Shadow of Sartana … Shadow of Your Death / Passa Sartana … è l’ombra della tua morte (Demofilo Fidani, 1969)

[Mickey13]

Copied from the Spagvemberfest 2022 thread:

@Mickey13

I am surprised with all the harsh comments about this one, as it turns out to be one of my favorite Fidani westerns right behind Dead Men Don’t Make Shadows and A Barrel Full of Dollars , definitely my favorite “bad” Fidani too. While it includes probably one of the most provisional, extemporaneous storylines I have seen in any spaghetti western, the fact of the matter is that plot was never much of a consideration when crafting films in Fidani’s case, so disposing of the niceties of regular screenwriting so as to heighten the atmosphere makes a lot of sense and actually pays off in this instance.

There is a number of highly evocative scenes in which Jeff Cameron makes a bonfire in the comfy sandpit at sunset and at another point, walks across the gravel pit desert and so forth; odd as it may seem, the combination of Gori’s epic soundtrack, film’s slightly more refined pacing and tighter focus informs the composition with a higher degree of consistency; the moronic simplicity of its story is doubtlessly part of the charm, but let’s face it, this is by and large about Jeff Cameron shooting up people and riding around the sandpits with some mellow Gori tunes playing in the background. I am not exactly sure why this works as well as it does, but it certainly is one of Fidani’s more palatable creations in my book.