It must have been early in the process, probably after a pre-release showing
Canāt see otherwise how Corbucci managed to avoid a lawsuit by removing some part(s) of the dialogue
If the film had already been released theatrically, this would have been a hell of a job
If he took the risk of a lawsuit, he also took the risk that his film would be confiscated and all the copies destroyed. Some Italian directors (for instance Pasolini) were at constant odds with the censors. Corbucci repeatedly had trouble with the language of his movies (turpiloquio): just Google the terms āCorbucciā and āturpiloquioā and you get a series of results. If you Google āCompaƱerosā and āturpiloquioā, the first link will bring you to the page of the book (Enrico Giacoveli - La Commedia allāItaliana I was referring to). Youāll notice that the writer isnāt really a fan of the man, nor of his work: he calls him (and his work) all but refined
Thanks for the reference Scherp - I particularly liked this comment there:
āHis western āVamos a matar, companerosā, earned him a trial for obscenity, but another, āDjangoā, ended up in the Museum of Modern Art, New Yorkā
I just looked this up in the Corbucci section of the first volume of āWestern allāitalianaā. It says that Companeros was withheld for a short period prior to release due to Milianās foul language in a few places, but was then released - presumably as it was although this is not made explicit in the text.
Well you canāt accuse Milian of not being dedicated to his craft, hehe! But did you like the film, it happens to be a favorite of mine, but I seem to be almost alone thinking itās great.
Well, I had to stop the movie last night because I was tired but Iāll pick up where I left off tonight and watch the rest. I like what Iāve seen so far (I like anything with Milian in it really).
I figured. Itās one of the few spaghetti westerns I couldnāt follow in Italian. Normally the language used is quite classical (often even āVoiā is used instead of āLeiā), but in this film I only had a vague of what was being said in several scenes.
Avoided this one for a long time, thought it would be time to give it a whirl, bad mistake. This was a misfire from (Corbucci ) for me. I didnāt like the way the story was written and also (Milianās) character. He irritated the shit out of me with his performance and was annoying the way he mistreated (S. Georgeās) character, like she was a piece of shit. And what the hell did she see in him after being treated like that and then she says I love you or something like that? ???. Teddy ( Kojak) Savallas was miscast IMO, he first appears with a long fur coat ( mustāve have been left over wardrobe from The Great Silence :D) so I sayāsā¦oh good, maybe thereās some snow scenes in the film, nope no snow. >:(
All n all a disappointment for me. 3/10
I asked because the running time according to this database is 97 mins, yet the French DVD says 90 mins. But there has been incidents where I have bought DVDs that pretty much rounded up the running time, rather than put the proper one eg: 88 mins was changed to 90 mins on some dvd boxes.
Whoops, I forgot that, the whole NSTC/Pal difference. My mistake.