One of my favourites!
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SPAGVEMBERFEST 2020: DAY 13
I missed yesterday but thatās okay because, today, Iāve got an absolute belter: Itās A Fistful of Dollars (Leone, 1964), starring Clint Eastwood as a alien botanist accidentally abandoned on Earth by his mother ship, and requiring the services of a handful of wide-eyed children to help him āphone homeā before the feds catch him, f#ck him and eat him. āMaaaaaaaake myyyyyyy daaaaay, Elllioootttttt.ā
I mean, I joke, but old Clintās probably aged into the role of ET perfectly right about now, donāt you think?
I think todayās going to be my last go at the Frayling commentary. Itās not holding my attention any more. Sunday marks the halfway point. Iāll see how I feel then but Iām sorely tempted to wave the white flag on this same-film-every-day endeavour. Iām starting to wonder if it mightāve been a bloody stupid idea.
6 Likes
Day 13: May God Forgive Youā¦ But I Wonāt
After a shaky start to the month it looks like Iām into a good run of films*. This is a pretty straightforward revenge story but the action never stops. Cjamangoās barely contained rage drives everything along at a great pace. There is lots of gunplay and even the comedic moments donāt grate like in other films. Inventive camera angles and a great score add to this being one of my favourites of the month so far.
This was another film that I watched on Amazon Prime and this time it was definitely worth it. The restored version on there is absolutely stunning (as mentioned by Mike Hauss here). If youāve not already seen this version itās well worth checking out.
*I know Iām going to regret saying this.
6 Likes
Day 13-days of vengeance/a minute to pray a second to die
My first double feature of the month
I intended to only watch the latter of these two films but my wild east DVD just arrived and I couldnāt wait to rematch this movie after it had been removed from Tubi, this is one I thoroughly enjoy but one thing I canāt wrap my head around is the townsfolk jumping around at the end, the finale is so dark and mean spirited and it ends with a silly joke a collage of pictures with happy jolly music, anyways, enough ranting
This might actually be the best surprise of the month, this film totally blew me away. It might even get a place in my top 20! I should add that this is one of the rare main villain roles for genre icon Mario Brega. I really donāt know why I didnāt watch it sooner but this error has been corrected to my great pleasure
6 Likes
- Corbucci: Sonny & Jed
-Another film from WEās Tomas Milian double feature and itās one of my favorites. I canāt understand how some (or most?) people think this is a dud as for me itās a top5 Corbucci. Maybe itās not a pleasant movie to watch but itās a damn good one. 8/10
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Exactly how I feel about this movie, it is a great character study about two people who crave something they canāt obtain, I just feel like the movie would be more acclaimed if it ditched the comedy elements
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Well, for me itās a Top 3 Corbucci, which puts me in an even smaller minority.
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Thanks Phil
Day 13 (on a Friday-jeez 
) has me doing a quasi re-watch with
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Giarrettiera_Colt
I had seen this in pieces previously and am doing a full on complete watch today. A very enjoyable watch even with a slightly sad ending. Nicoletta Machiavelli is a delight to see as the beautiful lady gambler and gunslinger. Claudio Camaso really hams it up as the loco bandido Red, and for some reason reminds me of Oliver Reed when clean shaven.
4 Likes
Watched this some years ago. Then 6/10. After tonights view 6,5/10. Liked Garrones first If You Want to Liveā¦ Shoot! better than this one. What was his next films?
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Ah looky here I found two Letterboxd lists for this yearās fest
Very diligent these two 
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What can I sayā¦ I love lists!
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After watching this weekās podcast featuring Jeff Cameron, I went for this one:
Anche per Django le carogne hanno un prezzo
Definitely not as bad as I imagined.
3 Likes
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2020
Day 13
His Name Was Holy Ghost (Carnimeo / 1972)
Garko might be wielding a machine gun a la Django and the body count may be high a la Sartana but Spirito Santo is played strictly for laughs. And to be fair to it there are some genuine ones to be had even if, like me, you are not a fan of comedy westerns. In my list of favourite Garko westerns this one could well sit at the bottom with Bad Manās River but it is still quite enjoyable in parts.
One more Garko left to watch for this yearās Fest.
4 Likes
Thanks, I liked Tre croci ā¦! And now, ladies and gentlemen, the great moment has come when I can happily and proudly announce that I have watched the entire Western oeuvre of Sergio Garrone, all six films, over a period of ten years.
- Se vuoi vivere ā¦ spara! (January 7, 1968)
- Tre croci per non morire (November 23, 1968)
- Una lunga fila di croci (April 18, 1969)
- Django il bastardo (November 8, 1969)
- Uccidi, Django ā¦ uccidi per primo! (February 5, 1971)
- Quel maledetto giorno della resa dei conti (June 26, 1971)
Will I also watch Garroneās non-Western movies? Very unlikely. I donāt want to expose myself to the horrors that some of their titles suggest (Camp SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur, SS Camp 5: Lāinferno delle donne, La mano che nutre la morte, Le amanti del mostro). So how do I continue now? I could, for example, finally watch the DVDs that Iāve owned for years but havenāt even taken out of their cellophane wrappings, including two or three Westerns starring Tony Anthony.
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California
Out of the more ambitious efforts of the late 70s, Michele Lupoās California must certainly be one of the best, if not THE best - in my opinion. Weāve got the veteran Gemma, who now with a bit of age coming onto him, looking tougher than ever before. None of the tongue-in-cheek or eye-winking attitude that we so often see from him otherwise is present here - which probably makes this the most Djangoesque character that Iāve ever seen him in. Other than that we have a great score from Gianni Ferrio and absolutely lovely costume designs from none other than the great Carlo Simi. This is Spaghetti Western at itās best! 8/10
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My current Spag challenge is to torture myself through watching Amigosā¦ and I remember why I never liked it much. Still nice to see it on BluRay though.
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Itās interesting that quite a few of these directors went on to direct erotica and things of that nature after quitting the genre, PannacciĆ² and Batzella actually became hardcore pornographers later down the road.
Iāll be kind of busy for the next couple of weeks, but Iāll try to keep up as best as I can. Today, Iāve seen Son of Django (1967) and I thought it was okay for the most part. There are some conspicuous issues with the script in that it doesnāt know how to elaborate on the basic story of two gangs battling each other and doesnāt know where it wants to go exactly. On top of that, the direction turns out to be quite bland and stale and ultimately doesnāt really contribute anything of value to the equation. With all that being said, I found it surprisingly enjoyable despite being quite meager as far as its script and direction are concerned.
Last but not least, its sandpits and gravel pits are lit in a rather tasteful fashion, there is one scene taking place in a comfy gravel pit at night and I have to say it looks quite atmospheric. Over the years, Iāve grown to love gravel pits to the extent that I canāt imagine the genre without them anymore. Theyāre essential, theyāre like a necessary spice and theyāre presented in all their glory here, itās too bad they disappear in the second part of the flick.
6 Likes
Thanks Companero_M.
Iāve seen all six before, but some weeks ago, thinking of Spagvember, I realized that I needed to give Garrone another look. I even wrote post then which I didn.t publish, so Iāll insert it below. I still need to watch Kill Djangoā¦Kill First. Tthen there are some films Garrone had a strong hand with in the writing department, notably Degueyo, Chaco and Killer Kid. Others?
During my years here I might have left the impression Iām not collecting anything. Which is not so. As I have recently moved into a new flat refurnishing, I have had the opportunity for the first time in many years to gather and sort all my stuff in one place.
By all my stuff I mean my DVDs and books except those on philosophy, politics and SWs, my complete Samuel Beckett collection and football books and DVDs, which I keep in another place. Here is the result from top to bottom.
Ninth to tenth shelf: Non spaghetti DVDs/BR, mostly noirish stuff, but also American western and horror.
Fifth to eight shelves: spaghetti westerns alphabetic by director. The Sergios in their own sideshelfs.
Third to fourth shelf: weird, fantasy and such. Including the complete writings of Robert E Howard but also William Hope Hodgeson.
First and second shelf. Crime, including the complete Charles Willford, Charlie Williams and Jim Thompson. And all the Lemmy Caution novels seems to be here. And sitting proudly in a side shelf nineteen titles by W.R. Burnet and James M. Cain.
As for Spagvember I plan to start out on the sixth and hopefully end up at the fourth shelf, watching films I so far have given only one watching.
The latter plan later abandoned. But that was when I realized I needed to give Garrone another look.
So, my way ahead would be
Uccidi, Django ā¦ uccidi per primo!
Chaco, then another look at
Se vuoi vivere ā¦ spara!
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- Leone: The Good, the Bad And the Ugly
-King of the spaghetti westerns. My only complain is that after 16-17 years I watched the extended cut for the second time and I prefer the shorter version. Apart from the Socorro scene the added scenes arenāt that important and the new dubbing sounds mostly terrible. Anyway 10/10 from me.
4 Likes