Superior Italian Western

LARSONRD

Superior Italian Western, recently released in England as a Region 2 DVD. Lee Van Cleef stars as one of those ubiquitous bounty hunters with questionable ethics and impossibly accurate gunplay seeking reward money. He teams up with a former partner named Banjo (William Berger – he plays a banjo, which tends to speak for him much as Charles Bronson's harmonica does in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST), a local bandit (Pedro Sanchez) and the latter's gymnastic friend Alleycat (Bruno Ukmar) to appropriate a cavalry fortune already stolen by corrupt townsfolk. The storyline meanders through a number of betrayals and allegiance shifts until all is conveniently wrapped up, in somewhat GOOD BAD & UGLY fashion. Van Cleef is excellent, as always, as is Sanchez and the supremely gorgeous Linda Veras as Berger's girlfriend, but rest of the cast is mediocre (especially the overly made-up Franco Ressel as the lead corrupt townfolk). Marcello Giombini fashions a superior musical score which is available on CD. Director Frank Kramer (Gianfranco Parolini) is adequate but unoutstanding, his directorial style fairly uninspired in this film – he went on to direct Van Cleef in a number of other enjoyable Italian Westerns.

score 8/10

LARSONRD 12 September 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1171377/