Day 8 features a Richard Harrison starring SW,
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Joko_invoca_Dio…_e_muori
After giving my two cents yesterday on what I thought happened with Claudio Camaso, I felt like watching an SW he made, and this one looks like a solid revenge themed Western with a fantastic Mr. Harrison.
I watched it tonight for maybe the 7-8th time in 1 1/2 year. I agree on the antihero, not only rather ugly but also acting mediocre.
But that is not so important in this case for me since I consider Ramon The Mexican to be a sort of “musical”. There are so many really good themes with different but suitable SW instrumentation.
And especially a sequence with Ramon leading his gang riding versus Slim and his brother travelling by horse wagon I find hilarious when Ramon’s musical theme is shifting with the theme of the other two. Just beautiful.
And the 3 minute fandango dance by a beatiful spanish looking girl is accompanied by better than usual fandango music. And the main musical theme’s second part is also top class. And Ramon and one of his henchmen playing a main theme with slow accoustic guitar and harmonica.
The music sets the mood(s) so the SW becomes much better than it otherwise would be. And so on !
Except for the antihero and the Joselito lightweight bit even the film as such is OK.
7/10.
Doc Hands of Steel was my treat for today. Actually I’ve already watched about 10 minutes a couple of weeks ago but I’d to leave it for some reason. The movie has a classic feeling, which I’ve kind of expected, but was pretty good, one of the best I’ve seen during this season. Next week will be specially complicated at the office, we’ll be under auditing, I expect to be specially tired by the end of the working days, so probably I’ll be slowing the pace. Let’s wait.
My thoughts were pretty much the same the first time I saw it, but I’ve grown to like on my re-watch. Hardly one of Vari’s best, I still have a soft spot for the spaggie though.
Today, I’ve seen The Price of Death (1971) among others and I think it was okay for the most part. There is some stuff I really liked about it such as the giallo element of the story, but there is also a lot of stuff that’s just plain distracting and stupid like those superfluous lake brawls. I like Killer Caliber 32 (1967) better, this one isn’t too bad though, it’s admittedly got its moments. Moving on to Ramon The Mexican (1966).
’The Return of Ringo’ (1965)
Last night, I followed up Giuliano Gemma’s ultra-confident character in ‘A Pistol For Ringo’, with Giuliano Gemma’s flawed, bitter, angry, intense, revengeful persona, in ‘The Return of Ringo’.
An excellent Spaghetti, exuding a glow right from the start with the always welcome re-appearance of familiar faces in different roles.
The ‘Ringo’ of this film, is not the Ringo of the first; and is, in many ways, reminiscent of
the character in ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself’ - the same man, but a complete opposite.
Another memorable score by Ennio Morricone, complimented by a haunting opening ballad, sung by the legendary Maurizio Graf.
The only downside…Giuliano’s blond hair, at the beginning. Apart from that, sheer poetry…
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2020: DAY 9
It’s with a (sort of) renewed vigour today that I shall be attacking A Fistful of Dollars (Leone, 1964) , starring Mark Hamill as a precocious whingeing farmboy who has to save a gobby princess from a right miserable bugger who lives in a massive beach ball in space. Probably.
I’ve found myself flinching away from my challenge over this weekend so it’s clearly starting to take something of a toll but I’m definitely watching the Chris Frayling commentary today and, although I feel as though I should have already listened to this at least once, I can’t remember having done so whatsoever. So I’m quite looking forward to it tbh.
Day 9: Cjamango
A film that has all the elements of a great spaghetti western yet fails to create enough tension to keep it interesting. I found myself looking at the clock numerous times during the watching of this film. Having said that, it has a decent score and the transfer on Prime is nice.
I watched Garrone’s first Western yesterday and today. Although Se vuoi vivere … spara! was shot in 1967 and released in early 1968, it feels like it’s from the early days of the western all’italiana subgenre. It tells one of the most classic Western stories of all: a mysterious stranger comes to a small town and helps the locals against a seemingly all-powerful oligarch who wants to buy up all of their land. The film is well made but offers few surprises. Garrone’s point of reference at this stage seems to have been less Leone and his mannerisms than 1950s American B-Westerns. I liked the picture, though, and I’m looking forward to Garrone’s second Western, Tre croci per non morire.
That’s one I’d happily recommend … it does have a lot of horrible Roman sandpit scenes, filmed in winter, which never helps evoke the American southwest … but the story is good and the characters are likeable … there’s even a blatant ‘Tuco style’ execution rescue ripoff, which they manage to get away with. Enjoy! 
Spending Day 9 watching one of Gordon Mitchell’s rare SW starring roles
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Nato_per_uccidere
Mitchell had the perfect Western look to him, and it has always perplexed me why he never went further in the genre with more leads, or the main antagonist role. I believe to this day his association with Fidani prevented more established directors from asking him to be in Giallos and Poliziotto films, though he did work steady in way too small films that did little for his on screen presence. Looking forward to this vehicle for him, looks like a nice mix of SW and American West stuff.
Day 9-taste of death
One of my favorite SWs, with great music and atmosphere, a great villain and good chemistry between the two leads, nothing can go wrong, but I thing the 85 minute version I watched is cut. It’s a shame Andrea Giordana was in only three westerns, I think he has what it takes to be a movie star.
Nobody could say no to a snowy western!
That’s a great hidden treasure.
Pretty cool title, right?
And that’s about only good thing about this another PLL super mega retarded western.
Well, I didn’t think I would ram into something worse than Su le mani cadavere! so soon.
It looked kinda promising, but when in about 15th minute of the movie weirdly edited bank robbery scene kicked in, I knew this is going downhill from that point. And it slowly went abysmally downhill until we reached the penultimate torture point of every spagh its own creator lost any interest in - the final gunbattle! After a while of chaotic town battling I couldn’t say if the whole scene was just put on the loop, it all looked so generic and similar. And yes, I said penultimate, because ultimate torture point is to endure another fistfight/duel of our hero with the main baddie into which was put zero creative effort. Bravo, Rafael Romero Marchent. At least, I can say, another PLL’s western is out of my chest, but three more to go. 
3/10
Today I’ve seen The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974) and I’ve got to say I was positively surprised. Not that it’s anything grand or spectacular, but it does what it’s supposed to do very well, which was quite astonishing considering I had expected an utter turkey. I think what makes it work so well is its variety in the sense that it’s not merely an action-oriented spag, a kung-fu movie, a treasure hunt flick or a comedy western, it’s a combination of all four. Also, it’s got a fairly straightforward narrative, is well-paced and doesn’t overstretch, so this variety is not spoiled by some redundant complexity in the storytelling department. I admit it’s pretty goddamn stupid, but most of the jokes are kind of funny in the crude sort of way and hey, beggars can’t be choosers in the land of comedic spaghetti westerns. Suffice to say, this entry is one of the better ones of its kind IMHO.
I’ve seen most of the spaghs I resolved to watch during this season, so now I can finally sit back, slow down and view just one spag per day instead of two or three. I have a couple of intriguing titles to check out, some dismaying turkeys, but mostly mediocre stuff.
Moving on to Sabata The Killer (1970).
I’m moving onto it too tomorrow, since that is the one of the three remaining PLL spaghs.
Lol, I didn’t even realize there was PLL in that. I’m viewing my first Zabalza spagghie tomorrow, yay, I can’t wait.
We can compare our field notes afterwards - since Mighty Steffen is involved I’m hoping for the best.
From what I gather from the first 30 minutes, it’s probably gonna be mediocre.
My choice for tonight’s was Tonino Ricci’s Kid il monello del west.A dumb western-spaghetti with a bunch of kids playing games, stage an heist and so on. I have the impression that I’ve seen it before in the VHS era. Not sure.
