-Comedic kung fu western with Lee van Cleef. I had not seen this for a while and probably won’t be watching in the near future either. Just too silly film and the kung fu scenes are bad, LvC at least seems to enjoy his role and the asses are nice of course. 5/10
No. 8:
I TRE DEL COLORADO
A nice unusual movie. Not really a Spaghetti Western but set in Canada on border to USA like only a fistul of other SW. English Hudson Bay company and Royal Mountain police fighting against french rebels. George Martin in the lead seeking revenge on the English for the hanging of his brother. Good cast and some really nice ladies in supporting roles with much screentime.
Cheesy but good stuff 
Knew it for long from VHS. This time rewatch via 35mm copy with long lost German cinema dub.
Eastman colours but on screen way better than pictures show.
In this Franco Giraldi’s delightful Sugar Colt, Jack Betts’s Tom Cooper is a defender of women’s rights and the owner of a gymnastics salon where women come to practice shooting. And what are the odds that he also happens to be an ex-government agent Sugar Colt. After being assigned to investigate the sudden disappearance of a government army troop two years earlier, he heads to the town of Snake Valley in the guise of an eccentric doctor. Initially, he appears to be a meek man, pushed around by the townsfolk until he decides to brawl his way through them in the salon. And of course, soon later his objectives were exposed.
Sugar Colt walks a tightrope between comedy and seriousness, and not sure it always works. But, for me, it mostly thrives as a serious Western Noir. The first half of the movie feels more like a detective story, and it’s excellent. The mystery engaging, and the comedy works fairly well, but once Sugar Colt is fully revealed, the movie shifts into a more typical Spaghetti actioner. Also, unfortunately suffered from revealing the secret too early!
Jack Betts carries the film with dazzling display of physicality. He doesn’t have much imposing appearance but very funny and some athletic display here and there was impressive. I also love the way this one is shot, which brings a noir vibe with beautiful play on shadow and light, especially in night scenes and that one shooting sequence inside the barn cloaked in total darkness. Music is kinda annoyingly distracting at times though. Would be so much better as a completely serious picture.
Today I’ve re-watch Castellari’s Cipolla Colt. It is as bad as I remembered but I’d promised myself to give it a second chance.
I couldn’t even finish it the first time
I know what you mean. It’s though.
Setting up the spagvemberfest list also for icheckmovies (will take me until tomorrow) for those using that site as well / still.
‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’ (1966)
Not only my favourite Spaghetti Western, but also my joint-first favourite film of all-time (the other being ‘The Great Escape’)…
The French poster art-work is beautiful.
Hard to believe that I first watched this beauty on BBC TV in April, 1976 (in pan & scan)…the masterpiece that paved the way for my love affair with SW’s…
After almost 60 years, it has lost none of its magic…
Day Eight: A Taste of Killing (1966)
Day Nine: Django (1966)
Finally rewatched this with the Italian audio. I appreciated this film before but I definitely still appreciate it further, although admittely I feel the visual texture of it all is basically what holds it together for me. So much imagery that enters your soul and never leaves.
Star Movies Portugal is making it too easy for me. What a coincidence, next week’s programming has dozens of western-spaghetti. Had I the time… Here’s an example. One day, four spags to pick!
Spagvember Fest 2024
Day 9
La Taglia e Tua… l’Uomo l’Ammazzo Io (El Puro)
First time watching the 108 min. version.
The 98 min. cut of El Puro was OK, but the uncut 108 min. version added a whole new goodness to the film. While some of those scenes don’t add too much, they nevertheless make the film flow much smoother and I really felt like I was watching it for the first time.
What separates El Puro from other Italian Westerns of the time is that it tells the story of a doomed/fatalistic gunfighter who hides from death, but at the same time wishes to be free from the reputation he’s built. That he’s also a drunk adds a certain dichotomy to his character. The gunfighter longing for death is usually a trope found in American Westerns, not the Euro ones, as these characters tended to find their conscious, but were so deep in that life they lived there was no escape. Usually the beloved Anti-Heroes of the Euro West were like ghosts going from place to place, sometimes their humanity peeking out.
Robert Woods is certainly at his finest here as Joe “El Puro” Bishop. The range of emotion he conjures up from having no hope at all to glimmers of some, crushing losses, and accepting his fate. The emotion he expresses when finding the Rosalba Neri character dead is Oscar worthy.
Marc Fiorini, Mario Brega, Aldo Berti, and Maurizio Bonuglia make for the dirtiest pack of scum in the old West. A nut job megalomaniac, a psychopath killer, a pedophile, and a wannabe loose cannon, they are the dregs of lawlessness. And they all do well in the parts.
Rosalba Neri shines brightly as the lady of the evening with a heart of gold who falls for El Puro and wants to give him a new lease on life. Her death scene is very tragic.
Arrow Video did a great job with the restoration of this long little viewed classic.
Days 8 & 9–
Seven Guns for the MacGregors (1966) d: Franco Giraldi. Screenplay co-written and based off an idea by Duccio Tessari. Starring Robert Woods, Fernando Sancho, Agata Flori, Cris Huerta and Leo Anchoriz. This was my first time watching a ‘MacGregor’ movie, and was surprised I had an enjoyable time watching it! I had read about the MacGregor SW’s and the premises of ‘Seven Guns’ and the others in the series (i.e. Seven Brides for the MacGregors; Up the MacGregors) seemed silly and not worth watching. I always thought Duccio Tessari had directed ‘Seven Guns’ but was happy to find out that he cowrote the screenplay and it had been his brainchild. The Scottish cattle-owning clan’s spartan lifestyle and non-chalant mobilization to combat Mexican bandits led by Santillana (Anchoriz) and Miguel (Sancho) gave me a few laughs during the movie. Robert Woods was almost unrecognizable to me as eldest MacGregor son, Gregor. Though not a new favorite, I give it 3/5 stars.
Watched this Yesterday, too.
Two Thousand Dollars for Coyote (1966) (orig. Dos mil dólares por Coyote) - Director: León Klimovsky - 3/10.
Klimovsky’s oater essentially narrates a tale of middle-aged bounty hunter’s tussles with a young outlaw, for whose sister he has an affinity. The story does not work much because it is infused with the usual sentimentalism of Klimovsky’s more hackneyed ventures, but what is worse, the hare-brained stodginess is particularly amplified here by film’s hammy acting and Klimovsky’s throwaway directing. Even if none of Klimovsky’s westerns were especially rich in resources, production values are remarkably poor here, what with it having been filmed in a seemingly contemporary Spanish town instead of an allocated western set piece for one.
Pic’s decoupage and camerawork both turn out oppressively crude and clearly attest to production’s problematic funding and development. Notwithstanding plot’s schmaltz and tawdry rendition, the storyline unfolds in a more or less linear fashion, progresses at a fairly steady pace and features some character development along the way (even if it is one of the decidedly corny kind), so the movie stays watchable for the most part in spite of its numerous defects. At the same time, there is no disguising the fact that the narrative comes out thoroughly doltish and ponderous, so don’t get your hopes up, this is one measly affair which suffers from visual amateurism as evidenced by the sporadically broken 180-degree rule, pedestrian writing, subpar score and unsightly production design across the board.
Now on ICM
https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/spagvemberfest+2024/sebastianswdb/
Hope I don’t have any mistakes in there, let me know. Same goes for the LB one.
No.9:
7 PISTOLE PER I MACGREGOR
I must admit that I always liked the sequel more than this first one in series.
Rewatched it now via Explosive Media Blu Ray and I still think it is only an OK movie. I like the idea of the Scots and the cast is well. Nevertheless to me it is the weakest of the four Giraldi SW.
Trivia: In Sollimas CITTA VIOLENTE Telly Savals Charakter is watching this movie on TV
After reading the Blu Ray review here in SWDB I was very sceptical to buy the Explosive Blu Ray but even its is far away from being perfect to me it is an improvement to Italian DVD that anyway still looks very good. Image and Audio is OK and far better then described in review.
I will watch sequel the next days…
SPAGVEMBERFEST: DAYS 9 & 10
Ah, Sunday Spags! There’s nothing like it. Sunday just feels like a day made for settling down in front of a violent Italian shooty-beauty (or two), a bourbon in your hand and a mean look in your eye. Well, it beats the Strictly Come Dancing results show, anyway. Although that too leaves me wanting to drink heavily and kill anyone who looks at me cock-eyed.
Be that as it may, today I’m starting with The Forgotten Pistolero (Baldi, 1969), a movie I never particularly fancy until it’s on and I’m watching it. It’s actually a minor favourite, and always has been. And I’m following that up with the fantastic, fatalistic El Puro (Mulargia, 1969), a film which I feel has rightly received quite a bit more love since the Arrow release but which has still not received all the love it deserves. It belongs in the official Top 20, people! Come on!
