Robert De Niro is a highly skilled actor, who can pull off any role, and he has. I’d put him in the top5 of best actors of all time.
Woody Allen can only play one role: Himself. He s not even an actor, as far as I’m concerned. He can be very entertaining though, but that’s just my opinion. I know several people that hate him.
Bogart never was a great actor. But -like Steffen- he was effective in what he did. Even more than Steffen.
Meryl Streep… Well, I guess you have to be a middle-aged female to be able to judge her, so I’ll pass on this one.
But, what do any of these people have to do with Steffen? I think such analogies don’t add up.
Well I am trying to blow some smoke, dust, soot in your eyes Bad Lt so you fall off
your horse !!! ;D
My point being that PERSONALLY I found A.STEFFEN BETTER than those
others I mentioned that enjoy some sort of untouchable “critical” status/praise.
I had an idea that DeNiro is like a “sacred cow” and criticising him is Taboo but I DO.
Having said that i have seen DeNiro as “Ok” in things like Copland with Stallone.
But again we are back to what pleases and satisfies you individually.
I like DeNiro in 4% of his films you say hes your top 5 man… :o …who is to say ??
It is good that we exchange views and that we DO NOT conform to typical dogmas !!
I will Post my all time Favourite Top 20 SWs…I am working on it…so many greats…
It wasn’t a very lucky production: the director died the same year, and deservedly so (…).
If you don’t believe me, or refuse to agree with me, SD, this is what has been said about it in our beloved Italy:
“Questo piccolissimo western è di una povertà spaventosa, con attori imbarrazanti” - Mario Giusti, Dizionario dei film italiani stracult. Citato da Gianfranco Casadio, in: Se sei vivo, spara! Storie di pistoleri, banditi e bounty killers (1942 - 1998).
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:85, topic:176”]Found another for the bottom of the barrel:
If you don’t believe me, or refuse to agree with me, SD, this is what has been said about it in our beloved Italy:
“Questo piccolissimo western è di una povertà spaventosa, con attori imbarrazanti” - Mario Giusti, Dizionario dei film italiani stracult. Citato da Gianfranco Casadio, in: Se sei vivo, spara! Storie di pistoleri, banditi e bounty killers (1942 - 1998).[/quote]
Translation please!
I’m planning to learn italian but i can’t start the course now because of lack of funds
[quote=“alk0, post:86, topic:176”]Translation please!
I’m planning to learn italian but i can’t start the course now because of lack of funds :P[/quote]
But you already have enough studying material; your dvd’s with Italian dub. My experience is that it works, especially when turning on the Italian subs as well. It’s also a fun way to study a language. I think the Italian release of Don’t wait Django shoot is a good example of ‘Italian for beginners’. A lot of words are similar to Spanish and English, so it really isn’t that hard. Besides that, it’s a fun way to learn a foreign language. And a great example of effective time management. After all you’re not only studiying, but you’re watching a movie at the same time. Spaghetti westerns, with their simple dialogue, are great for that.
You are right, i already caught myself understanding some setences in Italian ;D But i have a need to know this language really well, so i’m going to study italian sometime in the future anyway
The translation:
“This little western is terribly poor, with embarrasing actors”
Mario Giusti, dictionary of italian cult movies. Citation in: Gianfranco Casadio, Se sei vivo, spara! (If you live, shoot!) stories of pistoleros, bandits and bounty killers in the western “italian style”.
Bad Lieutenant is absolutely right; with the aid of French or Spanish, Italian isn’t that hard to decipher, especially when you have a DVD with Italian subtitles HOH (in Italian: per i non udenti). The Colt Collection DVDs have It. subs, the Italian release of I GIORNI DELL’IRA and the beautiful TEPEPA release (DVD + CD) have it. subs too. Sollima’s movies are a bit harder to follow than the average SW: there’s more dialogue and the style of writing is more elaborate, with a lot of less common words.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:85, topic:176”]Found another for the bottom of the barrel:
QUINTANA (Vicenzo Musolino, 1969)
It wasn’t a very lucky production: the director died the same year, and deservedly so (…).
If you don’t believe me, or refuse to agree with me, SD, this is what has been said about it in our beloved Italy:
“Questo piccolissimo western è di una povertà spaventosa, con attori imbarrazanti” - Mario Giusti, Dizionario dei film italiani stracult. Citato da Gianfranco Casadio, in: Se sei vivo, spara! Storie di pistoleri, banditi e bounty killers (1942 - 1998).[/quote]
I cannot “disagree” with you yet Scherf as I have NOT seen this little SW :o
The cast is rather unknown except for the lovely FEMI BENUSSI and the story seems interesting about an avenger , a beautiful lady but it needs watching.
As I said my view of the WORST SW is that those are the Hill/Spencer “comedies” and
similar “slapstick sws”.
[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:91, topic:176”]As I said my view of the WORST SW is that those are the Hill/Spencer “comedies” and
similar “slapstick sws”.
Yes we both seem to speak ITALIAN Scherf… ;)[/quote]
I don’t disagree with you about comedy SWs, I called DUE FRATELLI IN UN POSTO CHIAMATO TRINITA’ my worst ever; I could have picked one of those awful Halelujah or Aquasanta things too. I just thought the first two Trinity movies weren’t too bad, they are okay for a rainy sunday afternoon. Their other comedies are terrible, that’s true. I even didn’t like the films, half serious, never really funny, they made before the Trinities; DIO PERDONA … IO NO! is an acceptable, violent sw, poor man’s Leone in some spots but still enjoyable, but I QUATTRO DELL’AVE’ MARIA and COLLINA DEGLI STIVALI (referees shouldn’t make spaghetti westerns) are second rate (but there’s a Collizi fan on this forum so I suppose we’ll here from him very soon!).
Scrivo anche sul forum LA COLT E LA MIA LEGGE di GENTE DI RISPETTO sul nome simondibelgio …
I’m sorta with you on this. Ace High got on my nerves and I never finished watching it. I’ll maybe try it again but the ‘humour’ didn’t tickle my funny-bone then … probably wont again.
I loath all the Trinity films and the rip-offs of them but I live in hope that one of these outright comedies will one day make me laugh - altho’ maybe I shouldn’t have said that - I’ll probably be being looked after a nice nurse and dribbling into my soup before that happens.
Where I disagree - personal preference only, and all due respect to Scherpschutter (and no pistols at dawn, amigo) - is that Dio Perdona … is top drawer (certainly in my top 20, should I ever get around to doing one) - and does not suffer from the dreadful humour that permeates the sorry sequels. I’m hoping Bill san Antonio goes along with this as his avatar-character is absolute genius in this film and steals the show. In my book a great and an original (as they go) spaghetti.
Il quattro dell’ Ave Maria and La collina degli stivali are no comedies imo. They are more lighthearted than God forgives… and they don’t try to be the most brutish SW ever, but no, they are surely no comedies.
But sometimes Colizzi had included some comedy like scenes in his films, and these parts don’t work. There is a 2’30 min Trinity style brawl at the end of Boot Hill which should be cut out because it’s completely out of the style of the rest of the film.
The Trinita films are pure comedies, and I would set all pure comedies apart from the real SWs, but the Clucher films are nevertheless not bad, and they are funny and also have style.
I always found it difficult to compare comedies with the so called “serious” films.
Yeah, I don’t remember too much dreadful humor permeating Ace High & Boot Hill and they should be viewed on their own. This is admittedly very difficult as they are often marketed as Trinity movies, which they clearly preceded with their “positive” attitude and relative non-violence. Nevertheless Hill’s character is still very restrained and serious compared to Trinity and the world of these movies is a much harder place, where even innocent circus performers can get killed. Maybe I’d prefer an “alternative reality” film history where Colizzi’s brand of SW would have become the next big thing, evolving into better films, and the Trinity series would have been just a small sideshow…
Like I said, DIO PERDONA … is certainly Colizzi’s best film. It has an OK story, a tremendous villain and lots of action. What I didn’t like was, yes, some of the interplay between Hill and Spencer and Collizzi copying entire scenes from Leone movies, especially near the end. But all in all it’s a good spaghetti western. Those who still don’t own the film: the Dutch DFW is cheap, uncut and is an excellent 2,35 : 1 transfer.
ACE HIGH: If you haven’t finished watching it, Reverend, you probably missed the best part, the finale. But it got on my nerves too, even Eli from time to time. I had the odd feeling Eli was doing a Tuco impersonation.
BOOT HIL: The opening scene, Hill being stalked outside the tent while the acrobats are doing their job inside, is well edited, and watching it you think this film can’t miss, but it does. It’s not a comedy, no, and not funny, just silly. But it’s nowhere near the worst Spaghetti ever.
I do agree with Stanton that it’s difficult to compare comedies with the tough spaghetties. These days most fans love their SWs tough, but I remember very well it was the other way round in the seventies. Hill and Spencer were more popular than Clint and Lee (yes that’s hallucinating) and in German dubs a lot of “Klamauk” (so-called funny dialogue and noise) was added to make the films sound funny. Apparently these dubs still exist, since some films are available in a serious and a comedy version. I read on a German forum that PREPARATI LA BARA was cut to pieces completely to distil a comedy out of it and I found a version of GOD FORGIVES … called (something like) ZWEI VON AFFEN GEBISSEN ; I presume that was the comedy version …
I could well be wrong here - it’s been a long time since … but something stopped me watching Ace High, maybe I was just disappointed in it seeming to be a more lightweight film than its predecessor. I’m sure I remember finding something unfunny about something that maybe shoulda been ??? … but I dont remember specifics - just a feel.
I certainly dont put these (the bits I’ve seen) in the same category as the Clucher films tho - which I really dont like.
It’s just that I hold God Forgives in such high regard. I’ll stick Ace High back on to the ‘to watch’ list, and hopefully I’ll give a more informed (and current) report in the future.
being a relative newcomer to SW’s, I haven’t seen to many bad SW’s. I’ve prefer to spend the majority of my time watching the good ones. However, I’ve had the misfortune of watching Boot Hill. If ever was a movie that didn’t make any sense it was this one.
Right now, George Eastman is cursing himself because he almost commited career suicide by playing a guy called “baby doll”. And if thats not enought, the deaf/mute starts talking and hearing with little explanation. The fireworks don’t start until the last 10 minutes and terence Hill spends the majority of the movie lying down recovering from his wounds instead of kicking ass like he’s supposed to. The ending was so abrupt, its like Colizzi just packed it in early and called it a day by about 3 hours for each day of filming. Did lionel stander die or what? What happened to the Judge? We didn’t see King Tut Victor Buono get his just desserts? He just throws down his gun and surrenders without a fight. We don’t even see him getting arrested. What kind of SW is this?
Anyway, I’m not too much of a fan of the Cat Stevens trilogy. God forgives…I don’t I found to be too boring and too “talky”. Too little gunplay and too much talking. Frank Wolff was awesome as Bill San Antonio, but he talked too damn much. He would go on for hours and hours…SW’s are not supposed to have so much dialogue.
I liked Ace High alot though, but woudn’t consider it a “creme de la creme” SW.
Oh well…Time to pop in Bad Man’s River in ye Olde DVD player…
And was this really George Eastman?
The german credits say Luca not Luigi Montefiore, and as far as I know Luigi always used the Eastman Pseudonym as actor.
I have a cheap public domain release that is close to 92 minutes. The wild east version (which I didn’t bother getting), is listed as 92 minutes on this site. So if there are cuts, There probably isn’t a lot of them.
Thats definitely George Eastman. But he had blonde hair in this one. He went by both Luca and Luigi apparently.
