The movie is both tough to categorize and to digest: the story pivots around a small town in which there is a custom of appointing a child deputy sheriff for one week; though this tradition is meant to enshrine peace and harmony in the small community as indicated in a series of dialogues, none of this amounts to any concrete social commentary or anything which could be construed as a deliberate attempt at conveying some sort of message, so what constitutes one of the more crucial plot points seems to be there just for the sake of it. Though the flick is apparently intended to function as some kind of children’s production, kids start to figure more prominently only past film’s midpoint. Prior to that, the narration helplessly juggles around the characters of the sheriff played by Richard Harrison, the Mormon acted by O’Brien, a handful of journalists covering the election of “the small sheriff” and the villain.
Consequently, narrative’s focus is all messed up and it probably would have been hard to follow the story had it featured more plot devices along the line. In reality, the project almost appears to be something along the lines of a TV show episode which has been stretched out to achieve the feature length. Since there is merely a handful of occurrences to portray, the whole enchilada unfolds at a torturously sluggish pace, taking its sweet time depicting events of no importance whatsoever; the storyline proves so sparse, laggard and vacuous that what is ultimately outlined in pic’s proceedings may as well be gathered from project’s synopsis without viewing the movie in the first place, especially considering that there are no shootouts or bloodshed here. In other words, there is no conceivable reason to watch this really, it really is pointless, just don’t do it.
I’ve moved from Demofilo Fidani movies into 5 days of Duccio Tessari. Due to a last two hectic days, I didn’t have a chance to expound on my thoughts about my picks for Day 6 and Day 7.
Day 6:
A Pistol for Ringo (3.5/5) I haven’t seen a Pistol for Ringo for almost 10 years. However, I had a good time watching this early SW. I enjoyed the humor of the film that I overlooked the first time I watched it.
Day 7:
Return of Ringo (4/5) One of my favorite SW’s of all time.
I haven’t had a chance to see a SW in a drive-in setting. However, last summer I took a friend of mine to go see A Fistful of Dollars at a local theater in Pittsburgh called Row House Cinema. They have theme weeks and show older/classic movies and foreign films from all over the world. The theater provided a box of spaghetti brought from a really hoid Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. Though a movie nerd himself, SW’s are a hole in his movie-viewing resume. He had a great time. It was fun to watch other people having a fun time warching as well. And ‘Fistful’ never grows old even though I’ve seen it countless times. Great night!
Regarding ‘Five Man Army’ … I agree that it isn’t a brilliant movie, but for us folk who saw it as young kids on TV in the 1970s (BBC showed it often) it holds a special place … Yes it’s cheesy and a bit cheap looking in places … but, when you’re 8 or 9 years old and used to the production value level of Tom Baker ‘Dr Who’, then this is a feckin masterpiece of action adventure … plus the Ennio Morricone score is a belter
LVC gets his turn in my trawl through the Hall of Fame and it’s a film that I seem to enjoy more and more as time goes on. And what a score from Morricone. It’s also a good one for ticking off other category Hall of Famers (which obviously I’ve started doing). Petroni, Pistilli, Brega, Morricone, Torres. It’s a good 'un.
No. 7: PROFESSIONISTI PER UN MASSACRO
Rewatch via Explosive Media Blu Ray.
Not an intelligent SW but quite entertaining. German Dub is over the top with many “extra jokes”.
Blu Ray comes with good picture quality but as usual Audio tracks are filtered for no good reason… at least Italian sounds OK. Don`t know if I am getting more sensitive by getting older but it really disturbs be more and more when 40 year old VHS sound better or more fresh than new releases…
Nevertheless rewatch was quite entertaining in total
That’s a real pain for me also … especially as I wear headphones while watching TV, so the de-noising filters actually make the sound much worse.
There seems to be an attitude with digital restoration that the end result should adhere to 21st century audio and video standards, which often corrupts the original look and sound of the films.
Just find a nice clean print (if possible) and don’t monkey around with colour and contrast and audio … if it’s not broken don’t try to fix it. (Cliche, but true)
Enjoyed double-billing my SpagvemberFest the other day through circumstance so much I decided to do it today through choice. And it’s another cracking pairing, perfect for a late Friday: Vengeance is Mine (Fago, 1967) followed swiftly by the incomparable Django (Corbucci, 1966), a film which fell out of favour with me for some time but which is back as a big favourite in recent months (probably since the 4k showed up). Let’s get muddy!
Baldi: Django Prepare a Coffin
-I have a little special appreciation for this film for being one of the few “real” Django films, maybe this counts as a official Django sequel/prequel, at least in my mind. It has some good scenes and ideas but also some very sloppy and stupid stuff. Uneven film but I like it anyway. 7/10
Wow, that’s amazing! All three are films totally worthy of the big screen. I think you’re right, GBU might be the most deftly handled black comedy of all time–if it is a comedy.
I can imagine how amused an audience would be to see Django. It really does payoff every plot event it sets up. And the music can be so heroic, so memorable, I just rewatched Django two days ago and I’m amazed at how effective the score is.
@Phil_H Thanks for sharing about the experiences watching Spaghettis at the theaters. I bet that GBU really was a rough one to watch from the ground, lol. “Not that the you’re any tougher than Tuco–oh wait, 3 hour on concrete? Maybe so.”
@Gingerbread80 The Dollars trilogy never get old, and they’re a great entryway for anyone discovering the genre. Leone, Eastwood, Morricone… they redinfied cool. I would introduce these movies to friends in high school, watching the DVDs, and everyone had a good time with them. This makes me wonder if there are any indie cinema places in Indiana where a Spaghetti might be shown. I’m making it a goal of mine to see a Spaghetti Western and Hammer Horror in a cinema or drive-in now. Thanks for sharing!
Spagvember #4 – Django (1966)
5/5
Da one, da only, da-jango! I’ve seen it a dozen times. I also appreciate how rugged the coffin looks, how weathered the costumes are. Nero is just cool–and the zooms on those blue eyes can almost become cheesy–but the movie holds itself together. And despite his violent nature, I think the soundtrack really underscores a melodrama and romanticism that makes us root for the hero.
#5 A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972)
2.5/5
James Coburn carries this one, he has a Peter Cushing quality to be really emotive and sincere in a performance in a film, even if the script is thin. Tonino Valerii takes a stab at a film inspired by “The Dirty Dozen”, “Major Dundee,” “The Wild Bunch,” “The Five Man Army,” et al. It might be the weakest of Valerii’s westerns despite a big budget–the only characters I ever care about are Coburn’s and Spencer’s. The other misfits are underwritten and rather unlovable even for this genre.
Tonight I re-watch this one. It is less funny than I remember. Although it was nice to watch. I own the Koch DVD but I’ve watch it on Portuguese TV, Italian dub and awesome image.
I watched the Eureka bluray last night, opting for the Cineteca Bologna restored version. I listened to the English audio track, but also had the subtitles for the Italian version on as well - just to see the differences between the dialogue. For example, “Duck You Sucker” (English version), is replaced in the Italian by “Duck your head, arsehole”…
Rewatch. The Corbucci Western that seems to get lost in the shuffle when talking about the greats. This is probably my favorite of his Westerns, in having a great story, great locations, and great characters. It’s not grimy and dirty like Django or bleak and cold as Il Grande Silenzio, but there’s this uniqueness all its own that works wonders for it.
Johnny Halladay, the French Elvis, knocks it out of the park as drifter gunman Hud Dixon who returns to his boyhood town to exonerate his wrongly accused brother. Halladay exudes that world weariness well and makes long curly blonde hair work on a cowboy.
Gastone Moschin, Françoise Fabian, and Mario Adorf make for a unique trio of supporting players. Moschin is a strange pacifist sheriff who believes in the law, but becomes violent when crossed and/or made a fool of. An unusual dichotomy for a character. Fabian is a fabulous female villain in the town’s corrupt lady banker Mrs. Pollicut. Seductive and deceptive, she hits all the right notes of Femme Fatale goodness. Adorf shines as the one armed bandido El Diablo who intends on becoming a living legend in Mexico. His eccentricities and villainy mix well together.
My only complaint with the film is Corbucci’s bashing of the Hippie Culture with those four urchin characters. Luckily I try to see them more as wannabe hippies who were told to get lost.
This is one of those interminable treasure hunt flicks whose arrant disregard for proper characterization makes them completely forgettable. There is no point in relating the storyline in detail inasmuch as the plot does not merit much of a scrutiny, what with it being an absolutely trite pretext to embark on a series of double-crossings the efficacy of which is nil in light of the painfully rachitic script. A host of poorly developed characters are endlessly engaged in outwitting each other from the beginning to the very end with not much of an interesting backdrop to jazz things up along the way.
The absence of character development entails that most events could be shuffled without significantly impairing the narrative. Martin’s gunslinger is presumably after Luke for personal reasons, but the audience is never dignified with any explanation as to his real motives, the bounty hunter’s part turns out analogously superficial and featureless. Sancho’s colorful interpretation of the Mexican bandit by the name of Carrancho is the only point of interest here and it is due to his exuberant performance that the movie proves to be not a total joke. Piccioni’s recycled score, hackneyed plot devices and film’s uninspired plot weaving make this one genuinely tough to sit through, that being said, Sancho’s verve and amusing antics prevent this from becoming a total dud in the end.
Bud spencer and the filming locations too. I agree that the writing isn’t great but there’s no denying how awesome el condor fort is, and it’s best use is in this film. Truly great aesthetics. Way better than 5 man army imo. It’s a shame this filming location only came into existence when the genre was practically dead. A lot of other great filming locations in the film too. Imagine what corbucci could have done with it…
