After Boldest Job in the West happened to be not a gem, this is one. Directed by Duel in the Eclipse director Jose Luis Merino it is another well made and gritty SW, which features again a few supernatural elements, and for those who liked it, the Jaguar cape is also back.
Peter Lee Lawrence looks older, a bit more skinny and therefore more adult in this one, and it is the first film with him in which he ain’t a let down. Which does not mean I couldn’t imagine better actors for his role. But it is clearly PLL’s best SW.
The film’s story is maybe a bit incoherent, and you shouldn’t think too much about logical holes, but it has style and atmosphere and interesting characters and last but not least some nasty violence . 4/5
I still have to watch the second McGregor (I have a copy, but with all the work on the Hill & Spencer focus, I didn’t feel like watching another comedy spaghetti), but I suppose this one has very little in common with the previous two?
At least the Spanish title has no Scot in it: Death is looking for a Man - sounds indeed a bit supernatural
No.
The Italian and English title may suggest it (and the English one is often written indeed as MacGregor), but this one has absolutely nothing to do with Giraldi’s 2 westerns about the 7 brothers from the Scottish MacGregor clan.
I’ve only watched the first 45 or something of this, I didn’t like it at all. But at the time whenI started watching it wasn’t in an SW kind of mood at all so I might should try to watch it again.
Ha ha, PLL, yes, I still think he’s looks phoney in westerns.
In most of his westerns now, after watching this one. As I said he looks older and tougher here, also more lean (I needed a minute to recognize him).
Still he ain’t an actor, but here it doesn’t bother me.
The best thing I could say about PLL, before I watched this one, was that he wasn’t in any good western anyway. Only a few ok ones, next to the average and bad SWs he did.
Opening theme song is one I do not hear the lyrics to as fairly fast tempo and the singer has a heavy accent. This to some will be a good thing though. Couple of female Indians with their heavy eye make up and skimpy numbers look a little on the tacky side. Bit of Indian mumbojumbo is present which I am not fond of at times in westerns. Stan Cooper does break all sense of being cool when he sports a Bet Lynch style poncho at the end of the film, but he is a wacked out mean bad guy who only has dissolutions of becoming Bet on one day so all is well.
But do not get me wrong there is alot to enjoy in this gritty film (which Stanton sums up) which has one or two violent moments in.
This was one of the very first non-Leone sw’s I saw. i hated it for the fist time because I just compared it to Leone films but when I rewatched it I found it very interesting film. Good music and atmosphere, I especially liked the villain who wasn’t the regular gunfighter but drunken wreck (or was he a drug addict?).
The bad guy does like a drink and a smoke. Like the way he ( Cooper ) starts getting agitated just before a smoke and then a bit more relaxed when he gets his smoke.
I managed to sneak this one in recently (thanks stanton) and what a surprise this turned out to be. As with scherpy, this hadn’t been on my radar cos I also thought a sequel to the (differently spelt) MacGregor nonsense.
From the beginning - indicated by both the weird song and action - it promised to be something different. It begins with our ‘hero’ (or so I thought) - who’s the bountyhunter, and with his girl, they set up some schmuck. But whilst she’s not there to observe, and after tieing him up to take him in … he then cold-bloodedly shoots him in the head before bringing him in “dead or alive”.
This film somehow manages to mix weird - supernaturally empowered stary mexi-indian hippy women who can summon scorpions; a dope-smokin’ alcoholic gunslinger - and his gang - who are hiding out at a mine; and the jaguar-skin poncho - of course; with traditional revenge motifs. I also had to do a double-take at PLL, as I wasn’t convinced that it actually was him for a moment or two.
Through its weirdness, it worked primarily as a western, and kept me enthralled for the most part. There was some corniness towards the end, but overall this was a highly successful, interesting - and of course - a refreshingly unusual spaghetti, that ticked at least 4 of the 5 boxes for me.
Highly recommended viewing.
This one was much better than I expected. The more PLL I see the more I seem to like and this, I think, is one of his better efforts. Clunky in places but overall a very satisfying little Spaghetti with a lot of the elements I like to see in a film of this type.
Recommended.
I have seen the film today again . And I agree with the positive reviews. Very strange, but interesting and good atmosphere. The story is very unusual, because the bounty hunter has a wife. And he uses as a decoy for his business. In addition with many others unusual ideas (such as Reverend has written already).
I am a big fan of Requiem for a Gringo. And Merino also disappointed not here. In general, his films are full of mythical elements. And even if the movie does not have the level of Requiem for a Gringo, it is well worth seeing. Where the film is divided into two distinct parts. In the first, the story revolves around Carlos Quiney and his wife. And then the corresponding revenge. In the second part, PL Lawrence has more screen presence. Overall, I think the first part is more interesting. But the second part is more innovative.
Normally I hate PLL. He does not fit in a SW, with his youthful face. But here, he does a good job.
Weakness is (in my opinion) the music.
But overall a very good movie. And I agree with Stanton, a “little gem”.
Gotta agree with the general sentiment, this one’s a gem! It’s the kind of flick that gets me all excited and joyful afterwards, because of how much I liked it and because of how much I didn’t expect to like it to that degree. I feel like telling everybody about it. The particular atmosphere of the movie is definitively one of it’s highlight and not only that, but I also agree that it is quite well-directed and photographed - the dimly-light poker scene comes to mind immediately. Full of memorable characters, scenes, costumes and locations and a score that fits like a glove (excepts for a few moments). I was kind of afraid the movie would go downhill after the stellar beginning (up to Forsythe’s revenge on Saxon), but it managed to keep up the momentum. So many aspects and little details I loved : that striking shot where the sands looks blue (was that even voluntary? not important, I guess), the cold-blooded anti-hero who’s got no qualm about shooting a tied-up man, the poker game killing, the inn keeper who just doesn’t care about PLL getting is ass kicked, just like he didn’t care about the inn getting trashed, the power relations between Yuma and Ross and his men, Ross’ addictions, his relationship with the other Indian girl, the fact that Ross’ men are afraid of Forsythe, Ross going to deal directly with Forsythe and the subsequent series of betrayals, the unexpected romantic ending, PLL’s outfit and gloves, etc. Only one thing that I’m still not sure about, the fact that PLL is driven by revenge too. It came a bit out of nowhere, but that’s not my problem, I’m just ambivalent about it, there’s so many revenge spags out there and I was glad this one didn’t play too much with that card, but then again the ending was kind of fitting and the romantic side wouldn’t have worked as well without the emotion behind those last moments. My first Peter Lee Lawrence film, I liked him fine. And it’s nice to finally see what Dan van Husen looks like, kept seeing his name pop up in films recently without being able to find who he was playing.
On a final note, makes me want to give Duel in the Eclipse another chance.
Also…
Kowalski and Paco?
Oh, and anybody knows what Quiney’s character was holding in the end? I couldn’t make that out.
- who’s the bountyhunter, and with his girl, they set up some schmuck. But whilst she’s not there to observe, and after tieing him up to take him in … he then cold-bloodedly shoots him in the head before bringing him in “dead or alive”.
