Nato per uccidere – Italian titleDjango nato per uccidere – Italian title
Né pour tuer – French title
Django macido para matar – Spanish title
För en handfull bly – Swedish title
Born to Kill – English title
A 1967 Italian production [International Movie Enterprises (Rome)]
Producer: Antonio Mollica
Director: Tony Mulligan (Antonio Mollica)
Story: Tony Mulligan (Antonio Mollica)
Screenplay: Tony Mulligan (Antonio Mollica)
Cinematography: Oberdan Troiani [Technicolor, Techniscope]
Music: Felice Di Stefano
Running time: 100 minutes
Cast:
Rod Gordon - Gordon Mitchell (Charles Pendleton)
Lorie/Flory Waldmore - Femi Benussi (Eufemia Benussi)
Dodge/Dudgett - Aldo Berti
Mr. Tyson - Tom Felleghy (Tamás Fellegi)
John Storm - Franco Gulà (Francesco Gulà)
saloon owner - Gualtiero Rispoli
Smith - Nino Musco
Rose - Giovanna Lenzi
saloon girl- Angela Portaluri
crooked gambler - Alfredo Rizzo
poker player - Fulvio Mingozzi
Bill - Fred Coplan (Fabio Coplan)
Tiny - Vladmiro Picciapochi
Sheriff - Claudio Ruffini
Dodge henchman - Giuseppe Castellano
with; Enrico Canestrini
Gordon Mitchell plays the hero, a gunfighter who gets involved with a ruthless town boss /land baron named Tyson. When Gordon wins a large sum of money in a poker game with Dodge he tries to get the money back by force, along with several of his henchmen. Gordon reacts by killing a dozen of Dodge's men. Eventually they kidnap a saloon girl and try to take control of the entire area including the town of Tree Crossing for their own personal gain. After seeing a small ranch owned by Flory Waldmore, almost burned to the ground Gordon decides he'll take sides and joins the townspeople in fighting the crooked land baron and Dodge and after being captured and beaten he finally faces Dodge in a showdown while Tyson manages to escape. For his heroism Gordon is named the sheriff and marries Flory.
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYcS9scfJCE
Looks good nevertheless I prefer Gordon Mitchel as a vilan.
ReplyDeleteGordon told me when the Sword and Sandal film craze was over he slimmed down and continued to get in the westerns as a villain. Even in his older years he could still give you that look that sent chills down your spine, which was just the opposite of the kind of man he really was which was very kind and generous.
ReplyDeleteA have few questions related to Gordon Mitchell's Cave Studios, I hope someone can answer these: What was the last film shot at Cave Studios, was it ever used in a non-western and what happened to the place after the spaghetti western genre died?
ReplyDeleteThe last film shot there that I can think of is Zanna Bianca e il grande kid (1978). Porno erotico western (1979) might have been shot there but it seems that no one knows anything about that film for sure...
Gordon Mitchell told both Bill Connolly and me that he was not in "Porno erotico western". He even denied ever hearing that title before. We know his name is shown in the credits and we also believed Gordon. What may have happened is prior footage of Gordon could have been inserted in the film without his knowledge. Gordon lost title to the land where Cave Studio was located. He obtained the land in place of a salary that was owed him for a movie he appeared in. The Italian courts determined foreigners could not own land in Italy. Gordon tried to fight the system for several years but decided for his physical and mental health it was not worth the effort and left the area and returned to the U.S.A.
ReplyDeleteI love the music for BORN TO KILL and would love to have it on CD. The movie is not particularly original or well-produced, but it is charming in its straight-forward presentation of a typically brutal Western drama Italian-style.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information, Tom, very much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteWeisser claims that Porno Erotico Western recycles footage from Panaccio's previous western Death Played the Flute. Weisser and his book are hardly reliable sources of information but maybe for once he's on to something. That would explain why Mitchell has never heard of the film before. Remo Capitani is another actor credited for both Death Played the Flute and Porno Erotico Western. According to Giusti's Dizionario, Capitani recalls acting in Death Played the Flute but doesn't know about Porno Erotico Western.
By the way, Italian newsstand DVD of Born to Kill was fandubbed recently. It's a huge improvement over fullscreen Greek tape.