Speghetti Westerns: Non-Leone ............

[Scott]

Besides the Dollar Trilogy, Once Upon A Time in America, Fist Full of Dynamite, and My Name is Nobody (don't think he actually did this one) which are your favorite? Here are the ones that I have been able to find and view:

1)Django
2)The Big Gundown
3)Death Rides a Horse
4)Django Kill
5)They Call Me Trinity
6)They Still Call Me Trinity
7)Sabata
8)Return of Sabata
9)A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die
10)Adios Sabata
11)Treasure of Silver Lake
12)Mannaja
13)A Minute to Pray, A Minute to Die
14)Gods Gun

The Spaghetti Westerns that I just didn't like were. These were terrible in my opinion:

Navajo Joe
Bad Mans River
Beyond the Law
Cry Apache Blood

Any thoughts on these films or any others not mentioned?

[Chris K.]

DJANGO (1966), DJANGO KILL...IF YOU LIVE SHOOT! (1967), RUN MAN RUN (1969), COMPANEROS (1970), FOUR OF THE APOCOLYPSE (1976), and MANJANNA (1977) and to me definative favorites.

[Scott]

I've been wanting to see COMPANEROS (1970). Oh I forgot that I own RUN MAN RUN that's a neat one. Thoman Milan is great in this one and Van Cleef does his part well enough. I think that its also known as THE BIG GUNDOWN II.

FOUR OF THE APOCOLYPSE (1976) I've heard poor things about it, but I still would like to see it for myself.

[Neville]

Non-Leone spaghetti westerns are difficult to find in my country. Nevertheless, I came across a DVD copy of "Face to face" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061636/) in my local library and I found it to be an excellent film. Highly recommended.

[BoyScoutKevin]

While I have never cared much for spaghetti westerns, there was one I saw and liked. To give it, its American title "Massacre at Fort Homan" from 1972. Like "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," it takes place during the American Civil War, and the plot has James Coburn as the former Union commander of Fort Holman, who surrendered the for t to Confederate officer Telly Savalas, upon the promise that Savalas would spare the life of Cobuirn's son, who Savalas had prisioner. Of course, after getting the fort, Savalas kills the boy anyway. Now, Coburn wants revenge and the fort back, and with six convicts he has saved from the gallows, he plans on getting both. Bud Spencer is also in it.

[Scott]

Oh yes, that MASSACRE AT FORT HOLMAN is a.k.a. A REASON TO LIVE, A REASON TO DIE. It's not to bad of a film and Encore Western Channel has been showing it lately. They waste Telly Savalas in this film. He dosn't do much, but the rest of the film is ok. It has its lesser moments.

[Yaddo42]

This is one genre of movies that I'm disappointed how few I can get hold of. A list of the one I want to see would be so much longer than a list of favorites.

But one that I caught every chance I could on America One when they used to show a broader and better range of movies was the western comedy, "Long Live Your Death" (aka "Don't Turn The Other Cheek"). It starred Eli Wallach (in full Tuco mode), Franco Nero, and Lynn Redgrave (who actually looked very attractive in this). The setup is very similar to "Companeros". Wallach is a bandit mistaken for a Mexican revolutionary leader, Nero is a con man who claims to be an exiled Russian prince. Redgrave is an Irish socialist journalist roaming Mexico and Central America trying to aid the revolutionary causes in these countries by organizing uprisings. One of the best jokes involves Nero telling Wallach he wants to sleep with Redgrave's character. Wallach tells him to forget about it because since she's Catholic she believes in sin and worries about her soul, since she's Irish she's uptight and repressed about sex, and since she's a socialist she doesn't believe in fun.

Doesn't seem to be available on video or DVD through legit sources though. When I did some digging on the Net while first trying to find it, I could find nothing to suggest that it ever got any kind of video release in the US, what a shame.

[Yaddo42]

It's a sad irony if spaghetti westerns are so hard to come by in Neville's country (Spain, IIRC from what he's mentioned in other threads) since so many were filmed there during the genre's heyday because parts of the Spanish countryside were capable of passing for the Northern regions of Mexico. Just seems wrong to me in some minor way.

[Neville]

Well ,Ijust found out that Divisa (www.divisared.es) offers a dozen or so of SW in multizone DVDs with restored image. However, they only have the spanish dubbing, without even offering english subtitles. WTF?

[Scott]

Neville I've been hearing alot about FACE TO FACE and hope to locate a copy someday.

Yaddo that Wallach dialogue sounds like a classic reason to watch films. I'll keep that one on my list. Thanks for the info.

[Neville]

If you are that interested in "Face to face", you can order a multizone DVD from Divisared.es (under the title "Cara a Cara". Be warned, though, only audio is spanish. No subtitles. Hey, I've heard of people who buy japanese stuff without understanding a word of japanese.

[Scott]

By the way if anyone is interested Encore Western Channel will be showing THE LONGEST HUNT a.k.a. Shoot Gringo Shoot and RAMPAGE AT APACHE WELLS. They will be showing them many times during the month of March.

http://www.starz.com/se/westerns/index.html

[Yaddo42]

Glad to tip you to it, Scott.

There's also a plot element about an important map being tattooed on Wallach's backside. He has recurring lines along the lines of  "A Mexican never shows his ass to anyone." an odd but funny film.