Spagvemberfest 2023 - or the crows will drink our beers

[GuyDana]

Watched Black Jack on Colosseo Film Blu-ray.

It’s just marvelous. It’s a story about consequences. Robert Woods is Jack Murphy. Jack is the victim of his own wrongdoing. I believe he gets to know that by the end of this film. He becomes someone else when he desperately seeks vengeance. I can clearly see his contempt towards those that betray him. I can also see his pain when he laughs out loud. Unfortunately, there is no Batman in this movie. That ending is fascinating. I like the scene in the desert in particular. The sense of dread is overwelming. The performance by Robert Woods is convincing. The rest of the cast is fantastic as well.

[QuickDraw (Lewis)]

29. Awkward Hands / Manos Torpes Manos torpes - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

I’m really glad I chose to revisit this one, I had enjoyed it at a middling level before and written it off as nothing special for whatever reason, though now it has really shot up in my estimation. What I must have overlooked about it before really stood out as great to me this time. It has a strong and steady build up with engaging characters and hits its peak with training montages and a revenge plot. There really is everything you’d want from a spaghetti in there, and I now rate it as one of Peter Lee Lawrence’s best. It is in dire need of a loving restoration in my book. 4 out of 5.

[Gingerbread80 (Ginger)]

Days 27 and 28:

Day 27: Kitosch: The Man Who Came From the North (1966) D-Jose Luis Merino. Starring George Hilton, Piero Lulli, Krista Nell, Gustavo Rojo, and Ricardo Palacios. This Canadian Mountie movie with George Hilton first introduces the irrepressible, womanizing adventurer to SW canon. Kitosch is a retired Mountie-turned-scout who is being chased by a Mohawk chief on horseback to a military fort. I was impressed by some of the close-up POV shots of both men’s faces while riding. Kitosch is being pursured by the chief after he is caught sleeping with his daughter. After gaining safety in the fort, Kitosch poses as the not-yet-arrived Major Baker (played by Piero Lulli) so he can get out of the fort without being arrested by the Mounties for some petty crime he previously committed. Lulli, who knows Kitosch and his creds, goes along with the ruse by acting like he’s a civilian. Scherpschutter wrote an excellent review of ‘Kitosch’ in the SWDB. This is one of those movies that can cause you to get lost in the plot if you’re not paying close attention.

The real Major Baker has been assigned to ship a large stache of gold across territory threatened by a renegade Indian leader and his army. In order to safely get the gold to another military fort. It’s been hidden in several caskets. A group of showgirls have been hired to play the role of mourning widows. How ‘Hell-Benderesque’!

The plot thickens when the fort where the entourage are transporting the gold has been sacked, and all the military and civilian occupants have been massacred. The identity of the Renegade is a mystery until the end.

‘Kitosch’ was an enjoyable movie despite its sometimes convoluted plot. I came to appreciate George Hilton more as an actor in both this movie and the sequel, Last of the Badmen.

Rating: 3/5

Day 28: One Damned Day at Dawn…Django Meets Sartana (1970) D-Demofilo Fidani. Starring Hunt Powers, Fabio Testi, Dino Strano, and Dennis Colt. I think I might have caught the Demofilo Virus this year as far as list picks. I’ve been finding them more aesthetically pleasing more than anything else. I decided to pick ‘Damned Day’ since I’m a sucker for catchy titles.

Also, I never finished this movie the first time since watching Fabio Testi (as the new sheriff of Black City) getting humiliated at the saloon by Dean Stratford (as outlaw gang leader, Bud Wheeler) was too much for me to take at that time.

Not having finished the movie has left me curious whether Fabio will redeem himself. Both in my eyes and those of his fans.

I’ll be leaving my rating for the movie with my submission for Day 29. I’m halfway through the movie and I have to go to work shortly.

[bandsaboutmovies (Sam Panico)]

Sons of Trinity (1995)

Directed by Enzo Barboni, who wrote the movie with Marco Tullio Barboni, Sons of Trinity (AKA Trinity & Babyface and Trinity & Bambino: The Legend Lives On) finds the sons of, well, Trinity and Bambino being Trinity (Heath Kizzier) and Bambino (Keith Neubert).

Just like their fathers, Trinity loves women and getting in trouble as he works as a bounty hunter while Bambino is a sheriff who doesn’t want bothered by his cousin. They end up having to stop a wealthy landowner by the name of Parker (Siegfried Rauch) and the Ramirez Brothers from evicting the people of San Clementina. As always, there’s a beautiful woman — Bonita (Yvonne de Bark) — to get Trinity to do the right thing.

This is decent but Terence Hill and Bud Spencer are superior in every way to the young cast. It did make me smile, as the fight scenes remind me of their films, but it just feels like something is missing. But hey — Jack Taylor shows up, as do Riccardo Pizzuti (the creature from Lady Frankenstein), Renatoi Scarpa (Prof. Verdegast from Suspiria) and José Lifante (Dr. Death from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen).

I realize it’s unfair for me to think this would be anything or anywhere as fun as the films that inspired it, but I think the potential was there. A cameo from Hill and Spencer would have at least brought a smile and some sense of passing the mantle so to speak.

[aldo]

Day 29:

‘I quattro dell’Ave Maria’

(The Hail Mary Four … or, 4 of the Hail Mary)

aka, ‘ACE HIGH’ (1968)

I have mixed feelings about this movie - first off, I think it is one of the best looking classic Spaghettis …
the opening scene, shot in blistering Almeria sunshine in the mecca of locations, the ‘El Paso’ town, created by Carlo Simi,has rarely looked better, as in, unique to the surreal world of this genre.

It’s got all the organic primary colours harmonising to perfection with just a ton or two of dust in the air … and the weary theme tune captures the mood and exhaustion of our two saddle-sore heroes.

All the aesthetics are just so … but then what follows is a rather confusing series of dialogue heavy expositions … about, ‘Bill San Antonio’ and events from the previous film, which had me drifting off as the ‘blah, blah, blah’ dragged on … I’ve seen the film many times and the prequel and sequel, plus a huge fan of the genre, and yet I found it tedious.

I won’t go into the plot, except to mention Eli Wallach’s character, who steals Bud Spencer and Terence Hill’s fortune, and then begins to distribute it to worthy causes that he’s encounters on his travels … Bud and Terence catch up with him demanding their money and he manages to con and evade them so many times, it becomes ridiculous, unbelievable and frankly boring.

Eli’s character is portrayed as a lovable rogue, a la ‘Tuco’, … except, he isn’t fun and charming, he’s an irritating little prick, who the other two leads would have dealt with harshly and been on their way.

The film does have some good stuff in it, but despite fans worrying about the Paramount release being shorter than the Italian version, I feel what we have here is a beautiful looking movie which drags and sags way too often.

Even with it’s shortcomings and because it looks gorgeous … 7.5/10

[Mickey13]

Kung Fu nel pazzo west (1973) - Director: Ban-Yee Yeo - 1/10.

The movie basically constitutes poor man’s Shanghai Joe, except that it substitutes gore with slapstick and resolutely plunges into pure parody and unabashed absurdity with some superficial references to the Watergate scandal and the assassination of JFK. Out of all spaghetti western productions, it probably incorporates the most abrasive, incohesive soundtrack which recycles themes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, Dr. No (yes, the Bond flick), apart from some other material including circus music, Hammond organ riffs and something which sounds an awful lot like Tirol accordion noodlings. At one point before bandits ride into town, there is a scene in which the sound of hundreds of raspberries (or evacuations) is layered on top of the hubbub of multiple toilets being flushed all at once.

As if that were not enough, there is very little continuity in the way most sequences are spliced together, the framing and composition exhibit so much shoddiness and choppiness that it is often tough for the viewer to piece the action together on the basis of provided shots which is not remedied in the slightest by the ferociously vertiginous camerawork. If self-inflicted torture is your idea of having a good time, this might be right up your alley. Possibly one of the most ramshackle trainwrecks this genre ever saw, the filmmaking here is of such contemptible quality the words inevitably fail to reflect the thoroughgoing decrepitude of the execution the likes of which may be seen only in a handful of other projects helmed by genre’s worst directors such as Crea or Lattanzi. In other words, it has to be seen to be believed, though familiarizing oneself with the content of this so-called production is highly inadvisable.

I bandoleros della dodicesima ora (1972) - Director: Alfonso Balcázar - 2/10.

There are several issues blighting the motion picture: firstly, even though the flick is supposed to be yet another Trinity clone, our central duo neither resembles Hill and Spencer in appearance nor in terms of charm and overall charisma; as much as I abhor the Carambola movies, at the very least those flicks got the basics right and did not stray away from the originals too much, the same cannot be argued about this outing. Secondly, most of the jokes simply turn out nugatory, hackneyed and tiresome: neither is there much vim in the way the humor is prefigured and eventually delivered, nor is the said humor particularly inventive or dignified in the first place. Thirdly, the storyline, albeit initially digestible, essentially grinds to a halt in the middle section and then proceeds to flounder towards the climax in a remarkably laggard, cumbersome fashion.

In a certain sense, the composition feels like a compilation of tropes extracted from various subgenre examples and then slapped together in an otiose attempt to cash in on the contemporary comedy hysteria. The story totally runs out of steam and ideas in the second half and in what appears to be a display of scripting helplessness, avails itself of the climax involving razing the entire town to the ground with the use of explosives. None of the aforementioned factors is remedied by Balcazar’s flaccid direction which impassively drifts from one scene to another, framing the action in an utterly nondescript manner. The flick might not be so absolutely loathsome on the face of it, notwithstanding, the want of novel ideas, the languishing narrative in the middle, the sluggish pacing as well as the featureless execution render the film-viewing experience immensely soporific and listless.

[Admin (Sebastian)]

Spagvemberfest late entry:
The Specialists (Corbucci)
I was due for a rewatch of this one (thanks to the Eureka BluRay in excellent quality, and for those who need to know, I opted to watch it in Italian - btw do the townfolk have a German or French accent?), after reading some praise in this thread especially. I was never a big fan of this but my memories were also rather hazy so how did it stack up upon rewatch? I have to say: I still don’t like it much, but the craftsmanship is solid, and so is the cast, bar Halliday, I get his star quality in France back then but he makes a bad western figure I think. The script is okay but the music I find mostly bad and unless you’re a lot into Halliday the movie lacks a charismatic lead. At times it also feels insufficiently balanced between gloom and lighter moments (Moschin does a great job though but maybe he would’ve been better placed in a comedy western) and some scenes just feel tedious or misplaced. I am a bit torn about the Alpine settings. Pretty and unique on the one hand, but mostly mismatched with scenes that have production design. El Diablo speaks a mix of Italian and Spanish (or whatever Italians think Spanish is, haha). And what’s up with these kids? Weird. So yeah, after all these years, still don’t quite know what to make of it.

[cuchillosancheez (Roland)]

Film 13: Alive or pereferably dead (Vivi o preferibilmente morti)

I tampered my expectations heavily for this one, which made me tolerate it, and quite well, actually. Yes, it´s a comedy with outrageous things happening, and while it is not among Gemma or Tessari´s best films, they still do good enough jobs. Sometimes I even laughed.
If you tamper you expectations heavily like I did, you might enjoy it. I give it a 6/10 from this first viewing.

[Wai_Yan_Aung]

6. Cemetery Without Crosses (1969)

For the last entry of the fest I decided to revisit Robert Hossein masterpiece. Nothing much to say really. This is an all-timer. Part revenge tragedy, part mood poem about some of the loneliest people in Western and never ending circular nature of violence. The whole picture is masterfully crafted and told. Nothing more satisfying than seeing genre work that stepped outside of noms and aimed higher, then totally delivering so in a process. Watched in original Italian dubs this time. Totally forgot about monochromatic sequence at the very end.

[Gingerbread80 (Ginger)]

Day 29: The Great Silence (1968) D-Sergio Corbucci. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Vonetta McGee, and Mario Brega. First off, I finished watching ‘One Damned Day at Dawn…Django Meets Sartana’ and I realized that I had finished the movie when I first watched it. The rest of the movie was so unremarkable that I forgot about it quickly after that. I see the same thing happening again . Rating: 1/5.

For the last two days of SpagFest this year, I decided to reserve top shelf spaghetti for my entries. Starting with Sergio Corbucci’s masterpiece. Rating: 5/5.

[Grinder]

Grinders no. 29:

GARRINGO

Garringo - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

Coming close to the end I need to throw in my first and last 16mm copy for this Spagvember.
I watch the copy from time to time - really a seldom one - because it is in Cinemascope. Most of the 16mm copies were cropped to Fullscreen or to 1,66:1 because in the places 16mm was shown (clubs, hotels, schools, small cinemas, ships and even planes) mostly there was not the space or the “technology” for big, wide screening.
So, 16mm copies in Cinemascope are rare and hard to find. GARRINGO is copied in Cinemascope so you may watch the movie in original aspect ratio. But the German 16mm reels were copied in black/white!!!
Not unusual in general but on one hand the Cinemascope effort and then on other cheap black/white. What a shame. Only good thing is that colours cannot fade to red, haha.
Anyway this is a well made, little SW with Anthony Steffen in the lead. Even being the good guy he is a real scumbag. Bad guy is Peter Lee Lawrence with one of his best performances at the end of the movie.
For me everytime a pleasure to watch but 16mm copy in black/white will never be my first choice for. Very unusual … a SW in b/w.

Here a few impressions:

Bauer P7 16mm machine

Anamorphic objective

[aldo]

Love it! … even in black and white - it’s now a Spaghetti Noir, a new genre

[Grinder]

Thanks, aldo!
Yeah, Spaghetti Noir, sounds completely weird

[DrGonzo703 (David Gordon)]

Day 29. Movie 21. Gunman Of Ave Maria.
A solid revenge tale, well told and well photographed. Complete with a fiery conclusion - literally - and a first rate Morricone knockoff of a score. Can you tell that I enjoyed this one?

[Bill_san_Antonio]

26. Corbucci: The Specialists
    -Good film but seems to be missing just something to be one of the great ones, for example Lavagnino’s score is a good one but I wonder what Morricone would have done. I like the strangeness of the film anyway. 8/10

[JRWeier (Justin Weier)]

I will probably get through one movie for the month, , “Death Rides A Horse”, and trying to finish off “Pistol for 100 Coffins” to make it two movies.

[LankyGringo (Brian)]

Day 30

The marathon is finally over.

Frauen, die durch die Hölle gehen - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

What better way to conclude than with a movie from Tubi starring an Oscar winning actress?

Anne Baxter leads a group of seven women who survive a wagon train massacre on a 100 mile journey to the nearest fort…hopefully without being raped, scalped, and mutilated by a band of marauding Apaches somewhere along the way. It is a simple enough tale that turned out to be a bit more emotional (as in the sight of one of the women continuing to care for her baby despite the fact that it was killed in the massacre) and brutal at times than I expected.

Baxter’s character was far from likable but realistic. She knew that she had to be an unsympathetic hard ass if they had any hope of surviving and some of the more pampered women definitely needed a strong hand to lead them.

All in all, I found this one surprisingly enjoyable though the ending was a bit too neat for my taste. But, as they say, it is not always the destination but the journey you take to get there.

[QuickDraw (Lewis)]

30. Rewatched Dynamite Joe Joe l’implacabile - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
Nothing much to say about it. Feelings generally the same. I’d maybe bump it up to an average 3 out of 5. Watchable entertainment, nothing more.

I hadn’t bothered with participating in this in previous years as, I’ll admit, I thought it was a tad silly of a thing to do to try and squeeze in a month full of spags when I watch them regularly enough as it is, however, this year happened to coincide with me wanting to revisit some lesser ones after a small break from the genre, and I have had fun rising to the challenge and checking in with everyone on here. I doubt if I’ll attempt it again - not to this extent at least. Time now to remind myself of what time of the year it is and sort out some Christmas presents, I guess.

[bandsaboutmovies (Sam Panico)]

Giunse Ringo e… fu tempo di massacro (1970)

Ringo, It’s Massacre Time (AKA Wanted Ringo, Revenge of Ringo and Reward for Ringo) is at once an Italian Western and a mystery. A series of deaths at a ranch — the victims are all foaming at the mouth — brings Mike Wood (Mickey Hargitay) to solve things. Yet he soon mysteriously disappears (he was actually the star of the movie, but had to fly home to California when he learned that his son Zoltan was mauled by a tiger at Jungleland during a publicity shoot for his wife Jayne Mansfield) and his brother Ringo (Jean Louis) comes on board.

Director and writer Mario Pinzauti starts with those basics and then goes wild, bringing in elements of the giallo and even voodoo dolls, something you may not see in a single other Italian Western. Pinzauti made several movies that cashed in on other films, like Let’s Go and Kill Sartana, Mandinga, Passion Plantation, Due Magnum .38 per una città di carogne and Clouzot & C. contro Borsalino & C., which looks like Borsalino quite a lot from the poster.

There is a femme fatale named Pilar (Lucia Bomez) and a witch — yes! — that lives in a cave that has caused all of this. The film feels like it was being written as it was shot, as people literally stop speaking in scenes and some characters walk on and never get seen for the rest of the movie. It’s just a blast of complete wildness and while I appreciate just how strange it all is, if you’re looking for a complete film, this is in no way it.

[bandsaboutmovies (Sam Panico)]

I was debating watching this. Thanks – I’m going to add it to my list.