Spagvemberfest 2019

Town Hall
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SPAGVEMBERFEST 2019: DAY 30
The end? Already?? As tough as I’ve made this one on myself, it still feels as though it’s flown past (time of course being relative; it didn’t bloody feel as though it was flying past on Day 5, or day 20, or a fat bunch of other days either for that matter). And, whilst I am indeed going out with a classic as I said I would yesterday, I’m staying true to my theme: My final movie of SpagvemberFest 2019 will be Giulio Petroni’s Death Rides a Horse (1967), but instead of watching my Explosive Media blu-ray, I’m going to fall back on the sub-YouTube-standard copy provided by Mill Creek on their 44-movie box set. Hardcore, man. F#cking hardcore.

So that’s that! Still, I mentioned earlier in the month that I might well need a quality spaghettithon in order to recover from my Spagvember of mediocrity and, whilst I was being flippant at the time, I’ve decided I actually really fancy some of that action, so that’ll probably be my Sunday all sorted out tomorrow. Also, another flippant comment I made much earlier in the month suggesting that adherents to Spagvember could watch any 30 films, or even the same one movie 30 days on the trot if they’d prefer, has almost certainly presented me with my challenge for SpagvemberFest 2020. I’m looking forward already. Vamos a matar, SWDBers!

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Spagvemberfest 2019 - Day 29

The Stranger Returns (Vanzi / 1967)

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The second half of my Stranger double bill watched this time from my old Alpha Digital release. Never really sure which of the two original Stranger flicks I prefer but this time around I think Returns was the better of the two. Maybe just for the great soundtrack music. Certainly not because of the quality of the Alpha Digital disc. I seriously need an upgrade for these.

One more to Go!

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Spagvemberfest 2019 - Day 30

Hate Thy Neighbour (Baldi / 1968)

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And we’re done!
It’s not a good sign when the only memory of a film you have is one fight scene so not surprising that this one didn’t turn out to be a classic despite it’s very promising cast.

I guess my feelings pretty much mirror Scherps’ so you can just read his review.

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Hate_Thy_Neighbor_review

I’ll post a few thoughts on my Spagvemberfest viewings in total shortly.

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Finalmente. Last spagh for this year’s Fest. It’s been a ride with highs and lows, but almost always fun.

  1. Long Days Of Massacre (Cardone)
    Not much of a story, this is basically “manhunt” type spagh from start to the end, but quite enjoyable. Some scenes could be directed a bit better (Martell captured by bolas) and some could be shorter, but I really like the finale, even if it seems anticlimactic, so I give it solid 6/10.
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It’s time for a brief summary I suppose, this is everything I saw this November:

La belva (1970) - Director: Mario Costa - 3/10.
Quel maledetto giorno della resa dei conti (1971) - Director: Sergio Garrone - 6/10.
Il giorno del giudizio (1971) - Directors: Mario Gariazzo - 4/10.
Buon funerale amigos!.. paga Sartana (1970) - Director: Giuliano Carnimeo - ?/10 - 7/10 - A re-watch (?).
Tutto per tutto (1968) - Director: Umberto Lenzi - 5/10.
Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino (1969) - Director: Giuliano Carnimeo - ?/10 - 6/10 - A re-watch (?).
2 once di piombo (1966) - Director: Maurizio Lucidi - 5/10.
Indio Black, sai che ti dico: Sei un gran figlio di… (1970) - Director: Gianfranco Parolini - 6/10.
Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola (1967) - Director: Luigi Vanzi - 7/10.
Lo straniero di silenzio (1968) - Director: Luigi Vanzi - 5/10.
Get Mean (1975) - Director: Ferdinando Baldi - 6/10.
Un dollaro bucato (1965) - Director: Giorgio Ferroni - 6/10.
…E il terzo giorno arrivò il corvo (1973) - Director: Gianni Crea - 1/10.
I sette del gruppo selvaggio (1975) - Director: Gianni Crea - 1/10.
Sette monache a Kansas City (1973) - Director: Marcello Zeani - 1/10.
Il giustiziere di Dio (1973) - Director: Franco Lattanzi - 1/10.
Sartana nella valle degli avvoltoi (1970) - Director: Roberto Mauri - 4/10.
Arizona Colt (1966) - Director: Michele Lupo - 7/10 = 7/10 - A re-watch.
Corri uomo corri (1968) - Director: Sergio Sollima - 6/10 = 6/10 - A re-watch.
La banda J. & S. - Cronaca criminale del Far West (1972) - Director: Sergio Corbucci - 7/10 -> 8/10 - A re-watch.
Black Jack (1968) - Director: Gianfranco Baldanello - 7/10 = 7/10 - A re-watch.
Blu Gang e vissero per sempre felici e ammazzati (1973) - Director: Luigi Bazzoni - 4/10.
Il mio nome è Mallory… M come morte (1971) - Director: Mario Moroni - 2/10.
Texas, addio (1966) - Director: Ferdinando Baldi - 6/10.
Johnny Yuma (1966) - Director: Romolo Guerrieri - 6/10.
Red Sun (1971) - Director: Terence Young - 5/10.
Johnny Oro (1966) - Director: Sergio Corbucci - 6/10.
Vendetta per vendetta (1968) - Director: Mario Colucci - 5/10.
Inginocchiati straniero… I cadaveri non fanno ombra! (1970) - Director: Demofilo Fidani - 6/10.
Amico, stammi lontano almeno un palmo (1972) - Director: Michele Lupo - 4/10.
Il prezzo del potere (1969) - Director: Tonino Valerii - 4/10.
Arrivano Django e Sartana… è la fine (1970) - Director: Demofilo Fidani - 3/10.
Giù la testa… hombre (1971) - Director: Demofilo Fidani - 2/10.
I quattro dell’Apocalisse (1975) - Director: Lucio Fulci - 8/10 -> 9/10 - A re-watch.
Per un pugno di dollari (1964) - Director: Sergio Leone - 9/10 = 9/10 - A re-watch.
Per qualche dollaro in più (1965) - Director: Sergio Leone - 8/10 = 8/10 - A re-watch.
Blindman (1971) - Director: Ferdinando Baldi - 8/10 -> 7/10 - A re-watch.
Keoma (1976) - Director: Enzo G. Castellari - 7/10 -> 8/10 - A re-watch.
Lo ammazzò come un cane… ma lui rideva ancora (1972) - Director: Angelo Pannacciò - 3/10 -> 5/10 - A re-watch.
Scansati… a Trinità arriva Eldorado (1972) - Directors: Diego Spataro, Joe D’Amato - 1/10.
Straniero… fatti il segno della croce! (1968) - Director: Demofilo Fidani - 3/10.
Un poker di pistole (1967) - Director: Giuseppe Vari - 6/10.
Wanted Sabata (1970) - Director: Roberto Mauri - 3/10.
L’ultimo killer (1967) - Director: Giuseppe Vari - 6/10 -> 7/10 - A re-watch.
Il tredicesimo è sempre Giuda (1971) - Director: Giuseppe Vari - 4/10 -> 6/10 - A re-watch.

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Oh, that marathon. :grin:

Hmmm, only 4? Almost watched it for this Spagvember.

4/10 for me. Rewatch can be a bitch.

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I don’t know if anything will ever top this. We’ll see next year or even sooner, I dread the thought to be honest.

I know a lot of people around here like this one quite a bit, but I just didn’t like at all. I think it might be my least favorite political spaghetti ever. It felt incredibly pompous and heavy-handed, overall completely not my cup of tea. I hold the opinion that Sollima, Corbucci and Petroni are a lot more adept at translating politics into their movies, but… ya know… just my opinion 'n shit. But I’ve never been a big fan of Valerii, so there is that.

Yeah, I was aware of your recent reaction at the time, but I must say it holds up astonishingly well in my case. It’s a quintessential second-tier trashy spag IMHO. With that being said, Baldanello style of directing might be the most remarkably unremarkable thing ever and This Man Can’t Die is the best illustration of that.

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Vaguely remembering something like that, really need to rewatch this.

I’m certain Piu Forte Sorelle will. :yum:

By the way, auch. Even Get Mean fared better. :grin:

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Just stop it, just… stop.

Hey, I kind of liked this one, I just think it’s a bit of a mess, but it’s still fun, I ultimately prefer Get Mean though (are you fucking crazy, Mickey?). Well, I really dig the latter flick by virtue of it being one of the most deranged cinematic experiences I’ve ever been subjected to, I would go as far as to call it the most stupefying amalgamation of the lowest form of puerile humor and the most pretentious, over-the-top surrealism. Man, it really works for some reason and I have no idea why. This is the only movie I can think of that has a Western hero travelling through time and space, getting hurled into the middle of a mythical war with barbarians, riding a horse around castles, then he finds himself inside a giant cavern and gets beaten by invisible ghosts… I mean this shit is really fucking crazy, I am astonished people do not mention this all that often in relation to the weirdest genre examples, as it is by far the most outlandish spag, bar none, no question about this. I expected something bad, but I was positively surprised. I mean it is bad, but then again it’s not. I don’t know. I will say this, I will gladly re-watch this, it’s like getting high on a fertilizer or something. I really like it. I think.

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Yeah, for me to. Only reason it’s not in my Top 5 is lack of use of that cool looking 4-barreled shotgun. If he gunned down with it, hmmmm, let’s say five more guys, it’s right behing the Silent Stranger. :grinning:

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Wow this year’ FEST seemed truly epic, one of the few forum threads I followed closely from my vacation. Congrats to all the Festers/Festionados/Festadores/Festardi :wink:

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I tried also to contribute by watching one Spag (Yankee by the Brass) over 30 days (every day a few minutes), but … holy shit … I failed, still about 20 min to watch … (that month was apparently too short or I started too late or I was always too tired or it was too foggy)

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I wonder which film that might be

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I managed to squueze in just one more film for Spagvember. Well kind of…

  1. Merino: Europa canta
    -Because even though it’s listed in our database it’s not a western but modern pop music film with western town settings. Silly film which has lots of “music video” inserts played between the silly western stuff. I liked some of the songs though. 3/10

I had a fitting end for SpagvemberFest because the other night I was in the hotel room in Amsterdam, very tired and just browsing tv channels and what did I found? A German dubbed version of For a Few Dollars More! I was too tired to watch more than some 30 minutes but it was a good lullaby for the month.

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I spent my final spagvember days with Pistols or Bullets that failed to come up with definitive answers, because they refuse to argue. It’s a brief review of the movie (but there’s a link to @Phil H’s more detailed review of the movie), but I tried to find out whether this movie and A Fistful of Dollars were indeed real twin movies or only shot simultanuously. As already suggested, I found no conclusive evidence for this or that point of view. There are a lot of rumors, and as more often many think these rumors are established facts, but it’s not clear where all these rumors come from

In the meantime …

300px-BulletsDontArgue_Review_2

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Bullets_Don't_Argue_Film_Review

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Summary of 2019

  1. Valanzano: Young Guns Go West 1/10
  2. Barboni: The Unholy Four 6/10
  3. Corbucci: Django 9/10
  4. Espinosa: Once Upon a Time in the Wild, Wild West 1/10
  5. Grimaldi: In Colt’s Shadow 7/10
  6. Torrado: Black Angel of Mississippi 2/10
  7. Petroni: Nest of Vipers 7/10
  8. Civirani: Ric e Gian alla conquista del West 1/10
  9. Corbucci: Navajo Joe 7/10
  10. Simonelli: Un dollaro di fifa 6/10
  11. Lupo: Arizona Colt 7/10
  12. Damiani: A Rope for a Bastard 3/10
  13. Parolini: If you meet Sartana, pray for your Death 7/10
  14. Petroni: Death Rides a Horse 8/10
  15. Simonelli: 2 Sergeants of General Custer 3/10
  16. Canevari: Die for Dollar in Tucson 3/10
  17. Garrone: No Room to Die 7/10
  18. Mercanti: Three Lead Dollars 4/10
  19. Fidani: One Damned Day at Dawn… Django Meets Sartana 6/10
  20. Civirani: 2 Sons of Trinity 5/10
  21. Buchs: Bullet for Sandoval 7/10
  22. Simonelli: The Magnificent Three 3/10
  23. Squitieri: Vengeance Trail 5/10
  24. Steno: Twins from Texas 3/10
  25. Martino: Mannaja -Man Called Blade 7/10
  26. Pallardy: Règlements de femmes à OQ Corral 3/10
  27. Mulargia: Brother Outlaw 5/10
  28. Bosch: Too Much Gold for One Gringo 6/10
  29. Parrish: Town Called Hell 6/10
  30. Merino: Europa Canta 3/10

With those 11 out of 30 films with 1-3/10 ratings it was a laborious fest this year. But with 12 new films seen, my total of seen spaghetti westerns is some 530 or more. I know some few titles which should be available and then there’s the super rare ones which we will probably never see. Completist’s life is hard… I still have some catching up to get to Weisser’s world record of 558 films. :grin:

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  1. The Big Gundown 9/10
  2. Face to Face 9/10
  3. Run Man, Run! 8/10
  4. Dead Aim 7,5/10
  5. Four Rode Out 7/10
  6. Thirteenth Is A Judas 6,5/10
  7. Four Pistols for Trinity 6/20
  8. Land Raiders 6/10
  9. The Great Chihuahua Treasure Hunt 6/10
  10. Raise Your Hands, Dead Man, You’re Under Arrest 6/10
  11. One Damned Day at Dawn… Django meets Sartana! 5,5/10
  12. The Desperados 5,5/10
  13. Four Came to Kill Sartana 5,5/10
  14. Bullets Over Dallas 5,5/10
  15. Apocalypse Joe 5/10
  16. God Will Forgive My Pistol 5/10
  17. Chapagua’s Gold 5/10
  18. Joe Dakota 5/10
  19. Long Cavalcade of Vengeance 5/10
  20. And Now… Make Your Peace with God 5/10
  21. His Name was King 5/10
  22. The Boldest Job in the West 5/10
  23. Whity 5/10
  24. Reach You Bastard! 4,5/10
  25. Law of Violence 4,5/10
  26. Twenty Paces to Death 4/10
  27. Guns of ther Revolution 4/10
  28. The Price of Death 4/10
  29. Four Candles for My Colt 3/10
  30. His Name Was Pot… They Called Him Allegria 3/10
  31. Finders Killers 2,5/10

Now I’ve seen all the 1968 - 1972 releases I would possibly want to see (150 more or less), and that’s a relief. I’ve also seen all the Fidanies I want to see (12), and that’s also a relief. This year’s revelations for me were Dead Aim/Arde baby, arde and Four Rode Out, none of them strictly spaghs; the first one a 1971 Mexican film co-produced by an Italian company, the second an American 1970 western filmed in Almeria. And a Fidani in the upper half…

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You’re braver than me … well done on watching the unwatchables! :smile:

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Copypasted summaries from fb:

  1. Brother Outlaw (Mulargia) - Placed between Mulargia’s weaker and earlier efforts like Quintana or Cjamango, his later westerns like W Django, Shango or El Puro are lot better. 3/10

  2. A Coffin For A Sheriff (Caiano, Steffen) - nothing special until last twenty minutes, which are pretty intense. 6/10

  3. Day Of Anger (Valeri) - A rewatch after 10 years. I like it more than back then. 9/10

  4. A Man Called Noon (Crenna) - First ten minutes in, I thought this is awesome. Last ten minutes I thought this semi-spagh with Crenna can’t be worse. 4/10

  5. A Colt In The Hand Of The Devil (Baldanello, Woods) - A watchable crime mystery spagh. 6/10

  6. Son Of Django (Civirani) - Django is shot dead, his son wants to get even with the murderers, nothing less epic. 6/10

  7. It Can Be Done, Amigo (Lucidi) - A rewatch. Every spagh deserves a second chance (except for Fat Brothers In Trinity), but it didn’t help this one. Great spagh if you need to fall asleep urgently. 4/10

  8. Whisky And Ghosts (Margheriti) - For some one of the worst entry in the genre, for me quite enjoyable albeit sometimes demented fun, however, with several great scenes, Ulloa’s inventive cinematography and very listenable soundtrack. 7/10

  9. Scalps (Mattei) - Shame that the scenes when indian woman goes full rambo on confederate soldiers aren’t better structured, but even so this is well made spagh from the 80s with great final showdown. If you don’t ask too many questions. 7/10

  10. A Bullet For The General (Damiani) - A rewatch after about ten years. Impressive on all levels. 10/10

  11. Forgotten Pistolero (Baldi) - A rewatch. The opening scene is great than it slowly transforms into this tedious telenovelish melodrama and picks up some tempo in the end. The final duel is superb, as if Baldi made the effort once again, the sparse gunplay inbetween is mostly directed pretty sloppy for my taste. I prefer other Leonard Mann’s westerns to this: Vengeance Trail and Unholy Four. 5/10

Hannie Caulder - Technically not a spagh, but it got in a way. 3/4 superb, but final showdowns with Borgnine and company are quite poor. 6/10

  1. Te Deum (Castellari)
    About 70 % of the movie is quite alright demented crazy comedy spagh, but then comes the finale, which takes place in a spa. The whole segment is a prolonged mass water brawl and one has to see it on his/her own eyes to believe that something like this can happen. Endurance test in its purest sense. No rating. I refuse. (But 6/10).

  2. I Tre Del Colorado (Ossorio) - Canadian rebels against British. Nothing special, but nice change of locations. 4/10

Cry Of Death (Brescia) - A solid spagh until the final prolonged gunbattle - after a while I was unable to determine who is shooting at who. 5/10

  1. John The Bastard (Crispino) - A rewatch. If someone gave me the money to direct a spagh during the craze, this might be a movie I would come up with. 8/10

  2. Comin At Ya (Baldi)
    A rewatch. Still the weakest of Tony’s westerns for me, but this time I knew what to expect, so I settled for the inevitable. The movie seems to be interested more in a various torture ideas than gunplay, which are incorporated into long scenes I didn’t care much about: the infamous rubber bats scene, which really looks stupid and it’s not very necessary for the story, or Palacio plagued by rats, which on the other hand looks pretty cool, but still - do we really need this in a western? I don’t. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t find much interest in the gunplay - there’s only few supershort shootouts until final shotgun showdown, typical for Tony’s westerns, but even that is not very long. Half of the baddies is gunned down by Tony, half of them runs away. COME ON! 6/10

Executioner Of God (Lattanzi) - Just skip this one. Believe me. 1/10

  1. Cannon For Cordoba (Wendkos)- The biggest disappointment is there’s nothing even similar in the movie as is portrayed on the movie’s poster. Otherwise, okay adventure war western with lot of explosions. It’s well directed, you always know what’s going on in big battles. Some twists and turns are hard to digest though. 6/10

  2. Reverendo Colt (Klimovsky) - A little endurance test. Family friendly super-christian spaghetti western. 3/10

  3. A Pistol For A Hundred Crosses (Croccolo) - Lot of unintentional fun. Grab a beer and laugh. 4/10

  4. Dynamite Joe (Margheriti) - Superb start, but slowly deteriorates into a trash. Not fidani/crea trash, but still, it’s disappointing. 5/10

  5. Ramon The Mexican (Pradeaux) - A solid spagh with great looking mountain localities, which is betrayed a little by absolutely ridiculous scene in the middle (gunpowder vs a waggon). You’ll have a good laugh though. 6/10

  6. Una Pistola Per Cento Bare - A routine spaghetting. I expected more from Umberto Lenzi. 5/10

  7. Long Cavalcade Of Vengeance - Anita Ekberg in a spagh, what’s not to like. 6/10

  8. Taste Of Killing - A rewatch. First Valerii’s western. Lack of use of the sniper rifle in the second half is a bit disappointing. 7/10

  9. Town Called Bastard - Surprisingly refreshing and unpredictable, just don’t watch some truncated version. 8/10

Execution - A rewatch. Paolella’s second almost experimental western would be great if someone cut out super confusing stagecoach scene in the middle. 7/10

  1. Apache Woman - Giorgio Mariuzzo’s late spagh similar to Soldier Blue or Scalps. Avoid butchered versions. 7/10

  2. El Desperado - A rewatch. My favorite spagh with Andrea Giordana. I found a version on youtube with some horrible score playing during the opening credits instead of the song El Desperado. Just avoid that version. 8/10

  3. Bill Il Taciturno - George Eastman in the lead. Just be prepared that after promising first half, second half is a bit lame. 6/10

Now thay Call Him Sacramento - Trinity style comedy spagh. Fastforward button is your best friend when dealing with this crap. Hard to believe, but there are actually good jokes in it. Two or three. The imitating duo demolishes whole town with dynamite during the climactic battle. 2/5

  1. Quanto Costa Morire - A rewatch. I didn’t enjoy this western in snow that much as I did first time around. 5/10

  2. For A Book Of Dollars - First half is actually not bad, then, for some mysterious reason, it turns into trinity style comedy spagh. Although to categorize it as trinity style comedy would be unfair towards trinity style comedies. Unintentional entertainment value is pretty high though. 2/5

No Graves Of Boot Hill - Crime solving spagh by Garrone, quite boring until the final third. 6/10

  1. Long Days Of Massacre - Cardone’s manhunt type spagh with an anticlimactic but interesting finale. 6/10
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Fri 1 A Sky Full of Stars For a Roof (Petroni, 1968) 4/10
Sat 2 Blood Money (Margheriti, 1974) 7/10
Sun 3 Jesse and Lester (Genta/Harrison, 1972) 3/10
Mon 4 Seven Guns For Timothy (Guerrieri, 1966) 2/10
Tue 5 It Can be Done… Amigo (Lucidi, 1972) 5/10
Wed 6 Buddy Goes West (Lupo, 1981) 6/10
Thu 7 His Name Was King (Romitelli, 1971) 6/10
Fri 8 Adios Gringo (Stegani, 1965) 7/10
Sat 9 Seven Dollars on the Red (Cardone, 1966) 6/10
Sun 10 Beyond the Law (Stegani, 1968) 6/10
Mon 11 Now They Call Him Sacramento (Balcázar, 1972) 3/10
Tue 12 Blood For a Silver Dollar (Ferroni, 1965) 6/10
Wed 13 Four Rode Out (Peyser, 1970) 4/10
Thu 14 Find a Place to Die (Carnimeo, 1968) 6/10
Fri 15 Lola Colt (Marcellini, 1967) 3/10
Sat 16 The Manhunt (de Angelis, 1984) 6/1010
Sun 17 Minnesota Clay (Corbucci, 1964) 5/10
Mon 18 Shoot, Gringo… Shoot! (Corbucci, 1968)
Tue 19 Hate Thy Neighbour (Baldi, 1968) 6/10
Wed 20 Between God, the Devil and a Winchester (Girolami, 1968) 5/10
Thu 21 Charge! (Rosati, 1973) 6/10
Fri 22 Santana Killed Them All (Marchent, 1970) 6/10
Sat 23 The Legend of God’s Gun (Bruce, 2007) film 2/10, music 8/10
Sun 24 In a Colt’s Shadow (Grimaldi, 1965) 6/10
Mon 25 Wanted (Ferroni, 1966) 6/10
Tue 26 Ben and Charlie (Lupo, 1972) 3/10
Wed 27 Lone and Angry Man (Caiano, 1965) 6/10
Thu 28 3 Bullets For Ringo (Salvi, 1966) 7/10
Fri 29 Prey For Vultures (Marchent, 1972) 5/10
Sat 30 No Room to Die (Garrone, 1969)
 Death Rides a Horse (Petroni, 1967) 9/10

If (IF!) I’m daft enough to embark on a challenge of this stupidity, the movie would have to be of sufficiently high quality to keep me entertained over that many viewings, it would have to have enough going on not to become boring too quickly, and it couldn’t be too long, so anything past the two-hour mark is out (and the closer to 90 minutes, the better). I reckon selecting the right movie for the task is an intriguing/demented little challenge in and of itself. My first instinct is to say something like The Mercenary, The Return of Ringo, A Fistful of Dollars, or maybe a quirkier one like Requiem For Gringo or even Django the Bastard, but there may be some other spag out there which will receive a sexy blu-ray release over the coming year, forcing it into contention. Needs more thought than it appears…

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