Strange SW. It has got a lot in common with American revisionist westerns made in since the late 60s. Basically it’s an Italian version of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, but we also have some other elements of aftermentioned movies. We get some folk ballads, (i think it’s the first SW to use them, way before Four of the Apocalypse), inspired by McCabe and Ms Miller and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid and some Peckinpah-styled slow motion. Jack Palance’s character is mainly lef in the background, as a menacing character a’la the guy with white straw hat in Butch Caissdy. Still it’s more a curiosity than a really good movie. It gets 6/10 from me, mainly because it tried something different
It’s one of the early works of cinematographer Vitorio Storraro.
And it shows. There are, despite the cheap look of the film, lots of long travelling shots, which you can seldom (never?) see in SWs.
I’m sure, a good copy of Blu Gang will look beautiful. The one I have is rather bad.
An interesting and in many ways very enjoyable film but it’s problems are many. It tries a bit too much to be romanic and revisionist while it’s Spaghetti Western cheese portions are ever present
It tries to be all things to all viewers and succeeds in none. Romance, comedy, violence, drama, etc. Palance is wasted in his role and I’m sure was hired for his name value only as he has little to do with the main storyline. I waited years to see this film and was terribly disappointed when I finally got to see it. Score is the best part of the film and even it doesn’t work within the film itself.
Apparently it’s hard to find a good poster on the net
TITLE: I didn’t understand the title, I understood the words but they didn’t make much sense
Seems one word is missing: ‘E’ (= and)
The correct title is:
Blu Gang - E vissero per sempre felici e ammazzati
The title is a play upon the words of a well-known expression, used in fairy tales, in English "They lived happily ever after"
In Italian this is: Vissero per sempre felici
They added a few words (e ammazzati = and killed) that only make sense in this context; the full title now becomes something like this:
Blu Gang - And they lived happily ever after killed
@Scherp:
I’d see it if I were you. I can say it’s something special because it is far different than the formula but don’t expect a whole lot. Its got some good entertainment but (like the characters lives) it’s too short and the ending is way too abrupt.
@BLT:
I’ll switch pics then, thanks. That one is good.
I’m writing a book that deals in large part with Franco Rossellini, who produced Brothers Blue as well as several other spaghetti westerns. The only movie of his that I cannot locate anywhere is Brothers Blue, and I see from previous posts that some of you have viewed a VHS (or copy thereof). Could you put me in touch with someone who could screen this for me?
In case you’re interested, I have a little profile of Franco, with a listing of all his known films, temporarily parked at http://rjbuffalo.com/caligula/felix.html
In the near future I’ll post that page more publicly at a different URL.
Had this lying around for a while and it finally made it to the top of my ‘to watch’ pile.
All I can say is that is an hour and a half I won’t get back. Not as irritating as some of the comedies from this period. Its biggest crime is that it is just plain boring. Lots of riding around, montage sequences, endless gun battles and a storyline which leaps about and never achieves any level of engagement or interest. Likewise the characters. You hope for something from Jack Palance but his turns out to be a Kinski-esque 5 day phone in where he doesn’t even have a line of dialogue, he just loafs about smoking and looking ominous occasionally and then fires a sniper’s rifle at the disappointing ending.
So it’s ticked off my list but doubt it will ever warrant a re-view in my lifetime.
