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.
FEAR IN THE CITY 1976 aka PAURA IN CITTA
Maurizio Merli (Inspector Mario Murri), James Mason (Commissioner Questore), Raymond Pelligrin (Alberto Lettieri), Silvia Dionisio (Laura Masoni), Franco Ressel (Doctor Lo Cascio, assistant prosecutor), Cyril Cusack (Giacomo Masoni)
Directed by Giuseppe Rosati
"This is not the Far West Inspector, the police are representatives of the law!"
Crime boss, Alberto Lettieri is broken out of prison, but before he makes his escape, they nab another prisoner, the docile Giacomo Masoni, and take him along. Once out, Lettieri and his thugs snuff out a group of four unrelated individuals. Commissioner Questore learns that the four victims--Luigi Trentin, a transvestite; Maria Esposito, a hooker; Nestore Frangiapane a bar owner; Aldo Bettoia, a drug addict; all were informers instrumental in the capture of Alberto Lettieri. With such a dangerous and volatile criminal loose on the streets once more, the Commissioner is forced to reinstate Inspector Murri to the force. A hot tempered policeman, Murri has a personal connection to Lettieri and uses his excessive and violent methods to instill his brand of justice on the criminal element causing Fear In the City.
Giuseppe Rosati directs a quasi-sequel to his own LEFT HAND OF THE LAW (1975). Maurizio Merli takes over for the Inspector Murri role previously played by Leonard Mann. Rosati shows a lot of flair in this film and it resonates a style found in the best of the American cop thrillers such as the DIRTY HARRY series. Rosati pays a lot of attention to detail for his violent cop thriller. In addition to sporadic and explosive scenes of brutality, Rosati takes the time to add some depth to the storyline and builds his characters to a greater extent than in some other films in this genre.
During this time in Italy, the Republic was swarming with rampant crime on a regular basis and films like this were a great way for the terrorized public to root for a hero that stood for justice. This type of integrity may have been perceived as frontier style retribution, or outside the law, it nonetheless gave the criminal element a taste of their own medicine for 90+ minutes. The title of this film must have echoed the feelings of the Italian populace during this time period.
Maurizio Merli perfectly encapsulates the macho persona fighting for the good of society utilizing methods of vigilante justice to deliver final reckoning to the bad guys. Here, a lot of the film plays out just as it would in the Italian westerns that preceded the crime pictures. Violent shootouts take place in broad daylight with the streets and other modern locations replacing the dusty battleground of the old west. Merli's stance in this movie is pretty much interchangeable to most all his other action thrillers.
His bitter views on the judicial system that seemingly protects the criminals and chastises those that are defenders of society is summed up in this dialog exchange with the 'by-the-book' prosecutor, "He would have killed me if he could. What am I, a target? No one's getting paid to turn the other cheek. He was a convicted murderer and you want him treated like he was a victim of police brutality. With guys like him on the loose, it's society that has to pay the price!"
The film, much like some of the best entries in the genre, details and represents both sides of the law; on one side, you have the legal representation of the ruling directive. This side, which uses legitimate means to establish a "stable" environment for the public at large, can also be unbalanced by "legal" loopholes, or even greedy, or bribed civil servants and arbitrators of the law that allows criminals to be let loose on the streets once again.
On the other side, you have the one true solution to eradicating the illicit components that threaten the safety of the city; a raw, untamed justice. To combat barbarism and violence, one must use the same methods to successfully stamp it out. The Assistant Prosecutor, doctor Lo Cascio signifies the former, while Inspector Murri embodies the latter. Both sides are constantly at each others throats, and both disapprove of the others methods. But in the end, it's Murri's 'modus operandi' that ultimately gets the job done, yet also gets him removed from the force.
Some artistic touches are present in the script in scenes that show Murri cornering some unlucky punk. Inserted are slow motion shots revealing a young woman and a little girl approaching a car. It isn't too hard to figure out who they are in relation to Murri, but these bits lend an added layer to Murri's vendetta against Lettieri. The fateful reveal of these two unfortunates is saved for the last moments and these bits and pieces are all very reminiscent of a similar plot device seen in Sergio Leone's classic, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968). In that film, the character played by Charles Bronson has brief fragments of flashbacks which we, the audience, do not see in full till the 'settling of accounts' at the finale.
Rosati also excels in the final stand off between Murri and Lettieri. Once cornered, Lettieri figuring the police cannot shoot an unarmed man, tosses away his gun. We then see the fate of Murri's wife and daughter via flashback. A close up of Murri's face follows. Suddenly, the sound of four gunshots are heard. We never see the gun fired, nor the bullets hit, much as there is no one around to tell that Murri has yet again shot down a despicable, yet unarmed man. It's a powerful moment which then leads to the final sequence wherein Murri is again off the force returning to the solace he was enjoying at the beginning fishing for trout; only this time, he has the companionship of Laura by his side.
The characters are, for the most part, well drawn and are given sufficient screen time for audience interest. About the only one that isn't really explored more is the main villain, Lettieri. You learn just enough about him to know he's a sadistic bastard, but his cronies do most of the dirty work. The finale does exhibit the nastier side of him, when he cold-heartedly strangles Giacomo Masoni, the man he uses to snatch ahold of the soon to be discarded bank notes. Lettieri also kills a helpless, bound and gagged man by smashing him in the face with a shovel.
The character of Masoni is possibly the most tragic character in the movie aside from Murri, who quietly mourns the death of his family at the hands of Lettieri. After learning he was to be released in 40 days, Murri thinks Masoni was forced out of prison during the break. His reasons for imprisonment are revealed over the course of the film.
Digging deeper to find out why Lettieri broke Masoni out with him, Murri learns that Masoni worked on what is called, 'The Third Sector'. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications utilized the railways for purposes of transporting internal shipments and also money in and around Italy. Masoni handled all the deliveries for over 20 years. The Bank of Italy deals with the collection and destruction of bills unfit for continued circulation; the value being in the millions. It is here that Murri discovers Masoni's usage in Lettieri's scheme.
Silvia Dionisio also plays a tragic character of sorts. As the niece of the likewise beleaguered Giacomo Masoni, she is a top drawer prostitute with a heart of gold, whom eventually falls for Mario Murri over the course of his investigation. It is during the sequences involving her character that the film alternates between a police procedural and a chance to give Murri a little romance. She ultimately leaves her life of debauchery behind to exit with Murri as the credits roll.
The plot device of having the love interest placed in danger is never explored here, even during an altercation aboard a bus. A group of cretins get on and harass a passenger and the driver before Murri has had enough and beats the hell out of the punks, inspiring the ticket taker to help out in the scuffle. There is ample opportunity to add the 'damsel in peril' motif, but there's still enough action for viewers to overlook this typical genre mainstay.
In countless numbers of these films, the action scenes follow the same recipe. One of the prerequisites is the bank robbery. Here, though, the bank robbery has a bit more significance than in other movies in the genre. The robbery here takes up over 11 minutes of screen time following the robbers from the scene of the crime to their eventual "escape", which leads to one of the best sequences in the film. Murri has stashed away in the trunk of the car carrying the crooks and a priest they've taken hostage.
Upon reaching their destination, Murri erupts from the trunk and blasts away at the crooks with a machine gun. After taking out all but one of the villains in a blazing fire fight, Murri corners the man, his gun having jammed. Murri shoots him down without blinking an eye. The priest having seen the whole incident, responds to the Inspectors act of justice with, "May God forgive you my son, and may you live in peace with your conscious." Mario Murri then coldy replies, "I'm at peace with myself. Not so sure about these corpses. They're the ones who need to be forgiven. Go hit'em with a couple of 'hail mary's'."
Murri again kills in cold blood during the attack on him by Lettieri's goons while visiting his family's graves. Defending himself, he successfully kills all the assailants. One of them attempts to escape via a wall. Murri then shoots the unarmed killer in the back several times. The aforementioned ending is the third time the Inspector dispenses revenge on those that have wronged him. Incidentally, the death of his family is never mentioned by Murri, nor his superiors, but is understood by the audience to be the reason for Murri's relentless and definitive actions in dealing with the bad guys. Incidentally, the final shoot out is one of the most exciting and adrenaline-charged gun battles of any modern day action thriller.
James Mason plays the Commissioner who is against reinstating Inspector Murri for fear of dealing with his unorthodox antics yet again. The scene where Questore and his fellow staff members discuss the Lettieri situation is humorous when the thought of bringing in Mario Murri to deal with the violent criminal is brought up. Questore states, "No, Caputo, no, no, never, never, you can talk about anyone, suggest anybody you like, but with the exception that crackpot! Even if the Minister of the Interior ordered me, I would refuse to do it!" Almost immediately, Commissioner Questore gets a call from his boss to reinstate Inspector Murri.
Franco Ressel will be recognizable to spaghetti western fans as he appeared in many Italian oaters notably as the main villain, Stengal, from the Lee Van Cleef gadget western, SABATA (1969). Here, he plays the Assistant Prosecutor, Lo Cascio, who is wholeheartedly against Murri's methods of disposing of the criminal element running rampant on the streets of Italian cities.
FEAR IN THE CITY (1976) is a highly enjoyable entry in the Italian Crime genre. However, it isn't quite as sadistically violent as many other entries (such as the Merli vehicles, ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH and VIOLENT NAPLES), it has its moments of brutality a lot of fans of the genre look for. There's also a good amount of characterization and the film speaks a lot of the justice system as so many of the best of these movies do. Fans of Maurizio Merli will no doubt want this in their collections. Giuseppe Rosati was a competent and capable director whose career wasn't long enough, yet he's left behind some quality entertainment, with FEAR IN THE CITY being one of them.
This review is representative of the Alan Young Pictures Italian region 0 DVD. It has both English and Italian audio tracks. Italian subs are forced during the English dub track. There is also a bootleg release from Alfa Digital which offers up the English dubbed version. The picture quality on the Italian release is immaculate and much better than the Alfa Digital disc.
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