Three Spaguetti westerns reviewed.

[Neville]

Tomorrow a local TV is screeining "A bullet for the general", and because I have to admit I've seen very little of the genre outside Sergio Leone, I've done my bst to fill the gap during these two weeks. Results follow:

1) Keoma

Franco Nero plays a halfbreed who fights in the Civil War and upon his return he founds his hometown dominated by corrupt landowners.

My God, this one is bad. Could have been OK, but Enzo Castellari's camerawork and the horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) soundtrack kill it. Avoid it, really.  

2) Django.

Franco Nero again, this time as a drifter who puts a town upside down when he confronts the two bigger forces in it, an American landowner with racist ideology and a bunch of Mexican revolutionary wannabes.

OK; this one is good, very good. I was not impressed by Nero's acting (he's to shallow to suggest the ambiguity the character demands), but the rest is top notch. Great direction by Sergio Corbucci, lots of action and enough weirdness to keep anybody awake for the whole film. For instance, the hero drags a coffin during the whole first act. Oh, and that fingers at the end were soooo gooory.

3) Tepepa aka Long Live the Revolution aka Blood and Guns

The best of the bunch. I once read in an article that during the era of Spaguetti westerns the government and the stablishment in Italy were right-wing, but the movie world was left-wing, and that that's one of the reasons why many Italian westerns have political agendas or use the Mexican revolution as a backdrop.

This is one of them, but don't expect much preaching. The ubiquitous Thomas Milian plays the titular character, a former freedom fighter that learns the hard way the revolution has been betrayed by president Madero. With him, an Englishman who saves him from execution just to kill him for his  own reasons.

It's a great film, with Thomas Milian and John Steiner (the Englishman) starting with a similar relationship than Eastwood and Eli Wallach on "The good, the bad and the ugly" that slowly becomes more low-key and introspective. Orson Welles shows up as the villanous army officer that wants both of them dead.

BTW, Don't watch the US VHS, it's pan & scan and lacks about 40' of the original cut, which is roughly 2 hours. I had to watch this one in a DVDRip version obtained through eDonkey, which was in English with some minor scenes in Italian. I don't usually advocate for P2P, but I think the only proper way of seing this one is this way. If the moderators feel this unappropiate, they are free to delete this last paragraph.

[Scott]

1) KEOMA - Give it another chance Neville. The music is actually one of the better parts of the film. That strange haunting woman singing was so unique. You will never hear anything like it again. I'm hoping to find a copy of that music somewhere. The film is also fun with Franco Nero and Woody Strode co-starring. Much better film than Nero's MANJANA.

2) DJANGO - One of the top 10 Spaghetti Westerns starring Franco Nero. Neat action, images, and music. Bought a copy of it.

3) TEPEPA - This has been high on my Spaghetti Western list for a very long time, but I can't find a copy. Besides Milan you also have Orson Welles I believe. Have yet to find this one.

[Gerry]

Scott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
 
> 2) DJANGO - One of the top 10 Spaghetti Westerns
> starring Franco Nero. Neat action, images, and
> music. Bought a copy of it.

I agree.  This one is terrific.  I have the Anchor Bay double edition with DJANGO and DJANGO RETURNS.  Both are very good.  The fingers bit at the end is extremely painful!!!

[Neville]

Go for "Tepepa" ASAP, Scott. As I said, I though it was by far the best of the three, so if you liked the other two you'll love this one.

Continuing with the topic, today I just saw "A Bullet for the General", and I have enjoyed it as well. I wished Klaus Kinski had a bigger role, but the Gian Maria Volonté - Lou Castel duo is great anyway. If I had to pick any flaw it is that the plot seems nonexistant for a while, before we understand Lou Castel is making plans on his own. BTW, I'm not sure i watched the complete version, as the IMDB mentions 135' as the original version, and the one they sohwed on TV was below 120'.

I plan to watch "The big silence" and "The Hellbenders" soon. Never heard of "Silence" before, whereas I caugh "The Hellbenders" on TV some years ago and was pelasantly surprised. It's a film starring the late Joseph Cotten, as a southern guerrilla leader who plans to restore the South with the fortune he just stole. The whole movie follows him and his bunch as they travel with the money and face different adversities and it's very grim.

[Scott]

I also enjoyed A BULLIT FOR A GENERAL and you will love THE GREAT SILENCE . THE GREAT SILENCE is equal to Sergio Leone's work. It's is darker and very interesting. The visuals are haunting. It's shot in the snowy mountains. Klause Kinski has a very good and big role in THE GREAT SILENCE.

Also A BULLIT FOR SANDOVAL with Ernerst Borgnine is a good Spaghetti Western. I think I have a copy of THE HELLBENDERS, but haven't viewed it yet.

[RCMerchant]

I love Italian westerns.The kids are at Gramma's. Sunday morn. Itailian western, bottle 'o' whiskey. Yup.

[Neville]

Just seen "The Great Silence" XD

It's... well, weird.

Don't take me wrong, it's a great film alright, it's just that after reading all that praise I expected something different. Not your fault, it happens to me all the time. Guess I'll have to watch it again to really appreciate it for what it is.

And anyway, there were lots of things to love even in this first viewing, like the somber Morricone score, the snowy backdrop, a wonderful role for Klaus kinski (gotta love the way he feigns innocence now and then) and some or the twisted morality that the film exudes, with bandits behaving like bounty hunters and viceversa.

A question: my copy of the film had German credits and I couldn't understand any of the text written at the end. Anybody can help?

[Scott]

They actually made two endings for THE GREAT SILENCE. One with the happy ending and one with the unhappy ending. On the DVD I saw they had both endings except the one ending had no sound.

This was the best Klause Kinski film that I've seen. Guess I've seen about 4 of his films.

Code Name: Wild Geese
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
A Bullit for a General
Sartana: (don't remember which one.)

[Neville]

Just seen (again) "The hellbenders", which for the moment ends with my spaghetti western trend. It's a film by Sergio Corbucci ("Django" and "The great silence"), and well, it's a rather unusual film. The late Joseph Cotten plays a die-hard confederate who can't accept his side lost, so at the begining of the movie he and his three sons steal money from a convoy, and the rest of the movie basically consists of all four of them trying to cross hostile territory, with a female accomplice. See, they stuffed the money in a coffin and they pretend they are family of the deceased, with the woman more or less willingly playing the widow. Looks like Corbucci had a thing with people carrying coffins.

While no masterpiece, it certainly has its charms. Editing is a little rough for my taste, and acting mediocre if it wasn't for the great Joseph Cotten, who pulls a great performance as the obsessed confederate, but it has a wonderful, gloomy, depressing air to it. You can tell right from the start if they're gonna succeed or not, and the incidents that occur during the journey are quite believable.

The ending alone is great, if a bit rushed. Just gets me every time.

[Scott]

Hey, I have HELLBENDERS on my shelve. I'll have to check it out soon.