Tepepa (Giulio Petroni, 1969)

I remember that once, I was in a bookshop, and scoured Orson Welles’ biographies and their indexes for a reference to Tepepa but none was to be found.
I gather that Mr. Welles was a bit of a whore to get finance together for his own films. Out in Almeria( I think), for some reason or other, he agreed to participate in Tepepa, but it doesn’t register as important to him.
I think, that he, and the film are brilliant though, despite what his agenda might’ve been. The film is certainly ready for another viewing by myself - (my memory and my facts might be a bit dodgy on all these ā€˜facts’, of course :P).

Very well made, but i’m afraid quite sleep inducing with the English audio drop-outs not helping.

Surely its not asking too much for someone to do provide English subs over the Italian audio,just like on the Companerod dvd?

Haven’t seen NIGHT OF THE SERPENT yet,but i’d rate Petroni’s sw’s in this order of preference DEATH RIDES A HORSE,AND FOR THE ROOF A SKYFUL OF STARS,PROVIDENZA,TEPEPA.

On IMDB, it says it was shot in Spain and Mexico. Is that true?

Does anybody have ay translations of the non audi scenes? It is very irritating especially when they ae important scenes.

Unlikely. Bruckner, who cares very much for identifying locations, mentions only Spain.

The only european western shot in Mexico I know about is San Sebastian.

Or Viva Maria, Blueberry too.

Blueberry, yes, but that’s a newer entry.

Viva Maria, I don’t think so. Spain only imo

I’m not sure I understand what your saying. Viva Maria was filmed in Mexico. Although maybe not all, both of my sources say Morelos Mexico. But I’m not 100%.Haven’t seen it myself so I can’t visually judge.

Bruckner says Spain.
But here is maybe completely wrong. I’ve just checked an interview book with Louis Malle where he says that they shot it ā€œon so many different locations in Mexicoā€.

There was at least the Villa Mussolini in it, so it was also shot partly in Italy. Maybe also the interiors.

BTW, Viva Maria is not a western for me, there are only a few western elements in it.

I can see that. Women leads, circus, central America. Maybe yur right.

I’ve just watched this & thought it was pretty good.
Watching with the English dub was a bit annoying, though, as there are many scenes on the Alan Young disc with no sound at all - they could have at least made it revert to the Italian soundtrack… No English subs either, luckily I was able to understand most of the Italian subs during those scenes.

I would have really apreciated it if the lazy bastards took the time out of their lifes to dub these scenes into english. It goees silent at scenes which seem very important. But it is a very good movie.

After watching ā€œDeath Rides a Horseā€ as my first Petroni SW, I was of a fairly similar opinion. I loved the way the end of the movie was done, but the rest of it was rather uninspiring. Then I watched the excellent Tepepa…

… and I concur with the Reverend.

And indeed Stanton it seems…

However, if this is the case…

… I’m wondering which of Petroni’s remaining three I should try to get my hands on next? Maybe I should avoid the comedies and go with the Reverend’s recommendation?

Always follow the Reverend!

Yep, Night of the Serpent should be your next choice for sure.
Sky Full of Stars has its moments and Providencia is actually one of my favourites of all the comedies but neither of them are outstanding in any way.

Well,check out my article. But yes, do Serpent.

Cultcine.com has it.

You’re in good company Phil - apparently this is one of Milian’s personal favorites.

I was reading Phil H’s review over at the database and he mentions that Milian and Welles didn’t get along well on set - any details on this? I love ā€œvintageā€ gossip ;D

There something about this in Marco Giusti’s book, pag. 523

In short, this is what Giusti says (it’s based on two Milian interviews and a conversation with John Steiner):

Tomas apparently was afraid Welles had only come to Spain for the cash, and wasn’t really interested in making a movie with a young actor like he. At the same time Tomas felt that he was the star of the movie and told Petroni that he didn’t want to play second fiddle to Welles. according to John Steiner, Tomas ad Orson didn’t get along very well because Tomas was convinced Orson strongly disliked him.