Sergio Corbucci’s last spaghetti is sort of a crazy rip-off of eurowestern Red Sun, with Giuliano Gemma, Eli Wallach, and Tomas Milian, in a totally out of control performance as a Japanese
This film is really crazy and stupid, but of course it’s worth seeing, it’s Corbucci after all ;D
A real comedy-western from the last phase of the spaghetti-genre ;D
I have it on videotape, but it’s also available on DVD.
Really stupid and bad film but i have to admit that I enjoy it much more now than when I saw it first time. Maybe i’m just getting to like those damn comedy westerns.
All three main actors are very good at comedy even if Tomas Milian is driving you crazy with his irritating japanese-mumbling. Dialogue is also very funny and I believe it would be much funnier in Italian dub.
I have to admit it, I really like the film - it has a cheeky charm and a great performance from Gemma. Yes, it’s completely un-PC and Milian’s charecterization borders of racist, but it’s still a very enjoyable spaghetti.
[quote=“Silvanito, post:4, topic:266”]Haha, “politically correct” did hardly excist in the 70’s!
Besides, Milian’s acting is all done in an over-the-top comical way, don’t take it seriously ;)[/quote]
I don’t tkae it seriously, hence I gave it four stars! As I said above, I think it’s great fun
EDIT - I have the Italian DVD - decent presentation - nice anamorphic picture and above average mono soundtrack - definitely worth a buy, if you like the film.
An astonishingly idiotic, boring and unfunny comedy. Painful to sit through. The nadir of this director. I would even prefer the equally lousy Massacre at Grand Canyon to this one. Gemma does what he does in these days, but I don’t know (apart from the money) why Milian and Wallach were trying to kill their reputation.
You’ll find only a few traces of Corbucci’s former then famous style. I can’t believe how fast this once great director has made his way down.
He started in the 50s with comedys and he ended his career with them. In between he developed his personal style for making dark, sinister, cynical action films, which made him famous. But in all of his comedys I’ve seen, there was not much to laugh, so that I think that he was not gifted for making them.
On the other hand some of his Spencer/Hill or Celentano flicks were very successful, much more successful than his SWs.
[quote=“R-T-C Tim, post:11, topic:266”]I notice that the synopsis on the database page seems completely wrong (or does it describe a different version of the film?)[/quote]Do you mean the synopsis or the review (if you can call that a review). Synopsis looks fine to me.
The synopsis states that: There is a last bloody battle between Paleface’s men and the few old Indians, supported, however, by our three heroes. Sakura’s sacrifice of his life brings them victory and in the end the sheriff and the Swiss part like old friends. Sheriff Carson, disillusioned at the collapse of all the things in which he had always believed, threatens Butler, robs him of the million dollars and kills him; but while he is making his escape the Swiss lies in wait for him and robs him of the booty once more for the last time.
However in the film I just watched, Sakura does not die in the fight, but saves the lives of both men, and stays to live in the village with the native Americans. The Sheriff earns his money by shopping in the corrupt banker and plans to run away with an attractive woman, but is stopped by Swiss and the Sheriff’s family, leaving Swiss to drive away with the woman, and the Sheriff to go home with his wife and dozen kids.
You’re right. It’s been a while since I watched this film and I couldn’t remember the ending correctly.
BUT there’s also a possibility of alternative ending though I have never heard of such. Maybe I should shorten the synopsis on the database anyway because it has some spoilers.
I’ve always had a huge soft spot for Corbucci’s farewell western (and his biggest genre box-office draw in Italy). Plenty of nonsense, yes, but it has that certain epic feel that most of the SW comedies lack, much of it coming from the iconic stars and the A grade production values (cinematography, sets, etc). Even if you watch the English language version (missing the great SW reference monologue of Eli Wallach’s wife) there are many lovable visual references to Corbucci’s earlier westerns like JOHNNY ORO. While I perfectly understand that we all don’t love the childish humour, the accusations of racial stereotypes (see the Corbucci biography in Anchor Bay dvds) are not very well founded. It’s a pro-Indian comedy western with racist villains and while Tomas Milian goofs it up as a Japanese-American wannabe samurai, Corbucci creates perfectly respectable Japanese characters never mentioned by the PC reviewers. Christopher Frayling says Giuliano Gemma’s character The Swiss is an American which makes one wonder whether he’s seen this “sad” film at all. The title, by the way, means the white, yellow and black locks of a safe and although this chimes with our three anti-heroes, it’s mostly symbolic - Eli Wallach just happens to wear black…
german DVD producer EMS is seeking material for a release of this film. if you have advertising material, old trailers, 16mm prints or rare versions of the film, please let me know. they’re in particular looking for missing German audio of some opening scene
german DVD producer EMS is seeking material for a release of this film. if you have advertising material, old trailers, 16mm prints or rare versions of the film, please let me know. they’re in particular looking for missing German audio of some opening scene[/quote]
Looks like if there will be another German release this year. Loved that Movie as Kid.
