1965
Spain v Italy
Director: Alfonso Balcazar
Cast: Karl Mohn, Luis Davila , Gloria Milland, Fernando Sancho , Umberto Raho, Óscar Pellicer, Irene Mir, Franco Balducci, Dario De Grassi, Juanita Spain, Pedro Gil, Daniella Gouzzi, Loris Loddi Evaristo Maran, Carlos Ronda
Screenplay : Cusso Miguel Alfonso Balcazar, Giovanni Simonelli
Photo: Mario Capriotti, Stelvio Massi
Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Doc McGregor, a former surgeon turned into a drunken player, is wrongly accused of murder and pursued by Slade, a famous bounty hunter. In his flight run into the body of Larry Kitchener whose identity impersonate. But his problems have done nothing to begin since Kitchener, actually a famous gunslinger who was known for carrying a colt gold (hence the name of the movie in Italian), had been hired as the town sheriff in order to Tile kill Reyes, a Mexican bandit and his band that has terrorized the population.
Typical Italian-English co-production of 1965 Productions Film Balcazar, one of the longest Catalan production companies, along with Ignacio F. Iquino, which that year made the big leap to the intensive production of films (while 1964 only involved in four feature films in 1965 appears in the credits of nineteen, mostly in co-production by taking advantage of the new subsidy policy, of which ten are westerns) thanks to which, in imitation of the major studios Americans, had his production company, its distributor (Filmax) and their own studies in Esplugas (the famous Esplugas-City) whose investment rentabilizaría not only shooting but also its abundant production by renting to other production. This will become one of the key companies in the development of western made in Spain, whose products were characterized, thanks to the use of co-productions listed above, for having a budget of just over Western films made in Spain by other companies more modest.
The film features a screenplay by Alfonso Balcazar, Jose Antonio de la Loma and Miguel Cussó, author of popular Western novels under the name of Michael Kuss which were a source of inspiration for much the euro westerns, pretty routine, simple, with several twists in the script (halfway through the film abandons the reason why acts Reyes extorting and pressuring the owners of the ranches abandon their properties: the imminent construction of the railway with what this means regarding the revaluation of land) and the characters poorly developed, which can be seen a double influence:
one hand up and taste for violence is more cruel and sadistic, which I think may be due to the success of the film directed by Sergio Leone "A Fistful of Dollars" , heralding a new trend Westerns made in Europe. This taste for more explicit violence clearly shows, among others, in two sequences: one in which Reyes, played by Fernando Sancho, killed four peasants in cold blood, including a woman and, above all, in the long torture Doc-Kitchenner suffering at the hands of this and his men even show a pan of boiling water on his face.
Moreover, the final stretch, with the confrontation with Doc and the band Slade Reyes, clearly owes two American classics: "High Noon" , because, under the threat of the outlaws, the villagers turn their back on their new sheriff (there is even a map with Doc on the floor shooting which is a replica of one belonging to the film starring Gary Cooper) and "Rio Bravo" as the new sheriff after the abandonment of the people hurt is not shown quite the contrary, understands, and she tells Slade " Basically right. I get paid to protect them, not for them I protect myself ". That is, is taking the same view of the Hawks film, the sheriff is a professional and as such must fulfill his job that is paid, be unthinkable, as was the film Zinemann, have to ask help their fellow citizens to solve it.
addition, you can also trace the influence of another western classic, " Warlock (1959 film directed by Edward Dmytryk) but in this case only the approach of the film, as as here the frightened and cowardly villagers hire a gunman, who to make matters worse carries a gold colts, to crack down on the outlaws that are afraid.
With respect to the direction of Alfonso Balcazar itself has seemed pretty run down and neglected, with a misguided use both mounting corresponding to a scene and between scenes leading to unduly sequences already explained very abrupt transitions between them. Examples could include the first confrontation in a bar between Doc and Slade on one side and Reyes and his men on the other, which is on Reyes seems to be shot, then Doc and Slade talk after the shooting and Finally, the first to leave the bar before the rueful look of a waitress who has barely had a relationship, I think that the missing sequence maps to clarify the status of Kings (later in another sequence will check who is injured) and relationship with Doc waitress, or the transition between the scene Doc takes a drink in the saloon which is directly attached without, for example, a fade to black, with the following in coming into his office and sees Slade sat and learned from the conversation between one days has elapsed, or that one in which we see Slade Doc criticize his drunkenness that joins with another in which we see, at night, chasing the latter a wagon without knowing the reasons. But besides the mistake in the address is such that at times the scenes are confusing, so the whole sequence takes place in the barn after being tortured protagonist is characterized by the inability of the director to place the characters on stage, with what sometimes appear to be outside it, and then inside and there is nothing clear where Doc hanged, and the same applies, although not as pronounced, in the final shootout muddled.
Regarding the soundtrack composed by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, it goes unnoticed without any issue to remember after completing the film, even the song titles of credit ( " Golden gun" as performed by the Wilder brothers, singers common in eurowesterns) I found one more I've heard so far.
As actors, they had Karl Möhne (one of the most international performers and Austrians had participated in two eurowesterns, including the forgettable and already mentioned in this blog "30 Winchesters for the Devil" ) that For me, nothing more correct as Doc, a former disgraced surgeon and turned into drunken gunfighter and gambler, a recurring character in the classic western, whose paradigm is perhaps the figure of Doc Holliday. In this case will get redeemed by a heroic double action: the challenging of kings men for using their new tools (the Colts) and extraction bullet Norma's son, Bob, even if it means betraying himself to himself and be captured by Slade, through which were always useful to develop their true profession (the scalpel and other instruments of a surgeon). As we have Luis Davila costar an Argentine actor I particularly like the westerns because it gives pretty good cowboy type, this time Slade plays a peculiar bounty hunter and who are not dedicated to this profession only for the money but because he understood, the representatives of the law have become a bureaucrat who can not meet its obligations (again we find the issue of professionalism) but shows ruthless outlaws (always delivered dead.) Faced with the interpretation contained in both, we find a much more dynamic Fernando Sancho, an actor who knew fill the screen with her great personality, who plays a fugitive Mexican Reyes calling itself, as in many of these westerns, general and hired by the corrupt mayor to drive the settlers from their properties. Finally, the main female character went to Gloria Milland (usual for this time in westerns shot in Spain thanks to his collaborations with the brothers Marchent) gives convincing life to Norma O'Connor, a widow object of the extortion of fair Reyes when reaching the Doc-town Kitchener.
In summary, a western euro flojillo quite simple and that is appreciated by its rulings, the urgency in their implementation but contains enough action scenes are not boring at all.
SCORE:
HISTORY: 4
AMBIENTE: 5
ADDRESS: 2
ACTORS: 6
MUSIC: 4
MEDIA: 4.2
SCORE:
HISTORY: 4
AMBIENTE: 5
ADDRESS: 2
ACTORS: 6
MUSIC: 4
MEDIA: 4.2
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