Spagvemberfest 2023 - or the crows will drink our beers

[LankyGringo (Brian)]

Day 6

Segno del coyote, Il - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)

The Sign of the Coyote tells the story of a rich Californian of Spanish decent who leads everyone into believing he is a spoiled rich fop but is actually none other than the masked vigilante The Coyote. Set just after the U.S. takeover of California in 1850, The Coyote is forced to take on the forces of the new corrupt regime who are intent on stealing from the citizenry as much land and money as possible.

One can be forgiven for thinking that this is nothing more than a cheap rip off of Zorro. After all, Zorro literally translates to fox. And Zorro possesses an almost identical background. Zorro had a secret cave underneath his mansion that served as his secret lair and so does The Coyote. And Batman as well. There seems to be a pattern here. The film makers even went so far as to cast Maria Luz Galicia as the female lead and she was fresh off back to back female lead performances in Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent’s Zorro the Avenger and Shades of Zorro just the year prior.

Undoubtedly, this film was nothing but a rip off of the Zorro films!

Except, when I investigated further, I discovered this was not the case. This may be well known to my friends in Europe but I had no idea that beginning in Spain in the 40s, The Coyote was the lead character in a series of popular dime novels and comic books. And this film is a fairly faithful adaptation of those printed tales. Now, were these dime novels and comic books a rip off of Zorro? Absolutely. But not this movie.

This is a fairly innocent tale reminiscent of a Saturday afternoon serial instead of the blood and guts spaghetti westerns that we all know and love. However, if one holds a soft spot for that sort of nostalgia, then they might find this one of some entertainment value. I did. But, if not, it might be for the best to give this one a pass unless someone has a completist nature.

Interestingly, entire scenes from the this clean, wholesome movie would later be heavily borrowed from to complete the cheaply made soft core French-Belgium porn The Girls of the Golden Saloon Filles du Golden Saloon, Les - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net). Fortunately, while characters named Sabata and Ringo appear in this film, they had the courtesy to re-name our masked vigilante. The Coyote would have been appalled at some of the behavior of this masked vigilante. Sadly, a great deal of the footage they did steal featured one of our spaghetti western favorites, Piero Lulli. As tawdry as his characters have been in many films, they don’t even hold a candle to the tawdriness of this production.

[Companero_M (Martin)]

26: Uno dopo l’altro (1968), directed by Nick Nostro

For me, the character played by Richard Harrison, Stan Ross, an accountant-pistolero with glasses, is one of the least likeable protagonists of the Spaghetti Western, on a par with the Western Don-Juan incarnation played by John Richardson in Armando Crispino’s John il bastardo (1967) and Craig Hill’s Lanky Fellow in Tonino Valerii’s directorial debut, Per il gusto di uccidere (1966). The latter is an opportunist who panders to the rich and powerful, seeking only his own advantage, about as sympathetic as a ratings agency—just as Richard Harrison’s human resources manager in Uno dopo l’altro is one of those Spaghetti Western heroes for whom I can’t muster any sympathy. In the end, the bad guys seem almost more appealing and likeable than the good guy …

Next: Giancarlo Santi’s Il grande duello (1972).

[Toscano]

'DEATH SENTENCE / SENTENZA DI MORTE (1968)

Ably directed by Mario Lanfranchi, Robin Clarke stars as a man out for revenge. His brother has been murdered by four men, whom Clarke systematically sets out to hunt down and avenge his kin by ‘executing’ the bastardos responsible.

There’s a good cast in this one; not least Tomas Milian, who, as always, steals the lime-light portraying a deranged albino gunman who is addicted to gold and blonde women. The white suit that he wears perfectly compliments his shocking white wig, and he is reminiscent of the similarly-clad brother in ‘The Grand Duel’.

Milian is joined in the outstanding role-call by Adolfo Celi, Richard Conte, Enrico Maria Salerno, and Luciano Rossi…a remarkable cast by any standards.

With a soundtrack by genre favourite, Gianni Ferrio, this is (to me, at least), the SW equivalent of an old ‘Amicus’ compendium film - four tales of bitter-sweet revenge bound together by one man on a deadly mission.
An engaging little SW, with just the right amount of on-screen gunplay and poker games, weirdness, and a surreal quality that helps it stand out from so many other similar offerings…At times, it can be a little slow, I found - but certainly never boring.

[Bill_san_Antonio]

5. Sollima: The Big Gundown

• I wonder who edited the original english version, there’s small snippets taken out here and there even single words. This all makes watching the uncut version in english rather frustrating at times. Great film anyway. 9/10

[TheSwede (Pete)]

Film #6: Bury Them Deep - First viewing out of 5

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/All'ultimo_sangue

[Grinder]

Grinders no. 6:

UN GENIO, DUE COMPARI, UN POLLO

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Genio,_due_compari,_un_pollo,_Un

Since my childhood I am into Bud Spencer & Terence Hill and I have seen all their movies many, many times since then. So, there is always a lot of nostalgia when watching bringing back a lot of memories from the 80`s.
In nowadays I definitely prefer their serious stuff like the brilliant Colizzi Trilogy.
UN GENIO, DUE COMPARI, UN POLLO has never been one of my favourites for several reasons. Most important fact maybe is that in Germany it was marketed as NOBODY IST DER GRÖSSTE, so as a direct sequel to IL MIO NOME È NESSUNO. That for sure never worked and was rather disappointing not only for me. I only learned much later that this was a marketing “trick” when I began to read my first books about Spaghetti Western.
Also the story in total is not that exciting or satisfying as total work. There are many brilliant single scenes but also much boredom inbetween.
But the cast with Terence Hill, Klaus Kinski, Raimund Harmstorf and many others for sure is worth giving it a try again.

At last christmas I got the German Super 8 reels as present and now it was the right time for watching
For sure together with buddies Spencer & Hill:

It is on 3 reels of about 120m each. In total this is about 53 minutes, so only more or less 50% material of the Original cinema version.
It was released in 1979 so that was the first home cinema edition.

Reels 1 and 3 of my copy have good color and good sound. Sharpness is so and so. Reel 2 was copied on other material and is red/brown but with good sound and good sharpness. Image is Widescreen 1,66:1 what is accetable.
In this short version really entertaining and a nice collectors item btw

For more Super 8 information and screenshots I recommend this website:

ROBBY'S SUPER-8 HOMEPAGE - Nobody ist der Größte

[aldo]

Super 8mm lovely! Thanks for the info, Grinder … even the worst movie on actual cine film is more than tolerable .

A few nights past I ran an 18 minute cut down version of ‘Shalako’ … this one didn’t try to compress the whole story - It begins with Honor Blackman’s peril, witnessed by Stephen Boyd, then goes on to show a shoot 'em up with the Apaches attacking and finally Sean Connery and Woody Strode fighting with lances.

It was a standard pan scan version and the print seemed a little dark, but it still brings out the childlike fascination in me when I see projected film.

PS: Not counting ‘Shalako’ as one the 30 in this year’s fest - I’d gladly watch ’ Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead’ on Super 8mm, and I fecking hate that film !

[aldo]

@bandsaboutmovies

Face to Face (1967)

Known in the UK as High Plains Killer

That’s interesting, as I’d never heard that one before … only known by that name on VHS release by Techno Film, who also released a full length English language version under it’s original name.

[Grinder]

Thanks, aldo.
Look forward to your review

I think I will watch MASSACRE TIME from Super 8 later in Spagvember

[Gingerbread80]

Day 6: Requiem for a Gringo (a.k.a. Duel in the Eclipse) (1968) D: Jose Luis Merino/Eugenio Merino. Starring Lang Jeffries, Fernando Sancho, Marisa Paredes, and Femi Benussi. Gringo (Jeffries) returns to his family’s hacienda after fighting in a war (Mexican Revolution?). He’s wearing a leopard print poncho, so we know he’s pretty confident in himself as a person. Gringo soon begins to lay waste to Carranza’s (Sancho) annoyingly cocky banditos over payback for a past wrong they committed against him. I really liked this one! Revenge movies (especially Eurowesterns) can be handled rather poorly if not made a certain way. If not done right, I’ve been left feeling unsatisfied with the vengeance being meted out. In Gringo, I thought the director competently left me feeling like justice had been carried out against Carranza’s despicable goons. I don’t know much about Jeffries, but I thought he did a great job in bringing out Gringo’s mysterious and sinister nature. As a humorous aside, a minor character at a local tavern/inn, named Lupe, sounds like she’s being called “Loopy” by the dubbed in voice of the tavern keeper. Rating: 4/5.

[Mickey13]

Uno, dos, tres… dispara otra vez (1973) - Director: Tulio Demicheli - 6/10.

I do not quite understand why this is not more popular, as it happens to be a pretty good one. I do not mean to say that it is some sort of masterpiece, since it is indubitably a minor entry and does not feature much action, nevertheless, it outshines numerous other works of the sort in virtue of some curious writing choices and decidedly constitutes one of the more solid latter-period examples, especially as far as comedic outings are concerned. Firstly, though it recounts the same old story of the domineering landlord terrorizing necessitous farmers, the central duo does not really side with the poor and consistently sticks to their own interests in a genuinely callous manner which confers quite a bit of sardonicism and provides a welcome acerbic counterpoint; there is no attempt at even whitewashing their thoroughgoing self-interestedness and the film culminates in the arrantly cynical finale.

Secondly, Steffen must have learned a bit of acting by 1973 because he turns in one of his best performances here in that he appears quite relaxed as opposed to being so tense as though he was on the brink of having a stroke; there is great chemistry between him and Camardiel who likewise puts on a wonderful show and proves himself as an excellent comedian and as a splendid performer in general. Thirdly, Demicheli seems to have been one of the very few directors in the genre who had a truly good taste for comedy, resolutely opting for corny situational humor instead of hardcore slapstick; the film prodigiously benefits from the low-key, laid-back approach and combined with the balanced pacing and Demicheli’s firm grasp on the narrative, the flick turns out surprisingly engaging and superior to most other comedic efforts from the same period in spite of the forlorn appearance of its exteriors, the cheapjack interiors and the low production values all around.

[Gingerbread80]

Thank you for sharing this! I’ve developed a spinoff interest in proto-Eurowesterns. Just to see some of the key enjoyable elements of the genre in their germination period.

[Gingerbread80]

Sounds intriguing. Thanks, Lanky Gringo!

[p.pereira]

Anyone using Letterboxd?
I’m adding my picks here:

SpagvemberFest 2023

[TheSwede (Pete)]

got my list going here

Spagvember 2023

[TheyCallMeGoldMod]

Day 6: Boot Hill

Thoughts:

All three of Giuseppe Colizzi’s spaghetti westerns are an exercise in style. This one forgoes the sweeping wide shots of the Spanish desert from the previous “Cat and Hutch” films in favor of tighter angles and more closeups. Main fault is that the story is hard to find coherent for much of the early film, although it does improve as it goes on.

[Admin (Sebastian)]

Spagvemberfest Day 6: 10.000 Blood Money (Guerrieri):
Film two in my foray into the Blood Money box set and it is sort of the companion piece to the other Garko/Camaso vehicle even though the two have of course nothing to do with each other aside from a shared production history and such. Another very good, violent and stylish western. However I do have to say that I found it hard following the story, that’s due to the bad pacing and a bit shoddy script that somewhat hurts the movie’s impact and quality slightly. It’s still entertaining and quite a movie. The BluRay is almost even better than the other.

[makesthemovie]

Whoa, whoa… isn’t that just a tad too harsh there @aldo, even towards an actor you’re not a fan of?

[makesthemovie]

Spagvember Fest 2023 Day 6

A long overdue rewatch

Corri Uomo Corri

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Corri,_uomo,_corri

**** out of *****. While not on the caliber of Sollima’s inaugural Western The Big Gundown, Run Man Run still has quite a bit of meaty material to enjoy. I felt the film moved a little slower than when I viewed it in my college days of long ago, but never once did I feel bored or that spots were unnecessary or filler.

Tomas Milian is always a pleasure to watch, and the character of Cuchillo suited him like a 2nd skin. One of my favorite moments is when Cuchillo wins the pot from the duel between Cassidy and Steve Wilkins and puts the peso he took back on the table. It shows that while Cuchillo is a thief, he’s not without some form of ethics, showing he’d never steal from someone he thought really had need of it.

Donal O’Brien did a wonderful job as Ex-Sheriff Cassidy, a man going through an internal crisis who eventually finds the answers and meaning he looked so long for.

John Ireland was a fantastic surprise as Gen. Santillana, he really had me believing he was a charismatic Mexican revolutionary, even with his hard to miss blue eyes. I wish more of his SW’s like Odio per Odio and Tutto per Tutto would get Blu Ray releases.

The Eureka! Blu Ray is fantastic looking, miles and miles above the Blue-Underground DVD. It always disappointed me that BU didn’t try to clean up the Italian audio track, but Eureka! made me super happy with bringing that track back to clear and crisp life along with finely translated English subs. I’ll still hang on to the DVD primarily for the interview with Sollima and Milian.

[aldo]

@makesthemovie

Whoa, whoa… isn’t that just a tad too harsh there @aldo

How can it be too harsh … Not a popular opinion I’m sure, but that’s what I’m seeing - He does the same thing in ‘Long Live Your Death’, opposite Eli Wallach.

For me, he’s a handsome leading man, hence his long career, but a horrible actor.