Spagvemberfest 2022 - the legend continues

[makesthemovie]

Spagvember Fest Day 17

Sono Sartana, il Vostro Becchino

Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino - The Spaghetti Western Database

One of many rewatches. This is Day 1 of the Sartana Sequels Weekend, and what better way to start with the first sequel, which is also my favorite. Gastaldi created a great script with a well devised plot, mixing both the Western and the Investigative Procedural Mystery as our hero Sartana looks to unmask the culprits who framed him for bank robbery. I know Tito Capri helped with the script, but it’s really Gastaldi’s signature on the film.

Gianni Garko is an absolute blast as Sartana, mixing James Bond ingenuity and the slight of hand of Mandrake the Magician. He still has the same mysteriousness that Gianfranco Parolini intended for him, but now we know he’s a mystery solving gambler who’s not above some larceny.

Frank Wolff’s final SW is bitter sweet, but it’s on a high note as he’s the co lead and Sartana’s friend, and he can trust him cause he knows he’s a crook. Klaus Kinski has an ultra rare role as a rat like gambler who’s bizarrely likable in that he’s no cheat and honors his word, very refreshing actually.

The only thing that would’ve made the film better in my opinion was if Gordon Mitchell’s Deguejo and Jose Torres’ Shadow had a little more screen time, possibly showing them on the trail and asking questions of people they come in contact with.

The one bit I thought was over the top was how anyone could mistake the rough looking Sal Borgese as the suave Sartana. It’s totally beyond me.

Arrow once again delivers on an excellent Blu Ray.

[makesthemovie]

This one’s on the YouTube channel Films&Clips, with the option of watching it in Italian or the English dub. In Italian it’s an enjoyable C average Western, in English it’s kinda awful. Charles Southwood’s debut is generic, but well done.

[JohnnyCashFan66]

Day 13 - Shoot the Living, Pray for the Dead
An interesting one to be sure, but also slow with some uninspired dialogue. The subverse “shootout” at the end is a highlight. And this song!

I'am Not Your Pony

Day 14 - Last of the Badmen
This was my first new spaghetti this year! Frank Wolff made for a very interesting “Sartana” outlaw figure, playing somewhat against his usual type. Also, the ending might just have inspired Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” and Cheyenne’s end.
Day 15 - Payment in Blood (7 Winchesters for a Massacre)
Another first time watching! The music was familiar for a long time, but now I put a face to the name, so to speak. Spaghetti with extra revenge sauce! Add in a mix of creepy crave burial ground at the end, and this made for a really fun watch.

[Dean]

@JohnnyCashFan66

Shoot the Living, Pray for the Dead

You have sublime taste. You’re getting me in the mood, amigo.

[LankyGringo (Brian)]

Day 18

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack

Roy Colt e Winchester Jack - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

My Charles Southwood film fest continues with a film directed by the legendary Mario Bava…also starring Brett Halsey…and Marilu’ Tolo.

Undoubtedly, with that much firepower, this is a spaghetti western for the ages. Except it isn’t. Not even close. It does have lots of action though. I can say that for it.

[Mickey13]

DAY 18:

Di Tressette ce n’è uno, tutti gli altri son nessuno (1974) - Director: Giuliano Carnimeo - 5/10

Yeah, this one is so mad it acquires a quasi-phantasmagoric quality which propels it into a firmly surreal territory. Yes, it is slapsticky, but it is also much more beyond that: the utilization of differing frame rates in conjunction with the utter absurdity and crudeness of its storyline produces a truly jarring effect. The fact that this insanity amounts to anything resembling a proper film is a true testament to Carnimeo’s skills as a director, this is basically pure loony tunes which is why it works so well if the flick has you under its spell.

Another reason why it works better than similar works is because it betakes itself to a funny farm among other locations and generally features different situations than the ones you are accustomed to seeing in westerns; this is only partly a western which makes for a refreshing variation, plus the gags are completely bonkers in defiance of all the established conventions and rules. Yes, it is awful, but purposefully so and quite inventive in its own right and in its own crude, deranged fashion. Possibly the best spaghetti western featuring hardcore slapstick, I legitimately found it to be funny even if it is sort of extreme and I wish it had more duels involving Twinkle Toes. I shall refrain from further praise for fear of being scalped by other Spagvemberfest participants.

Il West ti va stretto, amico… è arrivato Alleluja (1972) - Director: Giuliano Carnimeo - 4/10

Basically a standard comedy western with the kind of panoply of jokes you would expect; while the material is rendered in a predominantly palatable fashion, the issue is that the humor is nowhere nearly as whacky as subsequently found in the Tresette films nor is it anything along the lines of its classier predecessor, so it sort of falls through the cracks on account of the middling story and its generally bland nature. It is okay for a Sunday evening viewing when there is nothing else to do, but to my way of thinking, there is just not enough of Hilton here among other things.

Likewise, too many gags simply fall flat, the soundtrack is slightly inferior to what you would expect from such a heavyweight as Nicolai, the fast motion sequences lack the jarring effect of the second Tresette installment and there is just not enough narrative focus, so it is a tad too humdrum and too all over the place for its own good. Still, Carnimeo’s directing is nothing to scoff at and at least the overall craftsmanship is kept on a reasonable level, so it does not devolve into utter dross either. Be that as it may, it is still my least favorite comedy from Carnimeo in that it does not provoke too many laughs and is narratively too lackluster to be much of a diversion in the end.

[Mickey13]

@Bill_san_Antonio

Klaus Kinski as a crazy sexually obsessed rapist. Too bad that the film isn’t as interesting as it sounds. After 30 minutes I fell asleep

Yeah, Kinski is like the only memorable, good thing about the movie, the rest is trash.

@Bill_san_Antonio

Have you seen the Invincible sequel The Crazy Bunch? That’s even more infantile! And I love it.

Yes, I saw it next. I’d hazard to say it is one of the better Italian comedy westerns, though when compared with the Trinity films, it lies on the opposite side of the spectrum in that it utilizes some truly unbridled slapstick and could not have worked as well as it does if it hadn’t been for Carnimeo’s directing.

Not everybody’s cup of tea for obvious reasons. I mean it is truly extreme and off-the-wall, but at least it’s not bland which cannot be said about other western comedies of this sort. There is a certain demented, predatory quality about film’s humor which I like about it.

The score for the first installment is better though and I wish the sequel had more of those cringy Twinkle Toes double entendres. It works in the same way Get Mean does: it is “bad”, low-brow and all that, but at the same time, it is so head-spinningly over-the-top it becomes its own thing. And it’s not merely about its stupidity only, I think the execution is legitimately good and deserves praise. Let’s face it, if it hadn’t been for Carnimeo, this would’ve been shit. I laughed my ass off at the KKK jokes.

[JohnBaxter]

@last.caress

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.

Like the old ethnic joke goes - Two guys (A Swede and a Norwegian, a Frenchman and a Belgian or whatever neighboring countries the joke is told in) watch a western in cinema and one bets the hero will fall into the trap - the other bets he won’t. He does, and as they leave the theater the following is said;

“You can keep your money. I’ve seen this film before”.
“So have I, but I never thought he would be stupid enough to fall in the same trap twice”.

Sometimes I wonder if Silence was the film they watched.

[Bill_san_Antonio]

#15 Giraldi: Minute to Pray, Second to Die

• I watched uncut version with the “real ending”. While the film is definitely better in it’s uncut form I think it’s also a bit overlong. 7/10

[last.caress]

DAY 18

My girl drew Numero Uno today, which on my alphabetically-sorted list of picks for this year’s SpagvemberFest is Adiós, Sabata (Parolini, 1970), an in-name-only entry into the Sabata franchise in which Lee Van Cleef abandons all of his fright-wigs and winds up looking suspiciously like Yul Brynner in a funky fringe ‘n’ flares combo.

I saw a fringe jacket a lot like I̶n̶d̶i̶o̶ B̶l̶a̶c̶k̶’s̶ Sabata’s in a shop in Great Yarmouth not so long ago; I wanted to buy it but mrs.caress said she would never ever be seen with me in “that f#cking thing” as long as we both lived, so I left it alone. I’m hopeful that once she’s seen it on Yul she might have a change of heart although, tbh, Yul’s turn as an android running amok in Westworld freaked her the f#ck out when she was a kid and she’s been vehemently anti-Brynner ever since. So, you know. Looking at a tough night all round, I think.

Cracking movie, though. Somewhat underrated, I think.

[Gingerbread80 (Ginger)]

Day 18: The Big Gundown (1967) w/Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Nieves Navarro. I probably shouldn’t even admit it, but I had never seen the Big Gundown until today. And I’ve watched SW’s long enough to have seen all of the other quintessential greats. I’m not sure why I never had or made time for it until today, but I’m glad I did. Seeing that Franco Solinas (A Bullet for the General, The Battle of Algiers) was one of the writers convinced me that I was in good hands as a viewer. I won’t say anything more since this movie is well-known and well-viewed in this circle. It’s definitely now in my Top 10 list! Rating: 5/5.

[Gingerbread80 (Ginger)]

Maybe seeing Yul be fatherly to the Mexican boy in the movie will score some points with her

[makesthemovie]

Spagvember Fest Day 18

C’e Sartana… Vendi la Pistola e Comptati la Bara

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/C'è_Sartana…_vendi_la_pistola_e_comprati_la_bara

One of many rewatches. Day 2 of my Sartana Sequels weekend with the only non Garko Sartana. George Hilton puts his own cool spin on the Sartana that, while isn’t Garko by a long shot, still works very well. There’s still the wit and cleverness we’ve come to love about the character.

Charles Southwood got one of his best characters in the genre as the poet reading Sabata the Sabbath, a gentleman gunslinger done absolutely right. Agree with @LankyGringo that his screen time wasn’t enough, but he did make the most of it.

Props to SW regular Nello Pazzafini in one of his rare bigger supporting roles. He is absolutely dastardly as the Mexican bandido Mantas. Piero Lulli turns in another fine performance as a slimy rich guy.

While not in league with the Garko Sartana’s, it’s still fun and entertaining.

Arrow does it again with the restoration of this SW fanfare.

[Mickey13]

@makesthemovie

While not in league with the Garko Sartana’s

I disagree, I much prefer it to Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino and Una nuvola di polvere… un grido di morte… arriva Sartana, though I have to revisit the latter in view of having seen it ages ago.

@last.caress

I saw a fringe jacket a lot like I̶n̶d̶i̶o̶ B̶l̶a̶c̶k̶’s̶ Sabata’s in a shop in Great Yarmouth not so long ago; I wanted to buy it but mrs.caress said she would never ever be seen with me in “that f#cking thing” as long as we both lived, so I left it alone

Perhaps try saying you are going to wear it only when receiving guests at home, it might work, you never know.

[Mickey13]

DAY 19:

Carambola (1974) - Director: Ferdinando Baldi - 2/10

I do not know what I was expecting prior to watching this, I merely viewed this just to strike it out of my watchlist and forget about the whole thing, the sooner the better. The film’s biggest issue consists in that the work is simply nowhere nearly as funny as intended and there is just not enough chemistry between Paul L. Smith and Antonio Cantafora to make this work anyhow. You can tell certain scenes are intended for laughs and the gags are supposed to provoke wild laughter, to no avail though. Oddly enough, the movie pales in comparison even with mid-tier spaghetti comedies in that it fails miserably at being funny.

Generally speaking, the stolid execution and the bovine narrative thwart much of those aspirations and render the effort completely fruitless, not to mention the jokes are not that good to begin with. I do not understand how Smith’s crushing glasses filled with milk is supposed to be funny, but it happens to be one of the primary attractions of this humorless Trinity rip-off. With its repetitious musical score, the film seems occupied with plumbing the depths of lazy emulation, copycatting as much as conceivably possible without a shred of originality to animate the sorry endeavor. It is over before it even begins, the fact that it goes on for as long as it does is offensive in and of itself. Ridiculously fucking boring.

[LankyGringo (Brian)]

Day 19

They Call Me Hallelujah aka Guns for Dollars (1971)

Testa t’ammazzo, croce… sei morto… Mi chiamano Alleluja - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

The Charles Southwood film fest comes to an end with a rarity in the spaghetti western genre - a comedy that is actually…funny. At least at times. But, for those such as myself who prefer their spaghetti with some grit in it, there is plenty of hard and ugly violence as well.

As for Mr. Southwood, it is nearly an hour into the film before his Grand Duke character makes an appearance. Once he does though, he and Hilton show much of the same on-screen chemistry they displayed in Sartana’s Here…Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin.

This is actually an entertaining movie that also features Agata Flori in a nun’s habit and a sewing machine gun. All in all, not a bad way to bring Charles Southwood’s spaghetti western career to an end.

[makesthemovie]

This one absolutely is a fun ride, mixes comedy and grit quite well. And of course Southwood makes the most of what screen time he has, and you can tell he’s having a blast with the part.

[JohnnyCashFan66]

Haha. Diving into some of the more obscure spaghettis is what Spagvember is all out, for me!

[JohnnyCashFan66]

I gave this one two tries and had to part with the disc so I wouldn’t try again in a year, because I just couldn’t like it.

[JohnnyCashFan66]

This is definitely a top 10 for me, too. And probably in my top 3 Lee Van Cleefs, alongside For a Few Dollars More and Day of Anger.