Just finished watching this. Likeable enough in an offbeat manner, but itās all a bit of a mess, really. An episodic Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid wannabee buddy movie that tries to straddle that no-mans-land between the violent Spags of the sixties and the knockabout slapstick comedy Spags of the seventies but fails to be both, and in trying fails also to be either one thing or the other. The movie features a charming and spirited performance from Guglielmo Spoletini but a phoned-in, almost bored turn from Gianni āSANtana-not-SARtana-even-though-theyāre-all-calling-me-SARtana-despite-being-nothing-like-SARtanaā Garko, deciding that a vague allusion to Robert Redford in his tassled jacket will suffice. The female love interest was appropriately sexy enough though, as is often the case. Did they all decide to live as a weird trio of lovers at the end? Theyāll wind up on Jeremy Kyle, mark my words.
As I said, itās a light-hearted and easy enough sojourn, Iāll give it that. And the set-pieces, taken in isolation, are rather fun. One section featuring a badass family of nutjob brothers and their hideous crippled patriarch was probably worthy of expansion into a larger (better) movie on its own. But a lack of focus, a lack of direction kept me from truly committing to this movie.
The ending is unimpressive: in my opinion the penultimate sequence was the best way of concluding the movie, without further āantifeministā implications.
First part of the film is quite boring for me but it gets good when are introduced to the Kirby family. The theme is really good, too. Iād give it either 2 and 1/2 or maybe 3 stars.
Just noticed that movies4men in the UK are showing this next Friday - Recorders at the ready, gentlemen!
Hopefully they will be screening an uncut version, or at least one that includes the missing English dialogue from the German DVD based fandub. For those who havenāt seen it, there are approximately 10 minutes from the beginning of the movie which are in Italian and subbed in English, and a few other shorter sequences. As the film on the German version has a running time of 85 minutes, it seems likely that this could be the full version - Fingers crossed!
85 minutes PAL is probably the correct running time - Iām just hoping for a complete English language version.
Movies4men have a tiresome habit of chopping films for time and content ā¦ they actually show āA Bullet for the Generalā as part of the morning schedule from time to time ā¦ and itās certainly not a film suitable for younger children, so most of the more sadistic stuff is gone - same thing with āTexas Adiosā, āA Taste for Killingā and quite a few others.
They might consider renaming their channel movies4sensitivemen or do the sensible thing and show later in the evenings. But they are a pretty dumb channel, save for the occasional SW.
This was always enigma for me. It works well as classical sw and it does work well enough even as comedy but together it is a mess. Undecided direction pretty much plagued it. With some cuts and little different music you could make either quite gritty sw or more lighthearted fun. It is pitty because this is one of Marchentās better efforts and it looks pretty good.
I donāt remember the last minutes, but I guess the confusion is due to the fact that itās a late genre entry, and they didnāt know exactly were to go with it. Presumably the actors and director didnāt want to be too serious, but didnāt want to make a real slapstick SW either.
When I watched it, quite a few years ago, I thought I was going to watch a genuine Sartana ā¦ and thought I had rented the wrong movie!
That song āRide along, ride along, hey amigoā is really infectious : iāve just watched the trailer and will be humming it for hours ā¦
I donāt remember the last minutes, but I guess the confusion is due to the fact that itās a late genre entry, and they didnāt know exactly were to go with it. Presumably the actors and director didnāt want to be too serious, but didnāt want to make a real slapstick SW either.[/quote]
That confusion in the end you speak of is indeed the one failing of the movie for me. Seeing these best buds suddenly turn against each other and then shortly after forget anythign ever happened was just a bit too much of a stretch for me. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the movie otherwise. It didnāt fall into ācomedyā territory for me; moreso a bit lighthearted. I definitely didnāt even think of it as a Sartana movie in any way.
Itāll be interesting to hear Col. Mortimerās take on this. When I mentioned I was reviewing this, he told me he didnāt like it, because of the buddy aspect.
Itās a pretty violent and cynical SW, which contrasts with a slightly lighthearted touch, which makes some of the really malicious plot developments so surprising and shocking. Even more as these malicious parts are often presented with a time delay.
And yes, the lame end ruined it a bit. (And of course the terrible german comedy dub, which really kills the film)
With an interesting end it could had become a minor classic.
I know, but I was commenting on JDās review on the hosted site
I understand thereās a dilemma here: itās up to Sebastian and JD (lordradish) to decide what to do and where to place reactions
(Iām far too young to make such decisions!)
I understand there's a dilemma here: it's up to Sebastian and JD (lordradish) to decide what to do and where to place reactions.
Yes, thatās something Iād like Sebastian to chime in on and offer some guidance. Itās a good bet that most of the films we review at Fistful have their own thread here on the forum. Iād like to keep this board perhaps discussing our own reviews. Iām definitely interested as to whether or not people agree or disagree with our reviews, but I donāt want to cut into the SWDBās territory or have a bunch of duplicate stuff here.
Sebastianā¦ any ideas on the best way to proceed here?
[quote=āscherpschutter, post:72, topic:439ā]I know, but I was commenting on JDās review on the hosted site
I understand thereās a dilemma here: itās up to Sebastian and JD (lordradish) to decide what to do and where to place reactions
(Iām far too young to make such decisions!)[/quote]
ohh, I didnāt noticed that we were at another place
well I agreed to host JDās section here, so more people can take part in the discussion without having to open yet another forum. the idea would of course be not to duplicate stuff more than necessary, maybe JD can post his website news and review updates here, and open topics for reviews thatās fine. the dilemma will probably not be easy to dodge, as any discussion about a review will eventually circle around the film as wellā¦
well I agreed to host JDās section here, so more people can take part in the discussion without having to open yet another forum. the idea would of course be not to duplicate stuff more than necessary, maybe JD can post his website news and review updates here, and open topics for reviews thatās fine. the dilemma will probably not be easy to dodge, as any discussion about a review will eventually circle around the film as wellā¦[/quote]
I think itās best to make two threads, a reviews thread and an articles thread
So if there is a new review or article, it can be announced in the appropriate thread
For instance like this: NEW review &#Ā§%*/+=3# by J.D.
For instance like this: *NEW* review &#Ā§%*/+=3# by J.D.
Funny you should say that, as I just watched āThe Return of &#Ā§%*/+=3#ā last night, starring Robert &&#@@ and Anthony !@!@!. I should have a review upon it shortly.
I also got a hold of āBook the Funeral Home, &#Ā§%*/+=3# is Comingā and ā&#Ā§%*/+=3# meets &^#(@@@ā. The latter one was directed by Fidani, so my expectations arenāt high.
This film has nothing to do with the very popular Sartana character sw fans know and love. Garko plays a character named Sartana but he is not the same mystical gambler most fans are familiar with. The name was borrowed to cash in on the success of the Sartana series. In fact the italian title (āun par de asesionesā) shows no mention of Sartana at all. The culprit of this hijacking is the American or English distributors.
Gianni Garko stars as a low down thieving bandit named Sartana (Looking more like a hatless Davy Crokett than the black clad gambler/avenger) who is searching for $100,000 worth of loot along with his less than trustworthy mexican pal Marcos.
Both bandits are being relentlessly chased by a sheriff and his deputies. Along the way our āheroesā meet up with an unsavory but good looking woman who wants to be apart of the gang. A relationship developes between the girl and Sartana (or so we think). Marcos becomes increasingly jealous of the pairing and the movie begins to hint that Sartana and Marcos will not be partners for long.
That is the best I could do with the plot because honestly there is way more going on. The movie has several sub-plots (some get resolved and some donāt), itās usually just to add a bit of action in between the main plot.
The best of these sub-plots is undoubtably about a family gang of murderous scum named āThe Kirbiesā. Father Kirby and his four dim-witted, but deadly, sons hijack a stagecoach and stow away the passengers in an abandoned barn house where they happily murder them all. The Kirbies later run into Sartana and co. and a suspenseful confrontation ensues.
Towards the end things get a little farcical with stupid sight gags but all of that is forgiven by this reviewer. I had a hell of a time watching something I expected very little from.
Non-stop action, a good score*, sleazy sexual tension and fun characters make this spaghetti worth a few looks.
*The main theme is VERY catchy and the whole soundtrack is well put together.
