn’t nearly as boring to me as this one.
yes, it´s a must-watch, that´s for sure - and for me i have to watch again to decide - some movies works better for me on the second viewing, this could be that situation
but i can´t say it was boring
The beginning was indeed terrific, but I also thought that the ending was pretty good. But the in the middle of Matalo the film dragged her and there. And they shouldn’t have made a secret about what wasn’t a secret to everyone with half a brain.
The only thing remotely resembling a flaw is the lack of more Corrado Pani in the film! ;D
actually, film would work probably better without that secret, Pani should stay in the film for the whole time, creating with Castel some sort of strong relationship
That’s another reason. They should have revealed this much, much earlier. Would make the film for me much more dramatic than an “unknown” guy in the shadows.
That’s one of the points where I think the weird should’ve gone into the script. If you’re gonna have a misterious guy hiding in the dark, then go over the top and make it surprising. It was so obvious that it was him that I thought we were in for a twist, but no, it was just him and that was it. All the weirdness of the movie rested in the camerawork and slo-mo. Halfway through it started to feel like what I suspect it is, a shot at a weird, “arthouse” movie done by a hack with very little talent. The random camera movement, endless slow motion scenes and many other things had no point being in the movie and were thrown in without much thought and criteria. What saves this film from being a total disaster for me is the first half an hour or so, when the strangeness still feels fresh and seems to have a point in the movie. Then we find out it’s just trying to be weird for weird’s sake and we’re not in for any kind of surprise and it falls down rather fast. And I also found Lou Castel a very bad choice for the lead and didn’t like his performance at all. I was almost expecting for the bad guys to kill him at once.
i disagree, weirdness rested on more aspects than these two things throughout the whole movie , Pani including or not
i found him a perfect choice
I thought the characters weren’t all that different than many others found in Spaghettis. And other than the camerawork I didn’t find anything else that was weird (perhaps the boomerangs). Sure, the ghost town setting was pretty atmospheric but it can also be found in other Spaghettis, like Cemetery Without Crosses for instance, which is a much better film and the unusual things about it seem more justified than in this movie.
Personally, I think that weird for the sake of weirdness can be a good thing if it’s well done and I think it’s the case here. There’s an expression that says “It’s not the destination, but the journey that counts” (or something), well when it comes to movie sometimes it’s not the point that counts, but the trip. And Matalo! is one hell of a trip!
You’re right, but I don’t think it’s too big of a flaw to really hurt the film.
I might not agree with you when it comes to DiCaprio, but I sure agree with you here!
i just say that´s great 
I think Lou Castel is a good choice for the role. He’s basically just gettin his ass kicked all the time so his kinda wimpy look is good for the role.
for me, this weirdness was co-created by these things (but maybe more, i don´t remember the film precisely scene by scene now)
- appearance of Castel (i think first shot of him was that how he is lying somewhere) - it looks like he materialized there from some unearthly realm than just he came from West wilderness
- Castel´s behavior (he is almost just like that alien from a scifi movie Brother from Another Planet)
- i add also boomerangs 
- strange happenings in the town throughout the whole movie ( fall of that bell for instance)
- i add also “man hiding in shadows”, although every viewer probably knows, who´s that - but i don´t see it as a weakness, because whole movie i was looking forward, when Pani´s character finally will be confronted with Castel
- finale, whole idea of how all the characters would end - it all seems to me like Castel´s presence caused it by some unseen magic trick
- also cinematography, slo-mo, and music
Well, I didn’t see Castel as otherworldy but simply as a wimp, and if I’m watching a SW I’m expecting for wimps to get killed 
It’s true that his apparition is kinda enigmatic and it works very well but then the character doesn’t deliver.
And I think the hiding is pretty worthless if you know who’s the one doing it, absolutely pointless and devoid of any tension.
Besides that, I already said that I found the ending underwhelming although I liked the Boomerang-o-vision shots.
What I said about the Castel character pretty much sums up the problems I have with this movie: it’s got a great set up and it seems to be heading to greater things but then it just doesn’t go anywhere and just ends.
Anyway, we could always make peace and watch Boot Hill.
i´m not in a war, cochino
OK, Cemetery Without Crosses is better (albeit rather weak in terms of logic), but the two films are too different to be compared: in Matalo! style prevails over content, in Cemetery Without Crosses is the exact opposite.
And there is also a significant difference regarding ghost town: while in Matalo! atmosphere is skillfully created, especially through Migliardi’s sound effects, in Robert Hossein’s film is closely related to a distinctive look that, to quote korano’s review, “highly resembles a Dali painting”.
good point, this is one of those things also co-creating weirdness of Matalo
I know, I was just kidding.
And I think that in Cemetery Without Crosses the atmosphere is also skillfully created. A different atmosphere for sure, but my point was that the setting of the ghost town wasn’t something “weird” by itself, since it had been used in other Spaghettis.
And for random slow mo, I rather watch Shanghai Joe throwing plates around ;D
[quote=“cochino, post:138, topic:201”]I know, I was just kidding.
And I think that in Cemetery Without Crosses the atmosphere is also skillfully created. A different atmosphere for sure, but my point was that the setting of the ghost town wasn’t something “weird” by itself, since it had been used in other Spaghettis.
And for random slow mo, I rather watch Shanghai Joe throwing plates around ;D[/quote]
actually this Cemetery Without Crosses town is the coolest spaghetti town ever - i´d live there
I would die there, nice and peaceful most of the time .