Surprise, surprise, a decent release from White Pearl. Unfortunately, as Grinder mentioned above, no English audio track and no German subtitles for the Italian dub (subtitles are only available for parts cut from the German theatrical version). The “mediabook” looks nice – although you have to close your eyes to the hideous typos on the cover (Corbuccui, Kinoklassiger, Antihelfen) – and so does the booklet, in which the SWDb is quoted with the words (in German), “An interesting part of Corbucci’s career, in which ideas emerge that can be found in many later films.” Actually, Scherpschutter writes in his review that “Johnny Oro is not a great movie, but it’s interesting within the context of Corbucci’s career. Several story elements would pop up in later movies […].”
When I rewatched Johnny Oro last night, I noticed two amusing details. The first one is a German Fraktur calendar in Sheriff Norton’s office. (The screenshots are from the DVD, not the Blu-ray.)
The second one is that the language on the sign Sebastian and Juanito’s men put on a hapless fellow changes from English to Italian.
Much less amusing are some of the German “translations” of the Italian dialogue. In one scene, for example, Johnny Oro is asked what happened to his golden pistol. In the Italian version he answers, “The more I shoot, the more beautiful it becomes. And I will even have another one made – with your gold.” In the German version, however, his answer is, “The more I shoot, the more beautiful it becomes. Like a horse when you beat it. Or a woman.” („Je mehr ich schieße, umso hübscher wird sie. So wie ein Pferd, wenn du’s schlägst. Oder eine Frau.“)