I’m going mad in not finding this, I’m pretty sure this is not the Ringo duo of movies but from what I can remember the premise it pretty close to those:
Both movies have the main character (same in both) played by the same actor (pretty sure) and I’m pretty sure the director is the same as well. The one thing I remember about them is that even though the character has the same name the sequel is not really a straight follow up (as in the case of the Ringo movies). It’s as if they just used the same character because he was popular. I also kind of remember them to have been made within the same 2 years (again, as with the Ringo movies).
Sadly my memory regarding the story is very vague but I remember I was taken by surprise how good they were. I think it had the usual “one stranger entering a town where he is looked down upon at first but ends up saving the day”-story. It was more towards the serious westerns, not full of humour.
The character might have been connected to the law enforcement in one of the movies but then more like a lone gunman in the other. I remember there was som kind of difference between the characters somehow.
If you’re misremembering them as Ringo movies, then perhaps Arizona Colt, which stars Giuliano Gemma, and the very different Arizona Colt Returns, with Anthony Steffen?
I watched Django the Bastard recently and it was actually not the movie I remember.
This showed to be a tough nut to crack!
The “High Plains Drifter”-similarity is the strongest hint I have.
Actually, thought you had found them for a moment. But I just can’t seem to find the specific dramatic scene I remember when fast forwarding on youtube.
A scene similar to High Plain Drifter where the “hero” is kind of in a bad state, beaten down, and the whole town sees it happen but does not care due to them having a grudge or being forced to look away by the antagonist. But it ends with the hero getting their trust back.
That sounds a whole lot like Keoma. Though that one doesn’t have a companion film, Mannaja, released the year after, borrows a lot of its gloomy bleak mood. The second film also stars Maurizio Merli, a notorious lookalike of the star of the first, Franco Nero