Spagvemberfest 2016 Number 5
I had planned to re-visit Price of Power when I heard of Tonino Valerii’s death but work and other stuff got in the way so it has had to wait until now for it’s much overdue outing. The first Gemma film of this Spagvemberfest for me. There will definitely be more.
I see. I’ll bear it in mind next time I watch it, which will bee soon. But not in November! Then I may or may not pick an argument.
On the list as well, but i’m afraid the list is a bit long …
Tonight: Pistoleros (Ballad of a Gunman)
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2016 - A FISTFUL OF REAPPRAISALS: DAY 5
I managed to get Garringo in yesterday and tbh it’s the first movie of this SpagvemberFest to have improved for me with this new viewing. Far more enjoyable than I remember (and in complete contrast to Day 1’s Shango which I found this time to be a slog).
Anyway, I’m aiming for something a bit more fun today, so I’ve gone for I am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (Carnimeo, 1969) or, as I like to think of it: Batman 1880 with all of those off-kilter camera angles. I kept expecting Gianni and Klaus to start dancing The Bat-usi while a fist-fight replete with huge onomatopoeic text balloons (ZOINNNK!! KA-PLOW!!) erupted around them. An easy, fun pic this, yet I don’t think I’ve seen it for close to three years now. Holy franchise aversion!
Look on the right of the pic. Seems they also made a drawing of a scene from Sabata. Looks like the scene in which Van Cleef (or rather his stunt double) jumped off the balcony, early on the movie.
Also, look at Garko’s tie closely. It seems he had a huge (cock) erection.
Right. Hadn’t noticed that yet
no 5.Carnimeo: They Call Him Cemetary (1971)
-Carnimeo was always good at mixing comedy with serious material but this is the film that would benefited so much from cutting out some of the silliest stuff. Scenes with Garko and Berger are pure gold that capture the essence of spaghetti westerns but then there’s the inevitable overlong saloon fight and stupidity. Too bad because the film has potential to be one of the best of the genre. 7/10
Visually stunning, narratively well-structured, Navajo Joe, second Western from Corbucci’s arguably most creative period, 1966 to 1968, is flawed only by Burt Reynolds’s rather listless portrayal of the film’s eponymous hero (fortunately counterbalanced by an excellent supporting cast). Sporting a hideous hairpiece, Reynolds, of self-proclaimed Cherokee ancestry, seems ill at ease with his role as a revenge-seeking Native American and a little lost. Let’s blame it on the rug. Reynolds’s athletic physical presence is nonetheless impressive. – Tonight: I crudeli.
Spagvemberfest 2016 Number 6
Plan to watch a few Corbuccis this month if all goes well and thought The Hellbenders was as good a place to start as any. Always thought this one had an interesting style mash up of American and Italian which worked better than you might expect. Looking forward to a re-visit.
Good one to start with, Phil H!
Good viewing!
no 6. Baldi: Get Mean (1975)
-The strangest sw ever made? Maybe if you can call it a western, more like fantasy film. Many have said about the film that it´s a weird but entertaining, strangely I think it’s mostly boring. It doesn’t matter if there’s monsters, ghosts, barbarians, lesbians, explosions etc. etc. if you have already stopped caring about the film because of the whole premise just didn’t made any sense. I liked most of the music but then there’s the funny music playing during some fight scenes which makes them look like comedy even when they’re not. But I have to say that the Blue undergrounds blu-ray disc looks stunning. 4/10
It is indeed more or less boring, and a waste of ideas.
Compared to Blindman and the 3 Stranger films it is some kind of disaster.
Pistoleros (Ballata per un Pistolero) was one of the first movies I reviewed for SWDB.
It’s still one of my favorite spaghetti westerns among the 'lesser-known’ genre entries. It uses the premise of Sergio Leone’s legendary For a Few Dollars More - two men chasing a notorious bandit for different reasons - to create a 'different’ image of bounty hunters and bounty hunting.
Shot in former Yugoslavia (instead of Spain) it also has a different look.
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Pistoleros_review
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2016 - A FISTFUL OF REAPPRAISALS: DAY 6
Hm, it’s a cold, lazy Sunday and in a first for SpagvemberFest 2016 I’m taking on a movie I’m not entirely looking forward to: The much-loved A Stranger in Town (Vanzi, 1966). Now, I’ve seen Stranger a couple of times already and it should be a spag I respond to, with its spartan, violent approach, but I haven’t (as yet) taken to it at all. But why? When I first saw it I wondered if maybe it was Tony Anthony. I just couldn’t buy into him as the deadly, taciturn lead. Looking at him just reminded me that he wasn’t Clint Eastwood or Gianni Garko or any other lead who actually looks like an agent of death
Now though, I’m not so sure it is Tony Anthony with whom I have a problem. In fact I know it’s not; I simply don’t think I entirely “got” what he was doing with the role until I saw The Stranger Returns (Vanzi, 1967), whereupon I enjoyed his performance far more. No, the thing which keeps A Stranger in Town at arm’s length for me is the chronic overuse of that f*ckawful out-of-tune theme. It’s already lodged itself, earworm-style, into my brain as I write this, and I can feel myself flinching inside at the prospect of watching the movie as a result. However, the regard with which A Stranger in Town is held, coupled with my own belief that behind that tone-deaf racket lies a movie I would otherwise really enjoy, keeps me coming back for another stab. Maybe I’ll overlay the score-heavy scenes with Taylor Swift tunes or something. That demented bunnyboiler has got to be useful for something, surely? Shake it off, shake it off!
I have some trouble with this one, but will give it another shot later in the month.
As I have watched this,
I’ll sidetrack to watch this:
I think it is a good looking film, but far from stunning and narratively with some problems, while Reynolds is absolutely ok in the lead, only his wig is a bit ridiculous.
Corbucci was developing his style in these years, but I think he did not care much for Navajo Joe (and he cared even less for I crudeli), and that’s a shame, cause it has enough of the ingredients for a much better film.
It has all kinds of problems, but it still is a very enjoyable piece of film making. In that sense it’s the Corbucci movie par excellence: uneven, great, sloppy, sparks of brilliance, stretches of negligence, you name it. I like it a lot. And that odd Morricone score fit this movie like a glove.
Absolutely
