Another nice boy goes hard role for PLL. This time from Jehovah’s witness to revenge obsessed killer. As others have said, the transition from pacifist to cold blooded gunman with a lightening draw is laughably quick and as a result it’s difficult to really get engaged with his character or the story in general but the supporting cast is good, especially Piero Lulli, and the runtime of less than 90 minutes means it doesn’t wear out it’s welcome.
Also, it has to be said, the English dialogue in this is downright awful.
DAY 9
Holy crazy camera angles, Batman! Today, it’s I am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (Carnimeo, 1969), a picture which always reminds me of the Caped Crusader’s camp-as-you-please TV show in terms of its presentation. It’s always a lot of fun though. A good Friday evening flick.
So far watching February and March releases, now moves on to April 1968. I’ve seen this one before. Didn’t think much of it then, and I’m afraid it didn’t change much with this second viewing.
Right. Since San Procrastinato hasn’t been supportive at all, I’ve decided to forsake pleading for help from above entirely. So there! – Released in January 1 AL, Aventuras del Oeste was Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent’s fourth Western (or eighth, depending on whether one wants to count his Coyote and Zorro movies as Westerns), his first with a German production company (Constantin Film) and, unfortunately, his worst up to that point in his career. A misbegotten hybrid of The Plainsman (1936) and Der Schatz im Silbersee (1962), Aventuras del Oeste is lacking in all departments: plot, dramaturgy, design, acting (Adrian Hoven as Wild Bill Hickok). For no apparent reason, the main characters – Buffalo Bill, W. B. Hickok and Calamity Jane – were renamed in the truncated German version.
Behind the green dress: Gloria Milland (in her third JLRM Western) plays Juanita Calamidad; so Helga Sommerfeld gets to wear Ms. Milland’s best dress.
Spagvember #10 Margheriti: And God Said to Cain
-Such a cool movie considering there’s hardly any plot. It’s all about the gothic atmosphere and Kinski 7/10
DAY 10
A third of the way into Spagvember, already? Yup, and today is Saturday… No, wait: Today is STEFFENday, which makes it time to hit up A Man Called Django (Mulargia, 1971). I’ve always liked this one, and although it wasn’t the first Steff film I ever saw it was the first Steff film I saw where I realised I actually liked The Steff.
With La muerte cumple condena†, his fifth Western, Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent has finally arrived in Spaghetti territory. First shown in Italy on March 10, 2 AL, under the title 100.000 dollari per Lassiter, the film features a morally elastic protagonist and equally ambiguous supporting characters. Claudio Undari’s Lassiter, an opportunist in the truest sense of the word, cunningly schemes and shoots his way toward revenge and a happy ending. Screenwriter Sergio Donati combines easygoing humor with drastic violence, and director JLRM delivers a fine, entertaining movie.
A well-dressed and -groomed Western gentleman of considerable stature: Mr. Lassiter. In the dysphemistic words of one of his adversaries: that “slicked-up, fancy dude.”
† What a weird title: “death serves a sentence.” By the way, a native Spanish speaker told me yesterday that “llega antes la muerte que …” or “antes llega la muerte que …” is generally used as an idiomatic phrase to emphasize that something (an idea, a thought, an event) is absolutely out of the question, meaning “I would rather die than …” or “.… when/until hell freezes over.” The correct phrases with “antes” as temporal conjunction: “antes (de) que llegue la muerte” (present), “antes (de) que llegara la muerte” and “antes (de) que llegase la muerte” (both past).
Spagvember #11 Ippolito: Arrapaho
-I wanted to see something new this time and ended up with this insane 80’s comedy, it’s a borderline case if you can call it a western though. Main story is a indian spoof but there’s also inserts of sketches set in modern times, I got the feeling that some of them were parodies of commercials. I watched it in italian without subtitles so I didn’t understand any of the long babbling dialogues but still… the film is sooo bad. Indians have big fallos as their totem, there’s gay indians and lots of fart jokes. Music was kinda good and there’s pretty girls and nudity for the plus side.
My rating: 2/10
Very enjoyable SW … nice jaunty theme music from Marcello Giombini, good use of Almeria locations, plus Luigi Pistilli, Aldo Sambrell and Benito Stefanelli as bad guy henchmen
Enjoyable flick which has a lighter tone without too much comedy but a massively overlong barroom brawl. PLL plays the youngster trying to break away from family constraints and Luis Davila looks like a cross between Gary Cooper and William S. Hart which is actually pretty effective for him.
This PLL retrospective has proven to be a pretty good ride so far. Very few classics but even less duds really and he fits his roles well. Also noticeable that even though last year I was cataloging the roll and shoots during my Steff-fest I should have been doing the same for PLL this time around. A definite penchant for a dive and shoot was our Peter.
Watched this one last Spagvemberfest as part of my Steffen marathon so has been one of the PLL films I remembered best. An unusual one for the German as he plays the bad guy in this; a killer with a psychotic hatred of army officers. A role he pulls off well which shows he had some range I think as he makes a very believable villain.
Looked back at this film’s thread to see if I felt the same way about it as, to be honest, I had completely forgotten what it was like. Turns out I feel exactly the same.
However, I like Ennioo’s summary better:
Safe to say I like it for all the things listed. Also, for it’s sparse dialogue and good direction. I will have to seek out a better copy of this than the vhs rip with Danish (I think) subs which I currently have. It’s a good one and allows PLL a much grittier role.
DAY 11
Ah, now we’re talking! A perfect Sunday movie and one I’ve not seen for awhile: The Return of Ringo (Tessari, 1965), the spagged-out edition of Homer’s The Odyssey featuring one of my favourite scores in the entire genre. Giddy-up, Montgomery!
Work got in the way and I wasn’t able to watch any Spag’s for a few days. However I’ve had the chance to watch to movies I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time.
Day 10: Requiscant
