Though this technically begins being about human smuggling, it is in actuality little more than an excuse for Anthony Steffen and William Berger to shoot everyone in sight and, as is often the case, it is Berger as a bounty hunting preacher that steals the show. Though there is little that stands out about the plot as a whole, director Sergio Garrone must be credited for creating a very stylish movie. The movie is chock full of unique and original camera angles plus others that look as though they came straight out of a Leone or Corbucci film. The gorgeous Nicoletta Machiavelli is given a role with a bit more meat on it than what one typically sees for actresses in the spaghetti west and she delivers wonderfully. What this one lacks in plot, it more than makes up for in both action and appearance.
Didn’t watch one last night; not because I was doing anything else but because I’ve really been enjoying these double-bills every couple of days, and I’ve got myself a doozy tonight: I’m kicking off with Django the Bastard (Garrone, 1969), which really should be called Django the Frustrating Bastard because that’s what this film is. Is he a ghost? An undead agent of retribution? Mortal, but just bloody miserable? The movie doesn’t seem sure, and seems to change its mind from scene to scene. Still, it’s something of a riot even in spite of itself and, in a perfect marriage of artist and subject, The Steff’s trademark zombie-like performance finally has a perfect outlet with this zombie-like character.
I’ll be following DtB with Requiescant (Lizzani, 1967), one of my absolute favourites with a decent turn from Lou Castel but featuring a scenery-chewing, scene-stealing bravura performance from Mark Damon as the most gleefully pantomime-level villain in all of spaghetti history. The fantastic TWANG, TWANG, TWANG TWANG TWANGTWANGTWANGTWANGTWANGTWANG TWANG TWANG, TWANG, TWANNNNG score is maybe my favourite of the lot, too. Spaghetti as f#ck!
Okay, on a serious note, I must admit I enjoyed it more than I would expect. It’s lighthearted as it can get, but simultaneously quite brutal and with wildly high bodycount. Plus Ennio’s great track. Give it a try. 7/10
Guerrieri: 10.000 $ Blood Money
-Excellent film, one of the most greatest looking spaghetti western and definitely one of the saddest. Fernando Sancho has one of his best roles too. 8/10
Have to admit I’m beginning to wilt a little … but so close to the finishing line, I gotta keep goin’
Time to pull out the big guns now … and quite literally too - Possibly the best of the Sartana series. Cool Gianni and his big ol 70s tash, plus great music from Bruno Nicolai. At least a 7/10 if not more, depending on my mood
Here’s one that didn’t impress me much on first watch years ago that I now have a much higher opinion of, thanks to my rewatch via the Arrow Blu-ray. I originally didn’t care for leading man Alberto Dentice, but this time I didn’t mind him, even though he looks like one of The Bee Gees. Van Cleef is in top form here, and the film features three great villains portraying evil power hungry brothers led by the ever-slimy Horst Frank. The film revolves around the mystery of who killed their father, and only Frank and Van Cleef know the truth. This movie has many of the qualities that make a classic old-school spaghetti western, all done well; tense action, tight direction, a dollop of humor, a great score, and a captivating plot. We even get some cool revealing flashbacks. By 72, comedy westerns were dominant, so this is a nice return to form. Yes, you can see the “surprise” ending coming from 100 miles away, but this is still a good one. 8/10.
Rewatch. I like this one, it isn’t great by a long shot, but it’s still entertaining. The henchmen come off more as buffoonish bullies rather than dangerous baddies, but that’s OK as they end up getting outclassed by a long shot. George Martin I thought did a good job going slightly against type as the peace loving gunsmith who goes into action because it’s the right thing to do. Gordon Mitchell is the highlight in his extended cameo; I always feel like he was underused in the genre, even though he had a lot of credits under his belt.
As always, Koch does it again with a quality DVD release.
It’s exactly what I would expect. What a waste of time. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll pick something better. I’m still trying to marathon as many non watched ones as possible, but It’s painful to watch some of this stuff. Mostly, I have on the watchlist early euro westerns, German westerns and late stuff. None my cup of tea.
Day 24: A Town Called Hell (a.k.a. A Town Called Bastard) with Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, and Martin Landau. To me, it was a Town Called Disappointment. Unfortunately, this one had a top notch cast but not much of a story. Whoever wrote the script didn’t bother to research when the Mexican Revolution occurred (1910-1920), having the events take place in 1895 and 1905. I am willing to suspend my disbelief with the spaghettis I watch to a point. However, my inner history buff comes out at times like these. The story follows a wealthy widow, who returns to a town where she believes her husband was murdered, and offers gold to whoever can find the murderer, a revolutionary named Aguila. I give it 4/10.
Yes indeed … the original is better, but they’re both very good looking high production value films. Released internationally by Columbia Pictures … and very big box office in Italy on their original release.
It wouldn’t feel like Spagvemberfest without some Steff in there somewhere but this is my only Steff poster so it had to be this one. Actually it’s a pretty decent Steff vehicle, allowing him to do all the things you expect and want from him. I’ve been suffering with the flu these past couple of weeks so have a tendency to flag and doze on occasion at the moment but with a film like this you needn’t worry about missing something important to the plot. Just maybe a roll and shoot or two. Viva Steff!!
I watched all of Steff’s output for a previous Spagvemberfest a year or two back.
It was surprisingly painless as I recall? Actually made me a bigger Steff fan than ever.
This is another of my all-time favorites. This movie is just chock full of stars of the genre including Brett Halsey, Bud Spencer, William Berger, and Wayde Preston. On top of that, Japanese film legend and Akira Kurosawa favorite Tatsuya Nakadai was brought it to play the villain. The story is a nice enough revenge tale, penned by Dario Argento along with director Tonino Cervi, but the finale of the movie is something fairly unique with the final confrontation coming in a forest. The film is never short on action and is non-stop entertainment from start to finish.
