I suppose comedy music doesn’t work for you in any place then? It certainly doesn’t work in dramas? I have to admit I have a soft spot for silly music… 
In my opinion Ennio displayed some good humourous ideas in many of his works (very much in contrast to his interviews), but I tend to like them better when they are more subtle than this film’s main theme. 
I suppose I should have said in a film that is attempting to be funny but isn’t … I do have time for silly music, in fact, a lot of Morricone’s ‘straight stuff’ is pretty funny.
Anyway, semantics ! .
Film #24 - Kill or be Killed - First viewing - 
out of 5 - this one just didnt do it for me
Grinders no. 24:
JOE … CERCATI UN POSTO PER MORIRE!
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Joe…_cercati_un_posto_per_morire!
This has always been a favourite of mine from the second/third row.
I like GARDEN OF EVIL and so I also like this so to say Italian version of it.
Would not speak about a remake or a rip off, only the basic of story is more or less the same.
Actors, score, camera, story all is on a fine level. Directing seems a little bit more Fregonese than Carnimeo to me but who knows for sure.
Only thing I dislike is that Pascale Petit rides alone the way back (two days) to the small hole, arriving looking fresh without any sign of the hard ride. But then the way back with Joe and the gang is laborious and full of danger.
But anyway…still a nice little SW to me. And a very melancholic.
This time I have watched HD version from French TV with added German dub. Great quality but they forgot to put the filters on some scenes like the “famous” resting sequence when Pascale Petit is taking her bath in the river. This sould happen near dark but in this version it was on sunny day 
Wonder if it is correct on Arrow BD?
When we started Spaghetti Western 35mm retrospective in cinema in 2016 this was one of the choices for the very first double feature. It seems there is only one copy still existing in Germany.
Red colours but still a pleasure to watch.
Totally!
Kid il monello del west (1973) - Director: Tonino Ricci - 2/10.
Well, I did finish it in the end, though I cannot say I am proud much of this dubious feat. The biggest issue with the flick undoubtedly consists in the fact that with the exception of some subplot about a loan shark dispossessing indigent farmers and the principal plotline pertaining to the kids robbing the bank, there is no palpable narration to anchor the jejune bafoonery. There are raspberry shootouts, fart jokes, brats flinging manure and serving piss disguised as beer to their adversaries, you know, real classy stuff. All of the aforementioned is exacerbated by the abominably long duration which renders the film-viewing experience all the more execrable and excruciating. The movie feels overlong and protracted even when watching it at 1.5x speed which is actually an accomplishment when you really think about it.
At the end of the day, the worst aspect of the turkey is that the underage actors are required to act in the funny, cute way which basically amounts to the irritating kid syndrome multiplied by however many children this movie has. There is basically no reason to see this unless you find the first five minutes or so engaging, as the rest of the film basically peddles the same scene over and over again with very little variation in the way it is all presented. If you really want to see a kiddie spaghetti western for some obscure reason, viewing L’ostaggio would be a wiser choice in spite of its conspicuously lower budget inasmuch as the kids there do not go out of their way to be funny, simply acting out their roles in a straightforward manner; its story feels a tad more substantive and it is shorter too. As for Kid il monello del west, I find it to be virtually unwatchable. It goes straight into my bottom 20, the only reason why I am not giving it a 1 star rating is because it is framed in a competent fashion and the storyline, albeit fundamentally flimsy, is carried out in a passable manner.
… but you should be proud - Bravo!
There should be one of those forum badges for people who have managed to sit through the whole thing
Day 24: Challenge of McKenna (a.k.a. A Dollar and a Grave/Amen) D-Leon Klimovsky. Starring John Ireland, Robert Woods, Roberto Camardiel, and Annabella Incontrera. Ireland plays McKenna/Jones, a former priest with a secret in his past, and now a drifter. He decides to bury a young man who is hanged for becoming romantically involved with the daughter of Don Diego (Camardiel). After burying the man, he brings the daughter Barbara back to the landowner’s house. McKenna/Jones tries to offer his services and work for Don Diego, but quickly has a falling out. Don Diego soon had his murderous son Chris (Woods) make McKenna/Jones’s life in Laredo a struggle for survival. Fortunately, the protagonist wins over the favor and heart of a local saloon owner, Maggie (Incontrera) with his abilities as a bouncer.
I was left with mixed emotions about ‘McKenna’ when I finished it. Though I enjoyed the movie it seemed like something was missing from it.
Also, I’m not usually one to get hung up on costumes of actors in SW’s. But, the choice to have Robert Woods where a lime-green mariachi outift at the beginning of the movie made him look more like a leprechaun than a Mexican aristocrat.
As a whole, the movie is an interesting departure from the usual genre entry. It gives a pretty raw portrait of very dysfunctional family. Rating: 3.5/5.
That’s a 6ft 5 'Leprechaun … well it was 1970, and it probably seemed like a good idea at the time
Spagvemberfest 2023
Number 19
Acquasanta Joe (Gariazzo / 1971)
Well that’s all the C’e la Vie ones done and actually although really nothing to write home about Acquasanta Joe wasn’t as bad as I remembered. Maybe all those Carambola and Tresette films have softened my judgement. Anyway, a mostly light-hearted without being all out comedy sort of affair with sinanegans and double crosses aplenty. My real problem is I can’t watch Ty Hardin anymore without expecting to see him in some godawful disguise and producing a wind up drumming toy from under his cape.
Spagvemberfest 2023
Number 20
The Forgotten Pistolero (Baldi / 1969)
My second Leonard Mann of the day and an old favourite. When I first saw it many years ago I liked it but wasn’t blown away. Repeated viewings over the years have increased it in my estimation. It is Greek tragedy played out in the west so more melodrama that action fest but there is enough gunplay to keep us happy and the drama and story reveal builds nicely. It’s a treat and one I’d recommend to non Spag fans too.
You know you are in for a banger when you come across Spaghetti Westerns with a mouthful, whole sentence titles, and this is no exception either.
In his absence Cjamango McDonald ranch was ambushed by six strangers who murdered McDonald brother and sister in cold blood. Upon finding out Cjamango takes justice into his own hands as he becomes a living ghost, a shapeless being who slides into the frame to take away lives only to disappear later. Director Vincenzo Musolino has imbued the film with grittiness and style which he ripped straight out of Sergio Leone playbook. Silence and close-ups used to full effects and very tense, this indeed is a good imitation if it was. And he seems to have fondness for spontaneity. Camera always lingers over places, introducing us to strings of supporting cast who we all know would fall short to Cjamango after.
Soon, the plot thickens, personal revenge double-crossed and things escalated. Action scenes are kinetic and Musolino has kept the whole picture in motion, free-flowing form throughout. George Ardisson in leading role is quite a stellar. He has enough look and chops for strong, silent protagonist type and he pulled it off well. Probably one of the more expressive leading men I’ve came across. This as a whole is a good example of how even the most basic, straightforward revenge plot can be exploited or taken to higher notch in a competent pair of hands and Musolino was not only that he was bold enough with some choices. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Lol. Good point, Aldo 
Day 24
Film 16 - Red Blood, Yellow Gold (1967)
5/10
The first hour dragged for me. I just wasn’t very interested in any of the 3 main characters and their quest for stolen gold. It was sort of like “The Five Man Army” meets “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” with three somewhat differently skilled gunmen chasing after gold in the Civil War. But since I didn’t find much to like about any of the protagonists (just a few silly thieves jobbing as confederate soldiers), the most interesting stuff was at the end. The trio comes to a town run by an ancient, crone-like matriarch. That little village features some bizarre stuff, including a game of “whack-a-mole” but instead it is a nearly toothless peon ducking his head instead a giant clay pot as different bandits shoot at him (of course, this is a sort of matriarch, so it is his wife who put him up to it). He dies when the head outlaw cheats and shots his head inside the pot, but the way the old victim laughs, I’d say it was the most fun he was likely to have in that town.
Film 17 - The Big Gundown (1966)
10/10
Film 18 - A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
10/10
I’ll just say a word about these classics. The Big Gundown has rightfully gotten some acknowledgement as really well made film. I think I actually prefer the 95 minute English language cut best. Going for 111 Italian cut, I prefer watching it all in Italian rather than a hybrid language–the hybrid just sort of doesn’t flow, and how annoying is it that power-that-be decided to cut a single word out at times? Lee Van Cleef deserves his own voice though, so that’s why the extended English cut reigns for me.
A Fistful of Dollars sometimes gets brushed aside in books and reviews as derivative, a western a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo”. Well, in my humble opinion it is not only much more than that, but a wildly superior film. It might be controversial, but I found Kurosawa’s film extremely boring. I know tastes will vary, and often I really like classic films, cult films, foreign films. . . but that one did not resonate.
Dollars does resonate. And I seriously give about 30% of the credit to Morricone. The way he varies a tune, or picks the right tempo for a scene, sets him so apart from literally any other composer I can think of that comes prior. He’s the best, and he proves it here.
Film 19 - Son of a Gunfighter (1965)
6/10
A competently made film that feels way more like an American B western than a spaghetti. Pretty much no influence of the two Dollars films can be felt here and I was shocked to see it wasn’t made in 1963/64. It has some okay action, but it tries to sort of have a mystery even though the title gives it away, and pretty weak romance subplot.
Amen to that ! … I completely agree.
John il bastardo (first watch)
The version I watched was a Spanish TV rip. Quite often parts of the screen completely drowned in black shadows which was not ideal. Nonetheless, I thought the film had a great look and atmosphere (someone release a Blu-ray please). Locations and costumes were really cool for the most part.
Crispino apparently had a knack for despicable main characters. John Bastardo Richardson is as much an asshole as Alex Cord in Crispino’s The Etruscan Kills Again. Granted, some unfortunate circumstances lead to John, the bastard, turning into such an idiot, but he relishes his meanness in such a way you can’t really feel with him or for him.
It’s actually a bit mysterious just why every woman is instantly attracted, every opponent quite easily fooled, and why his sidekick keeps coming back to this abusive relationship. John is just a master manipulator as we say nowadays. This routine does get a bit repetitive at times but the cast, the above mentioned atmosphere, and the lingering air of tragedy helped it reach a genuinely enjoyable level which is quite a rare thing for a first watch after you’ve reached a certain threshold.
For the womanising scenes Fidenco came up with a melody heavily influenced by ye olde polka classic “In Heaven there is no Beer”. The rest of the soundtrack was a better fit to the proceedings, imo.
Gordon Mitchell (large hat!) and the Mormon subplot seemed a bit tacked on, but they get to play a larger role again towards the end.
The previous week having been a quite busy one temporarily prevented me from documenting my participation here. So, i will post a few quick ones to catch up, beginning with 1 gun for 100 graves. (Umberto Enzi, 1968).
Not much to say, really. It’s a fairly standard revenge plot without any real spirit. The three lead actors aren’t bad, but the whole film progresses so fast (often with really poor editing) that i failed to get any real investment in what was happening.
The lead actors performances and the music as well as some glimpses of inspired (though often derivate) direction saves it from clear-cut turkey status (although the whole asylum-prison thing was really bad) but this was a poor film for me. In a good mood, i could bring myself to give it 4/10 at most.
Day 25
The finish line is in sight!
This one arrived last week, so what better time for a re-watch? No matter what one thinks of the movie as a whole, it does deserve respect for attempting to step outside the box of the run of the mill.
George Hilton is a Confederate soldier who goes AWOL to marry the woman that is pregnant with his baby so that she will not be disgraced. He doesn’t make it in time and she dies in child birth so his would be father-in-law Ernest Borgnine, overcome with shame and grief, gives the child to Hilton and sends him away. The baby eventually dies as, due to a Cholera outbreak, no one will give Hilton any assistance. The grieving father blames everyone, and mostly with good reason, and becomes an outlaw intent on revenge.
I am frankly a fan of this one as it is a Shakespearian sort of tragedy and I particularly appreciate the ending. This is one of my favorite performances by Hilton and I’ve always been a fan of Borgnine. Alberto de Mendoza is as reliable as usual.
For those curious about the new Blu-ray release, don’t expect Arrow level quality here. While it is certainly a big step up from the two prior DVD releases I have seen, I was hoping it would be a bit better. Maybe I was expecting too much. I haven’t explored the extras yet but I will most likely go back and watch the Spanish language release at some point. There is also commentary by Alex Cox so I am looking forward to seeing what he says to piss me off.
