Seven Hours of Gunfire / Aventuras del Oeste / Sette ore di fuoco (Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent, 1965)

Database page: Aventuras del Oeste - The Spaghetti Western Database

JR Marchent condenses his enthusiasm for old-fashioned Westerns into an action-packed, matinee-style adventure in which Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane band together to break an arms-dealing gang and fight off the marauding Sioux.

I suspect that summary will have most people avoiding this one, but if you have a fondness for traditional Westerns there’s a great deal to enjoy here. Marchent exhibits his customary professionalism and stages some impressive large-scale action scenes, while the performers approach their roles with similar enthusiasm.

You get Rik Van Nutter as Buffalo Bill, who has to defend himself against some fashionable anti-imperialist/pro-Indian sentiments from a liberal young woman (who later falls in love with him anyway), Adrian Hoven as a drunken Hickock (not at all like the Hickock of folklore), and Gloria Milland as a fiery Calamity Jane (not at all like Doris Day).

Perfect for indulging one’s schoolboy fantasies (I get the impression that’s was the director was doing), but not exactly the most revolutionary of European Westerns.

Is there an english audio version of this ?

Not sure about that; I watched a DVD-R containing an English-subtitled Italian version shown some years ago on Australia’s SBS TV channel.

I have this version at the moment.

Starblack, you summed up this movie perfectly. Simple but effective western entertainment.

English version doesn’t exist. At least, it’s not available. Italian (and SBS) version is cut, German version is heavily cut (but has the best image quality), Spanish version is the longest, probably uncut.

What’s missing from the Italian and SBS versions is a long saloon scene with Hickock and Jane bickering, and Jane gets into a cat fight with a saloon girl. It just provides more comic relief to a movie that’s already very lightweight. Still, for all it’s light entertainment including slapstick moments, there’s a surprising amount of casual violence.

I have an English Version of this film in Fullscreen, and it runs: 83 min 25 sec.
The Spanish Version with English subs, runs: 84 min 17 sek.

Tom,

Thanks very much for that info, tomobea. Indeed, I did find 1 reference to an English dub a while back, but I forgot about it. Now it’s existence is confirmed.

[ftp=ftp://The Spanish Version with English subs, runs: 84 min 17 sek.]The Spanish Version with English subs, runs: 84 min 17 sek.
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I think you mean the Italian version :slight_smile:

Spanish version (actually an Italian fandub with the 7 minutes extra left in Spanish): 91m 21s.

German DVD: 73m.

Sorry Italian!!!

Tom,

Thanks for the extra information guys. I knew this got an English-language release at the time but wasn’t sure whether a dubbed version was in existence.

Wild Bill, Calamity Jane help save the day and protect the good white folk from a few Indians. We have some good Indians though with their leader being a white man, which is different for such an early western. Plenty of action in the second half, but the sort of film you will easily forget after a day or two.

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Nice review, I like the production background detail. That Kinski anecdote is priceless.

Marchent tells the story differently in an interview. (Wild East’s Garringo/2 Crosses disc) It’s about horse not a hat.

Anybody got a widescreen version in English? The copy I have is horrible quality.

Just re viewed this one via a widescreen english print. Wild Bill and all his mates do the good thing and help protect the white folk, but some still get killed :grin:. At least whilst viewing this one I was not alone having a drink as Wild Bill was joining in ha, ha. Its basically a non American Cowboys and Indians film, which makes a nice change from seeing mexican dudes die for a change. Its one of those films where a man has to display lots of courage in the fight against the Indians, and I for one am fine with that premise.

Pretty bad one in my opinion. The action doesn’t really compensate for the flimsy structure. It could have been a good film but it didn’t really have a nice flow to it. The English dub was terrible, too. It’s a shame really since I enjoy cowboy Vs Indian films but I can’t really recommend this one.

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