1969
Italy / Spain
Director: Tonino Valerri
Cast: Giuliano Gemma , Fernando Rey, Van Johnson, Warren Vanders, Antonio Casas , Benito Stefanelli, Frank Brana, Jose Calvo , Angel Alvarez, Maria Jesus Cuadra, Ray Saunders, Jose Suarez, Manuel Zarzo , Mike Harvey, Julio Pena, Lorenzo Robledo, Massimo Carocci, Angel Well, Norma Jordan, Franco Meroni, Luis Rico Pelaez, Maria Luisa Sala, Francisco Sanz, Ralph Neville, Lisa Iglesias, Joaquin Parra, Jose Canalejas , Riccardo Pizzuti, Carlos Bravo
Screenplay: Massimo Patrizi, Ernesto Gastaldi
Photography: Stelvio Massi
Music: Luis Enríquez Bacalov
Valerri Tonino, for me one of the best and, along with Sergio Sollima, directors finest spaghetti western, with a brief but very original films in this subgenre. So, after first and more impersonal raid "bounty hunter" (1966), in which still cherishes the strong influence of his master Sergio Leone with whom he collaborated on "A Fistful of Dollars" and "Death had a price ", made a handful of films that are characterized by their originality: " The day of wrath " (1967), great depth film with an unusual moral and character development is a major the peaks of spaghetti; "A reason for living and another to die" , a kind of adaptation of "Dirty Dozen" to the world of western but lacking the heroic vision of that and which highlights the slow pace with which it is told until the explosive finale, and "My name is none" (1973 ) made and, from what I read, co-directed by his teacher Leone which involved the death certificate not only overcome by the classic western spaghetti, but it concluded by the current comic arising from the success of "I called Trinidad ".
This Italian-English co-production in 1969 and based on the actual murder of President James Garfield in 1881, transferred, for me, quite rightly, the world's spaghetti western The Assassination of John F. Kennedy happened in Dallas in 1963, whose shock was not even spare the world in the year of completion of the film. So we have a sort of western fiction policy denouncing political corruption, the sewers of the state and the control of the press by the economic power with the intention to create currents of opinion favorable to their interests and reflects on the reason of state as the supreme good above the individual and the danger posed by the knowledge of the truth. Therefore, it is the western most politicized by Valerrii I think is a background of a series of American films popular in the seventies, with which entroncaría, whose central theme was the political conspiracy: "Executive Action" (1973), "The Last Witness" (1974) or "Three Days of the Condor" (1975).
Civil War has ended. To try to heal the wounds, the U.S. President James Garfield decides to move to Dallas to explain to the reluctant inhabitants of the state of Texas the outlines of his political views, continuous of Abraham Lincoln. But both his attempts to end racial discrimination and to impose a greater redistribution of wealth through a fairer tax policy clash with the reactionary mentality and immobility of the notables of the state (governor, large landowners, bankers, etc) planning to kill him.
Valerii to put up the project had a budget higher than average in these products by Bianco Manini, responsible for the extraordinary "I am the revolution" , and with the collaboration of his usual screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi and Massimo Patrizi, who wrote a script spaghetti making this complaint in a movie and while respecting the tenets of this subgenre. Thus we find a very entertaining movie, despite the few flaws that later comment, in which the scenes are perfectly combined reflexive: president's speech, talks with dialogues between the protagonists in that slide a bit naive about messages ( "A gun can not kill an idea", "We want justice and equal rights but we hope that someone would serve them on a silver platter" ) with the few but great action scenes (especially the confrontation the pass).
Work in the direction of Valerii is brighter and closer to classical than to European models, except for some awards as the repetitive use in certain scenes of the zoom. We're going to find exquisite camera work, framing and abundant beautiful long shots that I love, plus filming with great success shooting scenes.
Other highlights include: the Stelvio Massi great work as a cinematographer, the great atmosphere and superb soundtrack composed by Luis Bacalov with a large and melancholy theme that begins with the predominant sound of a harmonious and gradually to incorporate the various orchestral instruments, in addition to good incidental issues, especially one of more rhythmic and classical inspiration, well used and enhance the action.
As actors, we note that the absolute star is Giuliano Gemma, who offers another good performance as Bill Willer, a young man who will be involved in the conspiracy to assassinate the president and who saved a first attack. As happened to Mary Scott "The day of wrath" , is a character who suffers a major change in this case will be an idealistic young man capable of dealing with their neighbors and even his father to defend the ideals Civil War, to end up giving in their attempt to uncover the whole truth about assassination of the president and the people around him, assuming it could be very damaging to the future of the nation, beating, so, state the reason for the truth. Next to him a group of veterans side were a luxury for the films involved and, as it used to be common, embroider their roles: Fernando Rey as the treacherous banker Pinkerton, a symbol of the great and corrupt capitalists used in their interests to political power and the press, Jose Calvo as drunk but lucid and honest doctor who attend to the president after the attack, Antonio Casas in the role of the hapless and unsuspecting father Bill, and Joseph Smith in the role of Vice , which the great men of Dallas blackmailed by his past and try to keep alive the memory of the slain president, in a clear allusion to Lyndon B. Johnson, also born in Texas, with a somewhat murky political past (he was elected as a senator after a vote a little irregular), and a continuation of the great social and economic reforms Kennedy after his death. Also the film has good performances Manolo Zarzo, not too much known actor, who plays the idealistic young journalist who becomes the great support from Bill, Benito Steffanelli in the role of the corrupt sheriff, the truth is I do not understand how this actor did not have much projection in this genre, and Ray Saunders as Lee Harvey Oswald on duty, that is the scapegoat. The cast is completed with special guest Van Johnson, already in decline, a star of Hollywood during the forties and fifties, while maintaining its contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer powerful ( "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944), "Sublime decision" (1948), "The Caine Mutiny " (1954), " The Last Time I Saw Paris " (1954), " A 23 steps of Baker Street " (1956), etc.) that this time President Garfield plays the well-intentioned, and normal faces this subgenre: Ángel del Pozo, Frank Brana, Lorenzo Robledo, José Canalejas, Paco Sanz.
emphasize on the negative aspects include:
"Some scenes seem a filler, such as the black singer in the lounge or the very" spaghettera "and dramatic clash dark and with a cigar between Bill and the sheriff, narratively, it makes no sense.
"The little big city feeling that gives the city of Dallas, as it resembles a small village (I think it would have taken more houses and, above all, many more extras for the scene of the attack).
-Speech and forced too naive to reinforce the parallel between Garfield and Kennedy, the president. Even pronounce a sentence, "I dream of how it could be and say why not" could have signed the infamous assassinated U.S. president.
These are minor faults which, for me, prevent the group considers the best spaghetti.
Through a friend lent me, I've been enjoying the copy put on sale by Filmax, which for once has good sound and picture.
Ultimately I think this is a great, original and unusual spaghetti that perfectly combines two genres in principle very different as are the western and the political thriller and is, as was usual with him, brilliantly directed by Tonino Valerii.
SCORE:
HISTORY: 8
AMBIENTE: 7
ADDRESS: 8
ACTORS: 8
MUSIC: 8
ADDRESS: 8
ACTORS: 8
MUSIC: 8
MEDIA: 7.8
