Yeah, Kinski is like the only memorable, good thing about the movie, the rest is trash.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Flu and worklife got on top of me so I’m playing catch up with a couple of double bills over the weekend. And with LVC behind me it’s now the turn of my unwatched Blurays starting with this one I picked up in Berlin during the summer.
Dah dah dah dah DAAAH!!!
It wouldn’t be Spagvember without some Steff so this was a welcome visit. And with a couple of roll and shoots plus Billy Berger with a volley gun and that over the top musical statement every other scene this one ticks quite a few boxes. And Nicoletta Machiabloodyvelli as well. Great stuff.
Drawing no.22 today has brought me maybe my favourite late-cycle spag: The great-but-gloomy Keoma (Castellari, 1976), starring the always-fantastic Franco Nero as Cousin Itt from The Addams Family. It’s quite ironic that Nero is as hairy as he is in this one because, every time I hear the Keoma music, I begin tearing all my hair out. I’ll likely be as bald as a Crenshaw melon by bedtime tonight
And the second half of the double bill was this one which I hadn’t watched in any format for some years. It’s an enjoyable little trip with a light tone as you’d expect with Hilton and Carnimeo but a massive body count all the same. The picture quality of this one is not what I would call Bluray quality with the inserted “international” version bits decidedly ropey. But the film itself is still enjoyable and certainly better than the completely butchered VHS tape I originally saw it on.
Day 16 - In a Colt’s Shadow
Had to add this one in on an edit. I’ve watched so many, I’m losing count, but this was a really fun first time watching with great music . . .
Day 17 - Bury Them Deep
First time watching! This wasn’t so bad as some people suggest, though the inserted footage from other films was a bit ugly compared to what was actually shot, and the Chaleco theme by Nico Fidenco was very good. I give it a C.
Day 18 - Red Dead Revolver
I downloaded this one on the Xbox store and finally gave this extremely challenging game a replay over the last week in HD. It’s fair to say it will be many, many more years before I pick this up again. #JackSwiftLives
One of many rewatches. Day 3 of the Sartana Sequels Weekend has one of the most clever plot twists in the franchise. That it’s the only sequel without Tito Capri involved in the script is part of it, though some of Capri’s contributions to the other films were good.
Gianni Garko returns sporting a nice thick mustache as Sartana, and is again at his best with the character. His opening scene is iconic and made him one of my favorite characters after he threw that fold of money into the fire rather than take from a dead man. Garko even gets his shot at a romantic lead, trading kisses with the lovely Daniela Giordano, who herself is quite tough.
Luis Induni, a Spanish Italian character actor gets a good meaty role as the conflicted sheriff. George Wang is a blast as the Confucius quoting casino owner Tung, who also has a nice surprise near the end.
A well crafted series of red herrings and crazy antics make this Western with a Mystery thrown in is worthwhiley entertaining.
Arrow Video once again did. great with the Blu Ray.
Day 19: On the Third Day Arrived the Crow (1973) w/William Berger and Lincoln Tate. It should have been titled: ‘And After Three Days Arrived the Disappointment.’ I read viewers testimonials on this Gianni Crea dud making a lot of Bottom 20 lists in one of the discussion forums, so I realized I was in for some frustration. The movie wasn’t terrible, but it was the completely unlikeable main characters: Sally, Link, and Toronado that made it bad in my opinion. I thought the character Sally was okay for the most part. However, her brothers Link and Toronado turned out to be trashier than some of the townsfolk they look down their noses upon. Their humiliating treatment of Sally over her wetting the bed as a young girl and making her sleep on the floor wasn’t funny. It just left me wondering the mindset of the story writers that they decided that treating a female character like a doormat made good comedic material. Link’s (Tate) superiority complex, sarcastic comments, and generally smug attitude throughout the movie made me really want to punch him in the face. Then, the Crow was a let-down as far as villains go. Berger must have been behind on a couple of payments for his second yacht to agree to be in this. Rating: 1/5.
