Day One: Seven from Texas (1964)
Solid “doomed marched through wilderness” affair. Pretty good. Has a good fatalistic mood underneath the cribbed elements from American westerns. Not perfect, of course. Definitely has a not-very-good English dub and sometimes what it’s going for doesn’t always land tonally.
Let’s do this thing. GIDDY-UP!
SPAGVEMBERFEST: DAY 1
My randomised selection for this evening has been picked, and it’s… (Drum roll) Find a Place to Die (Carnimeo, 1968)! Oh.
Oh well. I was hoping for a slightly more top-of-the-range spag to kick off my Spagvember, but that’s randomisation for you, I guess. Anyway, I’ve not seen it in a while, certainly not since Arrow released the Blood Money box set (and I can’t honestly say I remember watching it then either, though I’m sure I must have). Let’s Fest!
And the masters of the Guess a movie screenshot topic should know that my first film is:
Spagvember Fest 2024
Day 1: I Quattro dell’Apocalisse
First time watch:
Whew, Fulci did a surprisingly effective, poignant, and well crafted late period SW. Not as violent and gory as I was thinking, but the tender scenes between Fabio Testi and Lynne Frederick and the scenes at the all male camp did have me feeling sentimental and misty eyed, and I normally don’t get those kinds of emotional reactions with Westerns. The only scene I squirmed on is when Chaco spits Whiskey into Clem’s mouth and made him act like a dog for more.
Tomas Milian, what a great performance he gives as Chaco. This was Milian at one of his dirtiest and meanest, equaling his role as Giulio Sacchi in Almost Human. Even when first seeing Chaco, something seems edgy and wrong about him, and when Milian channels Charles Manson when feeding everyone the peyote drug is insane. This guy just keeps begging to get six ounces of lead put through him.
I’ve read both the Brett Harte stories that served as the basis for this Western, and while only the basics of each story are used, Fulci and the screenwriters do capture Harte’s themes and style well.
Worthy of repeated viewing, but when in the mood for it.
Guiliano Gemma has just arrived and has his best SW with him. Today The Long Days of Vengeance is shown as first time view on Blue-ray from the Mediabook of explosive Media.
To all scoundrels here, have fun and good entertainment on the first day of Spaqvemberfest 2024! May 30 coffins not be enough!
I thought you might save these for #GemmaFest
Week 1: Giuliano Gemma
For this year’s Spaghvemberfest I will be dividing up the 30 days of this month among 6 SW directors. I’ll be watching 5 movies from each director. I’m kicking off the 2024 festival from today until 11/5 with movies by Demofilo Fidani (a.k.a. Miles Deem). Fidani will be followed by 5 days of Duccio Tessari SW’s, Raphael Romero Marchent, Leon Klimovsky, etc.
Day 1: Dead Men Don’t Make Shadows (1970) D: Demofilo Fidani. Starring Hunt Powers, Franco Boreli, Simone Blondell, and Gordon Mitchell. Stanley (Boreli】follows prolific bounty hunter Lazar (Powers) to a small Mexican mining village where they must contend with the corruupt local grandee and his henchmen. We get to see Fidani regular Blondell play a Gypsy spiritual guide who protects the peon slave laborers. For me, the highlight of the movie is beginning credts scene with a POV shot of Hunt Powers dragging a dead man through the streets to a jazzy score while locals watch as Powers passes by.
Love this film. The best Fidani movie by far imho. 
No. 2:
TRE CROCI PER NON MORIRE
In memory of the late Giovanni Cianfriglia who has one of the main roles in this nice little Sergio Garrone Spaghetti Western.
The story on first sight seems to be very Western typical. Three bandits in jailhouse get the offer to clear up a murder mystery. Reward is freedom and 30.000 Dollar. But time is running since a young man is already sentenced to death…
I think once a year TRE CROCI PER NON MORIRE finds its way in my player (I prefer the Italian VHS version). The rather unknown movie is very similiar in style with Garrones DJANGO IL BASTARDO. That means the atmosphere in many scenes is ghostlike…like in an old horror movie. There also is a short red coloured backflash that is 100% horror.
The camera work is over the top and with each watch you may recognize more and more small details. Main characters are played by Giovanni Cianfriglia (as pistolero), Craig Hill (as Casanova) and Franco Cobianchi (as Mexican in Pedro Sanchez style). And we have beautiful Ida Galli (with black hair !!!) in a mystical role.
The ending of the movie is not liked by everyone (for more information have a look at the film thread) but it gives you some different ways of interpretation. But if you consider movie title it should be clear 
Unfortunately this B-movie gem is not released on DVD or even BD. There are some versions out on YouTube. For German market no Dub is exisiting but there are fan subtitles for the Italian VHS.
R.I.P. dear Giovanni
‘A PISTOL FOR RINGO’ (1965)
It was a “matter of principle” to watch this ever-green beauty last night…
Now… if only the delectable Lorella de Luca was decorating my Christmas tree, and arranging my festive baubles every year…
It’s also my favorite as well 
.
Will re-watch this one today. Again a broadcasted version that I kept in my TV box. It looks better than my Spanish dvd. Although it might be same source, being the dubbing/titles the same Spanish.
Spagvemberfest Day 2:
Two Faces of the Dollar
A fun little heist film. I wish Maurice Poli was in more spaghettis.
Spagvemberfest Day One
A Fistful of Dollars (Leone/1964)
My plan to focus on inductees of our Hall of Fame starts with a classic and ticks off Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volonte and Marianne Koch all in one go. This one goes up and down in my estimation with every viewing and this time around went up again. The thing I often forget is just how ground breaking this film was. All the stuff we got used to in so many subsequent films all started here. A damn good place to start a Spagvemberfest.
I’ll Sell My Skin Dearly (1968) (orig. Vendo cara la pelle) - Director: Ettore Maria Fizzarotti - 4/10.
Notwithstanding main hero’s sanpaku gaze, Spartaco Conversi’s excellent showing and some occasional nastiness along the line, the movie regrettably does not pan out all that engaging.
Firstly, Shane’s (sic) recovery at steamy widow’s farmhouse accounts for almost one third of the running time and in the course of that lull, the motion picture inevitably has to fall back on drama which comes out bland if not sleep-inducing in virtue of film’s uniformly flat characterization. Secondly, the kid who rescues the protagonist at the beginning figures in project’s proceedings so extensively it becomes somewhat distracting, entering the equation on such a regular basis that the flick almost takes on an appearance of a children’s production at certain points.
Thirdly, in spite of being the region’s top banana, Shane’s arch nemesis seems to have like ten henchmen at his disposal which makes Shane’s endeavor to eliminate him all the more believable, but saps tale’s realism elsewhere, though this admittedly has to do with the scant budget rather than writing or storytelling as such. At the end of the day, it it hard to take umbrage at this offering in view of it having been competently realized in other regards, that being said, it does feel a little too featureless and insipid for my liking.
I really don’t know what they were thinking with that one.
Ditto.
Same here … and I was thinking about this recently - even Clint having a stubbly beard was unheard of back in the day … which is now something we don’t think twice about - Beards and stubble were always for bad guys, so we automatically assume he is one of the bad guys, particularly when he allows the small child to get kicked around by Ramon’s men, plus he’s not sticking his neck out even to impress Marisol … This was an era when most families attended church, and no man in the 1960s or 70s would go around unshaven this way … it was viewed disrespectful and slovenly.
It seems like a small detail, but it was a big deal back then - Just one of dozens of ground breaking, intriguing and exciting elements.
Now in 2024, we occasionally hear comments about about how ‘Fistful’ isn’t that good … well, we wouldn’t be talking about it here 60 years after if it wasn’t.
