I almost gave it a 2/5, which is “okay, not great but not terrible” in my rating scale. But, I was disappointed that the lead was played by some guy I never heard of prior to the movie, or had seen since then.
3 Likes
- Malasomma: Fifteen Scaffolds for a Killer
-I watched this last time during 2015 fest. Didn’t like it much then and this time didn’t change my mind. Wild East’s dvd has such a bad audio that is hard to follow the dialogue at times. 5/10
7 Likes
Believe it or not, he actually had a pretty meaty role in Anthony Mann’s classic western The Man From Laramie with Jimmy Stewart…at least, for me, that is something he did that really sticks in my head.
2 Likes
No worries, Ginger … it’s a fairly bland little movie and Alex Nicol has almost no X factor - the only reason I have some affection for it was that I did a redub of it some years ago, which take time and so, one tends to see more positives in a film when re-running scenes over to get good audio sync.
Hell … I don’t mind if you give it a zero 
2 Likes
Wild East made a real mess of this one … the picture is so dark also! Better to check out the youtube version which has fab PQ, but the audio is probably the same source.
‘15 Scaffolds’, was a hidden gem for me - and would be near top of my ‘Please restore this’ to Blu ray list.
4 Likes
Il magnifico texano (1967) - Director: Luigi Capuano - 4/10.
I do not believe it is entirely fair to fulminate against these Capuano’s works: they are not badly made and possess their own distinct charm if you are willing to look for it. With that being said, these flicks feel more like soap operas rather than veritable oaters in that most scenes take place indoors, the interiors are lavished with fancy furniture and candelabra, most characters are draped in swanky garments and utter long-winded sentences in a judgemental tone, there is little gunplay and all of the components appear to come from a different genre insofar as it seems justified to not lump this film in with the rest of the field and to simply appreciate the narration on its own merits.
In that sense, prescinding from genre’s standards, it does work quite well. If it qualifies as a spaghetti western, then it must be the cleanest and most moralistic one of them all which I suppose would not be so wearisome if Capuano’s execution had not been so ossified and utterly conventional on all fronts. The inclusion of the exceedingly corny romantic subplot compounds the antediluvian, gradiloquent character of the production and De Masi’s habitually old-fashioned soundtrack does not disabuse the viewer of that impression at all; the movie feels as though it had been made at the very least five years before 1967, so if it is novelty you are looking for, search elsewhere, though it is not that awful by any stretch of the imagination.
8 Likes
Day 25
Film 20 - For a Few Dollars More (1965)
10/10
The Tim Lucas commentary on the Kino release was so good that I listened to it back-to-back after my rewatch of this classic, though at first I just thought to sample it. I’m sure everybody doing this marathon has seen this one a couple of times. I still laugh out loud a couple times and feel something when I watch this–for probably the 20th time or so.
I’m a very big fan of these “master and apprentice” flavored westerns. My next favorite is “Day of Anger” followed by the less-known “Pistoleros”; but I also enjoyed “Death Rides a Horse” and the semi-comedic “They Call Him Cemetery.”
Does anyone have any other recommendations in this precise mentor/student genre?
10 Likes
Grinders no. 25:
UN DOLLARO BUCATO
Dollaro bucato, Un - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
Ok, this time I did some trick by combining “hobby” and “job”.
In January 2024 we are going to show Giuliano Gemma Double Feature in cinema with UN DOLLARO BUCATO and SELLA D`ARGENTO.
From UN DOLLARO BUCATO we have two 35mm copies both not in best condition… many splices. So I decided to check and cut getting a complete version without missing images and drop outs. It took me some weeks and finally yesterday I was ready to check final version. Luckily it was worth the effort. Real nice for a 1965 copy! Look forward to cinema presentation now 
I really like all them Giuliano Gemma SW and this one from my point of view may satisfy both fans of US and Spaghetti Westerns. Only Ida Galli is a bit underchallenged in her role.
Not a genre highlight but a solid one.
11 Likes
“Django, the last Killer” springs to mind, if you’re okay with much lower budgets.
7 Likes
Interesting about Nicol! I was not aware. Thanks, LG 
1 Like
Lol. That makes sense. Thanks, Aldo
1 Like
Day 25. Movie 18. They Call Me Hallelujah.
Starts fast and doesn’t let up very much, it’s more slapstick than anything else. And a lot of fun. And I didn’t expect a pretty decent Cossack dance in the middle of it!
11 Likes
I definitely don’t mind–and I don’t believe I’ve seen that one yet, so I’ll check it out, thanks!
1 Like
Day 26
Testa o croce - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
I was in the mood for a bit of a harsh spaghetti today so I pulled out the uncut Wild East release of this one which means that it includes the semi-infamous Edwige Fenech scene (as in she is being whipped topless in the street as one of the town’s pious women watches from a window, seemingly finding some sexual gratification in what she sees).
Our heroine, Spela Rozin, is accused of a murder she didn’t commit so, to keep her from being lynched, the sheriff sends her with two deputies to a nearby town but the deputies instead decide to rape her and leave her for dead in the desert. She is found by the notorious outlaw Black Talisman (John Ericson) who nurses her back to health and then sets out seeking revenge.
This one is probably one of the more sordid films in the genre and could border on the distasteful for some. I personally think it is a well done revenge tale that serves up a heaping helping of sleaze. Despite the savagery in this one though, director Piero Pierotti creates some really striking and beautiful scenes that stick with you long after the movie has ended.
Like it or hate it, the move is a unique entry in the genre to be sure.
12 Likes
Day 25: I am Sartana, Your Angel of Death and They Call Me Trinity (both rewatches)
Thoughts:
Missed a day again, another double bill.
I am Sartana definitely has moved up in my rankings. I always really liked all of the films in the series but I was never really confident with my ratings early on. As I revisit the series (I rewatched the first one back in October) I plan to see if that love still applies to all of them. As for Trinity, I’ve always liked it well enough, but what prevents me from loving it is that two hour runtime. Like, haha, I get the joke Barboni is trying to make but it’s a joke too much when the jokes about the spaghetti western as a genre includes the runtime. Stretches the humor too thin.
7 Likes
Four Bullets for Joe (1964)
Directed by Agustín Navarro and written by Fernando Galiana, Mario Guerra, Julio Porter and Vittorio Vighi, this Italian/Spanish Western comes from just before the genre took off in those countries.
Frank Dalton (Paul Piaget) is out to get vengeance for his dead sister, a woman wrongfully accused of killing her husband. It’s a relatively American Western by way of a murder mystery and is very unlike the Eurowesterns that would come after. There’s also a sheriff (Fernando Casanova) trying to solve who the murderer is and trying to keep Frank out of harm’s way.
Notable cast members include Barbara Nelli (Lady Morgan’s Vengeance, Bloody Pit of Horror) and Rafael Bardem, the grandfather of Javier. I wish this were a better movie, but there are certainly others to check out. Then again, the appearance of a black-gloved killer in the middle of a Western is always something I am going to watch. There should be more giallo Westerns! I looked up a list on the Spaghetti Western Database and see the following listed that I need to watch:
Killer Caliber .32
Killer, Adios
Ringo, It’s Massacre Time
The Last Traitor
The Masked Thief
The Price of Death
Kill the Poker Player
Revenge of the Resurrected
The Crimson Night of the Hawk
6 Likes
Skip this one unless you specifically want to venture into the Crea/Batzella/Lattanzi land.
1 Like
Storia di karatè, pugni e fagioli (1973) - Director: Tonino Ricci - 3/10.
The film constitutes basically what you would expect to get from this sort of entertainment, there is however one upside which is the pairing of Dean Reed and Chris Huerta: Reed turns in a pretty solid performance, though what is more surprising and somewhat shocking is Huerta’s unexpectedly good showing who instead of hamming it up as usual beyond the absolute limits of decency and good taste, just seems mean, agitated and cantankerous, but in a pertinently amusing fashion without any surplus histrionics. Notwithstanding, the said factor is largely obfuscated by the remarkably chaotic script which totally lacks any kind of focus and basically careens from one lousy scene to another in order to culminate in, yes, you guessed it, a gigantic bar brawl, which I took the liberty of fast-forwarding so as to alleviate the pain.
What is astonishing is the thoroughgoing superfluity of the kung fu theme in that it appears absolutely unwarranted and rarely even comes to the fore. Whenever it resurfaces, it only serves as a pretext to showcase some awful kung fu fighting sequences or to make use of some racial stereotypes relating to the Chinese, predominantly treating of eating dog meat, rice and fish, all that stuff. The worst thing is not even that it condescends to this level of crassness, picking the lowest-hanging fruit in the laziest possible fashion, but rather that at the end of the day, it simply is not funny at all and comes to grate on one’s nerves, especially what with the vexing English dub. This could have been legitimately good had it been outfitted with a superior storyline, forgoing the redundant kung fu shtick, but it is evidently anything but. Perhaps not quite as bad as its reputation, but close enough.
8 Likes
Day 26:
¿Quién grita venganza ? (Who Cries for Vengeance?)
aka, ‘Dead Men Don’t Count’ (1968)
Thought I’d seen this before … but was confusing it with the similarly titled ‘The Dead are Countless’, also with Anthony Steffen and same director, Rafael Romero Marchent … so, it was a first time watch for me, the only one this Spagvember.
The film started off promisingly, as two low rent bounty hunters get in trouble with a small town sheriff when they try to con him into giving up a lucrative reward for a gang of bandits valued at $15,000 … The sheriff, Piero Lulli realizes their scam and puts them in jail … this leads to a series of coincidences and a revelation about the sheriff and the town’s first citizen, Luis Induni.
Wanted to like the movie more, but it’s routine at best and the story meanders as if they were making it up as they went along. Not awful, just so-so.
5.5/10
12 Likes
7: Il grande silenzio (1968), directed by Sergio Corbucci
Phew, I’m running out of stamina … Corbucci’s seventh Western was released on November 19, 1968, a month before Il mercenario and C’era una volta il West. The film’s snowy landscapes were shot in the Dolomites, around Cortina d’Ampezzo and Sankt Kassian / San Cassiano. As I was born and grew up not far away, in Innsbruck, some ninety miles to the north, I always associate the movie with skiing. For example, when Kinski rides through the snow-covered mountain slopes, I immediately expect someone wedeling into the frame and yelling at him, “Hey, man, no horses allowed on the slope!” Perplexed, Tigrero draws his pistol and … In the opening-credits sequence, you can actually see two skiers in the background.
The great Jean-Louis Trintignant, who died last year at the age of ninety-one, managed to portray the mute gunslinger in Corbucci’s Western just as convincingly as the (petit) bourgeois, uptight characters he so often played, for instance in Claude Chabrol’s Les Biches (1968), Costa-Gavras’s Z (1969), Éric Rohmer’s Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) and Bernardo Bertolucci’s Il conformista (1970). A great accomplishment, contributing significantly to the film’s appeal.
Next: ¿Quién sabe? (1966), directed by Damiano Damiani.
12 Likes