Spagvemberfest Day 21
One Silver Dollar (Ferroni / 1965)
Day 21 and it’s Ida Galli in a classic Gemma western and playing the damsel in distress as usual. Infinitely whistlable (is that a word?) theme tune by Gianni Ferrio and Galli looking more like a porcelain doll than ever. Traditional western stuff but always a pleasure.
And the next Peter Lee Lawrence
Awkward Hands.
I made my late entrance (as usual) to this Spagvemberfest the other night when i popped "Adios, Sabata" in the DVD player. I might have been a little too tired (i finished it about 10:40 PM) to keep my complete attention, but my overall assessment on this second viewing remains that it is an entertaining -albeit lightweight- revolution adventure.
Although it’s directed by Gianfranco Parolini, features the usual circus gimmicks and has Ignazio Spalla as a hammy sidekick, one should not really classify this film as a true Sabata sequel, nor view Yul Brynner’s character as the same one as the one of Van Cleef (at the most, they’re possibly coexistent characters who happen to use the same moniker). It’s overall a slightly different kind of film, slightly more low-key and adventure-oriented than its predecessor (Bruno Nicolai’s score certainly plays a role in creating a mood different from the one accompanied by Marcello Giombini). This direction combined with the high production value is actually something of an improvement upon the more roused original, and helps this sequel to reach a level not very far behind at all.
That said, the other main characters are obviously based on their models from the original, Ignazio Spalla might as well be the same character with a different name, Septtiembre carries unmistakable traces of Alley Cat with a slightly altered gimmick, and Dean “Red Elvis” Reed’s Ballantine is a clear stand in for William Berger’s Banjo, but he is likeable nevertheless.
The main nail in my eye concerning this film is not actually of that much relevance; the whopping historical innacuracy that it was Austria who intervened in Mexico in the 1860s rather than France (for the record, Austria did participate on the french side, but it was a slim contribution to the effort). Reportedly this was because the studio had many Austrian uniforms in stock at the time of filming, which cut costs a bit (and it’s not like they could have saved any money for historical accuracy by trimming down some of the explosion scenes, huh?). But the obviously much larger than average SW-budget certainly did this film a lot of good as well, as the sets and costumes (however historically inaccurate) make the film feel vivid and well executed.
It’s not a very deep or groundbreaking SW, but a slightly underrated piece of a western adventure.
Late is better than never.
‘Adios Sabata’ is one of my favs, also.
Brynner, tassels, flying metal balls, a Poirot-like moustache on the baddie, a flamenco death dance, a cracking Bruno Nicolai soundtrack, and the gorgeous Almeria landscape - what’s not to love?
I LOVE the theme song of The Grand Duel. It’s so haunting yet beautiful.
I haven’t watched either of these yet. They’re now on my must-watch list 
Spagvember Fest 2024
Day 21
Un Dollaro Tra i Denti
Rewatch. Gotta give some love to one of the underdogs of the SW genre. I know many here prefer the more polished sequel, but there’s just something so charming and passionate about this gem. While indeed a poor man’s Per un Pugno di Dollari it’s still very well made and not really a copy cat or cash in.
Tony Anthony, an American actor and entrepreneur who hustled - in a good way - his butt off for every chance he got in the business, does a very good job as a true Nameless Stranger. At first he feels like a sawed off runt scamming the scammers, but when his double cross gets an innocent woman and her son in the crossfire, he nobly steps up to do the right thing, and still finds time to charm his way out of the sights of the Army and Texas Rangers.
Frank Wolff, the American character actor who became a favored mainstay in Italian cinema, does his slimy best in the role of Aguilar the fair and just man. This guy is villainy at its finest in ruthlessness and sadism, taking vile pleasure in killing and harassing the local people.
The DVD from Colosseo Films is quite good in picture quality and sound, but I am curious if the recent German Blu Ray is an improvement. The French Blu Ray felt saturated a little.
Spagvemberfest Day 22
The Texican (Selander / 1966)
A eurowestern I know but they still count and I needed to get Diana Lorys in so it needed to be a largely Spanish production. Lorys plays the love interest for Audie Murphy which is a bit of a stretch for the believability stakes but their 20 year age gap is conveniently ignored and besides, compared to her other suitor (the obese growler Broderick Crawford) little Audie seems downright adolescent. In terms of ticking off extra Hall of Famers this one gives three for one as the soundtrack is by the great Nico Fidenco and cinematography comes courtesy of Francisco Marin. Can I get every Hall of Famer squeezed in by the 30th? It’s getting tight but hopefully still possible.
Seven Dollars on the Red (1966) (orig. Sette dollari sul rosso) - Director: Alberto Cardone - 4/10.
Film’s premise, which involves a bandit abducting a boy, then raising him as his own and eventually turning him into a baddie, offers great potential by reason of it being reminiscent of a Greek tragedy of some sort, especially when paired with the subplot about child’s legitimate father trying to retrieve his son against all the odds. Regrettably enough, the only tragedy here is that all the potential is so badly wasted, given that the production proves to be the usual quick-and-dirty work. The overarching issue consists in that Cardone employs a narrative scope of Tolstoyan proportions which predictably turns out messy in the extreme, considering Cardone’s habitually unfocused storytelling.
Though the project does not quite achieve the extravagant erraticism of Cardone’s Blood at Sundown, it exhibits the same problems in the midsection, namely in that the storyline introduces an excess number of characters in the middle which in turn entails neither the protagonist nor anybody else is properly substantiated along the line. In spite of narration’s extensive reach time-wise, the portrayal of time passage is virtually inexistent here which additionally saps story’s realism. Technically, the tale boils down to a revenge arc, yet it takes such a big detour by implementing elements of romance and a heist flick along the way that it is tough to determine what its intended purpose is supposed to be in the end, what with the vengeance oftentimes playing second fiddle to these haphazardly interposed motifs. On the whole, the pic ultimately comes out passable notwithstanding its wildly circuitous trajectory, that being said, it would be injudicious to call it a fully accomplished product.
/-*-\
I have already watched everything I had set aside for this year’s fest, so I will take it easy for the rest of November. I would still like to watch things like Hate Is My God, Fedra West and a couple of others, but I haven’t access to those. I could naturally torture myself with the likes of Arrapaho, but I don’t particularly fancy that even if I have a nice copy of it with good Italian subtitles, I think I will save it for the next year or decade. I will view a couple of random ones instead.
A good case study of how even a small nudge can turn your run-of-the-mill story into something completely different as here, Antonio Margheriti’s rounded, rip-roaring direction had transformed a basic revenge tale about a man hunting down the five men who killed his brother into something more akin to an acidic western or a psychological drama, where everyone is pale, lifeless corpses dragging their feet across the plain, being blinded relentlessly by the scorchingly red sun.
Vengeance is wonderfully weird, never lingering and seems to be always moving forward with sheer force alone. Richard Harrison, with his dead-eyed stare, perfectly embodies a man hellbent on revenge, and he never stops, not even a second to give the murders their ropes back. And Claudio Camaso makes the most out of his limited screen-time with his unhinged, out of control villainy. Sure, the plot leaves a lot to be desired, especially with its occasionally disjointed pacing, but it never lost my attention, and it only adds more to the primal and aggressive nature of the story. The beverage shootout, the long night-time assault, and the skull-shaped sulfur mine—what’s not to like here?
This one nearly cracked into my top 20. The vibe is just so good. 4/5
SPAGVEMBERFEST: DAYS 21 & 22
Right: It’s Friday night! Let’s get weird!
Tonight starts for me in somewhat Gothic style with And God Said to Cain (Margheriti, 1969) featuring Mad Klaus in a rare “Good Guy” role and a whole lot of ominous church organ on the soundtrack. Brrr!
From there I’m taking a swan-dive off the edge of reality with the wonderfully demented Matalo! (Canevari, 1970), where the antagonists run the very real risk of being gently hoofed to death by an outraged horsey sidekick. Quick! Watch out for that boomerang! Yes, that one! The one you’re watching! You might want to move before it… Oh, you’re dead. Bugger.
Day 22–Quinto: Fighting Proud (1969) D: Leon Klimovsky. Starting Giuseppe Cardillo (aka Steven Tedd), Sarah Ross, Alfonso Rojas, Roberto Carmadiel, and German Cobos. After dressing up as (what I thought were hooded Ku Klux Klan members) lepers parading into a town to rob a bank, the robbers meet up afterwards to take stock of who stole all the money. While waiting for everyone to rendezvous at a stagecoach station, leader of the robbers, Blackie (Rojas), his girlfriend and a cohort kill bystanders and terrorize a fearful young man named Bill (Cardillo/Ted). Though a character named Quinto never showed up in the film, I found the story engaging throughout. The robbers’ decision to all look the same in disguise while robbing the bank as well meeting afterwards to discuss what went wrong and identifying the traitor gave off serious “later inspired Quentin Tarantino vibes” a la Reservoir Dogs. I realize that Reservoir Dogs has always been credited as a remake of an Asian crime movie. But, we all know that Tarantino was influenced by Italian westerns, especially by Sergio Corbucci (e.g. Django Unchained; The Hateful Eight). It can’t be proven but it’s just a theory. Cardillo/Tedd does a great job playing the cowardly yet likeable young man, Bill. It’s gratifying to watch him develop a romantic relationship with a young woman named Kate, with whom he met at the stagecoach station, and gradually developing the courage to stand up to the robbers. Roberto Carmadiel plays a likeable station barkeep whose wife is callously gunned down by bank robber leader, Blackie. Bill also develops a friendship with one of the robbers, named Sucre, who teaches him how to use a gun. Rating: 3.5/5.
Spagvember Fest 2024
Day 22
Un Uomo, un Cavallo, una Pistola
Rewatch. This is my 2nd time viewing The Stranger sequel, not having watched it in full for a couple years. I remembered at the time thinking it was OK, but not having the magic of the original. The latter is still true for me, but the film felt a lot better the 2nd time around.
Probably the only negative for me for the whole of Tony Anthony’s Stranger films is the involvement of Allen Klein. He may have treated Anthony fairly, but he was mainly a pariah who used one hand for friendship to his music and film clients and used the other to line his own bank account at those same clients’ expense. Like Mick Jagger, I wouldnt have trusted him with a 100 foot pole.
Tony Anthony gets a lot more interesting and cool stuff to do as The Stranger and Dan Vadis is the standout as the villain En Plein.
Colosseo DVD offers up solid picture and audio quality.
No. 22:
LA SFIDA A RIO BRAVO
Two Pistols and a Coward (1968) (orig. Il pistolero segnato da Dio) - Director: Giorgio Ferroni - 5/10.
On the minus side, the movie feels ten to twenty years older than it really is by reason of its naive premise, narrative’s simple-minded trajectory, Ferroni’s corny directing and Rustichelli’s ancient sounding score. The main hero’s part is quite interesting in that it requires some serious acting chops to convincingly portray the transformation from a coward to a hero, however, Steffen is clearly not the guy capable of handling this sort of affair and he appears quite miscast here. To be fair, he pulls his own weight just fine here even if he doesn’t capitalize on his role’s full potential, but let’s face it, in order for it to come to life, Ferroni should have picked a much more versatile performer, say Lou Castel or something along those lines. On the plus side, the overall storyline is still quite prepossessing in light of the extensive redemption arc which with a few tweaks, could have turned out even more memorable. Additionally, Richard Wyler’s charismatic performance as Steffen’s arch nemesis comes as a revelation, making one wish he had appeared in more roles of this kind, as his showing here is pretty impressive all things considered. Last but not least, the pic doesn’t overstay its welcome and progresses at a very steady pace, so what it might be short of in terms of overall panache is made up for by its decent focus and generally guileless presentation.
Spagvemberfest Day 23
Return of Ringo (Tessari / 1965)
Never need an excuse to rewatch Return of Ringo but for this project it has the bonus of delivering three Hall of Famers waiting to be ticked off. Duccio Tessari, Maurizio Graf and the beautiful Nieves Navarro. This is Navarro’s best western by far (well, it’s everyone’s best western really) and she is at her most gorgeous and most seductive. It got me thinking this time around. Why do I love this film so? There’s all sorts of reasons but at it’s base it is just an example of cinematic story telling at its best.
lists are updated
Though a character named Quinto never showed up in the film.
It may be of interest to you:
The name Quinto in the title does not refer to a protagonist, but simply means: 5th commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
