I’m glad you had a positive review for this one, the new release is on my radar, and this is really encouraging. I love Hossein’s classic “Cemetery Without Crosses” so I hoped this would also be really good.
2 Likes
1969 - The Specialists
Rewatch. Hud Dixon (Hallyday) rides into a town with a guilty conscious (Perhaps another spaghetti that inspired Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter?). Various high-ranking officials may have been party to the death of Hud’s brother, Charlie, after framing him for a bank robbery. Is Hud more interested in revenge or the lost cash? Corbucci leaves his mark here in so many ways: a bank run by a person named Pollicut; a hefty sheriff that’s part tough and honorable and part bumbling comic relief; a protagonist who undergoes mutilation before the final showdown. But it also has such a bizarre ending after hippies momentarily go on a power trip.
The cinematography and filming locations are just pure eye-candy gorgeous. Despite a few really odd choices I enjoy this one.
4/5
5 Likes
Day 10: Have a Good Funeral, My Friend…Sartana Will Pay (1970) Directed by Giuiliano Carnimeo. Starring Gianni Garko, Antonio Villar, Daniela Giordano, Franco Ressel, and George Wang. Probably my favorite Sartana after the original film. It’s hard to tell who is more dangerous: the banker Hoffman (Villar) or the Confucius-quoting casino owner Lee Tse Tung (Wang). They’re both after land inherited by Abigail (Giordano), lovely daughter of a murdered landowner named Benson. Land that may have gold to be mined. Fortunately, we have the pall-bearing, super-sleuth bounty hunter Sartana (Garko) to solve the crime and make the grave digger money! Rating: 3.5/5.
Day 11: Dig Your Grave, Friend…Sabata’s Coming (1971) Directed by Juan Bosch. Starring Richard Harrison, Fernando Sancho, Raf Baldassare, Alejandro Ulloa, and Tania Alvarado. I had an enjoyable time watching this comedic SW. It wasn’t too slapstick, silly or contrived. Returning from the Civil War, Confederate veteran Steve McGowan (Harrison) finds out his father was murdered by a greedy, ruthless rancher named Miller (Ulloa) because he wouldn’t sell his land. Steve goes on a rampage, beating up Miller’s henchman in the process. Hilariously, says “Excuse me, ma’am” to a flamboyant dance instructor and adds him to the list of punched underlings. Steve kills one of Miller’s men and goes on the run with local bandito Leon Pompero (Sancho) after both escape getting hanged. Both fugitives kidnap Miller’s gorgeous, young fiancee Helen (Alvarado) while narrowly escaping getting caught by Sabata (Baldassare). Strangely, the normally good guy bounty hunter Sabata hires his services out to the villainess Miller! Both Harrison and Sancho are fun to watch together as they muddle their way through to getting their revenge against Miller. Rating: 3/5.
7 Likes
I have never watched it (another one excluded by my “scientific” selection process 
), but I am now inspired to immediately order this one also 
1 Like
No. 12 IL FIGLIO DI DJANGO
Nice little revenge Western with a good cast and brown autumn colours. Nothing special but quiete entertaining and for me a bit above average. Demofilo Fidani was responsible for the sets.
6,5/10
5 Likes
$100,000 for Ringo (1965) (orig. Centomila dollari per Ringo) - Director: Alberto de Martino - 4/10.
Even if the movie looks and unfolds more or less in the way you would expect from a proper production, entertaining on the superficial level by virtue of its deft action sequences, consistent pacing, Harrison’s handy performance, Nicolai’s lush score and generally polished design, its story does not make a whole lot of sense. The project was clearly meant to cash in on the success of Tessari’s Ringo series, to which film’s title and narration’s oblique reworking of some of the themes attest; the work touches upon the motif of postwar lawlessness roiling the country apart from portraying racial divisions and clashes between co-existing groups. The composition never jells because the meaning of Harrison’s character here remains continually obscure: everybody in the territory keeps mistaking him for somebody who reportedly got killed in the Civil War, yet he maintains that he is somebody else altogether. Notwithstanding, he openly challenges the deceased person’s adversaries and performs the actions which the deadman would most likely do were he alive after all, helping the local tribe of Indians whilst simultanously trying to swindle a gun smuggler trading with a Mexican officer. It is never clarified whether he genuinely acts selflessly or if he merely uses the Indians to get his own way, solely paying lip service to lofty moral values. All these question marks and inadvertent ambiguities ultimately add up to one befuddling storyline to say the least, considerably denting pic’s internal logic and psychology. All the aforementioned is addtionally soured by the superlatively corny ending pontificating about interracial harmony with Harrison resolving to play father for the deadman’s kid. This is hardly a disaster, though it proves surprisingly underwhelming considering its big success at the box office back in the day.
5 Likes
Yeah, easily one of genre’s best villains even if the movie isn’t that good.
Day 12: They Call Me Trinity (1970) Directed by Enzo Barboni. Starring Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Farley Granger, Steffen Zacharias, and Luciano Rossi. A SW comedy featuring the cinematic duo of Hill and Spencer for the first time. Trinity (Hill), a bounty hunter that enjoys his relaxation, unwittingly brings a fugitive to the same town where his outlaw brother Bambino (Spencer) has been posing as the sheriff. They both help local Mormon settlers take on the Major (Granger) and his violent henchman as well as banditos led by Mezcal. I always enjoy the chemistry between Hill and Spencer in this movie. It always makes me laugh when Trinity rides into town (and in the middle of a tense confrontation between Bambino and the Major’s henchmen) while giving a smile of recognition to his brother’s look of annoyance. For some reason I am oblivious to the fact that Farley Granger plays the Major. The one thing that always nags me in the back of my mind about the movie that they could have done differently is make the settler farmers Quakers (who were pacifists) instead of Mormons. Mormons were not pacifists historically. Otherwise, one of the greats as far as SW’s go. Rating: 4/5.
5 Likes
Day 13: Three Ruthless Ones
Horse opera.
1 Like
SPAGVEMBER FEST 2025
Day 13
Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964)
Long overdue rewatch.
The film that started it all for both Sergio Leone and the genre overall. A little slower in places than I remember from years ago, but still engaging all the way through. Leone may not have had any of the artistic liberty he would become noted for in the sequels here, but he still does great with what he has.
Clint Eastwood got to shed the clean cut image of Rowdy Yates with this film, and would birth the stone cold tough guy image he would carry for the remainder of his career.
Gian Maria Volonte proved himself a capable villain with the Ramon Rojo character and while he would forgo the stardom he secretly craved, still had a worthwhile career.
The supporting cast of Marianne Koch, Jose Calvo, Wolfgang Luckshy, Sieghardt Rupp, Joseph Egger, Mario Brega, Aldo Sambrell, etc, are all in fine form.
Arrow’s 4K looks immaculate and impressive.
5/5
7 Likes
No. 13 LA MORTE NON CONTA I DOLLARI
Really cool SW from Ricardo Freda with Mark Damon in the lead. With elements of crime movies it is always a pleasure to watch. Some brutal scenes are obviously cut and therefore Freda was never really happy with the result.
7,5/10
8 Likes
- Mendéz: White Comanche
-What an absolute masterpiece of western cinema! I was recently praising Tomas Milian’s acting but what about William Shatner’s double role as a half-native brothers! Such a memorable role… I mean two roles! Just amazing! And the music -how boring it is to have Morricone-like sound or classic orchestral music. Anyone could do that but only a genius could come up with the idea of using jazz music in the western! This is what spagvemberfest is all about -watching memorable classic films like this! Must-see for every western fan.
…and the rating: 2/10
8 Likes
An enjoyable and fun SW for sure, solid action and a good story. I have the Koch/Plaion DVD as well, and it looks great. Fingers crossed it can get a Blu Ray some day.
1 Like
- Lanfranchi: Death Sentence
-I sadly fell asleep in the middle and slept through the whole 3rd act but woke up just in time when Milian entered the film. Milian’s albino freak is the highlight of the film for me anyway. 7/10
6 Likes
Day 13: Acquasanta Joe (a.k.a. Holy Water Joe) (1971) Directed by Mario Gariazzo. Starring Lincoln Tate, Ty Hardin, Richard Harrison, Tuccio Musameci, and Silvia Monelli. Just after the Civil War ends, ex-officer Jeff Donovan (Hardin) and his men rob a bank with a cannon. Among the stolen holdings was the savings of bounty hunter Acquasanta (“Holy Water”) Joe (Tate). The bank president and the Union Army enlist Holy Water Joe to go after Donovan and his men and return the money. Richard Harrison nearly stole the show as goofball Charlie Bennett. The scenes with Charlie at his mother’s funeral and his reactions during his rescue from a hangman’s noose are pricelessly funny. Harrison later reported that the role had originally been meant for Klaus Kinski. Ty Hardin was also perfect in the role of the sleazy, ruthless, yet charming Jeff Donovan. Lincoln Tate’s performance was as full as dish water. The use of electric guitar riffs was a nice touch to this trope/cliche challenging SW. Rating: 3/5.
5 Likes
Day 14: Kill Johnny Ringo
More decent than I was expecting. Starts out pretty eh, very much like those other early spaghettis that are more like the American Bs, but an unexpected mean side pops up over time.
5 Likes
SPAGVEMBER FEST 2025
DAY 14
Per il Gusto di Uccidere
Rewatch
This little SW gem just gets better every time I see it. A solid revenge story mixed with protecting a shipment of army gold from Mexican bandidos.
Craig Hill does some of his best work as the truly morally ambiguous Hank “Lanky Fellow” Fellows. While he ultimately protects the gold shipment and the town, he strangely allows a Union Army escort to get massacred and then takes out the gang that ambushed them at the start of the film. He does show some scruples in not hurting the women or his main quarry’s son.
Jorge “George” Martin is in good form as the interestingly named Mexican bandit leader Gus Kennebeck. This guy is just pain despicable in that he’ll go to any lengths, including kidnapping a defenseless woman to ensure cooperation of a bank employee, to meet his ends. He does show an interesting dichotomy in that he truly does care about his son and common law wife, even with being an unrepentant criminal for many of his other actions.
Genre regulars Fernando Sancho, Piero Lulli, Jose Manuel Martin, George Wang, Rada Rassimov, Jose Canalas, and Franco Ressel offer fine supporting roles.
Good action, good story, and cool/interesting characters make this a fun SW to just sit back and enjoy
4/5
6 Likes
Death on High Mountain (1968) (orig. La morte sull’alta collina) - Director: Fernando Cerchio - 5/10.
Although the project yet again recounts the story about a host of groups vying with one another to lay their hands on a hidden trove, it is substantially elevated by elements of family drama and comedy, likewise featuring a sort of a master-and-pupil relation between the characters played by Luis Dávila and Peter Lee Lawrence. The plot here exhibits a refreshing dose of novelty in the way it presents the material, paying as much heed to interpersonal dynamics as to action sequences. The intrigue in which a high-ranking member of the local community avails himself of a Mexican bandit so as to rob the bank promptly brings to mind and seems to anticipate the Sartana series, not in the least because Parolini’s subsequent production would use some of the same interiors; the youngster’s interactions with his sister and Bible-thumping father do not significantly conduce to the foremost plotline, but at least shed some light upon his background, variegating the storyline ever so slightly. Dávila’s part proves especially intriguing in that he appears to be a sort of a demiurge here, nonchalantly overseeing the proceedings, coolly managing his relationship with the madcap and intervening only when the situation calls for it, which kind of flies in the face of the macho gunfighter trope film’s analogs would frequently repose upon. Pic’s more farcical facets do not turn out all that nettlesome inasmuch as they aren’t narration’s only focus, constituting merely one of the many ingredients comprising the larger dish. On the whole, the salmagundi amounts to an enjoyable if minor entry which ought to appeal to subgenre’s most seasoned aficionados.
6 Likes
White Fang and the Gold Diggers (1975) (orig. La spacconata) - Director: Alfonso Brescia - 3/10.
First things first, film’s English dub is genuinely heinous and seems to have been slapped together by a bunch of random people taken off the street with no real feel for voice acting whatsoever, doing guttural or affected voices and all other manner of ridiculous elocutions; if you really must see this, try getting a version dubbed in Italian or in Spanish or whatever, otherwise you’re in for a bona fide cringe ride, though you are in for a cringe ride either way. Even if the storyline here, by and large, reworks such familiar plot devices as that about a land grabber attempting to drive away a newly arrived gold prospector by resorting to underhanded means, the plot likewise includes a couple of novel details, though these do more to discomfit rather than to engross: what with the newcomer having entered into an arranged marriage with someone he hasn’t seen since he was a child, he anticipates bride’s arrival at his small cottage.
The local bigwig, on the other hand, sniffs out a chance to finally make him regret his stay and orders one of his henchmen to impersonate the groom and having done so, to take advantage of the bride. Not only is this plot point ludicrous on the face of it in view of that neither of the newly-weds seems to have a photo of the other person, but also nasty and tasteless given that its intended purpose seems to be partly humorous as well; the project bears the name of Brescia, so that entirely checks out. Aside from that cute little tidbit, loads of animal cruelty and slapstick padding to top it all off, the movie also features plenty of kiddie action which is so rife with cutesy interactions and so saccharine in nature it is likely to make your teeth hurt for days. On the whole, even if the flick remains weirdly watchable in spite of its outrageous antics and overall asininity, it is tough to determine at whom this was aimed in light of its internally conflicted content, it being neither fully adult nor fully juvenile and consequently, falling through in the end.
5 Likes
Day 14: You’re Jinxed, Friend…You’ve Met Sacramento (1972) Directed by Giorgio Cristallini. Starring Ty Hardin, Christian Hay, Giacomo Rossi, Stuart, and Jenny Atkins. Retired boxer Jack “Sacramento” Thompson (Hardin) tries to be a good father to his two adult children: Jim (Hay) and Maggie (Atkins) while continuing to fight with his old enemy, Tom Murdock (Stuart), a criminal from his past who accuses Sacramento of past wrongs. His kind want him to settle down and his saloon-owning girlfriend Rosy seems to want a more serious commitment. When Murdock kidnaps Sacramento’s daughter Maggie for $20 thousand ransom, he must finally make the fight of his life to save her. Sacramento was an acquired taste for me. Random scenes like the Christian spiritual revival procession and sing-along among Mexican peons and the scene with Sacramento peeping on his son Jack while he’s making out with his new beau, Evelyn, were awkward and off-putting. However, the movie grew on my as I continued watching it. Rating: 2.5/5.
4 Likes