Twice a Judas / Due volte Giuda (Nando Cicero, 1968)

(Phil H) #1

Saw this for the first time today and was pleasantly surprised.
My previous experience with Antonio Sabato has not always been 100% positive but he is ok here and the film itself is a kind of mystery yarn laced with a nice slice of revenge for good measure.

It is also nice to see Kinski in a ‘more than 5 minute’ role and the story, although relatively predictable, is ambiguous enough to keep you interested throughout.

Unfortunately the copy I watched was fullscreen which messed up what I suspect was some pretty decent composition and cinematography but the picture was clear enough and all round this one gets my thumbs up. I notice that there is a widescreen german edition of this out there so maybe some our german brothers may be able to add more light as to its visual qualities.

I liked it.

http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Dos_veces_Judas

(CactusCharlie) #2

One of the better Kinski westerns, he outshines the main star, the dire Antonio Sabato.

I think the USA VHS version i have is cut , i’m not entirely sure.

A 5 Star vote.

(Reverend Danite) #3

I havn’t seen this - but I’ve recently watched 2 with Sabato in - Thunder over El Paso and Hate for Hate - very different roles for him and he was pretty good in both imo.
A bit cheesy in the first, but made a great Mexican gunslinger in the second film.
This Twice a Judas is a film I don’t own - I gather it’s on one of those cheap sets with crap picture quality. I’ll wait.

(p.pereira) #4

I actually didn’t know about Sabato’s existence before seeing this.
It is not an ambitious movie, but in the end I felt some satisfaction. Recomended.

(Ming) #5

I watched this a couple of nights ago & thought it was very good. I agree with Phil H - I was never too keen on Sabato either, but he is good in this film.
Unfortunately I watched the English language full-screen version. I have a German widescreen version that I want to add the English audio to, but one is NTSC & the other PAL, and they are slightly different cuts… A headache is on the cards!!!

(ENNIOO) #6

Sounds like alot of work.

(ION BRITTON) #7

The choice of Sabato on the lead role pretty much ruins the great atmosphere the movie creates. Wasted potential here. 2.5/5

(Stanton) #8

Twice a Judas is one of these films which seemed to be quite interesting, but somehow they aren’t.

The point is I can’t really say why this film does not really work, but fact is it doesn’t.

(ION BRITTON) #9

Sabato has supposedly lost his memory. I get the feeling that everything he does seems a little bit unmotivated. I mean someone told him that his wife was killed and he’s after the murderer, but it seems that he can’t even remember who his wife was. The killer or his wife may have been any other random person if the others told him so if you know what I mean…
The flashbacks unfortunately enter the picture a bit too late, they could have used them progressively throughout the whole film and not just in the end in order to give a bit more depth to the hero’s motives. Add to all these the subpar and expressionless acting of Sabato and you get what you get in the end.
Still, I liked the serious, no-bullshit atmosphere and Kinski’s suspicious and evil character, but truth is this film could have been much better.

(Stanton) #10

I had no problems with Sabato, and Kinski was also good in it (in one of his bigger roles). The plot was interesting and I can’t say that the directing was bad.
Only the film left me somehow cold, I got never really interested. And for this film I can’t explain why. It just didn’t worked for me. there wasn’t anything bad, but somehow it was less than it should be.

(Dillinger) #11

I agree Stanton. It’s not Sabato’s fault. The film has some nice ideas and Kinski is always worth watcing, but eventually the film is just too cheap. The setting, the camerawork, everything is without ambition or at least love to the genre. It’s just made somehow… I always has the felling that something is missing, the actors wre somehow arranged on the set, it was filmed, done.

(ENNIOO) #12

I often feel like getting hold of Sabato and giving him a good shake.

(Pacificador) #13

Give him a beating Scott Mary style :wink:

Just watched this for the first time…it picked up after the first half but unfortunately like most others I have a crappy fullscreen transfer which interfered with my enjoyment. Kinski is good as always and Sabato is not bad.

3/5 and I would be interested in acquiring a better release somewhere down the road.

(ENNIOO) #14

There is a 2.35 english fandub of this one.

(Pacificador) #15

Can you PM me as to where I can get it?

thanks in advance amigo!

(The Stranger) #16

Small but interresting movie. Nice atmosphere.
The film has a slow narrative rhythm, but this fits very well.
Up to the end there is very little action.
Kinski with a less crazy role, but with a good performance. The other actor can convince too.

The first time I saw the film of about one and a half years on German television. Now I’ve seen the German DVD. Is the same quality. Not very outstanding.

(dicfish) #17

Here are some screenshots from the italian MEDUSA-DVD.

dvg_01qx5x.jpg1024x576 267 KB
dvg_0219im.jpg1024x576 204 KB

dvg_03pb98.jpg1024x576 283 KB
dvg_04dxa7.jpg1024x576 258 KB

(Tom B.) #18

One of my least favorite SWs because of the plot Sabato’s character is the only one who does not know Kinski is the guy responsible for his wife’s death. No will warn him but watch as he pals up with the killer. Another similar film is “The Dirty Outlaws” where Chip Corman is able to convince a blind man he’s his son. Like the old man would not know his own son.

(Stanton) #19

Still the Dirty Outlaws is a good Spagie, while Twice a Judas somehow not.

(Frank Castle) #20

just got this as part of a box set, hope the picture is good , I have been hearing horror stories about picture quality .