Day 14 - “Kill Johnny Ringo” (1966) Gianfranco Baldanello
Another just average mid-60s spaghetti western for me, and like all of the others, it’s pretty fun. There’s nothing much to say, it’s everything you’d expect from an American style SW. with this I’ve seen every Brett Halsey euro-western.
#12 Kennedy: Deserter
-Another random pick from shelf, too bad it was a dvd-r with bad pic quality and even worse audio which was partly out of sync and had some parts missing completely. I didn’ t remember much about the film, I had even forgot the star filled cast. Ok film which is badly in need of proper bd/dvd release. 6/10
Spagvember Fest Day 14
Il Momento di Uccidere
First time watch. Despite the occasional frustration of the great sounding Italian soundtrack changing to a near gawd-awful English dub, I found this lesser discussed SW a very entertaining watch. George Hilton and Walter Barnes made a great team and I wish they got teamed up more as they had a good chemistry going.
Horst Frank, the debonair villain of the Italian West, does another great job as the slimy psychopath. I wonder what an SW would’ve looked like had he and Klaus Kinski got to play villain brothers? You’d have the sane menace of Frank and the psycho madness of Kinski that’s for sure.
I never saw that twist within a twist style ending coming and am still trying to figure it out. Carmineo’s flashy cinematography is on fine display.
There appeared to be quite a bit of age damage to the film’s negative when it was restored for Blu Ray, but I didn’t find it distracting (apologies to @Bill_san_Antonio, but I honestly didn’t mind) as sometimes there’s only so much that can be fixed.
Day 15
Sartana’s Here…Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin (1970)
Undoubtedly, this is one of my guilty pleasures in the genre. There is non-stop action, and the production quality is surprisingly decent. George Hilton and Erika Blanc are solid as always but, in the end, it is Charles Southwood’s dandy Sabata/Sabbath who steals the show. Southwood only made a total of 11 movies in his career, five of which were spaghetti flavored. It is a shame that the other four weren’t of this caliber and that he didn’t get better roles on the whole as he definitely had a great screen presence.
Spagvemberfest 2022
Day 14
Death Rides a Horse (Petroni / 1967)
It’s been far too long since I watched this one. Thank you Spagvemberfest. Classic Spaghetti Western with all the elements you look for in the genre including another magnificent Morricone score. Excellent
DAY 15:
Un par de asesinos (1970) - Director: Rafael Romero Marchent - 4/10
Whenever I see Chris Huerta now, I have flashbacks from Fat Brothers of Trinity and I shudder in utter trepidation (thankfully he gets hanged fairly early on). As for the film itself, it does look good and combines comedy and serious western reasonably well, however, it appears a little disjointed on account of the storytelling being destitute of focus, which effects the muddled structure. I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly that makes the film feel so distant and indifferent;
I guess it is sporadically difficult to follow the storyline in virtue of how swiftly the flick leapfrogs between multiple locations and characters which in turn induces the tale to progress in a rather choppy fashion and divests individual sequences and major plot developments of their impact and resonance; basically a lot of the crucial scenes are cut short and then they fail to leave a mark in one’s memory, effectuating the hazy focus. Garko and Spoletini have some good chemistry, which offsets the said faults to some extent, but none of that can completely compensate for the somewhat tenuous writing and the feeble narration.
La sfida dei MacKenna (1970) - Director: León Klimovsky - 7/10
One of those rare spaghetti westerns in which dialogues are sedulously worked out to the extent that they are witty and smart, characters are veritably three-dimensional and the story does not feel like a contrived mock-up of a plot intended for providing an unobtrusive background to action sequences rather than recounting a concrete tale as such like it is the case here. The narrative has a proper flow to it, consecutive scenes relate to one another and all serve an overarching purpose, resulting in a highly immersive viewing experience and generally higher class filmmaking.
Long story short, this feels like an actual movie with properly delineated characters and an actualized blueprint as to film’s overall destination. I do not understand why it is not more renowned; I guess it is a lot more drama-driven than other genre examples, but it works just the same, features some of the most fleshed out characters you could ask for in a western of this kind, some traces of noir motifs and Bobby Woods puts on one of his strongest performances too; there is not a single dull moment either and everything sort of fits together, greatly benefitting from film’s tight focus and high production values. One of the few titles I would not mind revisiting in the not so distant future; the mere fact that it has not been released officially yet is a bona fide travesty.
Spagvemberfest 2022
Day 15
Beyond the Law (Stegani / 1968)
My final LVC flick of the season and what I think is best described as a “mid tier” Van Cleef. Entertaining enough without being outstanding in any way.
From now on it will be more random selections with the theme of just watching some of those Blurays I picked up in the past year and haven’t actually got round to watching yet. I’ll be starting with some of those German ones I picked up in Berlin during the summer. 
I’ve always been quite fond of this one. Hardly a classic and nothing special, but it’s pretty enjoyable.
Exactly
Been very busy with life so I’ve completely bollocked up my Spagvember schedule but oh well.
Day 10
A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)
Pretty ok, I love Mario Adorf in most things so I naturally enjoyed his presence here. The rest of the film was just average. 3/5
Day 15
May God Forgive You…I Won’t (1968)
Starts off pretty good, then had a boring middle part, then had a pretty great ending shootout. Didn’t think much of George Ardisson and I wish Martell was in it more. Also, does this movie re-use some music tracks from an early bond film? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had heard some of the music before.
DAY 15
Day 15? SpagvemberFest, halfway done, already?? Bizarre, and more than a trifle upsetting, but true. So than God my girl drew no.21 on my list, a genuine all-time great: The Great Silence (Corbucci, 1968), a movie which needs no introduction from me and one which improves with every viewing. Still hope it’ll all work out fine for everyone at the end, though. Every time I watch it. Come on Silence! Come on Vonetta McGee out of Repo Man! You can do it, you can beat these fu… oh.
#13 Bergonzelli: Colt in the Hand of the Devil
-Kinda weird sw with non-typical hero, surprising ending and plot with some nice ideas and some really stupid ideas. Entertaining film anyway. 6/10
Spagvember Fest Day 15
Bandidos
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Bandidos
Rewatch. Mini Masterpiece isn’t a term I use a lot, but Bandidos fits the moniker like a glove. There’s another SW I give the moniker to, but I’ll let you guys try to guess which one it is. The plot is simple, but is filmed in so eloquent a manner that it makes it look grander in scale. Dallamano’s debut as a director is great, and shows he really paid attention when working with Maestro Sergio Leone.
Enrico Maria Salerno, best known to many of us as Clint Eastwood’s dubber for the Dollars Trilogy, is excellent as Richard Martin. His facial expressions are enough to tell viewers the pain and anguish he feels his life has ended up as. I think Salerno is one of the first actor’s to put that kind of complexity to an SW character.
It’s a shame Terry Jenkins only did this one film, he had a lot of talent going for him. At least he got to be in a memorable role and film. Venantino Venantini definitely ranks in the top 10 to 20 list of best SW villains as Billy Kane, he’s so nasty even his own men don’t like him.
Arrow Video did a magnificent job with bringing the film back to life, everything looked so vibrant and crisp.
Day 15 - “Billy the Kid” (1964) Leon Klimovsky
Bland, forgettable, and most of all really hard to care for.
Day 13 Johnny Yuma
Day 14 They call him Cemetery
Day 15 Arizona Colt
Day 16
Three Silver Dollars aka I Protect Myself Against My Enemies
Dai nemici mi guardo io! - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
I am perplexed.
After watching Charles Southwood yesterday, I decided to continue on and give all of his movies a re-watch even though they aren’t very good on the whole. Except, when I sat down to watch this one, I had no recollection of ever having seen it before. I kept waiting for something familiar to come along but all I ever got were brief flashes of familiarity. My only explanation is that when I did sit down to watch this one for the first time, I did so after having a third glass of single malt.
Regardless of the explanation, I did get to watch something new yesterday and, although this movie isn’t great by any means, I did enjoy it. It has an overly simplified plot with lots of action and just a bit of bad attempts at humor. What more can you ask for from a lower tier spaghetti western?
Southwood does a solid job as does Julian Mateos (Return of the Seven). Alida Chelli looked absolutely beautiful as long as she wasn’t speaking as the English dub of her voice was a bit strange.
All in all, not a bad way to spend 100 minutes or so of your life - especially when you actually remember doing it.
DAY 16:
Pecos è qui: prega e muori (1967) - Director: Maurizio Lucidi - 5/10
Ahh, nothing screams “Mexico” more than sunless skies, withered leaves, the autumnal Lazio landscapes shrouded in mist and fake cacti stuck in gravel pits. In other words, there is plenty to exult in here if you happen to cherish this sort of thing. I was not much of a fan of the first movie to begin with, so the change of tone did not matter to me that much I suppose. This is a perfectly serviceable cheapo as far as I’m concerned and it is always a pleasure to see Bobby Woods in the lead role.
The mariachi are a bit irritating, but the movie likewise includes some good looking shootouts; a number of outlandish sets in tandem with the unusual treasure hunt tale revolving around the Aztec gold gives it a bit of panache and animates the endeavor quite a bit too. Albeit not the greatest thing under the sun and undoubtedly less serious than its predecessor, there is still plenty to enjoy about this straightforward, yet elegant follow up. I like both films in equal measure, but I guess I’m not the biggest Pecos fan out there, so take my words with a grain of salt.
Little Rita nel west (1967) - Director: Ferdinando Baldi - 6/10
It is difficult to rate the work inasmuch as it is not a regular genre opus in virtue of its relatively scant story which serves as a pretext to embark on a number of music pieces sung by Rita Pavone; hence, it is essentially a glorified music video with scores of musical numbers and a pastiche of spaghetti western tropes; the final product is a lot closer to a television music show of sorts, except that the whole lot is presented in a much more lavish fashion with plenty of sets, extras and the likes.
The music is good though, Rita is charming and has a characterful voice, however, if you do not cherish the entire medley in its quintessentially simplistic nature, you are very likely to be left sorely disappointed. It is hardly anything atrocious, but at the same time, its composition and content readily betray its age and most of it works as a kind of time capsule for better or for worse. Personally, I found it to be funny and endearing in the corny way even if it proves kind of disjointed in its final form by reason of some strange cuts and feeble writing; still, it is much more entertaining and immeasurably superior to most of the 1970s spaghetti comedies.
While the original Pecos is the best of the two, I still find Pecos Cleans Up to be a fun Western Adventure flick. I would say 6 out of 10 if I used that rating system.
Few days gone, very little time within last days and also realized movie marathon is not mine… I took a break and will join on some days till end of november but not on every day 
Addendum Day 8: What Am I Doing in the Middle of the Revolution
tried this rare Corbucci movie, his third and last Zapata (skipped Companeros for later). Did not catch me. An actor and a padre in the mexican revolution, both no classic SW heroes.
Day 16 (Movie 8): Cut-Throats Nine
Not that much action, but blood and innards, torture and rape, dirty characters and snow. What is deadlier, the criminals or the merciless and cold nature? Will the lust for richness win or will the criminals work together while bonded by chains? And there is the Seargent hunting for his own goals. Some kind of character study included.
I bet the producers thought, 'Ah fuck it, … no one’s ever gonna see this after it’s first run at the theatres, … so we’ll just shoot it in some wet fields and save molto Lire ’
