- 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
12 Likes
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.
7 Likes
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.
11 Likes
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.
8 Likes
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.
9 Likes
I was debating watching this. Thanks – I’m going to add it to my list.
1 Like
Spagvemberfest 2023
Number 26
Beyond the Frontiers of Hate (Santini / 1972)
Another one I’d forgotten everything about and chosen purely because I could download it from Amazon and watch it on the train to and from the office in my desperate sprint to complete 30 films for the month.
And of course it’s one of the very worst of the genre; cobbled together from bits of someone else’s film and new footage featuring Jeff Cameron stumbling through a weak storyline alongside a bunch of other desperate wannabes. Just read the film’s forum thread and you’ll get the idea. So far, so painful.
But wait, amongst all this dross it turns out there is something to be enjoyed if you pay attention. The previous version I had watched was a DVDr I’d got from somewhere which was in Italian with English subs. This version was an English dub and the folks who had done it dropped in some stealthy little nuggets which gives a good idea of what they thought of the film too.
First up, you find that the old Indian chief Black Cloud is now somehow called Chief Hot and Cold Running Water. But other than this the film isn’t played for laughs so seems incongruous. Then another half an hour in our man Jeff returns in full warpaint from a deadly raid on the bluecoats and his love interest meets him with the words “I love what you’ve done with your make up.” To which he replies, “You should do, it took me hours.”
At this point I was wondering if I was just starting to hallucinate from boredom but then the best of the lot turns up. The army colonel is introducing a blonde bar girl to his cohorts in the saloon and he says “This is Pepita boys, and she’s no more Mexican than we are actors!” Without doubt the best line in the film.
Super props to that dubbing team for slipping that one in. It made the whole thing worthwhile for me
10 Likes
The scenes in the snake valley were taken from WINNETOU UND SHATTERHAND IM TAL DER TOTEN. You may even recognize Pierre Brice in the scene(s). Really weird…
1 Like
In my observation, quite a lot of SW fans also love film noir (myself included), so the hybrid genre would have been a winner with them, probably. 
6 Likes
Spagvemberfest 2023
Number 27
Thunder Over El Paso (Montero / 1972)
Nothing special about this one but after the rubbish I’ve been sitting through lately it almost qualifies as a minor classic. Feels like a film from much earlier than 1972 actually. In a good way.
9 Likes
Grinders no. 30:
I have finished the fest with my favourite SW, my favourite Western and one of my alltime faves:
IL BUONO IL BRUTTO IL CATTIVO
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Buono,_il_brutto,_il_cattivo,_Il
Watched the 162min version in HD with German Dub (reworked by a friend having all parts from Cinema dub in it)
Great finale of Spagvember 
It was a great pleasure mostly but now it is time for sabbath…at least for two weeks
8 Likes
Day 30:
‘Il bianco il giallo il nero’ (The White, the Yellow, and the Black) (1975)
Saving the best until last, eh? … Maybe
This is the fourth film by Corbucci I’ve chosen for this year’s endurance test … which seems to be his least popular, judging by all the chat around the campfire.
I actually find this film really funny, and I generally don’t like SW comedies at all.
Perhaps people are uncomfortable with Tomas Milian’s cartoonish character of the wannabe Samurai, ‘Sakura’ … that it is someway offensive - I don’t get that at all, in fact I think it a rather brilliant piece of physical comedy … and I do actually ‘laugh out loud’ at some of his antics.
Giuliano Gemma and Eli Wallach are both very good, with Gemma cracking amusing one-liners and Sheriff Wallach as the incorruptable, ‘Black Jack Gideon’ make a very good double act.
The storyline is kind of a send up of ‘Red Sun’(1971) where Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune are charged with a mission to recover a valuable stolen sword, which is a gift from the Japanese emperor.
Same idea here, except it’s a miniture pony, which allows for quite a few fart gags (classy)
7/10 … and that’s all folks for this year!
9 Likes
I don’t even try to understand aldo anymore. 
4 Likes
Haha 
1 Like
I like this Corbucci, too
Seriously.
2 Likes
Spagvemberfest 2023
Number 28
The Bang Bang Kid (Lelli / 1967)
Let’s just say it’s no Robocop and leave it at that.
5 Likes
My plan was also to end with the UHD of GBU but I am running out of time. Will have to violate Deucember for it
1 Like
I watched one more movie last night which I really enjoyed. If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death
(Sartana and Sabata are two of my fave spaghetti western characters)
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Se_incontri_Sartana_prega_per_la_tua_morte
and now on to DEUCEMBER! 
12 Likes
I know everyone will jump down my throat for not knowing, but what exactly is that??
2 Likes
@Admin has a post up under the “Exploitation Films” topic that links to it.
https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Deucember
No throat jumping from me. 
3 Likes