Runtime: 92 minutes
Directed by: Giuliano Carnimeo
Starring: George Hilton, Charles Southwood, Erika Blanc, Piero Lulli, Nello Pazzafini
From: Colt Produzioni Cinematografiche
Remember when I said I would be posting this last night?
I lied.
I won't get into the whole explanation why not, except that it involved me dozing off for a nap at a bad time. Barring major Internet issues in about 4 to 5 hours, I will be making another post and finally this site will be caught up with my Letterboxd account. Now, onto the show:
Featuring surf guitar, Colt sandwiches, shot glass checkers & Jean-Paul Marat references.
Last night I returned to Arrow Video's streaming service; the selection certainly has expanded since I was last there. Now, they have all five Sartana films; none of them I had seen before and I went with the one that had the most amusing title. Note that their release of this is under Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistols for a Coffin; both are amazing.
Turns out, this was the only entry to star George Hilton instead of Gianni Garko; no worries... sometime relatively soon I'll see the first in the series so I can compare & contrast. This was still a fun time. After all, this starts off with our hero having a picnic on a hill-where he eats an egg and a giant loaf of bread... and this is all that he eats in the film-sees a stagecoach robbery, and he extinguishes a lit fuse by... tossing his canteen into the air and shooting it so its water can land on the fuse! The actual plot revolves around an unscrupulous owner of a gold mine that is ripping off its workers w/ phony thefts & the various machinations as different parties conspire against each other and even the viewer isn't quite sure who to trust.
It's all interesting and I did chuckle at there being more than one improbable moment; however, what I give the most credit to is all the wacky touches this has. That includes:
* The score that at times seems was done w/ a surf guitar.
* Our hero only eating a loaf of bread w/ one hard-boiled egg.
* Sartana shoots people in unexpected ways. That includes “in the bathtub” and “through his beloved loaf of bread”.
* A bad guy practices shooting... by firing them at matches which are sticking up between his toes.
* Another Spaghetti Western hero-Sabata-shows up. Often, characters are used all willy-nilly in Italian cinema, as there must be no copyright laws over there which prevent such intellectual property from being used by anyone else. At least he is also portrayed as a badass; I'll have to see the official entries involving that character to see if he walks around carrying an umbrella as if he's Mary Poppins.
* BTW, the guy who played Sabata wasn't Lee Van Cleef; instead, it was an actor unknown to me who happened to look quite a bit like... John Cena. While it may not make money, I'd still love to see the actual John Cena in a Western.
* Yes, a game of checkers is played where the playing pieces are shot glasses full of alcohol.
* At one point Sartana references... Jean-Paul Marat?! That's an old figure from the French Revolution days; it'd take way too long to explain his historical significance so instead I'll recommend Wikipedia. Of course the rubes (one of whom was named MACHETE) had that reference fly right over their heads.
There's more that I dare not spoil. This Sartana picture was a pleasant surprise-which reminds me that I should seek out more Spaghetti Westerns.
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