Regarding ‘Ploma sobre Dallas’ … did this have an English soundtrack ?
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No, it was subtitled…and not very well either at times as parts of words were cut off.
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No offence taken at all @aldo, I did spend the majority of my childhood sheltered, had lot to do with me being on the Autistic Spectrum. Actually, I was relieved to see what Mario Caiano was doing with the film once I got to the middle section. I really do need to do another viewing to get what Caiano was going for.
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I’m sure that you can rest easy regarding 99.9% of film content with scenes of racial injustice -
Many directors get accused of being this or that because they have tackled difficult subjects, and some people forget that it’s a story that’s being told to expose these horrible negative attitudes.
Most of the time the ‘bad guys’ get their comeuppance, at least in the movies! 
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Thanks for that, LG … only Spanish and Italian dubs available from my sources.
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Anche nel West c’era una volta Dio (1968) - Director: Marino Girolami - 4/10.
The literary source material perforce confers a degree of class and dignity to the motion picture and though Girolami’s execution evidently does not rise to the full potential of the tale, at the very least he does not muff the deal and handles the narrative in a moderately balanced fashion. The movie works best as a sort of old-school adventure in that it features both the treasure hunt as well as the laggard journey sporadically disrupted by shootouts and doublecrossings en route. The itinerary nature of the plot renders the narration somewhat different in that it does not pivot around some town getting overwhelmed by banditry as usual, but rather lays out the quest for the treasure trove in a pretty pleasing fashion.
The cast consisting of Roland, Camardiel and Baldassarre among others turns out decent enough, though with the exception of Roland, the performances do not stand out in any way, shape or form which is in line with the middling quality of Girolami’s execution as well as lackluster appearance of film’s locations. There is no denying that the movie fails to introduce much in the way of novelty into the equation, but the storyline flows just fine and the work is not too bad for a marathon of this sort; it might not score high in terms of its originality or quality of overall craftsmanship, but the material here is rendered in a predominantly acceptable manner and albeit bland, the flick does not veer off course and stays rather coherent throughout.
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Spagvemberfest Day 22 - FIlm 12: Gentleman Killer
Was kinda vibing with this one until it’s super dissapointing end. The main henchman gets killed by being pushed down a set of stairs and the main baddie is killed by soldiers rather than the hero? Massive letdown.
5/10
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Do you like this version better than Companeros?
I’m pretty sure that is Miss Redgrave’s actual voice … not the best ‘Stage Irish’ accent, but I’ve heard much worse
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Film #23: My Name is Nobody - Another one of my Top 10 faves - rewatch
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Mio_nome_è_Nessuno,_Il
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Day 22. Movie 16. Bad Man’s River.
Wanted to see a van Cleef picture I hadn’t seen before, settled for this. More of a light comedy than a usual western, with hints of con artists/capers involved. The twinkle in van Cleef’s eye, and that Godawful boller he sports throughout, along with some pretty solid action scenes, make this one enjoyable.
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- Marchent: Garringo
-Film with a promising start, first there’s a great transition from PLL’s childhood to adulthood. Well done and surprising shot. Steffen’s Garringo seems like sort of psychopath in the beginning as he is hunting PLL and killing his men which was interesting. Too bad that the rest of the film isn’t as fascinating. 6/10
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Some more rewatches…
18. A Place Called Glory Manitoba - The Spaghetti Western Database
Very middle of the road, not to say it is bad at all, rather nothing that stands out too much. Opinion has not really changed, other than to say I consider it to be reasonably more of a solid film than before, if slightly dull at times. The cast is very good, its just in the pacing department that I think it suffers. 3 out of 5.
19. In A Colt’s Shadow All'ombra di una colt - The Spaghetti Western Database
Starts off quite promisingly with its intro scene in which you meet an older gunslinger and his young partner, and Aldo Sambrell shows up briefly to harass a small village with his men. Sort of peters out from there, though, like with Glory, it is not at all bad just very middling with lulls in the middle in which you slowly lose interest. The final gun fight is quite well done. Very competent, if unremarkable. 3 out of 5.
20. 100,000 Dollars for Ringo Centomila dollari per Ringo - The Spaghetti Western Database
Wanted to like it more as I was giving it another go, but sadly it just is not that good of a film for me. It is really not very engaging, and the plot just seems to meander its way through to a not very satisfying conclusion. Kind of messy in all honesty, and it really can be a bore at times. Nothing too offending, but really not much to see here in the end. 2.5 out of 5.
And then a first time viewing here…
21. Go for Broke Tutto per tutto - The Spaghetti Western Database
Thought I had seen all that I cared to see in the genre after seeing well over 300 spags by now, but I am glad to have come across this one if only for Ireland and Damon who are stalwarts of the genre. Also Fernando Sancho among others. But it really is a bit of a mixed bag, and the plot does wander quite a bit with no real drive to keep you invested. It has a lot going for it, but I am left feeling as though it did not really deliver, its sloppy in places and gripping in others. Very uneven, but Mark Damon made it enjoyable for me and I am happy to have seen it. 3 out of 5.
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Day 23
Oggi a me… domani a te! - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
Back to the familiar with one of my favorites that is just fun from start to finish. A good old revenge film as Halsey and his who’s who of compatriots set out to avenge a laundry list of wrong doings, including the murder of Halsey’s wife, committed at the hands of Tatsuya Nakadi.
Nakadi is a stand out here as the psychotic El Fego. One could argue that his performance is borderline over the top but I think this is exactly what makes it so great. He knew exactly how far to push it.
The final confrontation in the woods is one of my favorite final battles in the genre and the ending always leaves a smile on my face.
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Tatsuya Nakadai is in a spaghetti western and im only just now finding this out? How has this gone under my radar until now!? Going straight on the watchlist!
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Chino (1973)
I guess picking Chino for a month of Italian Westerns is a cheat, even if this is an Italian/Spanish production.
Based on the book The Valdez Horses by Lee Hoffman, it was released in Italy as Valdez, il mezzosangue (Valdez the Half Breed). It was directed by John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Great Escape) and Duilio Coletti, who producer Dino Laurentiis hired to do inserts and reshoots. Sturges was unhappy with the film, feeling that casting Jill Ireland as the love interest was a mistake. That said, once Bronson and Ireland got together, she was often his on-screen lover.
Chino Valdez (Bronson) is a horse breeder who suddenly has Jamie Wagner (Vincent Van Patten) in his life, an orphan who needs raising as much as the horses of Maral (Marcel Bozzuffi) need broken in. He also falls for the rich man’s sister Catherine (Ireland), a forbidden relationship between an entitled white woman and a half-breed poor horsebreeder.
European film lovers will enjoy seeing Fausto Tozzi (Cry of a Prostitute), Corrado Gaipa (the Italian voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi), Melissa Chimenti (Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals), Diana Lorys (Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll) and Annamaria Clementi (Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals).
I was struck in this movie by the Spanish countryside, as well as the fact that despite being an expert on horses, Chino has no idea that Catherine would never leave her rich life to live with him in a shack with no money in the middle of nowhere. His idea of love — and even making love — are basic ones that he’s taken from being raised in a harsh world of taming animals and surviving on your own instead being taken care of. He can make love to her, but he can never truly provide for all the other things she truly needs. Jamie understands that, even if he’s barely a man.
At the end, after it all goes wrong, Chino realizes that if he can’t have the life he wants, no one can have his work. He releases his horses into the wild instead of letting anyone else take them. Even his enemy Maral recognizes and respects that.
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Spagvember Fest 2023 Day 22
Rewatch
La Morte Non Conta I Dollari
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Morte_non_conta_i_dollari,_La
Feeling like I’m starting to hit the wall this year, so I went with a fun guilty pleasure. Riccardo Freda does very well in his sole Western outing and while the film is rooted in the more traditional American style Western, it’s still loads of fun.
The plot twist mid film does seem a little abrupt, but I feel it works in the picture’s favor
Mark Damon does quite the job as the initial mysterious gunslinger whose identity will get more and more interesting as the film progresses. He gets to do a little of the Gemma style acrobatics and fighting as well, and honestly does it a little better than Gemma. Damon getting to a lot of smiling to show off his 32 near perfect pearl teeth was an interesting choice. The fight he has with Nello Pazzifini is well choreographed and was all them, no doubles. For some reason this viewing I found his spitting with the tobacco a little annoying and I don’t know why.
The Koch, now Plaion Pictures, DVD is pretty dang good looking, though the English dub is very subpar.
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Day 22: Seven Devils on Horseback (1972) D-Gianni Crea. Starring Dino Strano, Gordon Mitchell, Mario Brega, Gordon Mitchell, and Femi Benussi. Jeff (Strano) and his friend Toronado (Brega) take on the Cooper Gang (i.e. 7 Devils on Horseback) after members of the gang rob and murder his sister. I thought I would try another one of Crea’s movies. The title was catchy, but not something the movie lived up to. ‘Seven Devils’ had the same underlying theme as The Law of Violence which weighed the merits of rule of law vs rule by force. Gordon Mitchell plays Cooper. Strano’s Jeff and Brega’s Toronado have a Hill/Spencer-style duo in the movie. Rating: 1/5.
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Not at all … it has enough Italian blood to qualify - in fact there aren’t any hard rules about these semi-productions.
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Yes, definitely. But I like them both. Vamos a matar, compañeros is almost a remake of Il mercenario and therefore seems less original and inventive to me. And I prefer Tony Musante to Tomás Milián and Giovanna Ralli to Iris Berben.
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