Spagvemberfest Day 1: Payment in Blood (Castellari):
Entertaining little infiltration adventure with great soundtrack, lots of fisticuffs and decent storytelling. We’ve seen the story of the agent infiltrating a gang before, but here it’s a fine balance between action, suspense and some light-hearted moments. All in all, I enjoyed re-watching this and wished someone would release a proper restoration of it on BluRay.
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'Come on everybody,
clap your hands,
down a swig of red-eye, and load your six-shooters.’
'Come on, let’s fest again, like we did last Fall,
Yeah, let’s fest again, like we did last year…’
Not sure how many SW’s I’ll get to see in the next month, but tonight I’m going to watch 'They Call Me Trinity’…
Starting off the season with some Terence Hill and Bud Spencer lighthearted frolics seems appropriate after Halloween October’s blood and gore … 
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I don’t want know where to start this spagvemberfest. Anyone have a recommendation for 10 films? A theme or a direction for choosing films?
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My Film #1: Don’t Wait Django…Shoot! a First time watch 
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Non_aspettare_Django,_spara
once i get into the month more ill prob write some comments here and there.
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Here we go again:
- Baldi: Texas, adios
-Apparently I saw this last time during spagvember 2015. I had upgraded to bluray since and I checked that out. This has never been a big favorite and I don’t know if it was because I haven’t watched many sw’s recently but I found this film rather campy at times. Like Franco Nero unloading his revolver on a guy and then says to him “let’s go”. Or the great line of dialogue as his brother has just killed a man for the first time. “That was your first time? -You’ll get used to it”. 6/10
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No chance of watching 30.
But did start with my first today - Adios Gringo (1965) which will be watched in tranches.
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Grinders No. 1:
I have started with a pre-Leone Western.
TRES HOMBRES BUENOS
Tres hombres buenos - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
Starting very melodramtic this nice little movie turns to a straight revenge story.
There are lot of many well known actors/faces:
Fernando Sancho, Claudio Undari, Guiseppe Addobbati, Raf Baldassare and in the main roles Paul Piaget and Geofrrey Horne.
From the style for sure not yet a “real” Spaghetti Western, but we see the later famous location Hoyo de Manzanares in winter times with a lot of mud and snow outside the town.
After the credits where we see three characters riding through the snow without seeing their faces in close ups the movie is told via flashback. This comes clear at the end of the movie where the three leave town. Woluld have been perfect for a sequel anyway but that never happened.
There are some really cool scenes like two duels in the cellar and fun scenes with Sancho and Piaget as “dearest enemies”.
The German DVD/ BD unforunately is based on Italien cut master that is missing one minute material (threes scenes).
So, some friends and me included the cuts in DIY style from 35mm copy and VHS getting an uncut version with 86:54 (25 fps) Minutes cinema runtime.
Missing scenes are:
Geoffrey Horne beating on dead Aldo Sambrell (this scene is only in German 35mm copy)
Extended scene with gravedigger
Extended scenes in second duel in the cellar.
I have watched the cool German dub from 1964
English Trailer:
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Day 1. The Return of Ringo (Tessari, 1965)
Spagvember’s back! Easily my favorite time of the year, like I know it’s the case with many here. Instead of writing full reviews (which gets very tiring) I’ll just write down three highlights and one thing I didn’t like. Here goes;
1- the way close ups are used during emotional scenes instead of the typical Leone usage.
2- the little eye twitch Gemma does, suggesting some sort of war related trauma.
3- the valet who’s dressed like he’s serving royalty.
But the goofy side character who grows flowers became irritating after a while.
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Just watched a movie from the pre-Leone era - I tre spietati. Average, but worth watching. There are a few elements that herald the arrival of the spaghetti era. A good example would be the opening scene - quite brutal. The whole thing has quite an American atmosphere. I thought the rodeo scene will never end…
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First year I’m doing this event.
Day / Film #1: A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
Thoughts:
Watched the shorter US cut since that’s the version widely available. James Coburn and Bud Spencer with some disposable cardboard cutouts raid a fort Telly Savalas took over. I liked it. Very explosive climax.
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My first try at Spagvemberfest. Starting with this one.
Not certain which gave me the bigger chuckle - Palance’s curly hairdo, or Palance’s bare ass about halfway thru.
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My first watch for this Spaghvember is "Le specialiste" by Sergio Corbucci. This was a first time watch, and I went into it with somewhat low expectations. However, I REALLY liked this film, despite its obvious flaws. The somewhat standard story is told in a very unique way, the actors were very solid, the landscape (which is very unusual for a spaghetti) was gorgeous, and so on. This film kept me invested from start to finish. Of course, there are a few caveats. The story had a lot of loose ends and storylines that didn´t serve much of a purpose. And whatever were those hippies? It also had some wacky filming, which I suppose is a trademark of Corbucci. Still, the positives outweigh the negatives by A LOT, and the film, despite inferior to Corbucci´s four seminal movies, is much better than “Navajo Joe”.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film despite his flaws and hope it holds up on a rewatch. 8/10.
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Spagvember Fest 2023 Day 1
Long overdue first time complete watch
Da Uomo a Uomo
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Da_uomo_a_uomo
A definite **** 1/2 out of ***** for sure.
A little slow in one or two spots, but otherwise thoroughly entertaining, absorbing, and surprisingly compelling. Lee Van Cleef and John Philip Law made for a great duo, with Van Cleef giving us a good father figure type character - even if he has moral ambiguity, and Law as the youthful hot head who gains maturity as he hangs out with the old timer and realizes they have more in common than even they realized.
Wish John Philip Law had done more Westerns as he had the right look for it.
The Koch Media/Plaion Pictures Blu Ray is miles ahead of the Kino release.
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Day 1:
Just picked at random from a selection on a hard drive full of spaghetti … the title itself seemed to suggest a good way to proceed with the fun endurance test
Uno dopo l’altro (One After Another)
Seemed a little slow to begin … and Richard Harrison is as stiff as a board, however it picks up in the 2nd half and the lead actor relaxes into the role better.
No Masterpiece, but with a decent level of production and a strong supporting cast, this was fairly enjoyable. 6/10
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I saw the ads and got excited to be part of this!
I did I Want Him, Dead from the new Arrow Savage Guns set.
Clayton (Craig Hill) has been working for three years to earn money only to learn that money from the Confederacy is no longer worth anything. He comes back home and soon his sister Mercedes (Christina Businari) is assaulted and killed by two of Mallek’s (Andrea Bosic) thugs. Clayton can’t even go to the sheriff for help, because he killed that man’s brother in self-defense. Mallek also wants the Civil War to keep on warring, so he has a plan to kill off the generals who are in the middle of peace talks.
I haven’t seen many of Paolo Bianchini’s films before. He also made The Devil’s Man, Superargo and the Faceless Giants, God Made Them… I Kill Them, Gattling Gun and Hey Amigo! A Toast to Your Death. He’s still making movies. Il profumo delle Zagare was released in 2022.
The writer was Carlos Sarabia, who only wrote this movie, and everything looks great thanks to cinematographer Ricardo Andreu, who also filmed Beyond Terror, Assignment Terror, The Price of Power and Labios rojos.
I love that there’s someone on IMDB that points out that everyone uses Colt Single Action Army revolvers that didn’t come out until 13 years after this movie was set. There’s that and the fact that it’s set in a desert while the actual peace talks between Grant and Lee took place in Virginia.
But come on! We’re here for revenge, not a history class.
Thanks for having me!
I’m also posting these on my site: Spagvemberfest 2023 and Arrow Video Savage Guns box set: I Want Him Dead (1968) – B&S About Movies
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welcome to the fest… and the SWDb, amigo
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My plan is to rewatch my thirty favorite European Westerns during this SpagvemberFest. As a veteran of the 2016, 2018 and 2020 campaigns, I’m pretty sure about the outcome: I will fail.
30: Joe … cercati un posto per morire! (1968)
Parisian actress Pascale Petit is sufficient reason to like this Western. Her character, Lisa Martin, angrily accuses her husband, Paul, played by Piero Lulli, “For this we left our quiet home. Your position at the university wasn’t enough. The clever young geologist had to show off.” – “For this” means being shot by bandits in a gravel pit. Who would disagree with Lisa?
Today: Dove si spara di più, directed by Gianni Puccini.
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Welcome to the ‘SWDB’, amigo…
Spagvemberfest Day 2: Sabata (Parolini)
Better than I remembered it and certainly not yet as annoyingly slapsticky as its sequel that was more about funny tricks. The acting is stellar and so is the craftsmanship, the movie delivers on all fronts. I just find the story a bit confusing towards the end, but that’s fine. The Eureka BluRay is very good.
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