My favorite track (uploaded in high quality 320):
Still plowing my way through my top 20 which led to this and Johnny Hamlet the other night. They were such ambitious projects but they managed to deliver, and theyāre two of the finest westerns ever made if you ask me, spaghetti, Hollywood or otherwise.
I gotta say, Arrowās English audio track is quite shit. Itās so distorted at times, especially when thereās music playing. The Koch DVD didnāt have this issue.
I also watched Return last night and greatly preferred it to Pistol, but interesting to see how different they are given the same production crew and troop of actors. Very much enjoyed Tony Raynsā apparently impromptu musings and the interviews with assistant cameraman etc.
I was always intrigued to see these movies because they were about the only spaghettis which got positive reviews in Sight & Sound (or was it Film Monthly Bulletin?) upon their original UK release. It was decades before I picked up two very ropey VHSs and I was slightly underwhelmed. Seeing Return again, and in such good shape itās gone up in my estimation. I felt it fell apart rather in the final stages.
The sound on Return is the fly in the ointment. I imagine the master tracks donāt survive for these movies and it was a transfer from an optical track with a bit of tweaking?
Canāt complain about the video transfer & extras. I was surprised to see that Arrow got the rights to the Koch featurettes.
They must have been very conscious of the audio issue. I hope they at least tried to fix it before releasing it.
The Ringo double was next on my shopping list, now Iām a little hesitant ā¦ but better to know up front.
Thanks for the info 
I wouldnāt want to overstate the audio issue. It only bothered me on Morriconeās music in Return when there is a noticeable wandering off pitch and general lack of fidelity. If, as I surmise, itās a transfer from optical, various methods exist to digitally remove defects in the optical track image, but the result is not going to match a decent magnetic transfer.
I know nothing about archival procedures on these old movies. Presumably the magnetic audio masters are not routinely scrapped, but I imagine theyāre likely to be mislaid at some point, given the vagaries of film preservation. Besides, remixing a fresh track from original audio materials would be a major undertaking. Clearly good digital recordings of the music exist and according to Dean a better soundtrack exists on DVD.
I remind myself at such times, the quality of image and sound are probably at least as good, if not better, than in un teatrucolo di provincia, circa 1965.
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I must admit I didnāt notice this when I watched it but I only ever watch RoR in Italian. Itās one of those where I think the English dub is not as good. (a la Django for example)
I found a great review from one of the amazon users who bought double disc with two Tessariās western classics. Love it! 
āā¦In contrast Return of Ringo I didnāt take to as much. It feels like its only Ringo in name the atmosphere is dark and brooding, Ringoās a depressed alcoholic on the road to redemption we have returning characters in different roles which is typical of these kinds of films. Considerably less budget almost no gore, set destruction and even the explosives going donāt really seem to do anything I guess they spent the entire budget on that chaingun and its ending is lacklustre not much of a showdown. So its worth it for the first film if you get it cheap and the seconds a bonus.ā
Checked out the Arrow commentary, and had to turn it off, as the pronunciations made me wince.
āDoose-ioā Tessari? Gemma with a hard G? Yikes.
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American commentators, by any chance ?
Itās amazing to me that quite a few well known expert commentators on the subject, have not been interested enough to learn the correct pronunciation of key players in the genre.
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Yeah, funny enough they pronounced āCorbucciā correctly. So why donāt they think āDuccioā follows the same rule?
Leone as āLee-own-eeā like Pony, and āLee-ownā (Guess that one comes from the Godfather).
āEye-vun Razimovā instead of āEe-van Rass-eemovā.
U wot m8? 
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If you canāt pronounce Gemmaās name properly, Iād be suspicious of your expertise on other matters!
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This movieās page in the SWDb has been upgraded to the new āSWDb 3.0ā format. Please have a look and let us know if thereās something you can add (information, trivia, links, pictures, etc.)
Yes, needs some work :))
The Return of Ringo I watched last night and it was better even than I expected. Big contrast with wise cracking fun boy Angel-face in the first āinstalmentā and beaten down anguished Ringo in the āsequelā. No drinking milk here as Ringo is putting away serious liquor.
Great to see all the same faces back in different roles. George Martin is super as Paco Fuentes and his smug head. Esteban a measured villian with his weakness for Rosita who plays all sides and makes it to the end to my surprise.
Gemma brings us through all the emotions and gives a super performance with great depth. The soundtrack is magnificent throughout jutting in scenes adding continuity, driving the plot and adding to the emotion.
The scenario with the town being controlled by the Mexican gang and the downtrodden locals is handled very well. The locals are in despair and the scene with the (first) funeral and subsequent shootings is great. I loves the religious imagery popping up everywhere: Ringo in the church with the candles lit beside him; the statues and crosses in the mansion; the ringing church bells; the brilliant shot of the returning Montgomery Brown in the door of the church for the wedding and above all the great sequence where Ringo walks on the street shot through the stained glass window of the church.
Morning Glory, the Native American, the saloon owner and in particular the sheriff all add to the movie. I liked the weak sheriff drinking in his office and with his gun in his hand pours the rest of his drink back into the bottle - it was time for business and redemption for him.
Further great action scenes in the tavern at the start, the saloon, some great fights, the dinner after Ringoās funeral, the shootout after the wedding and the climax is great action although the machine gun was either rubbish or the guys didnāt know how to shoot it.
In many spaghettis the heroās motives are either purely monetary or based on revenge but in The Return of Ringo, Gemma shows a vulnerability and emotion in his motiviation to win back all he has lost. Maybe that is why it worked so well for me.
I loved it - 5 stars - Iāll explain afterwards!
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Well said. Both Ringo movies are top 10 for me. I love how the second feels like an alternate universe with the same actors returning and, like you said, there is some really nice depth with Ringoās internal conflict with this one. The directing is excellent with beautiful imagery and cinematography. I also like how Return of Ringo is less expository than most movies. This version of Ringo is relatively quiet (the other side of the coin to the bravado exhibited in the first, which provides another nice contrast between the two movies). The lack of dialogue means it is incumbent upon Ringoās actions (and the directing) to tell us what is going on in his mind. For example, the sequence early on with his friend seeking out a special herb; we have no idea what plan is being hatched until Ringo reaches his hand into the cooking pot and cut to a shot of him where he has camouflaged his skin as he rides into town.
A pistol for Ringo perfectly balances humor with action and, to me, is how a spaghetti western comedy should be balanced (no sudden slapstick sequences popping up out of the blue like in My Name is Nobody). Even though Return of Ringo has less overt humor, there are still lighthearted elements that are quite playful and very much amuse me (like the theme song heard repeated in various ways throughout and another repeated catchphrase).
I feel Duccio Tessari knocked it out of the park with these and Iām surprised they arenāt ranked higher on some of the lists on the site. I give both 5/5 as a matter of principle.
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