27: Rosati:Those Dirty Dogs (1973)
-I got my Koch Enzyklopädie 2 today on mail so it was appropriate to watch Dirty Dogs from it. Pleasant film even though it is spoilt with some stupid humor and ideas. Character of El Supremo is so bonkers that he’d be fitting to a Tresette film, here he’s so out of place. Korano is memorable character but then again he’s just like any other bounty killer specialist. He reads the quran but that’s it, they could come up with something more interesting. I have to admit I like the silly theme song. 6/10
That’s the guy from Pecos Cleans Up, just saw both recently
Spagvemberfest 2015 number 7
Tepepa (Petroni / 1968)
Still a very good film but maybe I’ve overdosed on these Zapata westerns a bit over the past week or so. Whatever the reason, I found myself less engaged than before and more irritated by the audio drop out on my Alan Young DVD and just didn’t enjoy myself as much as I have done in the past with this one. Nothing I can pinpoint as being wrong with the film, just too much of the same in a short space of time I suspect. Happily, the Zapatas are now done for the rest of the month so I can relax and look forward to some Sancho, guyliner and homoerotic undertones in the next instalment. Never thought I’d hear myself say that!
Just throw that abomination in the bin and get the Koch dvd or blu.
I watched a couple of spaghs this week, but was so busy with other things that I didn’t have time to write about them here and make the necessary changes to the review in the database. Some reviews still suffer from the new layout-flu.
One of the spaghs I watched was:
Johnny Yuma (Guerrieri, 1966)
The hero is a slyboots and the villain a sexy lady in this not too well-known movie, considered by some to be a minor classic. It’s not perfect, but it’s an intriguing genre piece, violent, funny and often a bit puzzling
Read more here:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Johnny_Yuma_Review_(Scherpschutter)
Johnny Yuma’s always been one of my favourite minor genre films - it reminds me in many ways of Arizona Colt, A Pistol for Ringo and $10,000 for a Massacre: great stuff.
28.Margheriti: Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974)
-Now this is a film I had not watched in ages. I remembered not liking it but it’s actually pretty good and funny film. Too bad I only had old UK dvd (with stupid Blood Money title) which is fullscreen and makes you claustrophobic and also it’s only 96 minutes. I don’t know what’s cut but maybe the continuity problems (where and why Deacon teams up with mexicans? how did he knew the girls?) are dvd’s fault. Cleef is great and they make a good pair with Lo Lieh. 6/10
I had the same feelings when I rewatched it (to write a review): my expectations were low, but it was quite alright
Spagvemberfest 2015 number 6
$10,000 Blood Money (Guerrieri / 1967)
Guyliner galore!
Not just bleak (as you’d expect in a Spag) but sad too. Poor old Django doesn’t really know what to do with a girl but cries when he loses her anyway. He’s a hopeless case but this is far from a hopeless film. Definitely still a top tenner for me.
Ace HighI I quattro dell’Ave Maria
Or the four of the Holy Mary, nice title, it’s the third or fourth time I’ve watched this one, and actually every time I watched I liked a bit more than the last one.
Now I know that my judgment of the film in my first view, was determinated by the fact I was used to another type of films with Hill and Spencer, my subconsciente was expecting something else, and in Colizzi hands both Hill And spencer were different type of characters, for better, now I understand that.
Conclusion my top 20 needs some rearrangement. A good spag that’s what it is.
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2015 - THE BIG RUNDOWN: NUMBER 3
Into the top 3! The medal positions! And at #3 on my Big Rundown, it’s The Big Gundown (Sollima, 1966). My third-favourite spag, and also my third-favourite Lee Van Cleef spag. A clutch of bronze medals! Still, it takes the gold for “Favourite Spag of Mine Which Wasn’t Directed By Sergio Leone”, an award which I guess somewhat gives away my top two. Still, sod it.
Spagvemberfest 2015 number 5
The Big Gundown (Sollima / 1966)
Saw this for the first time after years of waiting at the Venice Biennale when they had their Spaghetti Western retrospective back in 2007 (I think). That weekend was one of my greatest Spag related experiences and this film has been Top 5 for me ever since. Seen it many times since in different settings and it never fails to deliver. That first time remains etched in my memory though.
Still in my Top 5 as well (time to rewatch it actually).
I don’t think the first four will change, the top 4 seems cemented, but i’m a bit in doubt about n°5
- Once upon a Time in the West
- The Good, the bad and the Ugly
- The Great Silence
4; The Big Gundown
Three movies more or less on a level, the two Corbucci Zapatas, Mercenary and Compañeros + Sollima’s Face to Face
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2015 - THE BIG RUNDOWN: NUMBER 2
Clint Eastwood, arguably at his Spaghetti best. Gian Maria Volonté, likewise. Lee Van Cleef, inarguably in the role and the form of his career (well, IMO, anyways). And a director about to gatecrash the province of the true greats. The penultimate movie on my Big Rundown on the penultimate day of SpagvemberFest 2015 is, of course, For a Few Dollars More (Leone, 1965), for my money one of the finest movies ever made of any genre, and possibly the movie which, more than any other, cemented my love for the western genre in general and of course for the spags which tweaked my onions most of all.
“What about our partnership?”
“Maybe next time.”
1 Like
29 Schamoni: Potato Fritz (1976)
-One eurowestern for change which I had not seen before. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to it (I watched 3 movies prior to it) but I didn’t really get it. If there was a plot I surely didn’t understand a thing about it. There was some odd stuff in it anyway like a priest chasing buffalos. There was some good music here and there but they were short snippets which made me wonder if they were all took from another film, at least there was some Dvorak which worked well. 4/10
Spagvemberfest 2015 number 4
Return of Ringo (Tessari / 1965)
Running out of time now to complete the full 30 but this one was never going to be missed out. Working on the basis that your Top 20 should be based on the films you enjoy most Return of Ringo will very likely be my number 1 when I finally get round to updating my list. From the opening song to the final musical crescendo I am swept along with sure joy every time. Gemma and Tessari’s very best film and the rest of the cast are absolutely perfect. I just adore it.
My own measly contribution to Spaghvemberfest, albeit a highly interesting one:
A Man Called Sledge (1980 / Vic Morrow)
Notorious bandit Sledge (James Garner) and his rag tag team of thieves scheme a daring gold heist.
With lots of Almeria scenery, some great cinematography, memorable music, fine action sequences and an amusing Garner, “Sledge” is quite a flick I have to say. This is the first time I’ve seen it, so I am happy that it was via the newly released BluRay that is now out and available. A full review of that disc (mostly in German) will follow soon.
Spagvemberfest 2015 number 3 (Except not)
The Last Rebel (Spangler / 1971)
So didn’t quite get to the 30 but 28 wasn’t a bad effort. And with only the 3 top Leone’s left to watch and 2 of those running over 2 and a half hours were never going to get a viewing I wound up going from the sublime to the ridiculous and finished off the month with an absolute turkey. In truth I was copying this for a friend and needed to check that the disc was ok so wound up watching through for the hell of it.
Genuinely one of the worst westerns I have seen. So clumsily made it views like a bad home movie and featuring possibly the worst soundtrack ever in a Spag. In reality it doesn’t feel European in any way. But, Namath apart, the cast is pretty solid so how it turned out this bad is a lesson in the importance of a competent director and a half decent script. Never have Jack Elam and Woody Strode been so sadly wasted.
Ah well, 27 crackers out of 28 viewed isn’t a bad ratio I suppose.
1 Like
SPAGVEMBERFEST 2015 - THE BIG RUNDOWN: NUMBER 1
Couldn’t get to a PC last night; we’re finally joining the 21st century today and having our carpets up and wood flooring in, so my pc lies upstairs, pulled to pieces and stacked on top of itself. Nevertheless, last night, my final movie for the inagural SpagvemberFest and #1 in my personal Big Rundown could only be The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (Leone, 1966), imo the finest spag ever made, the finest western ever made, arguably the finest movie ever made. Lee Van Cleef returns to the Dollars Trilogy but, this time, he’s as evil as his previous character was good, Clint perfects his own taciturn agent of death, the entire movie is swiped from under the noses of the pair of them by the masterclass put on by Eli Wallach and director Sergio Leone confirms his legendary status with this sweeping opera of violence. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly is a buddy movie, it’s a chase movie, it’s a comedy, a drama, a war film. It’s so many things. If you can’t find anything to like in this picture, I don’t know what you want. And given that I have little to do today but sit about while the flooring guys crack on with their work, I may just hole up in my bedroom and watch it all over again.
Well, that’s that! Thanks to everyone who contributed, and a huge thanks, big kissie and a hearty congratulations to those who soldiered through the majority of the month. It was properly tough going towards the end there, but I’ll be doing it again next November for sure.
1 Like
Well, December is upon us and I’m afraid Brother Soren/AvatarDK’s post way back in Spagvember came true. I didn’t complete.
I was gonna make all sorts of excuses, ranging from the forum disappearing and therefore being unavailable to give me the moral support I so needed in my moments of weakness, to outright lies such as my dog being kidnapped. But truth is… I jus’ got a bit tired. 
Tired, 'cos I had more work at the end of the month than at the beginning, and found shoe-horning in a film sometimes difficult. But, also a bit tired of remaining within the genre, and I really didn’t want to not do my current Top 10 justice with a tired and forced agenda.
So - I’m gonna save my last bunch of 8 for an unofficial Spagcember watch, and I’ll slip a couple more in so I can better throw a new Top 20 Brother Stanton’s way by the new year.
Since last time I just did a quick rewatch of the highlights of Killer Kid to confirm it will make it, but was hugely disappointed by a re-view of Django, Last Killer which almost certainly won’t with a poor 13.5 score.
I think it was this disappointment that surprised me, and caused me to pause my spag-fest, in case it was indeed my jadedness that was the problem and not the film… holy existential spag-doubt, brothers.
But, in the meantime, a few refreshing Giallos cuddled up in front of a roaring woman, washed down with a bottle or two of Aspall’s cider, and I’ll be ready to regain my spagworthiness soon I reckon.
Fair play to the rest of ya’s - and I’ll try and do a bit better next time… 