Ballata per un pistolero – Italian titlePistola nella polvere – Italian title
Balada de un pistolero – Spanish title
Ballade pour un pistolero - French title
Rocco - der Einzelgänger von Alamo – German title
Ofthalmon anti ofthalmou – Greek title
Balada para um pistoleiro - Portuguese title
Tva mot alla – Swedish title
Ringo, Pray to Your God and Die – English title
Pistoleros – English title
The Loner of the Alamo – English title
Ballad of a Gunman – English title
A 1967 Italian, German co-production [Giano Film, Prodi Cinematografica (Rome),
TEFI, Filmproduktion (Munich)]
Producer: Alfredo Nicolai, Ernest R. von Theumer (Ernest Ritter von Theumer)
Director: Alfio Caltabiano
Story: Alfio Caltabiano
Screenplay: Alfio Caltabiano, Ernest R. von Theumer (Ernest Ritter von Theumer)
Cinematography: Guglielmo Mancori [Eastmancolor, Totalcope]
Music: Marcello Giombini
Song: “Ballata per un pistolero” sung by Peppino Gagliardi
Running time: 98 minutes
Cast:
Rocco/Blackie/Kud - Anthony Ghidra (Dragomir Bojanic)
Hud/Nigros - Angelo Infanti
El Bedoja - Al Northon (Alfio Caltabiano)
Explosion/Knallfrosch - Dan May (Dante Maggio)
Chiuchi/Chinchi - Antony Freeman (Mario Novello)
Martinez - Ivan Scratuglia
Toro - Peter Jacob (Pietro Ceccarelli)
Maruja - Monica Teuber (Monique Taber)
Maruja’s mother - Ellen Schwiers
sheriff - Lanfranco Ceccarelli
banker - Hermann Nelson (Hermann Nehlsen)
gambler - Giovanni Cianfriglia
with; Nicola Balini
Two bounty hunters are after the outlaw El Bedoja, one Hud is after the reward on the man’s head while the other Blackie is after revenge to settle a personal score. It seems Blackie has been in prison for 15 years for a crime which El Bedoja committed and pinned on him. Much like “For a Few Dollars More” and “Death Rides a Horse” the two bounty hunters form an uneasy alliance. The younger gunman wants to form a partnership, but the older gunman wants nothing of it. Hud continues to follow Blackie, the older more experienced hunter, saving him from death. Rocco finally accepts a partnership and together they hunt down their prey and his brother. After the deed is done Rocco implores Hud to give up the profession.
Just watched this one again last weekend. Funny how they stole from the Dollars films (even a funny line about a mule, at least in the German dub), but on the other hand Dante Maggio's character has some features that would later show up in Leone's DYS (opening his coat full of explosives, for instance).
ReplyDeleteBasically, I think Caltabiano tried very hard to catch the Leone atmosphere, giving the actors long silent pauses before delivering catchy one-liners, only the one-liners aren't nearly as good. The film also suffers from almost all baddies behaving totally stupid in certain situations, so you end up chuckling rather than being sucked into the action.
So, while it's an enjoybale 90 minutes for its own reasons it fails miserably in what I think it was trying to achieve.
French title is "Ballade pour un pistolero".
ReplyDeleteBreccio
Portuguese title:
ReplyDeleteBALADA PARA UM PISTOLEIRO
Thanks Antonio. Added to titles.
ReplyDeleteWhere to download old westerns? The copyright expired so it's legal.
ReplyDeleteHi - in the Wild East DVD I saw Blackie didn’t seem to be called anything at all and the Col Mortimer character was referred to as what sounded like Lucas. I found the wanted posters particularly amusing - no names on them and they were drawn in pencil like seaside caricatures.
ReplyDelete