I’m one film behind my schedule and there’s only one day left… Let’s see if I can push myself into spurt till the end, I’m quite drawn-out already.
Day 29: Death Rides a Horse (1967)
Rewatched on the Kino Lorber disc. The transfer is fantastic and as it’s a firm favourite everything else is wonderful too. 9/10
edit: pic changed as non KL one was annoying me
Spagvemberfest 2021
Day 29
The Great Silence (Corbucci / 1968)
Unlike @last.caress , my new Eureka Bluray did arrive and seeing as though it comes with a double sided reproduction poster it just about qualifies for my theme for this year.
It’s one of the best in the genre without doubt for me and this release does look stunning so was a joy to watch. Well, in a downbeat morose and depressing kind of way.
One more day to go and still haven’t decided what my last one for Spagvember will be yet. Still quite a few posters to choose from so it’s just a case of deciding whether to go for a good one or something I haven’t seen in a while. Maybe both?
Day 29: Seven Pistols for a Massacre (1967) with Craig Hill, Eduardo Fajardo, Piero Lulli, and Roberto Carmadiel. I enjoyed this Craig Hill movie more than I expected. Flaherty (Hill) escapes prison and arrives in Tuscon to see his wife after serving three years for a crime he didn’t commit. The gang who set him up, led by Fajardo and Carmadiel, have taken over the town in anticipation of an arriving stagecoach with gold. The plot was different, which kept my engagement. There is a humorous saloon fight that involves a visiting troupe of showgirls. Plus, members of the gang have names like Tiny and Ziggy! It hit the right spaghetti buttons for me on this second to the last day of the fest. I give it a 6/10.
Having seen Montero’s Durango Is Coming, Pay or Die, I did not expect much to be quite honest, but Two Faces of the Dollar turned out to be a genuinely solid mid-tier spag with a bit different focus and idea underlying the narrative. The flick adopts the basic premise of a heist flick and expands on it in such a voluminous fashion that it becomes as much about the overall preparations as it is about the robbery itself. While the movie does take its time whilst developing the storyline, I actually find this approach as well as the unhurried, yet firm pacing to be pretty refreshing.
It is true that the film borrows a number of things from more renowned spags, but at the same time, these elements are sufficiently modified, taking on a life of their own in the context of the flick, and harmonize with the rest of the plot quite well. The bigger issue is that the motion picture seems at a loss for a proper resolution and completely runs out of steam towards the end; thankfully, it still manages to furnish the grim if a bit nonsensical conclusion to the otherwise strong composition. Notwithstanding its conspicuous flaws, this is a very recommendable outing that’s well worth checking out.
6/10
Day 29 - Lucky Luke
Made sence to watch this one after reading the book. The book was so funny. It’s a shame that they didn’t catch the feeling.
Spagvemberfest 2021 Day 29: SABATA (1969)
I took another look at ADIOS, SABATA with Yul Brynner the other day, and I thought it was only fair to give the original another look too. I still prefer Yul’s film over this one by a slight edge (it’s much tighter with a bit more action), but there are many goodies to enjoy here. Weird hair aside, you gotta love William Berger’s Banjo character, Pedro Sanchez’s Carrincha and the acrobatic Aldo Canti. The film has a very polished and expensive look as well, but the pacing falters a bit in the middle, thankfully gaining back lots of steam in the last half hour. And of course, there’s all that wacky weaponry on hand. But my favorite aspect of the film is the rousing and catchy score by Marcello Giombini that will stick in your brain for days. Certainly one of the best non-Morricone scores in the genre. This did not let me down, and it’s still a super fun ride. 8/10.
And sorry, Seb, I tried to do the link thing, but couldn’t figure it out. At least I didn’t post a dog picture.
Hi Pereira,
Maybe you should have watched this movie:
Not a spaghetti western but it is closer to the book 
I’ll see if I can find it. Thanks.
SPAGVEMBERFEST DAY 30
Hang on… “Day 30”? Already? You mean it’s over for another year?? Can’t be! It’s flown past! I thought last year’s 'Fest was never going to end, I’m still suffering from flashbacks! This year though… it’s been a joyous pleasure from top to bottom and I’m genuinely sad it’s all done and dusted.
Well, almost done and dusted. I’ve got one more Spagvember treat to tuck into tonight, and there’s really no better way for me to polish off my event than with The Big Gundown (Sollima, 1966), Sergio Sollima’s finest western featuring arguably finest-ever turns from both Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian, and with one of the best theme tunes of the lot; all courtesy of Grindhouse Releasing’s utterly superb 4-disc presentation, still one of my favourite blu-ray releases of all time.
So, there we have it. SpagvemberFest 2021 squared away. Sticking to my blu-ray collection has made this year’s 'Fest arguably my favourite since the first one.
Mon 1 Django
Tue 2 My Name is Pecos
Wed 3 A Bullet For the General
Thu 4 Today We Kill… Tomorrow We Die!
Fri 5 Bandidos
Sat 6 If You Meet Sartana… Pray For Your Death
Sun 7 A Fistful of Dynamite
Mon 8 Django Kill
Tue 9 The Grand Duel
Wed 10 The Mercenary
Thu 11 Navajo Joe
Fri 12 Sabata
Sat 13 I am Sartana, Your Angel of Death
Sun 14 The Return of Ringo
Mon 15 And God Said to Cain
Tue 16 Requiem For Gringo
Wed 17 Companeros
Thu 18 Death Rides a Horse
Fri 19 Massacre Time
Sat 20 Have a Good Funeral My Friend… Sartana Will Pay
Sun 21 Cemetery Without Crosses
Mon 22 Keoma
Tue 23 Django the Bastard
Wed 24 Requiescant
Thu 25 Day of Anger
Fri 26 Adiós, Sabata
Sat 27 For a Few Dollars More
Sun 28 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Mon 29 The Great Silence
Tue 30 The Big Gundown
Day 30
For a Few Dollars More
Per qualche dollaro in più - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
I guess it is only appropriate that I watch at least one Leone film during the month so I concluded with this one as it is undoubtedly my favorite and it needs no introduction.
After watching 32 movies in 30 days, I am going outside so that I can once more can feel the warmth of the sun on my face…and to buy some toilet paper.
On a side note, I came downstairs after completing my final film to find my wife watching It’s a Wonderful Life. I sat down on the couch beside her and began to watch along, hoping to get into the holiday mood. After a few minutes, I found myself longing for George Bailey to brutally gun down Mr. Potter and leave his twisted blood-soaked corpse lying in the street.
It might be time for a break from spaghetti westerns as there might have been some damage done to my psyche over the last 30 days. Maybe I’ll switch to Italian crime films for a while. I’m sure that will help.
Time for my Spagvember Fest recap too
Day 1: Jesse & Lester - Due Fratelli in un Posto Chiamato Trinita (1972) ***1/2
Day 2: all’Ultimo Sangue (1968) ***
Day 3: Jonathan degli Orsi (1994) ****
Day 4: Pecos e Qui: Prega e Muori (1967) ****
Day 5: Killer Calibro .32 (1967) ****
Day 6: Due Once di Piombo -Il Mio Nome e Pecos (1966) ****1/2
Day 7: Una Bara per lo Sceriffo (1965) ****1/2
Day 8: Un Dollaro Tra i Denti (1966) ****
Day 9: Dio li Crea…Io lo Ammazza! (1968) ****
Day 10: Black Jack (1968) ****1/2
Day 11: Gentleman Jo…Uccidi (1967) ****1/2
Day 12: Per il Gusto di Uccidere (1966) ****1/2
Day 13: California (1977) ***1/2
Day 14: Il Tempo degli Avvoltoi (1967) ****1/2
Day 15: Campa Carogna…la Taglia Cresce (1973) ****
Day 16: La Morte Non Conta i Dollari (1967) ****
Day 17: I Vigliacchi Non Pregano (1968) ***1/2
Day 18: E Dio Disse a Caino (1969) *****
Day 19: Uccidi O Muori (1966) ***1/2
Day 20: all’Ombra di una Colt (1965) ****
Day 21:I Giorni dell’Ira (1967) *****
Day 22: Prega il Morto e Ammazza il Vivo (1971) ****
Day 23: Ammazzali Tutti e Torna Solo (1969) ****1/2
Day 24: Thompson 1880 (1966) ****
Day 25: Una Pistola per Ringo (1965) *****
This year I was especially glad I stopped at Day 25 cause I didn’t have a burnout/fatigue this year and wanted to end on a high note. Hope everyone else enjoyed this season, fatigue/burnout and all.
Day 30: Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead (1971) with Paolo Casella, Klaus Kinski, and Patrizia Adiutori. For the last day of Spagvember Fest, I decided to watch one I’ve never seen. There were times I was unable to factor in why Casella’s character wanted to meet up with Kinski’s gang to help them out for a share of their stolen gold. Kinski was at his usual live wire greatness. Adiutori and her squirrelly grandpa get caught in the middle of all the intrigue as their inn is where the action starts. Though convoluted at times, it all becomes clear at the end. I give it a 6 out of 10.
This film has been mentioned here like five or six times in the entire history of the SWDb and I think I know the reason why. Fighters from Ave Maria is probably the worst melange of a serious spaghetti western and a slapstick comedy I have seen so far; it is incredible a movie with such a good premise devolves into such an amorphous, imbecilic mess. The film constantly alternates between grim shootouts and slapstick, which gives it a highly disjointed feel and makes it tiresome to watch; the comedic scenes and the violent action essentially cancel each other out, whereas the storytelling lacks enough focus and consistency to give a modicum of sense to this obnoxiously otiose exercise in meaningless, crowd-pleasing buffoonery.
The presentation of the music, the entirety of which is pilfered from other spags, is simply terrible and doesn’t fit the action most of the time, endowing the tout ensemble with a rather scroungy vibe. Most of the time, the film just keeps going on and on and on, pelting the viewer with increasingly absurd narrative apparatuses and protracting the trite story ad nauseam. While the direction does not have the kind of warped look the worst genre examples possess, it is uniformly pedestrian all the same and does not improve this thing to any significant degree. I really don’t know what else to say about this, it just sucks. This might not be one of the very worst entries the genre has to offer, but I think this is still probably one of the most irritating spag outings you can chance upon while scavenging through a film trash can.
2/10
…e vennero in quattro per uccidere Sartana! (1969) - Director: Demofilo Fidani - 4/10.
Ehi amigo… sei morto! (1970) - Director: Paolo Bianchini - 5/10.
La tigre venuta dal fiume Kwai (1975) - Director: Franco Lattanzi - 2/10.
La colt era il suo Dio (1972) - Director: Luigi Batzella - 2/10.
Sei iellato, amico hai incontrato Sacramento (1972) - Director: Giorgio Cristallini - 4/10.
Pagó cara su muerte (1968) - Director: León Klimovsky - 7/10.
Jesse & Lester - Due fratelli in un posto chiamato Trinità (1972) - Directors: Renzo Genta, Richard Harrison - 5/10.
Django sfida Sartana (1970) - Director: Pasquale Squitieri - 4/10.
I quattro pistoleri di Santa Trinità (1971) - Director: Giorgio Cristallini - 4/10.
3 colpi di Winchester per Ringo (1966) - Director: Emimmo Salvi - 3/10.
Che botte ragazzi! (1975) - Director: Bitto Albertini - 2/10.
La lunga cavalcata della vendetta (1972) - Director: Tanio Boccia - 2/10.
Le due facce del dollaro (1967) - Director: Roberto Bianchi Montero - 6/10.
I vendicatori dell’Ave Maria (1970) - Director: Bitto Albertini - 2/10.
And the summary of 2021
I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable year, and look forward to Spagvember 2022.
My Spagvember List for 2021:
Day 1: For a Few Dollars More
Day 2: Johnny Hamlet
Day 3: Cemetery without Crosses
Day 4: Bullets Don’t Argue
Day 5: Sartana’s Here, Trade in a Coffin for a Pistol
Day 6: –
Day 7: My Name is Pecos
Day 8: Arizona Colt
Day 9: They Call Me Hallelujah
Day 10: Assault on Fort Texan
Day 11: Take a Hard Ride
Day 12: Tepepa
Day 13: The Grand Duel
Day 14: Quintana: Dead or Alive
Day 15: Beyond the Law
Day 16: Ringo, the Mark of Vengeance
Day 17: Hannie Caulder
Day 18: Hands Up Dead Man, You’re Under Arrest
Day 19: Mannaja (A Man Called Blade)
Day 20: –
Day 21: Long Live Your Death
Day 22: My Horse…My Gun…Your Widow
Day 23: Django vs. Sartana
Day 24: A Town Called Hell
Day 25: Bandidos
Day 26: The Mercenary
Day 27: Death Rides a Horse
Day 28: The Forgotten Pistolero
Day 29: Seven Pistols for a Massacre
Day 30: Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead
My list of watches for SpagvemberFest
Day:
Everything for the month was a re-watch except Death Knows No Time which turned out to be a very enjoyable find.
Recap list here:
