I completely forgot that was even a thing, but yes absolutely. Don’t get me wrong I really didn’t mind Hallyday. I agree with Cox again; I think he said “Hallyday is your typical rock star actor, no better or worse than Kris Kristofferson”, but Van Cleef I think would have been miles better.
I think you might me right there. Call me crazy but I could honestly see a whole batch of spaghettis, (maybe ‘Disney’ spaghettis?) all based on Silver Saddle’s style. I like how unique that spag is in tone so I kind of wish that was a thing. I know not everyone will agree with that though.
Here’s another interesting regret/wish it had happened bit I almost completely forgot.
When Tony Anthony was prepping his film Blindman, Frank Wolff contacted him about playing the main villain, a sort of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” since Wolff had recommended Anthony for the part of The Stranger in Un Dollaro Tra i Denti. I believe Anthony seriously wanted to cast Wolff for the part, but because Anthony had a falling out with MGM over Allen Klein (who a lot of us know tends to be “bad medicine” more often then good after his debacle as the Beatles last manager) the new producers wanted a big name, and Anthony acquiesced to this, thus ending his friendship with Wolff. Here’s the main info on it from the IMDb
He provided the role of The Stranger to actor Tony Anthony and played the villain in The Stranger’s first movie A Stranger in Town (1967) as a favor for Anthony. The part became Anthony’s most famous role besides his Blindman (1971) and he repeated it three times. Several months before Frank Wolff’s death, according to Anthony himself, Frank Wolff asked him for a similar favor, wanting the role in Blindman (1971), which was finally taken by Ringo Starr. It was kind of deal between them, Anthony would provide him role, because Wolff had done him a favor earlier. But the producers wanted Ringo Starr for the role - Wolff was dropped and had a falling out with Anthony. About one year later Frank Wolff killed himself. There have always been rumors, one reason for the suicide was, he saw his career at an end/thought he couldn’t get the roles he wanted anymore. - IMDb trivia for Frank Wolff
Don’t get me wrong, Ringo Starr is an icon and very versatile in his talents, but I think Frank Wolff would’ve given the film more weight.
I didn’t know that was a thing but it does make sense. If it’s true then I agree. Funnily enough I watched Castellari’s ‘Cold Eyes of Fear’ for the first time last night and thought it was an underrated quasi-giallo. Frank Wolff for me was the best part of the movie, apart from the dubbing which I doubt was his actual voice, he gave a really good performance I thought.
Hmm, I don’t see Wolff in the role for which Ringo Starr was cast, or at least the perfect role in Blindman for Wolff would be instead the one of Lloyd Battista.
And for LvC, there are tons of SW roles he should have played instead of most of the Spags he actually did after 1967, but the role of Hud is not amongst them. That’s the Eastwood or Nero type of lead, not the kind LvC played.
And of course Nero would have been a logical choice, but I like Hallyday as Hud. He has enough charisma for that.
LvC should have made Run Man Run and especially The Bounty Killer
Was Lee ever supposed to star in The Bounty Killer? If so yes I agree entirely. I’ve always liked O’Brien in RMR though.
Quite possibly. Top 20 definitely.
It’s hard to say. I think it depends how good his replacement would be but generally speaking I’d say DRAH would still be in the top 40/50 without Lee, and TBG would still be in the top 20. So I think yes and no respectively.
A couple of SWs were shot in the deserts of Israel, believe it or not. Black Jack is the most noted example of that. The ‘black sheep’ of the SWs God’s Gun was also shot on location in Israel, as well as the Thomas Hunter SW Three Guns Against Caesar, with some shots in Algeria too.
Some SW locations also included the mountains and hillsides of Northern Italy as the area had lush valleys, snow covered peaks, etc.
Tabernas was used for many of the ramblas type shots - I never tire of these locations and try to find them on google maps.
The sand locations are mostly in Almeria also.
Nor me … in fact I’m a little stunned that anyone interested in the SW genre could call out the Spanish desert locations as a drawback or source of ire !!! WTF ?
That’s like saying, ‘I like the Leone movies but hate the music’ …
The locations are a huge part of these films - it’s a key ingredient in the suspension of disbelief / escapist fairy tale magic. FFS
I think mine are that The GBU and The Big Gundown didn’t get entirely dubbed into English, that Chuck Connors didn’t make more spaghetti westerns as someone else has said, that Gianni Garko didn’t make a serious film with Lee Van Cleef and that there was no sequel to Those Dirty Dogs!
Yeah but it was the main one, I do like the more northern Spanish locations like Sad Hill and what have you and I quite like the locations in Israel used in Black Jack as well, but I think Cabo de Gata and Tabernas are the most beautiful of the lot.
I do like Steiger in the film even if he is a bit over-the-top, but I think Wallach could have been a lot better. Sadly we’ll never know for sure of course.
