#eurowestern

[trashmenace]

God’s Gun

A priest turns vigilante to hunt down criminals after they kill a man in a bar. The cirminals kill the priest and a boy revenges his death.

On Amazon Video

[trashmenace]

Ace High

After stealing $300,000, a bandit is caught and given an opportunity to save his neck by joining forces against a murderous desperado.

On Amazon Video

[billywiggins]

I Just Watched This: DAY OF VENGEANCE (Il Giorno del giudizio) (1971)

American TV star Ty Hardin (“Bronco”) headlines a disjointed and subpar Spaghetti Western that cribs tropes from numerous films and really doesn’t add enough of its own glue to hold it together.

Hardin is a soldier returning home from duty to find his family murdered, house burned to the ground. The only relic left is his child’s toy windup drummer, which he grabs and puts to use as his calling card during subsequent gun battles. Using a series of disguises, he tracks down the gang of killers to seek revenge.

Ty Hardin

The vengeance-on-a-gang-of-killers was done best in DEATH RIDES A HORSE. The use of disguises figured prominently in APOCALYPSE JOE. And a windup toy (or watch) signaling a character’s arrival is lifted from FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and, later, TEQUILA a/k/a UNO DOS TRES SPARA OTRA VEZ. Furthermore, the film’s entire score consists of Ennio Morricone cues from THE HELLBENDERS. (Normally, when library music is utilized, it goes unnoticed due to the generic nature of the music. But the HELLBENDERS music is jazzy, distinctive and unique; and is instantly recognizable.)

Ty Hardin makes for a forgettable big-screen hero when he’s playing it straight, and is not helped by the outrageous “disguise” he is forced to wear as an incognito gravedigger. He looks like a castoff from a Grateful Dead concert, and is impossible to take seriously. Hardin is supported by Eurowestern regulars in tiny or generic roles that serve neither the actors nor the plot: the characters played by Gordon Mitchell, Raf Baldassare, Craig Hill and Rosalba Neri could literally have been played by anyone. The actors are not given any meat to chew on and don’t get to show off their talents. It’s a real waste. Only Rossano Brazzi as the sheriff has a role of note, and he’s very good in the part.

Rossano Brazzi

The director is Mario Gariazzo, whose work here is awkward and confusing. There are way too many extreme close-ups of faces and shifty eyes, so many so that we forget who or what they are looking at. Gariazzo also is fond of doing a brief freeze-frame at the moment of a kill, but it’s so quick that you’d be forgiven if you thought it was a glitch in the projection. Even the toy drummer conceit is presented clumsily. At first, we hear the windup toy and Hardin giving the instructions to shoot “when it quits”, but we don’t see the toy or know what it is. The reveal of him claiming the toy from the rubble is presented later, in a flashback. The toy itself is kind of haunting and dramatic, it’s too bad it wasn’t introduced differently for better impact.

close-up of the drummer toy

Bottom line? This one is for completists only.

As of this writing, available to stream at Amazon Prime.

For more on the film, visit the Spaghetti Western Database.

[billywiggins]

I Just Watched This: HANDS OF A GUNFIGHTER (1965)

"Hands of a Gunfighter"

Working my way through the films of Craig Hill. This one is a Spanish production which is a weird mix of florid, operatic storytelling and grim, violent revenge.

(Operatic = A plot point features a little boy taken from his home and raised by his kidnappers as their own.)

(Grim revenge = our hero faces down a baddie in the center of town as the crowd watches; the bad guy is out of ammo but our hero just sneers as he shoots him in cold blood.)

Featuring maybe too many shifts of tone, it's a good one nonetheless, as Hill's charisma carries his part as the vengeance-hungry loner. 6/10 stars.

[billywiggins]

I Just Watched This: "Revenge of the Resurrected" (1972)

Peter Lee Lawrence, the blond-haired and squinty-eyed German leading man, has bounced around the periphery of my Spaghetti Western film fandom without me ever having seen one of his movies.  I was curious, then, to check out this flick from near the end of his brief but busy career.  The film, also known by such titles as PREY OF VULTURES and UN DOLAR DE RECOMPENSA ("One Dollar For a Reward"), is part of a Wild East two-fer DVD, paired with Lawrence's ONE BY ONE a/k/a RAISE YOUR HANDS, DEAD MAN, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST.

Lawrence portrays Danny, an artistically-inclined youngster who is equally skilled with a pistol as with a pencil and sketch pad.  Danny has been given the blessing of his rancher father to travel to the Big City (St. Louis) to pursue a career in art; Dad even accompanies him on the stagecoach ride out of town.

Peter Lee Lawrence

When their coach is set upon by bandits, young Danny jumps to safety as the other passengers are gunned down.  In the shock of the moment, identifying characteristics of each bad guy are seared into the young man’s memory:  a distinctive spur, the pattern of a hat band, a trigger-finger scar.  Stumbling into the next town, he hurriedly draws detailed sketches of each telltale memory, and the hunt is on for the bad guys.  Danny posts wanted notices for those he suspects, signed “The Resurrected,” hence the film’s title.

From this promising albeit unoriginal setup (see DEATH RIDES A HORSE for a similar plot) you’d be set for a hunt-em-down revenge tale as our hero seeks out and inflicts vigilante justice, one-by-one, on a series of despicable characters.  Unfortunately, the story becomes quite bogged down once Danny settles into town, as he realizes that the bandits may all be upstanding town leaders.  He must seek alliances with the sheriff’s daughter, a blacksmith, the drunken town doctor, and an overly friendly local businessman, all in attempt to figure out the mystery.  The story really loses steam in its middle act, and there is little of the tension of the pic’s opening during a long, somewhat tedious middle stretch.  A confusing finale does not help matters as an apparent reliance on stock footage serves to obscure who is fighting whom during (what ought to be) the picture’s dramatic conclusion.

Peter Lee Lawrence (born Karl Hyrenbach) has a look that is similar to Clint Eastwood:  thin lips, squinty eyes, angular nose.  The main difference in the two men’s appearance is in the hair:  when Clint was hatless, he boasted a suave and handsome combed-back look, whereas Lawrence’s blond locks are worn longer and more hippie-esque, kind of a Peter Tork look in fact.  Lawrence is pretty average as Eurowestern leading men go.  Neither handsome nor charismatic enough to be at the top of the scale, he’s a pretty capable and uninspiring hero in this film.  Sadly, Lawrence had his career tragically cut short by his death in 1974 at age 30 due to a brain tumor.  He made nearly two dozen appearances in Eurowesterns; his most notable mainstream appearance was in 1971’s BLACK BEAUTY.

It’s hard to pinpoint where the movie loses its way, but the frequent use of stock footage and cheap serial-era tricks like sped-up footage might offer one explanation.  Maybe the original story idea, promising as it was, could not be pursued for budgetary reasons, resulting in an abundance of people-talking scenes and pointless sidetracks like the sheriff’s daughter romance and a courtroom scene.  The drawings and wanted posters are kind of tossed aside for this boilerplate melodramatic stuff, to the film’s detriment.  The director is Spaniard Rafael Romero Marchent, whose work I have admired in SARTANA KILLS THEM ALL and DEAD MEN DON’T COUNT, two really enjoyable and lively Spaghettis.  Marchent is off his game here, and whether due to budgetary reasons or not, this pic is a letdown compared to the aforementioned pair of films. 

Nora Orlandi did the film’s score, and the main themes are upbeat and exciting if unoriginal.  Orlandi’s main contribution is the weird musical sting that we hear each time Danny remembers a flashback of the killers.  Intended to be a spooky and eerie cue, it instead has a kiddie-haunted-house feel, and seems more appropriate to The Brady Bunch than a dramatic, violent western.  You get what the composer was going for, but it kind of doesn’t work, and is jarring each time we hear it.

Based on RESURRECTED, I will not necessarily be in a hurry to check out other Lawrence vehicles, although I'm sure I'll take a look at the other title on the Wild East DVD.

REVENGE OF THE RESURRECTED:  6 out of 10 stars

[billywiggins]

I Just Watched This: RETURN OF ALLELUJA (1972)

Imagine if after SKYFALL, Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes teamed up for a new action flick about a dapper international spy named … Bill Jones.  That’s kind of how the two Alleluja films came about in the early-‘70s.  In the film under discussion today, swarthy leading man George Hilton joins up with his frequent director Giuliano Carnimeo for this 1972 slapstick western romp, kind of a take-off of their successful Sartana character.  The film is one that entertains despite a torrent of groan-inducing and corny gags.     Carnimeo, who signs his exported films “Anthony Ascott,” was a solid director of Spaghetti Western features in the early days of the genre.  In 1968, he was tapped to replace series creator Frank Kramer as the new helmer of the Sartana films, starring Gianni Garko as the smirking, well-dressed protagonist with a penchant for gadgets.  Carnimeo and Garko combined for three excellent films, then parted ways as George Hilton was brought in to take over the Sartana role for the series’ final film, 1970’s “C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara,” a/k/a FISTFUL OF LEAD.

George Hilton as Sartana in FISTFUL OF LEAD

    Hilton brought a laconic swagger to the part of Sartana, and although the official series ended with that film, Carnimeo tapped Hilton to star as “Alleluja” the following year in "Testa t'ammazzo, croce... sei morto... Mi chiamano Alleluja," a/k/a THEY CALL ME ALLELUJA.  Funny thing, Alleluja wore a nearly identical outfit to Sartana’s, and acted in the same smarmy, laconic fashion as he inserted himself in one wacky situation after another.  The success of ALLELUJA led to the sequel I just watched, released in 1972 as "Il West ti va stretto, amico... è arrivato Alleluja."

Hilton in "Alleluja" garb

    Returning from the first Alleluja flick along with star Hilton and director Carnimeo are no less than 16 other collaborators, including co-stars Agata Flori and Roberto Camardiel, as well as composer Stelvio Cipriani.       The story finds intrepid gun-for-hire Alleluja enmeshed in the Mexican revolution, intent on aiding the rebels in their fight against the government forces.  The rebels insist if they can reclaim an artifact stolen from a nearby Indian tribe, it will allow them to join forces with the Indians and win their battle (or something.)  Problem is, a team of thieves led by Flori and Lincoln Tate are also after the valuable statuette, as are two ne’er-do-well stumblebum brothers named … wait for it … Cain and Abel.     A series of captures and recaptures of the statue by all parties involved ensues, really just serving as the impetus for one slapstick setup after another.  There is quite a bit of fun and silly humor in the film, not just the dumb “guy hits his head” type that you often see in Eurowestern comedies.  For example, Alleluja dresses up as a peasant just to serve the army men some tainted beer, just so that they will all run out back of the saloon to relieve themselves, just so he can smack them all on the privates with one perfectly-timed snap of a long horse-rider’s whip.  Later, the lovely Agata Flori, disguised as a Scotsman replete with kilt, is being watched from a distance via telescope by men who think she’s a man.  When she goes to change out of her disguise, revealing lace-clad curves underneath, whoaaaa, you can imagine the Benny Hill-style bulging eyes that occur.     Other gags include Cain and Abel having a knock-down, drag-out fistfight that practically destroys their campsite (funnier than it sounds), Alleluja breaking out a typewriter (!) in the middle of a war zone to hammer out the terms of his contract before agreeing to help the rebels, and the zaftig, voluptuous Mara Krupp being used as a decoy to distract a dirty old man while Cain and Abel try to filch the statue.  Oh! And I almost forgot, a running gag with a talking cockatoo also.

Title theme music

    The emphasis on fisticuffs and goofy gags brings to mind the early-‘80s adventure films of Jackie Chan, and if you are a fan of PROJECT A or ARMOUR OF GOD you will find much to like in RETURN OF ALLELUJA.  In fact, the excellent, mirthful score by Stelvio Cipriani is a fife-and-drum-heavy affair that will bring to mind PROJECT A’s militaristic musical cues.  (The score is available to play in its entirety at Spotify as of this writing.)     I wouldn’t consider RETURN OF ALLELUJA a good diving-in point for either Hilton or Carnimeo (start with their Sartana films if you are interested), but if you are already fans of theirs or of comedy-westerns, by all means check it out.

View the film at YouTube here.

[billywiggins]

I Just Watched This: Cut-Throats Nine (1972)

This cult-favorite Eurowestern (not a Spaghetti; it was made in Spain) is notorious for being a typical gritty and unforgiving western feature that is punctuated by some very atypical gory murders and attendant bloody makeup effects. The version I watched (from Amazon streaming) was an uncut print with the notorious stuff intact; however, it was such a bad transfer with poor picture quality that the film's impact really suffered.

Robert Hundar (AKA Claudio Undari), an army sergeant, is tasked with transporting a wagon load of shackled criminals through the mountains to a nearby base. We learn that Hundar's wife has recently been murdered, hence, his comely young daughter is forced to travel with him (and every viewer says to himself: "This won't end well.") Complicating matters is the group of bandits that are tracking the wagon, searching for gold that may or may not be hidden on board. After a shocking first-half twist involving a wagon wreck, escape, and a person burned alive, the remainder of the group sets out on foot, Bataan Death March style, to find their way out of the wilderness.

Without giving too much away, suffice to say the story is rife with double-crosses, leery glances, escape attempts, negotiations at gunpoint, and murders. Many, many murders. The group's numbers dwindle as things get progressively more tense in the snowy, bitter cold terrain they travel. Each person that gets dispatched is done in with a showy, gory flair that would not be out of place in a FRIDAY THE 13TH pic. Eyeballs are shot out, feet chopped off, intestines fall out of gashing wounds, heads are blown off ... it's pretty much a three-ring circus of bloody, violent deaths. But believe it or not, the gore fits the violent, desperate tone of the movie quite well. Sometimes, excessive gore can take you out of the moment of a film's vibe, causing you to overly gawk at a cool makeup effect, but the opposite is true here. Once you realize that it is going to be a long, cruel, vicious journey for the people in the pic, you roll with the gory kills.

Robert Hundar, Emma Cohen

  In addition to style of the murders, director Joaquin Marchent offers a unique conceit of mini-flashbacks to previous episodes just before a death. A character mentions early on that when he survived a lynching, he saw his life pass before him. This becomes a recurring motif as several times throughout the film, a freeze frame occurs and a glimpse into a man's past life is briefly seen. One thing the director does poorly, though, is differentiate the members of the convict gang. Almost to a man, they are dark-complected, brown-haired men with beards, wearing drab overcoats and hats with little to distinguish them. It became very hard to remember who was who, and keep track of which guy looked at who sideways. My rule is: any time you have a Dirty Dozen-type group, you must have wildly divergent appearances. One with long hair, one with a weird mustache, one with a scar, one with a unique hat, one that's horny, one that's drunk, etc., so the viewer can easily keep track of them.

vintage double-feature newspaper ad

As I noted, the print Amazon offers for streaming is of very low quality, and appears ripped right from a VHS tape, replete with rolling static bars and all. The picture is washed-out, blurry, and colorless; and you feel as if you're watching through a dirty, grimy window. Perhaps the actors might have popped out from the screen more in a clear, HD version, easing the trouble I had keeping track of them. It appears that CUT-THROATS NINE had a limited remastered DVD release awhile back from the Code Red label; however that one is long out of print and the Amazon stream is taken from one of the many public domain or grey-market DVDs floating around out there. With a proper home video release, this one has the potential to be a real cult classic -- fans of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS or the MACHETE film would eat it up. (FWIW, there is talk of a Hollywood remake as well.)

Available to stream from Amazon.

View the NSFW and spoiler-heavy trailer:

[billywiggins]

RIP Giuliano Gemma

Giuliano Gemma, the baby-faced star of numerous Italian westerns, has died at the age of 75.  [source: http://www.vivacinema.it/articolo/morto-giuliano-gemma-il-cinema-italiano-dice-addio-all-eroe-dei-western/45721/]

His fame was sealed with two smash hit westerns in 1964 and 65:  A PISTOL FOR RINGO and its follow-up THE RETURN OF RINGO.  His charming demeanor and handsome looks made him a natural screen star, and one of the best and most-loved players in the history of Spaghetti Westerns.

More about Gemma from the Spaghetti Western Database:

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