Doing a spontaneous Magnificent Seven sequel series retrospective (because they’re on Prime). Return of the Seven is a turd. Off to the next.
Guns of the Magnificent Seven at least has more of a story going for itself, as well as some pretty solid dialogue - and of course the Spain locations 
So far so good, that was a lot more enjoyable than ‘Return’.
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And to conclude, I “…Ride!” out once more, with the Lee van Cleefinator on my side. Kind of a cheapo TV-movie if you ask me, too bad, but on the plus side it starts off rather surprisingly as some kind of rape and revenge story, morphs into some kind of Dirty Dozen and then some… at least it’s a bit more inventive than the others. Still enjoyable.
Edit: Actually, it kinda grew on me and I loved the fact that it was full of little ideas from start to finish
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Magnificent Seven Ride is my favourite sequel to the original. I didn’t like the other two as much but Ride is definitely one I can rewatch.
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His Name Was King - 4/10
The Burrowers - 5/10
Catlow - 5/10
Hey Amigo! A Toast to Your Death - 6/10
Gentleman Killer - 4/10
Dead Birds - 4/10
The Seventh Bullet - 6/10 [technically not a western, but close enough]
Decision at Sundown - 6/10
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The Wind. Wow, that was creepy, I was NOT ready for that. On the downside (or upside, not sure), it is super short.
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This 2007 remake of the 1957 original, is one of my favourite Westerns from the past 15-20 years; and is, IMHO, even better than the Van Heflin/Glenn Ford version.
Featuring superb acting from Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster, and Peter Fonda, a rousing score by Marco Beltrami, beautiful cinematography, and confident directing from James Mangold, make this oater a winner in my book. This tale is a welcome reminder that life doesn’t always have a happy ending, and that things don’t always go according to plan…
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A number of westerns from Christmas onwards:
Appaloosa
I like this western, the feel of authenticity, Everet Hitch with his eight-gauge shotgun, the atmosphere and character development
Posse
Re-watch. Love the intro and ending by Woody Strode. The movie has a Spaghetti western feeling.
Open range
Another wester that needed a re-watch. Now I noticed that in the night before the shootout they went from town to the doctor and back several times. They should have stayed at a certain place and get ready in stead of getting wet and dry up somewhere
California
Nice twilight Spaghetti western. Still in doubt if it was a first time or second time watch because some scenes looked familiar but then it must have been more than 25 tears ago. I enjoyed this little gem, one of Gemma’s finest
Django Sfida Sartana
Had to get into the story with the different actors for Django and Sartana. No big actor names. Liked some of the introductions with the freezing frame and the way it sometimes was filmed from the perspective of a character. One thing bothered me, after a big fistfight which tore them up pretty much they went to a cemetery and all bruises were gone, washed off?
At least they are no comical duo
The “special effect mouse” when Singer’s niece (Adler Gray) was encountered though was hilarious. And how many shots did Django fire from the pistol thrown at him… and there are more of these continuation mistakes.
But despite the flaws I enjoyed watching the movie
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I just rewatched that aswell. By far my favourite Gemma western
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Just enjoyed Anthony Steffen in 1965’s Blood at Sundown, he’s a bit more verbal than usual but it’s a pretty good spaghetti
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The dead don’t hurt.
Pretty solid
Animated by sfida a rio bravo, I remembered that there is a prequel to this movie, which tells the events at the OK Choral and the story of Wyatt Earp before he rushes to Jeannie Lee’s aid: Tombstone starring Kurt Russel, one of the best US westerns alongside The Wild Bunch and Young Guns!
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Watched few days ago “The Man Called Gringo” starring Daniel Martin, Sieghardt Rupp and Franco Lantieri …
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Today I watched ‘Todo Por Nada’ (Mexico 1969) in Spanish with ropey English subtitles.
A basic revenge movie but with some almost quease inducing scenes and some other scenes that verge on surreal dreamscapes.
Clearly Spaghetti influenced like many Mexican westerns of the period.
I’d give this one 8/10.
In preparation for the ‘Dollars’ Trilogy release by Arrow…I watched this yesterday.
'HANG ‘EM HIGH’ (1968)
Clint’s first film since saying adios to both ‘Rawhide’ and Sergio Leone…
An okay, serviceable Western…distinguished by it’s attempt to be Italian…
Directed by Ted Post (‘Rawhide’, ‘Magnum Force’ (1973), this tale of revenge was (to my mind) clearly influenced by Eastwood’s reputation forged by the Sergio Leone Westerns.
Did Ted Post ‘get the point’ of Eastwood’s persona in Italy? Obviousy!
For some reason, I enjoyed this more than usual. I hadn’t watched it for eleven years, so maybe that made the difference. As you get older (at least in my experience), your attitudes change.
What we have here, is Clint at his most vulnerable, at the beginning…but also as cool as a cucumber after being hanged, ‘resurrected’, then seeking revenge on the lynch mob that strung him up.
Yeah…I liked it more than usual…Clint with a quiff…
Last words…the love interest with the late Inger Stevens segment slows it down…
Having said all of that…this is a gallant effort to cash in on the bankable commodity that was Clint Eastwood…
Hollywood was, I believe, recognising that they had a new star on their hands…
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I watched Macho Callahan (1970) with David Janssen, Jean Seberg, and Lee J. Cobb. It was a joint American-Mexican production with obvious spaghetti western influences. Janssen plays Diego “Macho” Callahan, the movie’s Tex-Mex antihero who escapes a prison camp for Union POWs in 1864 during a camp rebellion against the camp’s sadistic Confederate guards. He returns to Texas to kill the man (Cobb) who got him in trouble with the law, forcing him to enlist. Being a mean SOB, he kills a Confederate officer (played by David Carradine) over a bottle of champagne and incurs the wrath of the officer’s Southern Belle widow, Alexandra (Jean Seberg). She makes a few attempts to bump off Macho before they realize they love each other. And during the most deranged act of sexual violence I’ve seen over the handful of decades I’ve been watching movies. The ending didn’t do it for me. It’s not the worst spaghetti-influenced American western I’ve seen, and not the best either.
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I was hugely disappointed by this film … I’d known about it since the early days of VHS, (but didn’t have a machine to watch it back then.) but only got to see it about 10 years ago … I don’t know WTF it’s trying to say about the Seberg / Janssen ‘relationship’, but it stinks !
Visually much of it looks great and gritty, and showed real promise in the early scenes but it’s nasty and way off kilter and I don’t mean in an interesting or quirky sense.
Worth seeing perhaps in a film history context but that’s all I’d say to recommend it.
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The Tall T (1957) – A very boring film with no real direction or anything interesting happening. This was the first Budd Boetticher Western I watched, and it will certainly be the last. - 4.5/10
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) – I was very impressed by this Western. It is a masterfully executed revenge film featuring strong performances from everyone involved, excellent production values, outstanding visual direction, and a compelling story with interesting characters. Most impressively, it is well-paced - something I thought was impossible in 1950s Westerns. I highly recommend this one. - 8.5/10
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