Some spaghetti westerns for September.

Massacre Time (1966), directed by Lucio Fulci. This is Fulci’s first western and it is something of a prelude to his more famous horror films to follow. The opening pre-credit scene sets the tone. Here sadistic young Jason Scott (Nino Castelnuovo) and his men with their dogs chase a peasant across rough terrain until they come to a river where the dogs catch the man and tear him apart. Credits follow and we begin the tale of Tom Corbett (Franco Nero) and his brother, the inebriate Jeff (George Hilton), and their dealings with land baron Mr. Scott (Giuseppi Addobbati). This is a story of revenge and family romance. The film looks good, its cinematography crisp and colourful. Franco Nero looks remarkably like Clint Eastwood in the dollar films, complete with sheepskin vest and cigarillo. George Hilton gives a broad performance as the drunken brother (or is he really the brother?). The violence is strong, including a lengthy scene that takes the whip scene in Burt Lancaster’s The Kentuckian (1955) to exuberant lengths. The final shootout is something to behold, worthy of standing beside some of the pyrotechnics of the Shaw Brothers. Worth a look.

 

My Name is Pecos (1966), directed by Maurizio Lucidi. This Spaghetti western is as violent as they come, with shootings that include women and a child, beatings, rapes, hangings, and mayhem. Robert Woods stars as the eponymous character, a Mexican whose family has been murdered by the nefarious Joe Clane (Pier Paolo Capponi). The plot is straight forward, the action linear, and the conclusion expected. The formula was set with a Fistful of Dollars: a mysterious stranger rides into town, a town overrun with unsavoury baddies, he meets the town undertaker who is suitably slimy, then he has a shootout or two in and about the local saloon, next he takes a vicious beating, and is whisked away to hiding by a woman and a doctor whose hands have been crushed by that same baddie, Joe Clane, then he recovers and sets about eliminating the baddies until he arrives at the showdown with Joe, the man who is responsible for the murders of his family, and finally he rides off, perhaps not into the sunset, but into the arid desert. As the mysterious stranger, Robert Woods does not have quite the same charisma as Clint Eastwood or Franco Nero, or even Tomas Milian, but this film did spawn one sequel. That said, Pecos did not catch on the way Django, Sartana, Ringo, and Sabata did. The filming in this one is impressive, although the cast of extras who ride about furiously could have used a bit more practice riding.

 

Bandidos (1967), directed by Massimo Dallamano. Dallamano was the cinematographer for Leone’s first two “Dollar” films, and his way with a camera shows here. This is an exceptionally well shot Spaghetti western, with a camera that moves smoothly and follows a bottle as it slides down a bar top, follows boots as they move quietly on a western street, and captures men hiding and peeking out from behind a piano or a wagon or a corner of a building. As for story, this is familiar. It reminded me of Death Rides a Horse from the same year. An older man, Richard Martin (Enrico Maria Salerno), is a sharpshooter who has his hands destroyed by a former friend, Billy Kane (Venantino Venantini). This sets up the revenge plot. Richard finds a young man, Ricky Shot (Terry Jenkins), to mentor. He teaches Ricky to be a sharpshooter. What Richard does not know is that Ricky was on the train that was robbed when Richard had his hands shot by Billy. This event takes place at the beginning of the film. Anyway, the action plays out with the usual violence, lots of bodies falling here and there. What distinguishes this film is the cinematography, and it is quite astonishing. I don’t think this film has the reputation of such Spaghetti westerns as those by Leone or Corbucci or Questi or Solima, but it deserves a look. This one is as well made as they come.

 

And God Said to Cain (1970), directed by Antonio Margheriti, aka Anthony Dawson. A rather subdued Klaus Kinski plays ex-convict Gary Hamilton, who has spent ten years hard labour for a crime he did not commit. The person responsible for Gary’s incarceration is Acombar (Peter Carsten), who not only took Gary’s freedom, but also his girlfriend, Maria (Marcella Michelangeli) who looks as if she would be right at home in a Hammer horror film. Maria’s appearance suits this gothic western with its impending tornado, tolling bell, hall of mirrors, and creature of the night, the implacable Gary. Much of the action takes place at night in the streets, buildings, and underground tunnels of a western town. The tolling bell reminds us of Poe, the extreme wind signals Gary’s sweeping through the town like death itself, and the hall of mirrors works as it does in Welles’s Lady from Shanghai. The room with the many mirrors is perhaps the most impressive touch in this horror of a western suggesting the entrapment at work here. The pace is slow, but again this suits the slow twist of death as it moves wraithlike through the town. The title lets us know that Gary is forever cursed to wander between the winds. He takes revenge, but doing so dooms him. The score also suits the atmosphere with its organ music and trumpet. The story might be simple, but its darkness is perhaps only topped by Corbucci’s The Great Silence, another film with Kinski.