Time of Vultures / Il tempo degli avvoltoi (Nando Cicero, 1967)

From what I’ve read it sounds like the worst thing in the world.
But I’m still tempted to buy it for collecting’s sake.

It’s not top notch but definatly not to the point where it’s unwatchable, in my opinion…

Rewatched it tonight, for the first time with an English audio, 92 min, and also read the thread. Seems I’m more or less middle of the road here. Well made, not well written, imo. 6/10.

At the camera: Sergio Bergamini. Scenographer: Demofilo Fidani.

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I just ordered it myself, so I’ll let you know how the sound is.

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Since it has been on my watch list I just did watch Time Of Vultures/The Last Of The Badmen on a Youtube video with relatively high image quality.
It is a rather strange shifting SW storywise and I was about to give up after 15-20 minutes (also because of rather bad music for a SW), but then it got more interesting when the psychopath/epileptic Frank Wolff character entered the scene, slightly reminding of the Luciano Rossi character in Django The Bastard but in Wolff’s case possibly even more evil.
The film then nearly becomes some sort of unpredictable “road movie” with him and George Hilton’s antihero, maybe with the former’s revenge as a main focus.
Very good acting by Wolff and Hilton is a plus and fine locations in Almeria (and some in Italy including Cinecitta western town).
Overall I found this SW rather entertaining and interesting enough to order a DVD for another watch, but for the moment I doubt I will ever rate it over 6/10.

After 4 watchings on my DVD it feels as a weak 6/10-rating only good for 62th place on my SW Top 63 which includes all my 6 or higher rated SWs.
The music in the first half is really irritating but the story isn’t much better in the beginning 15 minutes or so.

Cortijo el Fraile, Cabo de Gata, Almeria is a another nice location in the final scenes. And in Tabernas desert there is a scene which seems to take place where the N340a later perhaps has interferred with the structure of some hills as it appears now on google maps.

The movie’s entry in the database has been updated to the new 3.0 layout. Please let us know if you can contribute, facts, info, links, reviews or images.

There is now a poll for Last of the Badmen under the original post at the top of the thread! :arrow_up:

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Following on from the comments earlier about the origin of ‘Kitosch’ or ‘Kitosh’ a character who featured in Karen Blixen’s Out of Africa, there is a Wikipedia entry on the original case in which a white farmer had a black employee flogged to death in Kenya in 1923. Some of this detail is too similar to the opening sequence of The Last of the Badmen/Time of Vultures to be coincidental.

Wikipedia detail below:

In June 1923, British settler Jasper Abraham was tried for the murder of African labourer Kitosh in the [Kenya Colony]. Kitosh had died after a [flogging] administered by Abraham and his employees at a farm near the town of [Molo, Kenya]. The jury, [which was all-white] and composed of Abraham’s acquaintances, found him guilty of a lesser charge of “grievous hurt” and he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
Jasper Abraham was a [British settler] in the [Kenya Colony]. The son of [Charles Abraham], the [bishop of Derby] from 1909 to 1927, he had a high social standing among his fellow settlers. Abraham maintained a farm, known as Kweresoi around 27 kilometres (17 mi) from the town of [Molo]. One of Abraham’s employees on the farm was an African labourer known as Kitosh. Aged around 30 Kitosh had worked for Abraham for 18 months, though he had tried to escape the farm in April 1923, alleging physical abuse.
On 6 June 1923 Abraham, who was in bed with a back injury, lent one of his horses to a neighbour who was travelling to the railway station at Molo. The horse was pregnant so Abraham sent Kitosh with instructions to walk it back to the farm. A European settler named Polson said he saw Kitosh riding the horse and striking her in the belly with a stick. Polson stated that he told Kitosh to dismount and walk back to Kweresoi. Polson visited Abraham the next day to relay events to him. Abraham told Polson that he was furious with Kitosh and vowed to "tear up the boy’s labour ticket.
Abraham confronted Kitosh on the evening of 10 June. He asked Kitosh who had given him permission to ride and received no answer. Abraham, who by his own admission “flew off the handle”, pushed Kitosh into a shed and beat him with a leather [rein]. Abraham called two African farm labourers to hold Kitosh down whilst he struck him and later for three more men after Kitosh continued to struggle. Abraham had Kitosh spreadeagled over a wagon wheel and flogged him on the buttocks. The attack was witnessed by Abraham’s brother Michael and another settler named Powell. Michael and Powell both stated that they saw Abraham administer 15 or 20 blows before they left around dusk. Abraham afterwards continued to beat Kitosh, calling on his workers Kimesu arap Killel and Chuma arap Chebule to each strike him three to four times. Abraham judged that the men were too timid in their flogging and had a third worker, Bariche arap Chumia, take over. After five more strokes from Bariche, Kitosh appeared to faint, but Abraham judged that he was feigning unconsciousness and threw four buckets of water over him.
Kitosh did not awaken and was picked up by Kimesu and Chuma and moved to a store. There Abraham kicked Kitosh in the side twice and ordered him tied to a post and left. Abraham later returned to the store to tighten the bindings and ordered his house servants, Sefu bin Namakoyo and Kimnyigue arap Chepkorus to guard the store. Kitosh was left overnight with no food or water and only an old coat for warmth. Sefu untied Kitosh around 2 am and later recalled that the wounded man had said “if I had a knife I would kill myself”. Kitosh was sweating and groaning by 3 am and at 4 am asked Sefu to uncover his body and told him that he thought he was about to die. Kitosh died shortly afterwards
The sentence, widely regarded as overly lenient, brought condemnation from the [British government] regarding the way the case had been handled by the colony’s judicial system and the continued use of the [Indian Penal Code] in Kenya, which differed significantly from [English law] in its treatment of homicide. A succession of British secretaries of state attempted to impose legal reform on the colony, though these were resisted by [Chief Justice of Kenya]. The IPC was finally replaced in Kenya with a new legal code in 1930.

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A horrible story, but very interesting also …

Something I have become aware of over the years is the ‘numbness’ we as an audience are to onscreen violence, to the point were dramatically it means almost nothing - I was specifically jolted by some scenes in ‘Gentleman Killer’ (1967) which I’d seen on TV several times, with no reaction … but watching on film with a fairly large screen, acts of violence and even violent intention really comes on strong, and the term used on DVD packaging which refers to ‘mild peril’ :wink: as something you might want to protect your children from seeing, is a very real feeling/ sensation.

I don’t want to give the impression of being an anti-violence film prude … as a teenager I couldn’t get enough of brutal graphic film scenes ( The Wild Bunch’, ‘Dirty Harry’,
‘Bonnie & Clyde’ etc) … violence is horrendous and traumatic, and it should be described as such in dramatic recreations, not just something to link scenes or pad out a story.

The point I’m attempting to make is, that we as film fans aren’t really getting the ‘full effect’ by watching our favourite tough guy action movies on TV. Obviously I’m speaking subjectively, but the difference in power of a violent sequence in cinema rather than TV is massive.

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I saw Last of the Badmen on my 60" TV - I have the Koch Blu Ray - so It is probably the best I would get to a cinema experience given the film was never released theatrically in my jurisdiction (UK).

Although the Italian censors gave it an 18 rating, later reduced to 14, I didn’t think it was that violent. I thought the first section - partly based on the 1923 Kenyan murder - was the best as I couldn’t tell where the story was going but that it started to fall apart the more it went on and I wasn’t impressed with the ending that tried to leave one with the feeling that the Fajardo character was a good guy.

I agree with Aldo that Gentleman Killer seems more violent than this - Gentleman Killer was passed for unrestricted audiences after cuts but is a nasty, grubby-looking film which I thought was pretty good.

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Thanks, Timothy … my comment was really about attitudes to violence on screen in general, inspired by your ‘Last of Badmen’ (Kitosch) back story.

A lot of films have this ‘Bang bang, you’re dead!’ approach, like kids playing ‘Cowboys and Indians’ … but there are certainly some movies which capture and exploit the heaviness of the situation … ‘For a few dollars more’, has almost no blood or injury shown, except for the little knick the ‘Colonel’ gives, ‘Manco’ … but the entire film is loaded with impending doom and the threat of real danger … most films don’t or can’t achieve this.

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But the no blood or injuries is typical of much of Hollywood output. Have you seen the Marvel or Mission Impossible movies? Huge body counts, loads of fights but no blood at all.

That’s the ‘bang bang you’re dead’ school of film making, I was refering to … a film doesn’t have to be gory to imply the threat and danger of violence - Modern action thrillers, Marvel superheroes etc, are of no interest to me … they are just empty headed rollercoaster rides.

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