I watched Robert Hossein’s The Taste of Violence (1961) and was blown away by its stark power and surprised at how it seemed to be at least a few years ahead of its time in its description of “The Revoloution”. I’m very impressed by it, not least the imagery of the aftermath of attacks by the army, killing captured prisoners, hanging their bodies in an avenue of death in a city and so on. Next up shall be Hossein’s Cemetery without Crosses, all part of my plan to write an article for the database on Hossein’s Westerns.
Nice! I haven’t seen The Taste of Violence, but it looks good.
Nah… The Proud And Damned’s tone wasn’t really dark. Sorta fatalistic, I’d say, but writer/director Ferde Grofe Jr. telegraphed its tone from the opening scene when they all bust out of a cabin shooting at unseen snipers before jumpin’ onto their horses ‘n hightailin’ it. I agree, it was quite watchable. And authentic. The characters all stayed logically in-character. I was mildly surprised the Columbian Army hung Conners, but it was the only thing they could do. The script stayed on-course.
" If ya ride long-enough, and far-enough… you get used to the smell of gunpowder. "
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching nothing but Spaghetti Westerns:
First off was Robert Hossein’s Cemetary without Crosses which is surely a Top-ten contender, so good it was. Everything seemed to combined: direction, art direction, in particular, the music by André Hossein (shurely sum relation?) create something wonderful, beautiful, scary, haunting…
Then it was Massimo Dallamano’s debut film, Bandidos. Formerly Sergio Leone’s cinematographer on his first two “Dollars” films but then dropped in favour of Tonino Delli Colli for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Alex Cox in his book indulges in some dubious “pop psychology” (his words, not mine), explaining that the revenge plot of the film ties into Dallamano’s then feelings about being “abandoned” by Leone. I’m not sure I would go along with that, but the film itself is very good, with Enrico Maria Salerno giving one of the best performances in a Spaghetti Western as a man eaten up by hatred. Not everything else is quite as good, but still a very good entry in the genre.
Finally, it was Ferdinando Baldi’s The Forgotten Pistolero: it’s good, and the apocalyptic final is certainly memorable, as are the flashbacks, but something seems to stop it from all coming together to form one cohesive whole. The scenes set in the present day are sometimes confusing, obscuring the plot and character motivations, when, in a film based on a classical tragedy, they should be clear for full audience participation. Still, it is good and I enjoyed it and one I shall return to in the future.
He is Robert’s father.
John… which do you prefer The Taste of Violence or Cemetary without Crosses ?
It’s a hard one; both are very good. I would probably give the edge to Cemetary without Crosses because overall, it is the more polished work, taking the themes of The Taste of Violence and advancing them further. Still, that doesn’t mean the earlier work is excellent in its own right.
I have re-watched The Taste of Violence a few weeks ago. It really is a strong film. And a moving one.
I think I prefer A Taste of Violence, really an impressive movie, gets better with multiple viewings
No match for these two for me… Cemetary without Crosses by far.
Taste of violence, a surprinsing film for the time it was made. Both are very good of course, but if I had to pick one and only one, Taste of violence would be my choice. The most surprinsing thing is the SW feeling in it, in the most pure form, it does not reminded me of any classic western I can think of, maybe other non western films, but even so.
I liked for several reasons but one and most important is that its a sad film, sad as a Fado song, and that is a very Portuguese feeling, sadness and fate that our destiny is already chosen.
Why is Hossein so unknown?
What about his other films?
I’ve seen only two of the several films he directed Point de chute with Johnny Hollyday, not a great film I made a review of it here. The other one was Le vampire de Düsseldorf a better film but also nothing special, Siodmak take on the same story with Mario Adorf was much better.
I read that he directed some good noir films, but never seen those, but Point de chute is a noir. Anyway he always a low profile actor. Never saw his version of Les misérables with Lino Venture.
@ Why is Hossein so unknown?
Maybe because he was French. As far as I know, he made ‘classic’ movies when in France avant garde, nouvelle vague etc. were the talk of the town. There’s probably no other country in the world where this pressure to be hip, to be up-to-date (and not being old-fashioned) is so strong. In some aspects, French critics are even worse than prophets from the Middle East: they are ruthless, think they know everything better than others, and have absolutely no brains.
Only in some aspects, of course.
Hossein only become known to me in the last say ten years or so, probably knew the face previously but had no name for the face so to speak. Alot of his films are not known to me, and like many on the forum I view many films from various countries.
Honestly I know him from ‘‘Cemetery Without Crosses’’ only.
@ scherpschutter: In some aspects, French critics are even worse than prophets from the Middle East: they are ruthless, think they know everything better than others, and have absolutely no brains.
That’s really funny, Scherps! You a comedian too? ;D
@Robert Hossein, I’ve known him for a long time from films like, RIFIFI, OSS-117 PANIC IN BANGKOK , THE SECRET AGENTS , NO ROSES FOR ASS-117 just to name a few, a good actor IMO.
Rififi is a movie I want to watch.A well known film noir and maybe the best from Europe.Thanks for the mention chameleon.
@ That’s really funny, Scherps! You a comedian too?
Only when I’m talking about French critics
Hossein is well known as an actor, I was only asking for his reputation as director.