When the Devil Holds a Gun / Una colt in mano al diavolo (Gianfranco Baldanello, 1973)

[quote=ā€œp.pereira, post:20, topic:1902ā€]Well I noticed that a VHS version is available at CG but the image is so awful that I prefered to stick with the italian DVD. Iā€™m just glad that a decent reel was found.
This is how it looks the VHS rip:

[/quote]

Looks like Play Misty for Me

Wonder if anyone has a T.V print of this one ?

Yes, but the cuts are unjustified and to my way of thinking inexcusableā€¦

Just watched it. Got to agree, it is not as good as Black Jack but still very enjoyable revenge western.
The cuts are pretty obvious although I donā€™t believe that it ruins the plot understanding.
ā€œQualcosa che non va?!ā€ :wink:

Watched the 72 minutes version. The print is excellent, the cuts are inexcusable, as Jonathan put it.
To make it worse, itā€™s a crime story, not just an (easy to follow) revenge story. Transitions are often abrupt and I had to reconstruct the story here and there.

Looks like it would be an okay detective spaghetti in its uncut form, but no more than that.

Not up for the job of watching this cut version at the moment, hoping a composite version will show up.

You can watch an ultra-short version of this movie on You Tube:

New review:

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/A_Colt_in_the_Hands_of_the_Devil_Review

Watched a composite version of this from CG which is predominantly made up of the Italian DVD with some bad VHS bits inserted. (very well edited together by the way) Still only runs about 79 minutes for all that and obviously still some bits missing but, from the evidence of what has been spliced in, I suspect all that is missing is some more bits of dialogue and walking around.

On the whole a pretty enjoyable semi detective story. As others have said, not up with Black Jack but reasonable fare and very watchable.

The music sounded so familiar to me I was sure it had been reused from another film but now I realise it is just that it is on a Spaghetti Western soundtrack compilation CD I have which Iā€™ve listened to endless times. Seems like Piccioni did actually write it for this film.

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Colt_in_mano_del_diavolo,_Una/Credits

Sheriff, undertaker and prosecutor are played by Victor Stocchi, Ivan Greeve and Nello Palladino respectively.

Curiously, in terms of cast and crew both The Executioner of God and Six Bounty Killers for a Massacre, bottom tier productions directed by Lattanzi, have much in common with this one.

Yep, guess needs an update :slight_smile: The actor as Old Thomas is also in both and some sources have as credited Gianni Cardillo (Six Bounty Killers). Um, maybe also in On the Third Day Arrived the Crow along with a couple of _Mannoia_s. Is this actor Luigi Mannoia and is he also in Executioner?

At the moment I donā€™t know Fiorella and Maurizioā€™s father, in any case I didnā€™t notice this actor in The Executioner of God.

On the other hand, I donā€™t have When the Devil Holds a Gun because of the intentionally cut DVD but based on the close-up you posted (in which you canā€™t see the weird, heart-shaped hair) the actor who plays the judge should be in Lattanziā€™s movie too.

Speaking of Mannoia, both IMDb and the Database have Maurizio as Charlie Sloane in On the Third Day Arrived the Crow!!! :hushed:

Woods, Dottesio, Mannatrizio, Stocchi, Greeveā€¦ who is the sixth bounty hunter in Lattanziā€™s unreleased film? Always judging exclusively from the Database pic, maybe the same actor who, this time unmoustached, plays the deputy in this one? Among credited actors there are two possibilities, Nicola Mozzillo and Gianni Cardillo.

In Executioner unknown - at least to me - credited actors are Cardillo, Mozzillo, Raffaele Rossi (who is credited as production secretary in On the Third Day Arrived the Crow) and Alberta Santilli, also costume designer on Finders Killers and Youā€™re Jinxed Friend, not to be confused with Antonia Santilli, the girl in Di Leoā€™s The Boss. Perhaps sheā€™s the middle-aged cleaning ladyā€¦

I donā€™t know Maurizio. What is his role?

Here is Maurizio Mannoia in On the Third Day and Executioner

Heā€™s one of the Sloanes, I donā€™t remember his characterā€™s name (Charlie is played by Perry Dell).

So heā€™s a henchman in this one

[quote=ā€œJonathanCorbett, post:32, topic:1902ā€]
maybe the same actor who, this time unmoustached, plays the deputy in this one?
[/quote]

Iā€™m not sure about the deputy, but it seems if he took his hat off there might be a full head of hair there :slight_smile:


Another possibility may be the wheel chair bound character whose scenes are missing from the DVD, seen here in very bad pq.

Just caught the end on movies4men. If anybody recorded it, Iā€™d love to get a copy. The print looks very nice.

I saw it as well. It had the English Dub, plus some extra scenes not on the dvd. Alas, I wasnā€™t able to record it though.
Movies4Men do surprise me sometimes with their films.

Iā€™m just looking at the Movies4Men version against the Italian DVD version in my editing programme, and the former is much longer. The Italian version has many scenes truncated, often around scene transitions, where the Movies4Men version has a longer out on a scene, and a longer, gentler intro to the next. Weā€™re talking 5 to 10 seconds removed. Clearly there are plot points missing. For instance when Robert Woods arrives at the Blacksmith, the whole bit about him searching for ā€œSoggy Jeremiahā€ has gone. Thatā€™s a full minute. Fascinating. Must check moreā€¦

One other scene I noticed is when Berger shoots someone. On the DVD version, shows the shooting, then an immediate cut to him in the bargirlsā€™ arms, while the TV version shows him struggling to get down the stairs, falling and being picked up into her arms. Only a few seconds extra, but I noticed it straight away.

Could anybody share a copy of the M4M version?