A Fistful of Spaghetti: Nebraska Jim (1965) and 3 Bullets For Ringo (1966)

This edition of 'Fistful of Spaghetti' features two Ringo movies--one that had the participation of Mario Bava and another that copied him in a minuscule manner. One's worth a look and the other's worth a pass.


NEBRASKA JIM 1965 aka RINGO DEL NEBRASKA

Ken Clark (Ringo/Nebraska), Piero Lulli (Bill Carter), Alfonso Rojas (Marty Hillman), Yvonne Bastien (Kay Cross), Renato Rossini (Lou Felton), Livio Lorenzon (sheriff Bert), Frank Brana (Dickson)

Directed by Anthony Roman


A vicious gunman named Bill Carter has an ongoing and heated conflict with cattle rancher, Marty Hillman. While Hillman hones his shooting skills, he meets a young gunslinger from Nebraska named Ringo who proves to be a crack shot with a pistol. Marty takes a quick liking to Ringo and offers him a job working on his ranch. Finding one of Marty's foremen dead and engaging Carter in a barroom brawl, Kay, Marty's wife, explains to Ringo that $50,000 had been left to her by her father and Carter will tear up Hillman's property to find it.


This average Italian-Spanish western is one of a few sequels/spin offs to Duccio Tessari's seminal work, A PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965), a star making vehicle for popular actor/athlete Giuliano Gemma. Here, second tier Hollywood player Ken Clark plays the milk drinking gunslinger, but without the wit, or wily smirking of Gemma's portrayal. Clark headlined some EuroSpy pictures and played the lead villain in both HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS (1963) and HERCULES AGAINST THE BARBARIANS (1964). He then starred in Mario Bava's average ROAD TO FORT ALAMO (1964). NEBRASKA JIM has been credited to Bava as well, although Spanish director, Anthony Roman is given directors credit. Apparently, Bava had a small hand in the production directing second unit. Aside from some interesting photographic touches there's virtually nothing here that looks remotely like Bava's work.


Regarding Clark, he had a dominating presence onscreen and had his career lasted longer, he would have no doubt become an enduring big screen tough guy. Bearing a countenance akin to Kenneth Tobey and Charles Bronson, Clark's Bo Svenson build towered over his co-stars. His rugged looks may have been unfit to fill the shoes of the wily character perfected by Gemma, the man should have headlined a lot more movies. One of the films unusual instances of memorability is the striking sexual tension between Ringo and Marty's sexually frustrated wife, Kay. Rarely, if ever, have such westerns explored the topic of a coitally neglected woman living with an apparently impotent husband--enter tall, handsome stranger and possible plot points that said wife wants the husband out of the way to have the big, burly hero all to herself. It's one of the best aspects of the film and helps it stand out from the massive pack of similar movies.


Piero Lulli works best when he's putting his devilish visage to good use and as usual, plays a good villain here as the sly Bill Carter. His character gets into two highly destructive scuffles with Ringo resulting in a lot of smashed balsa wood furniture. Livio Lorenzon, a frequent face in many a gladiator movie, acts in a similar function here as Bert, the sheriff. Renato Rossini, who is credited here as Red Ross (he's also used Howard Ross), is one of Carter's chief thugs. Sadly, he gets little to do. He had a much bigger role alongside Clark in HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS (1963) and featured in a handful of other strongman roles at the tail end of the Sword & Sandal cycle.


While it comes nowhere near the top level Italian westerns, NEBRASKA JIM has some unusual camerawork and shots rarely seen in the genre and a big surprise at the end that makes the experience a worthwhile one. The score by Nino Oliviero is derivative, but easy on the ears as is the main theme song, 'Cuando Muore il Sole'. It's a shame Ken Clark didn't have a much bigger career as he was an imposing presence onscreen. This would make for a curious double feature with ROAD TO FORT ALAMO for Bava fans.

AND NOW OUR SECOND FEATURE!

3 BULLETS FOR RINGO 1966 aka 3 COLPI DI WINCHESTER PER RINGO

Mickey Hargitay (Ringo Carson), Gordon Mitchell (Frank Sanders), Ivano Staccioli (Daniels)

Directed by Emmimo Salvi


Ringo and Frank Sanders are best friends who have a parting of ways after rescuing a woman named Jane from a Mexican gang. Frank is in love with Jane, but she wants nothing to do with him, preferring Ringo's company instead. Eventually, Frank goes off to fight in the Civil War while Ringo becomes sheriff of Stone City, marries Jane, has a child and protects his mothers land from greedy land baron, Daniels. When the war is over, Frank returns and saves Ringo from being killed by his Confederate compatriots. Temporarily blinded, Ringo's mother is killed and he must now keep Daniels from snatching the deeds to the property as well as protect his wife and son from Frank and his cohorts.


Perpetually awful and bland Italian western has very little going for it apart from some Bava style photography indigenous to Salvi's other mediocre movies. The script attempts to be epic in scale, but it's clumsily scrapped together and difficult to follow much of the time. Hargitay's pseudo popularity is baffling to me. I assume his middling career is owed strictly to his dynamite wife, the late Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay neither passes muster, nor cuts the mustard here as a western hero. His other oaters are just as forgettable. He will likely always be remembered for his role in the trashy BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965). Hargitay also fails to impress as a temporary blind man during one of the films many convoluted moments of disinterest in what is a nod to the wildly popular, and immensely entertaining ZATOICHI, THE BLIND SWORDSMAN character--a series of over two dozen chambara pictures.


Gordon Mitchell could usually be counted on to elevate even the worst dreck to barely watchable status, but not even his craggy visage and frequent cackling can salvage this worthless poverty row faux western--fake cacti, rubber rocks and all. Mitchell worked with Salvi a number of times and enjoyed his candor even if his movies were pretty pathetic, sometimes riotously so. The soap opera-ish plot unveiled here is far too bloated for a $1.95 budget and Salvi and crew even fail at turning this nonsensical mess into unintended hilarity. The gun battles are lackadaisical as Hargitay's delivery. The cast of extras can't even die with any conviction. One of the worst among a genre rife with horrible movies, it's yet another production attempting to capitalize on the name of a far superior picture.


Salvi did scant few movies including some colorfully atrocious Sword & Sandal and adventure fantasies such as the awe-ful VULCAN, SON OF JUPITER (1962) and ALI BABA & THE SEVEN SARACENS (1964). When he moved over to directing westerns he apparently assumed movies with cowboys and guns should still have a fantasy atmosphere so his two westerns have this strange, indescribable aura about them. It's as if Salvi held onto certain elements of the fantasy films porting them over to the western genre even going so far as to utilize some of the same sets. You almost expect the cowboys to unsheathe swords and shields instead of the cap guns they're saddled with. There's a totally out of place voodoo type dance sequence in 3 BULLETS FOR RINGO that seems ripped straight from the Italian adventure movies that had been the rage earlier in the decade. Some of the sets in his equally peculiar WANTED JOHNNY TEXAS (1967) are seen here as well--another film that has a frequently non traditional western look about it. While that one was mildly diverting, these 3 BULLETS are duds.

This review is representative of the Koch Media DVD for NEBRASKA JIM and the Wild East DVD for 3 BULLETS FOR RINGO

A Fistful of Spaghetti: Killer Kid (1967) & Massacre At Grand Canyon (1965)

This column covers the Good, the Bad & the Mediocre of the Spaghetti Western genre. This entry is a double feature for two obscure Italian westerns; one contains a rare heroic turn for a popular Mexican actor known for his villain roles, and the other has a fascinating role call of behind the camera technicians.



KILLER KID 1967 aka CAPTAIN MORRISON

Anthony Steffen (Killer Kid/Capt. Morrison), Giovanni Cianfriglia (as Ken Wood; Ramirez), Fernando Sancho (Vilar), Liz Barrett (Mercedes Hernandez)

Directed by Leopoldo Savona; Production Manager: Sergio Garrone


The ruthless and cruel Captain Ramirez hunts down and kills revolutionaries in his search for The Saint, the righteous leader of the Mexican insurrection against the Federales. Adding complications to Ramirez's pursuit, a group of American gunmen secretly steal weapons from US encampments to be sold to the freedom fighters. Killer Kid, the most dangerous gunfighter in the west, bides his time in a military jail. He manages to escape and soon ingratiates himself in the company of the elusive Saint ultimately joining them in their fight against Ramirez. However, one of the Saints men, Vilar, doesn't trust the American ace gunfighter whose motives and actions are shrouded in mystery.


"This film is dedicated to the Mexican people who in humble valor allowed for the birth of a modern, independent, democratic republic." So begins this 1967 Italian western; a Zapata shoot'em up whose only real political underpinnings are in that opening statement. With such a bold and patriotic statement to begin the film, Savona's movie never quite reaches classic status settling instead for a typical western affair saddled (haha) with a convoluted plot. The opening statement attempts to elevate the film with minor political underpinnings which are subsequently lost amongst the usual six gun shenanigans.


However, a handful of scenes are deftly managed by the director such as a nice scene involving the Kid and his love interest, Mercedes, the niece of the Saint. The Kid gives a grand speech about his change of heart in regards to the peasants who fight for a righteous and just cause. This scene is accompanied by a very nice romantic musical piece by composer Berto Pisano. There are a few other nicely orchestrated sequences that manage to lift the film above the average spaghetti sagebrush saga, but never quite proves itself worthy of the company of such noted classics as Damiani's A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1967) and Corbucci's THE MERCENARY (1968). A fair number of characters and minor sub-plots litter the hot and arid landscape depicted in this picture. The title character, for example, is as complicated as the plot itself.


Anthony Steffen essays another one of his archetypal western hero roles which only required him to remain silent much of the time with an occasional sly grimace to carry his performance. He's best when playing characters such as these and as wooden as he often is, Steffen could turn such a performance to his advantage. Having starred in some 27 westerns, Steffen also displayed a good amount of flair in the quirky and fun A MAN CALLED APOCALYPSE JOE (1971) which, like KILLER KID (1967), was also directed by Savona. This is definitely one of Steffen's better movies. Like his other colleagues who enjoyed domestic popularity, Steffen crossed over into other genres for films such as THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE (1971) and THE KILLERS ARE OUR GUESTS (1974). He will most probably always be remembered for his prolific career in Euro westerns.


Former sword & sandal actor/stunt man Giovanni Cianfriglia has a larger than usual role here as the main antagonist--Captain Ramirez. Cianfriglia is a strong presence during the first 30 minutes or so but then disappears midway through showing up for the bombastic finale. Formerly Steve Reeves's stunt man, he also got to play the main villain in HERCULES THE AVENGER (1965) in which he dueled with British born Reg Park. He did get to partake as the lead hero in the Italian superhero /spy action films SUPERARGO AGAINST DIABOLICUS (1966) and its lesser sequel, SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS (1968). Cianfriglia was gifted with a great look but although his career spanned 40+ years covering every genre, he never made it as a leading man, but remains one of the most recognizable faces of Italian genre cinema.


Fernando Sancho is a sight to behold here as Vilar in a role that's one of the best he was ever given. An unusual turn in that he plays a good guy and a somewhat complicated good guy at that. In addition, he gets quite a bit of screen time and mucho dialog almost taking the film away from Steffen with his lively and spirited portrayal of the anxious and hot-tempered Vilar. His characters name sounds like a variation of the word 'vulgar' and it suits him perfectly.


The film itself seems to have had a decent budget at least bigger than a lot of these movies. Savona and his cinematographer do a fine job capturing some great scope shots in addition to some well handled character interplay and several nicely choreographed action scenes. Although there are a couple of sloppy bits here and there such as one of the soldiers leaping from the blast from an explosion just before the detonation takes place. The hideout for Sartana's gang seen in BLOOD AT SUNDOWN (1967;no relation to the popular series character but also played by Gianni Garko as a villain) is used here for one scene after the insurgents have fled their initial sanctuary. That film, incidentally, also starred Anthony Steffen and may have been shooting at the same time as KILLER KID (1967).


KILLER KID (1967) is a slightly above average film with a number of elements to set it apart from the run-of-the-mill entries of the genre. A last minute script change cripples the film and is a bit jarring, but no doubt this was due to Steffen's prima donna behavior. The script contains surprisingly more intricate characters than generally afforded these movies and it's one of Steffen's better films of his career; not a classic, but worth the trip for spaghetti fans.

This review is representative of the R2 Koch Media PAL DVD



MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON 1965 aka MASSACRO AL GRANDE CANYON aka MASSACRE AT CANYON GRANDE aka RED PASTURES

James Mitchum (Wes Evans), Jill Powers (Nancy), George Ardisson (Tully Dancer), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (Sheriff Cooley), Ferdinando Poggi (Ace Manson)

Directed by Sergio Corbucci (Stanley Corbett) and Albert Band; Second Unit Director: Franco Giraldi; Camera Operator: Stelvio Massi; Music by Gianni Ferrio; Director of photography: Enzo Barboni


Returning home after two years of hunting down the men that murdered his father, Wes Evans comes home to take back his job as sheriff as well as find solace in the arms of his betrothed. Upon reacquainting himself with old friends who thought him to be dead, Wes learns that his girlfriend, Nancy, has married Tully Dancer in his absence. He also learns that a range war between the Dancer's and the Whitmore's over Red Grass Valley has resulted in bloodshed between the two factions. Although the land rightly belongs to the Whitmore's, the Dancer's claim the territory was tricked right out from under them. With the violence between the two families escalating, the neighboring town of Ariba Mesa is caught in the middle. The Dancer's decide that to take the Whitmore land, sheer numbers will not be enough; the might of the Manson brothers is recruited to seize Red Grass Valley. However, Wes Evans isn't about to let that happen.


Sergio Corbucci, who later found fame after further changing the European Western landscape with the release of DJANGO (1966), had his first go at the genre with MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (1964). The polar opposite from his later western productions, the film bears more of a resemblance to the sprawling American western, a genre to which some 20+ European imitation westerns had already been seen on Italian cinema screens MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON being one of them. However, it seems Corbucci had very little to do with the direction of this film, although he was given sole screen credit; something that was a regular occurrence in Europe at the time. Incidentally, the plot point of two factions of warring families would also be utilized in Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), a device that was lifted from Kurosawa's YOJIMBO (1961).


Whatever his level of input actually was, Corbucci's penchant for maimed and disfigured characters does rear its head here--a man who lost his leg in a gunfight with one of the Dancer's after Harley Whitmore had sold him a plot of land on Red Grass Valley. Despite its rather plain jane approach to the form, the film is much bigger in scope than many of the countless Eur-oaters that followed. There's a livliness to the film that makes it a moderately enjoyable watch.


The film also seems to share a number of the same locations as seen in the popular German western WINNETOU films from Karl May. Enzo Barboni (who later went on to a successful directorial career himself) captures the beautiful vistas and mountain landscapes seen here which again, captures the flavor of the soon-to-be-replaced style of American western popularized by actors such as Randolph Scott, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Speaking of John Wayne, there is a popular running gag in his 1971 film BIG JAKE whereupon everybody he comes into contact with says, "I heard you were dead". This gag was also implemented into John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) as an homage to BIG JAKE (1971) but the same gag is heard in MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (1964) as a number of people say the same thing to Mitchum's character upon his return to Red Grass Valley and Ariba Mesa.


James Mitchum, the spitting image of his father, takes the lead here as Wes Evans. He seems confused most of the time but comes through in a number of scenes. It appears that James did not dub his own voice for this movie but would do so for THE TRAMPLERS (1966) directed by the co-director of this film, Albert Band. Mitchum doesn't have a lot of range, but makes up for it with charisma and the wiry actor handles action much better than others seen in these movies. Mitchum can be seen in the moonshine movie, THUNDER ROAD (1958) where he played the on screen brother to his off screen father, Robert Mitchum. He also featured in one episode of the US western show HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL (1962) as well as the shockingly bad schlockfest MONSTER (1979).


George Ardisson plays the villain, Tully Dancer and appears to indulge himself every second of screen time he has nearly stealing the film away from Mitchum whose name value is just barely enough to carry the film. Ardisson was great portraying bad guys but had a look that could lend him to playing protagonists, too. He also plays the heavy in Antonio Margheriti's atmospheric Gothic horror yarn, THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH (1964) and the sidekick to Hercules in HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961).


Giacomo Rossi-Stuart will also be familiar to fans of Italian cinema having appeared in just about everything from sword and sandal films (WAR OF THE TROJANS ;1962), to horror (KILL, BABY, KILL!;1966) and war pictures (CHURCHILL'S LEOPARDS;1970) among them. Stuart was a nasty villain in two films in Michele Lupo's gladiator trilogy, THE REVENGE OF SPARTACUS and SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST THE WORLD (both 1964).


Far more interesting than the film itself is the behind the scenes staff. It's a veritable who's who of superlative Italian filmmakers. Viewers will recognize luminaries such as Franco Giraldi, the 2nd Unit Director here. Giraldi went on to his own successful career in westerns with the box office successes of SEVEN GUNS FOR THE MACGREGORS (1965) and the even more successful SEVEN WOMEN FOR THE MACGREGORS (1966), two films that predated the comedy western formula that would take over the genre in the early 1970's spearheaded by DP/director, Enzo Barboni.


Stelvio Massi serves here as a camera operator and would go on to a career as a head cinematographer. He would also undertake a successful career as a director most memorably in the Italian crime genre. The aforementioned Enzo Barboni would gain enormous fame after the Euro western would change yet again in 1970 with the release of THEY CALL ME TRINITY, a film that would not only resonate in Italy, but internationally as well.


Composer Gianni Ferrio contributed many scores for the genre but his compositions for MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (1964) imitate the American style and aside from the main theme song and a brief cue here and there, the score never strays from the American western formula. Curiously, the film sports two different musical tracks as well as different sound effects depending on which track is selected on the Koch Media DVD. The English version sports the traditional sounding gunfire and other foley effects familiar to fans of the genre while the German track sports sound effects that are more reminiscent to US westerns.


While probably not for everyone, Sergio Corbucci (sort of) makes a grand entrance into the spaghetti western arena with a big, American fashioned entry that, while not indicative of his later works, foreshadows great things to come from the master filmmaker.

This review is representative of the Koch Media R0 PAL DVD.

A Fistful of Spaghetti: Mini Reviews of European Western Films

This column covers the Good, the Average and the Mediocre in the spaghetti western genre. The following reviews are for two obscure European western pictures.



THE DIRTY OUTLAWS 1967 aka EL DESPERADO **

Chip Corman (Steve Blasco), Franco Giornelli (Asher), Rosemarie Dexter (Katie), Piero Lulli (Sam), Dana Ghia (Lucy)

Directed by Franco Rosetti


After escaping the hangman's noose, Steve Blasco finds a dying Confederate soldier. The man tells him to deliver a message to the blind man named Sam, who lives in the town of Overton with his caretaker, Katie. But Steve has other plans. Swiping the dead soldiers clothes and his gun, he heads off to meet with Sam to proclaim himself as his son in an effort to get his hands on his money. However, a gang of killers are also in Overton to rob a stagecoach carrying soldier funds. Lucy, an old flame of Steve's, is a member of the gang. Steve eventually joins forces with the gangsters, but he later tries to flee with the stolen currency. He is captured and tortured and Sam is killed. Having slowly changed his morality, Steve, having been left for dead, avenges the death of the old man and goes after Asher's gang.


Andrea Giordana (as Chip Corman) plays a curious part in this fairly mundane Italian western. It isn't a bad movie at all, just nothing terribly memorable. It's difficult to really get behind his character, although he does make a change towards the end. The movie doesn't get really interesting till an hour in when the gang beats up Steve and then tortures Sam in a masterfully handled, yet grim and disturbing sequence. It was at this moment that the movie showed some signs of life, despite some interesting plot points prior to this sequence.


Piero Lulli, a character actor who has appeared in dozens of movies of various genres, will most likely be best remembered for his antagonistic roles in Euro westerns. Here, he plays a good guy, the blind and docile Sam. His character is easily the most interesting one in the movie and it is at this point when Sam is being tortured, that Steve also changes completely from a seedy individual to a full fledged avenging hero. During the last 30 minutes, the film is basically Steve hunting down all the gang members and administering frontier retribution. The best is saved for Asher who receives a particularly ironic piece of poetic justice.


There is a Gothic air about the movie and it resembles Corbucci's grim western style seen in such films as DJANGO (1966) and THE GREAT SILENCE (1968). Whether it be the mud caked and rain soaked streets of the abandoned town of Overton, or the wind and foggy nighttime scenes, there's a foreboding atmosphere through most of the film. The fight in the saloon is a bit of an eye opener. It's good compared with some of the earlier brawls and even stands out among other films in the genre which generally have some of the worst telegraphed fight sequences. It looks like portions of this bar room brawl have been slightly undercranked.


DIRTY OUTLAWS (1967) is only recommended to die hard fans of the genre. It has some stand out moments, but not enough to ride alongside some of the truly great movies to be seen in the Italian western genre. It's fine for a viewing, but is nearly forgotten soon afterwards.

This review is representative of the Wild East DVD.


The second feature on this two-fer western attraction is the average, yet enjoyable Euroater called...




CJAMANGO 1967 **1/2

Ivan Rassimov/Sean Todd (Cjamango), Mickey Hargitay (Clinton), Helene Chanel (Pearl), Livio Lorenzon (Don Pablo), Piero Lulli (The Tiger), Giusva Fioranti (Manuel)

Directed by Edoardo Mulargia


A mysterious gunman, Cjamango, wins a great deal of gold in a poker game against a Mexican bandit. As soon as he prepares to make off with his winnings, a gang of killers led by Don Pablo and the Tiger enters the saloon and massacres everyone inside. Left for dead, Cjamango takes off to reclaim his stolen cache of gold. Some time later, the gold ends up stolen again and the gang who took it has split into two factions with much animosity between them. Cjamango arrives in town heating up the rivalry between the two gangs.

He ultimately takes care of a scorned and abandoned little boy who is cruelly used by one of the gangs to get rid of the townsfolk enabling them to take over the peoples lands. Around the same time of Cjamango's arrival in the small Mexican hamlet, a well dressed stranger named Clinton shows up; his intentions not revealed till the final closing moments. A concluding stand off between Don Pablo, the Tiger and Cjamango ensues with the enigmatic Clinton watching from the sidelines.


Another riff on the FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) storyline and also throws elements of FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965) into the mix creating a very pedestrian effort by Edoardo Mulargia. Mulargia is hit and miss making some fun entertainment such as W DJANGO!(1972) and then some incomprehensible mess like BROTHER OUTLAW (1971). CJAMANGO (1967) falls somewhere in between. Kudos to the makers for injecting something new into familiar territory. However, the film seems to suffer from a rushed schedule or just plain sloppiness as some scenes seem incomplete or ripe with continuity problems.


Cjamango has seemingly stolen his gold away from the gang at the beginning but no passage of time is alluded to nor how he was able to do such a thing. Also, the little boy Manuel is burned badly on his body to fool the scared townsfolk into thinking he has the plague. His mother, Pearl, pays two individuals to dump him off at a convent, but instead, the two literally toss him from their wagon a good distance from town. In the next scene, Manuel is back in town again.


The movie features some poignant moments such as the terrible treatment given the little boy Manuel who is befriended by Cjamango not long after he arrives in the village. Rassimov's character is afforded some depth not generally found in the many anti-heroes dominating the spaghetti western landscape and this non comic book approach is a welcome change of pace even if the story is recycled from the Leone movies.


Rassimov comes off much better here than he did in the mostly dull IF YOU WANT TO LIVE...SHOOT! (1968) and in addition to the added pathos, there's a great scene near the end where the bad guys are going to blow up Manuel if he doesn't reveal where the gold is stashed. Helpless, Cjamango must decide either the boy or the money.


Mickey Hargitay is on hand but has very little to do and mostly observes from the sidelines. You would totally forget he was in the movie if not for the infrequent shots of him milling around occasionally asking questions or briefly aiding Cjamango in a bar. His intentions are revealed at the end and it, too, isn't quite what you would think.


The stunning Helene Chanel plays Pearl, the hot property that has seemingly caused the ripple in the gangs members. She isn't totally a righteous person herself but has a change of heart by the end. It's hinted at during a conversation that Pearl is Manuel's mother but the boy never refers to her as such and it's not mentioned again throughout the film unless I missed something.


Chanel is quite stacked and featured in numerous sword and sandal movies such as MACISTE IN THE COURT OF THE GREAT KHAN (1961), MACISTE IN HELL (1962; aka THE WITCH'S CURSE), the awful SAMSON & HIS MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964) and the hybrid THE CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS (1965).


The score in CJAMANGO (1967) by Felic di Stefano is excellent and beautifully rendered and is easily the best attribute of this film. The music alone is worth watching the film again it's just a shame the film itself doesn't match up. One of the best pieces occurs near the beginning when the townsfolk are abandoning the village and Manuel desperately wants someone to take him with them but he's shoved around and discarded because the people are convinced he has the plague. Manuel only has one real friend here and that's Cjamango and this one thread is what holds the movie together bolstered by Stefano's lovely score.


The WE dvd appears to be sourced from a German disc as the title is in German with the remainder of the credits in Italian. The English dubbed sound is very clear and audible. There's a lot worse SW's out there but this is a decent enough oater with some novel ideas including an unusual hero and the pleasing score, but not enough to make it rise above being simply average.

This review is representative of the Wild East DVD.