With the usual crowd of loosers at the office this morning demanding for a western to wacht, I gave a shot at this one, been on the shelf for too long.
And Well I actualy liked, got everything a SW must have, nice ladies, guys who can’t act that well, but know how to mount horses, great soundtrack, revenge story, only the locations weren’t so cool Italy, has no desert landscape, very dificult to believe to see those guys with thirst in a desert, with big trees near by, and that quarry, shit there’s no SW I wacht, that the quarry it’s not there.
This Cardone guy comes way back (worked in Ben-Hur), and even if the acting in this films is not so good, the cinematography it’s most of the times above average like in this one very good indeed and a perfect combination for the excellent soundtrack.
The Steffen sucess in SW as leading actor must be a result of his sameness (a little bit OK, only a little bit) with Clint, not speaking of his acting skills to me he looked more fitted for vilain parts but Ok. The ladies are very nice Both Loredana and Elisa are of great beauty.
The bunch also like it, with some nice comentaries like, that’s the way to treat women (on Fernando Sancho) and what a waste should raped her first on Montes being shot. The hook fight scene was also a must.
A trully pure blood SW
I think the film is not bad. OK, it lacks a true anti-hero. And sometimes he looks like an American Western.
But overall I was entertained.
And yes, the end is the best part of the film.
If only this woman would not be singing this song. Cruel. There must not be.
My Rating 6/10.
[quote=“The Stranger, post:43, topic:113”]I think the film is not bad. OK, it lacks a true anti-hero. And sometimes he looks like an American Western.
But overall I was entertained.
And yes, the end is the best part of the film.
If only this woman would not be singing this song. Cruel. There must not be.
My Rating 6/10.[/quote]
I’ve been buying some Koch releases at last and I’m very impressed with the whole package. Quality stuff, deserves every cent.
Anyway. I didn’t like the sing along scenes too. Nevertheless I think it is a very watchable revenge driven spaghetti-western with a very nice dramatic end.
-Liked it a lot. The story flowed smoothly. Crisp action. Believable situations, played against sweeping location-backdrops… fabulous. Wilson was a little too old-looking and Steffen; a little too young-looking, but the son vs. real father dynamic worked. You can see elements of the SW-genre beginning to differentiate themselves from American-westerns in scenes like Ashley leaping from his horse through a window, in time to gun-down 3 bandits who were about to rape some kid’s mom… with the camera at floor-level, ‘shooting’ between Ashley’s action-stanced boots.
$7 on the Red is a very much a middle-of-the-road Spaghetti Western, generically directed by Alberto Cardone. The action scenes, including the seemingly endless parade of fistfights, finally induce inertia in the audience, and the way Cardone handles time is mind-boggling. Twenty years pass and only Athony Steffen’s son ages - nothing else changes at all. It’d be funny if anything in the picture was handled with panache; as it is, it just stands out as a huge, glaring continuity error. 2/5.
A great re-appreciation of Alberto Cardone’s work can now be read. Our new contributor @davidgregorybell looks at Seven Dollars on the Red and A Thousand Dollars on the Black
Overall an average outing but contains some really good stuff. There is nothing lovable about Sancho here, he is a mean SOB. Why would anyone follow or stay with him? not for the rewards.
Carla Calò is Rosa and not the dude listed in the DB. We don’t have Gino Marturano listed but I suppose George Mataro may be an alias. I’m not sure about Halina Zalewska as a Mexican woman but spotted in the saloon were Ettore Arena, Alfonso Giganti and Angelo Casadei. Antonio Danesi (is his identity confirmed?) appears at least 3 times; his usual stagecoach driver, a short-lived cowboy and late as a member of Sancho’s gang. Angelo Boscariol is a deputy escorting the prisoner, who is not Fortunato Arena (could be one of the Daddi’s?).
This I finally got around to watching last night and found it enjoyable.
Their is some magic to Steffen, ( being able to pull off the unshaved, imperfect cowboy, hell bent on avenging his wife’s murder, and trying to reunite with his kidnapped son. He seen multiple times punching someone out, and can be quite quick with a pistol ( I recall the scene on the stairs.) Yet he is filled with affection. The film could have been edited a bit better, and the plot isn’t perfect ( I found myself lost a bit, especially since the film takes place over the course of twenty some years, and Anthony Steffen’s character never seems to age. I didn’t see the end happening like it did, but the nonetheless made the film a bit more exciting. Something about Anthony Steffen on a horse in combination with Francesco De Masi 's masterful score just scream spaghetti western at the top of it’s lungs. Not quite a top twenty but nonetheless worth viewing a few times.
It’s certainly him: if I remember rightly the character is unnamed, but curiously for the closing credits Terra plays “Manuelo”, that should be one of Sancho’s henchmen.
If you mean the guy below yes, confirmed, even though there is some confusion because of names: Antonio and its diminutive Tonino, Roberto, Alfredo (horse trainer and Roberto’s father) and Arturo (IMDb).
The ‘guy below’ (in my above post) is the prisoner the DB had as Arena and I was speculating as maybe a Daddi. If I understand your post correctly the different Danesi(s) are often confused (the link shows Roberto, not Antonio). Here is who I thought is Antonio.
I meant the guy in the link below. The French forum page says that Antonio and Roberto are the same actor, and on IMDb is stated that Antonio is also known for Black Killer (as Robert Danish): I thought they were right because of Roberto’s unquestionable participation in Bury Them Deep, in which Antonio is credited as Cianfriglia’s lieutenant.
He looks about the same age as Roberto’s father Alfredo, that was just over 40 when Seven Dollars to Kill was filmed: maybe Roberto’s uncle? The family provided horses, saddles, wagons and stagecoaches for movies. In any case, if he’s in both Bury Them Deep and The Stranger Returns we can have final confirmation.
@scherpschutter I’ve made a minor edit to your comment about this film on the wiki:
“the stream of spaghetti westerns that deluded the market in the mid-sixties” → “the stream of spaghetti westerns that deluged the market in the mid-sixties”
I think this version makes a lot more sense.
I’ve tagged you just because I don’t think it’s fair to change someone’s attributed opinion without telling them! Hopefully it’s fine…
From Ben-Hur (1959) page on Wikipedia:
‘‘The firm of Danesi Brothers built 18 chariots, nine of which were used for practice, each weighing 900 pounds (410 kg). Principal cast members, stand-ins, and stunt people made 100 practice laps of the arena in preparation for shooting’’.
While a typical Leone influenced sw relied on atmosphere and the story was on the second line, early sw tried to tell a story in the first place thus were more dependant on a screenplay and that is why I sometimes prefer early sw to classical sw. When you have a good story and screenplay the execution of it is not that important. It will be still an enjoyable movie because of the story. When you go in the tracks Leone had built you need to be damn careful not to derail. You need really good direction and music to make a movie like that work otherwise it might turn into a very choppy matter. Seven Dollars to Kill is an early western that fortunately has something to tell and it is also directed well enough to keep your attention. There are not any dull moments but nor are there any memorable highlights you could pinpoint. Steffen might be too stiff and calm for an avenger who spent almost two decades searching for killers of his family. It did not bother me that much, he does what he always does and is always very likeable. The other actors do their best, Roberto Miali as Steffen’s son is believeable as a bad guy, Lorenda Nusciak’s portrayal of a caring sister shows some nice little nuances (I really liked the moment she turns away from her sister), Elisa Montes as her younger sister looks indeed like a teen in love who does not see through her pink glasses the guy she is dating is pos. Fernando Sancho is ehmm Fernando Sancho. You know what I mean. It is just a fluent movie with good acting that won’t let you down. There is one moment at the end that imo does not fit the movie. When Jerry kills his adoptive mother I could not believe my eyes. It was just stupid. Please someone cut this scene out. Still out of 5 Cardone’s westerns this one is probably his best that does not fail anywhere.
It is just a fluent movie with good acting that won’t let you down. There is one moment at the end that imo does not fit the movie. When Jerry kills his adoptive mother I could not believe my eyes. It was just stupid. Please someone cut this scene out. 
Still out of 5 Cardone’s westerns this one is probably his best that does not fail anywhere.