SpagvemberFest!

It was included in the first movies4men broadcast, and then cut out of every screening since.

The line does seem harsh by today’s standards … but historically, and in the time of the film’s production, no one would give this a 2nd thought.

‘Navajo Joe’ is full of derogatory comments about native Americans … but that movie is now seen as pro “Indian”, so presumably it’s more acceptable.

To me, we’re looking at adventure films made about rough characters in rough times, so in that context, I personally don’t have an issue. You can’t sweep over history to make it more palatable, whether it’s the 1860s or 1960s. People said, did and believed much worse in reality than anything portrayed in these movies, which dated or not are just simple escapist films. My humble opinion :wink:

DAY 26
Tonight, I’m having a crack at Django, the Last Killer (Vari, 1967). Can’t say I’m especially enthused by the thought of this one but our man @scherpschutter gave it a decent review so maybe it’ll be okay. I’ll have to leave it until the other side of midnight now though, these low-rent spags always die a death when I attempt to watch them at a more reasonable time.

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Spagvemberfest#26 Vari: A Hole in the Forehead
-I’m also watching Vari film with Ghidra today. Ghidra and Undari made a good job in the lead and so did Vari as the director. Slow moving film which benefits from excellent, melancholic soundtrack from Roberto Predagio. 6/10

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Not a big issue with me either. I will perhaps chew some more on it later. But for now, more pressing matters at hand, namely

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  1. Black Jack
    Release Date: 24.10.68

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Not in my original plan for Spagvember. But as another of the films I originally picked from the “browse film by year of release”-page turned out to be a 1969 release, and as the WildEast DVD of this 1968 release just dropped into my mailbox (it comes together with The Bell Starr Story), it will be on tonight. Another real nasty Indian in this one I think!

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José María Elorrieta’s Los siete de Pancho Villa, released in 3 AL, isn’t a Western, rather an adventure film set during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). Played by Ricardo Palacios, Pancho Villa appears only briefly at the beginning. He is depicted in a very unflattering way, as are his men, probably in keeping with the political agendas and views of dictator Francisco Franco’s right-wing regime. Villa was a revolutionary, after all.

Ricardo Palacios as Pancho Villa

Scherpschutter’s review of Los siete de Pancho Villa hits the mark. As Elorrieta’s two preceding Westerns, El hombre de la diligencia and Fuerte perdido, his Pancho Villa film lacks in narrative coherence, timing, dramaturgy and character development. In other words, it’s a boring affair. Of the three Elorrieta-directed films I’ve watched so far, Fuerte perdido is probably the best one. I already miss the Ro-Ma bros.

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Spagvember#28 Castellari: Kill Them All And Come Back Alone
-I’ve had the WE dvd on my shelf for 10 years and had not watched it until now. One reason for postponing it was that I remembered it as a total crap. But the version I had seen before was almost unwatchable, fullscreen, almost colourless mess so I was pleasantly surprised by the film in decent print. Well yes it is a “Bang crash, bang wallop, biff bosh bash - wallop wallop, kap-ow ping, boof aghhh BANG!” -just action and fistfights from beginning to end but it’s still entertaining. 6/10 (and that’s a quite increase from my original rating of 2/10)

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DAY 27

Getting my Dick Spitfire on once more, this time in the shape of One Damned Day at Dawn… Django Meets Sartana (Fidani, 1970), which feels like a mouthful until you consider that the far more accurate “One Damned Day at No Specific Time… Some Fella Going by the Name of Django (But Not the Django You’re Thinking Of) Meets a Bloke Called Ronson” doesn’t quite have the same razzle dazzle to it. Mr. Spitfire did a bunch of movies in rapid succession with the same cast but the way I manage to distinguish this one from the others is to remember that this one is “The Crap One” which, as you can imagine from the Miles Deem canon, is quite a f*cking statement. Oh well. Wish me luck.

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Si quieres vivir, dispara (“if you want to live, fire”) was released in 11 AL (depósito legal: 1975) or later. Its alleged director, José María Elorrieta, had died the year before, in February 10 AL. The film’s credits don’t mention him as director, only as writer (José M.a Elorrieta). No director is given in the opening credits, and the film ends with this insert:

So it’s anyone’s guess who actually directed Si quieres vivir, dispara (director’s name on the movie poster: J. Lacy). Javier Elorrieta is José María’s son, and he provided the film’s music (nice vocals by a singer named Andrea White). The film tells two parallel stories, one very close to Delmer Daves’s Jubal (9 BL), the other one not really a story but a procession of sequence after sequence of gratuitous violence. Tiresome.

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Btw what does AL mean?

“Anno Leonis” (AL) and “Before Leone” (BL). 1964 = 1 BL, 1965 = 1 AL. Explained above. :nerd_face:

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Ahh, great …

I missed that before, but now I’m a believer …

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  1. And Now… Make Your Peace with God
    Release Date: 26.10.1968

Tonight another breathtaking Fidani! But how did it end? Didn’t quite get it, so I’ll have to give it another look. But the next time I’ll go straight to this scene. Stunning lyrics here. Not to speak about her do. And I’ve seen that chess board somewhere before…

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DAY 28

Ah, now here’s one I’ve been avoiding for a long time: it’s Sartana in the Valley of Death (Mauri, 1970) and I’ve swerved it for as long as I have because tbh I’m not especially fond of William Berger and the perma-smug lop-sided grin on his face. Still, today’s the day, for better or worse.

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Spagvember#28 Sollima: The Big Gundown
-Film I’m starting to like more and more over the years, 9/10. Watching the film in english isn’t that great pleasure though, you have to choose between torso version or composite version where audio changes disturbingly in some scenes almost every line. And watching it with italian dub you miss LVC’s voice. I wish that someone could restore the english track with voice actors and imitators.

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LOL … Know exactly what you mean … re-watched ‘Sabata’ recently and that,‘Aren’t I so cool and handsome?’ expression really gets irritating - why the feck is he so pleased with himself!? :smiley:
However, ‘Sartana in the Valley of Death’, was a lot better than I expected, despite it’s cheapo sandpit look.

Enjoy!

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Nah … that doesn’t work. I hate the dubbing on GBU … apart from Eli Wallach, the voices are terrible. The LVC impersonator is nothing like the original … the restoration people should have shopped around for someone who really could imitate Lee, or just go with subtitles.
Amazing the amount of hours that went into this project, and yet the technicians are tone deaf or apathetic if they think this is satisfactory.

With these films, we’re looking at something vintage/ of it’s time … it should not be tampered with, unless original elements exist.

hmm… It’s been a long time I watched the extended edition with new dubs but I remember liking LVC’s voice best. Wallach’s and Eastwood’s voices sounded too different, too old.

Simon Prescott is the guy. Some lines he sounds pretty close, others he’s way off.

Clint is terrible … how can he not sound like himself!? … he appears to be using a regional accent (slightly Southern) which was never present in the original.

I expect the dubbing people had the two elderly stars for a couple of hours and had to make do with what they captured. Who’s going tell Clint, ‘That’s shit, do it again!’ ?

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