https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133203298125?_trksid=p2471758.m4704
Just sold for £34
Can see that 4 copies have been sold on ebay in the last 2 months the most expensive going for $75. So that’s the current worth of this release despite someone trying to get 3 times that much.
It goes up and down. I just reccently pad 500:- (around 40€) for The Man From Nowhere on Swedish ebay.
One scene around 1.16 h into my DVD (1.34 h long) when there is a riding scene up on a path in a stony area along a rocky mountain obviously is shot at the same location as a similar scene 1.19 h into Pecos Cleans Up.
And it therefore seems likely that both scenes were shot in Italy (if not both in Yugoslavia. And if the Pistoleros scene might be borrowed from another movie I have no opinion on, if not maybe there are other Italian scenes also?)
Anyhow, Pistoleros/Ballad Of A Gunman met my expectations well the first watching. I agree though with the complaints regarding the very long (4 minutes ?) boring fist fight/ballroom brawl.
Otherwise it appears to be a solid SW, where Ghidra is good as always but also the other antihero was well played by Angelo Infanti.
The borrowing from Fistful Of Dollars (the mule’s disapproval of…) and some plot themes from For A Few Dollars More didn’t disturb me.
I liked the not so surprising ending.
The music by Marcello Giombini is really very good and versatile, but you can recognise some themes that are partly similiar in a few other SWs where he was the composer.
My rating is 7/10, now good for rank 40 on my SW Top list. Maybe it will climb some steps after more watchings, even if the competition is tough nowadays…
38 A Gun For 100 Graves/Pistol For A Hundred Coffins (Umberto Lenzi) music Angelo Lavagnino 1968
39 Fury Of Johnny Kid/Ride For A Massacre (Gianni Puccini) 1967
40 Pistoleros/Ballad Of A Gunman (Alfio Caltabiano) music Marcello Giombini 1967
41 One After Another/Day After Tomorrow (Nick Nostro) 1968 music Fred Bongusto, Berto Pisano
42. Hate Thy Neighbor (Ferdinando Baldi) 1968
1 Like
May 1967
4 Likes
From now on I rank Pistoleros as high as 25th on my revised SW Top list, but still a 7/10 rating.
Giombini’s music and Ghidra & Infanti are the strongest reasons. I think Infanti’s tough style is entertaing in spite of his near “stone face”.
I realise that Blood River as a comparison, ranked higher at 23th place, might seem more amateurish and The Return Of Ringo, ranked lower at 27th place, much better directed, but the subjective overall entertainment value for me obviously can lead to some potential inconsistencies that also might change over time.
Several of the scenes in Pistoleros seem to be shot in Italy, maybe even more than those in former Yugoslavia.
x23 Blood River/Ten White Men and One Little Indian (Gianfranco Baldanello) music Piero Umiliani 1974
x24 Awkward Hands (Rafael Romero Marchent) music Antón García Abril 1970
x25 Pistoleros/Ballad Of A Gunman (Alfio Caltabiano) music Marcello Giombini 1967
26 Ramon The Mexican (Maurizio Pradeaux) music Felice Di Stefano 1966
27 The Return Of Ringo (Duccio Tessari) music Ennio Morricone 1965
This movie’s page in the SWDb has been updated to the new layout, too. Please submit any corrections, text, trivia, facts, links, reviews or pictures we could add. Thanks.
There is now a poll for this one on the original post at the top 
1 Like
I have an extra Wild East DVD of this one if someone would be interested in doing a trade
Can I ask about the character names here. I have the Wild East DVD (which I’ll sell for £200 gladly if that’s the going price) and the characters seemed to be as follows:
Ghidra - Lucas
Infanti - not named
Freeman - Philippe (maybe?)
Norton - Bedoya
Eileen Schwiers as Maruka’s Mother oddly made up very badly to look older. She was quite well known in Germany and only 36. Not sure why she was cast this in this role. Very odd that killing of her and family all off screen.
Wild East DVD is 93m54s and is presumably a Pal/NtSC conversion.
Several scenes in which characters mouths move but they don’t speak. Censor cuts were pretty obvious especially the spearing.