Monday, January 20, 2025
RIP Klaus Schichan
It was published only yesterday that German stuntman and
supporting actor Klaus Schichan who worked at the Karl May Festival and
appeared in 17 of the plays lived within walking distance of the festival
grounds. He was credited with 29 films and TV series but probably appeared
uncredited in over 100 more. 1960s TV classics "Stahlnetz",
"Cliff Dexter" and "Die Gentleman bitten zur Kasse" are
part of his filmography, as are episodes of "Tatort". The stuntman
also worked for Hark Bohm and the U.S. director Richard Brooks. His appearances
at the Karl May Festival include: “Der Ölprinz” 1970 as Baumgarten, “Old
Surehand” 1975 as White Feather, “Winnetou I” 1976 as Bao, “Winnetou II” 1976
as Bao, “Der schwarze Mustang” 1977 as Ade and White Feather “Old Firehand”
1979 as White Feather, “Der Schatz im Silbersee” 1981 as Captain Howens and
Donner.
Little Known Western Actors ~ Ángel Celdrán
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Ángel Celdrán was a Spanish character actor who appeared in five films between 1960 and 1968. He then worked as a property master on two films and a production manager on one film. I can find no biographical information on him.
His only Spaghetti western appearance was in an uncredited role in “Fuerte perdido” (Massacre at Fort Grant) 1964.
CELDRAN, Ángel (aka A. Celdran) (Ángel Celdrán)
[Spanish] – production manager, film actor.
Massacre at Fort Grant – 1964
Spaghetti Western locations Then & Now ~ “For a Few Dollars More”
The interior church that was seen in “For a Few Dollars More” was filmed in an actual Catholic church called Church of Santa Maria located in Turillas, Spain.
Sergio Leone contributed enough money to the parish for
the use of the church to be totally renovated and is still in use today as we
can see from the photo below.
European Western Comic Books – Canadian King
Canadian King
This comic book series covered the adventurous story of gold
prospector Rudy Grant illustrated by Armando Bonato with the collaboration of
Leo Cimpellin. The story begins on the front cover. The series ran for 10
issues in 1952, beginning with the release of issue #1 on January 31, 1952, and
ending with issue #10 on October 9th of that year. The series was
published by GVA in Milan under the director Giusto Vaglieri with each issue
containing 16 black and white pages with color covers.
Titles
01 (31.07.52) - “La febbre dell’oro” (The Gold Rush)
02 (07.08.52) - “Malumet Kid” (The Malumet Kid)
03 (14.08.52) - “Brahm dei lupi” (Brahm of the Wolves)
04 (21.08.52) - “Il tesoro di Dawson” (Dawson’s Treasure)
05 (28.08.52) - “Myriam regina dei Chippewas” (Myriam Queen
of the Chippewas)
06 (04.09.52) - “Rivolta a Salt-Water” (Salt-Water Riot)
07 (11.09.52) - “L’attacco dei Chippewas” (The Chippewas
Attack)
08 (18.09.52) - “La trappola d’oro” (The Gold Trap)
09 (25.09.52) - “I predoni del Barren” (The Barren Raiders)
10 (02.10.52) - “Una storia incredibile” (A Tale of Two
Kings)
Special Birthdays
Chuck Hayward [stunts] would have been 105 today but died in 1998.
Pietro Torrisi (actor) is 85 today.
Újlaki Dénes [voice actor] is 80 today.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Little Known Western Actors ~ Gordana Čeko
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Gordana Čeko was born in Sibenik, Croatia, Yugoslavia on November 30, 1944. She appeared in one film and one TV series. The TV series was “Müde Weggefährten” (Tired Companions) (1996) In five episodes, director tells the adventures of several Yugoslavian refugees for whom Germany is no paradise.
In her only film it was the Euro-western “Old Shatterhand” (Apaches’ Last Battle) in 1963 as Dahlia Lavi’s stunt double. She also had to appear a number of daring scenes for Lavi. She then began a career as a model and acted in theater in Šibenik. She was employed as an actress by WDR, and in theatre she acted on the Wuppertal stage. In the meantime, Gordana got married and her two children were always the most important thing for her and took priority over her professional life. When the children were older, she started her career again at Deutsche Welle in the Croatian editorial office.
Gordana Čeko died in Dubrava Croatia on October 2, 2022, a month before turning 78.
CEKO, Gordana (aka Gordana Čeko Zeitz) (Gordana
Čeko) [11/30/1944, Sibenik, Croatia, Yugoslavia – 10/2/2022, Dubrava,
Croatia] – model, theater, film, radio, TV actress, stuntwoman, married to ?
Zeitz (19??-19??) mother of two children.
Apaches’ Last Battle – 1963 [Dahlia Lavi stunt double]
Spaghetti Western star escapes death by inches – only this time for real
Sebastian Harrison defies evacuation warning in effort to defend $2.4 million estate from fire
The Telegraph
By Susie Coen
January 9, 2025
It was an escape more dramatic than any Sebastian Harrison had filmed in his career as a star of Spaghetti Westerns.
The former actor, 59, raced back to his beachfront property in Malibu on Tuesday night amid reports of blazes sweeping Los Angeles.
When he got home, Mr Harrison was confronted by a fire already licking at the edges of the $2.4 million estate he had purchased in 2010.
In the 1980s, he had battled evil cowboys in “White Apache” (1986) and the Viet Cong in “Fireback” (1983), but this time the threat came right to his doorstep.
Having evacuated his 89-year-old father, Richard, who had a storied career in Spaghetti Westerns himself, Mr Harrison ignored orders to leave the area and tried to stop his home from burning down.
He told The Telegraph: “I stayed, even though everyone, you know, the police came and they said, ‘evacuate’, and everyone had left, I was the only one there.”
Grabbing a hose, he watered the roof and removed the outdoor garden furniture in an attempt to prevent the blaze spreading across the three-acre “sanctuary” he shared with his wife, Livia Pillmann.
The action hero’s gamble, this time, did not pay off. With the fire growing larger, Mr Harrison decided he needed to escape.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I think I really need to get out of here, but there’s no one here to help me’,” he said.
“I mean, I have, you know, nerves of steel, but there was a point when I, you know, I thought I could catch on fire.”
Mr Harrison, who founded telecoms firm Cellular Abroad Inc, was one of dozens of actors forced to watch their homes burn down in the past 24 hours, from superstars like Billy Crystal to those who never troubled the engravers on Hollywood Boulevard.
On Wednesday, Crystal mourned the loss of the home he had shared with his wife for the past 45 years in the Pacific Palisades, a hillside neighbourhood hailed by the Beach Boys in Surfing USA and home to dozens of celebrities.
The star of When Harry Met Sally said: “Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love.”
He added: “We are heartbroken of course.”
Paris Hilton also shared news footage of her home in Malibu burning down. “This home was where we built so many precious memories,” said the reality TV star-come-actor. “It’s where Phoenix [her one-year-old son] took his first steps.”
‘Nobody knows where I am’
Few, however, have come so close to the blaze as Mr Harrison. First he tried to flee in his Mercedes, but the car would not start and the door came off its hinges in the heat.
Taking refuge behind a rock, he filmed a series of videos as his home – which he had turned into a yoga and meditation retreat with Ms Pillman – was enveloped by a wall of roaring flames.
He told The Telegraph: “It was hell. It was inferno... Sometimes there was no wind and all of a sudden you got a huge gust with so many orange sparks that it was a wall, you couldn’t see anything... I really couldn’t see because of all the orange, breathing smoke and everything... I fell on my rib, and then I just took cover behind the rocks, and there were sheets of embers just going over me.”
In one clip he is seen hiding behind the rock, the orange sky ablaze behind him, as he tells the camera he is prepared to jump into the ocean.
“Right now I’m here, my phone doesn’t really work, nobody knows where I am”, he says, adding: “This was not the best idea I’ve had, that’s for sure.”
At one point, he films his father’s house and his home, which is next door, as they are both being ravaged by fire.
Having found a working car, he can be seen driving past the enormous blaze, which is tearing through the neighborhood, as deep orange embers fall around him and plumes of dark smoke erupt just metres away.
‘Burn in front of my husband’s eyes’
Ms Pillmann, who was nearby at a petrol station, feared her husband had been harmed after she lost contact with him at 6:30pm when he sent her a message saying their property was burning in front of his eyes.
The Hungarian-born actress, 30, pleaded with nearby firefighters to retreat up the hill to find him. “I really thought something happened to him,” she said.
[Livia Pillmann, Sebastian Harrison’s wife, feared something had happened to her husband after he messaged her saying their house was ablaze Credit: Getty.]
Just after 9pm the firefighters came to Mr Harrison’s rescue. As soon as they arrived, his car set on fire.
Mr. Harrison said the journey back was “treacherous”.
“Houses on each side were on fire, they were swerving in and out of debris, there were trash cans flying, there were big pieces of tree flying in the middle of the road,” he said.
The estate was formerly home to The Malibu Lodge, a French-Californian restaurant from the 1940s and early 1950s frequented by Hollywood stars, including David Selznick, the Gone with the Wind producer.
It has unobstructed views across Pacific Coast Highway as there are no other houses on the ocean side.
The couple said they are devastated their home has been destroyed.
“We put so much time and effort and love into building a sanctuary in our home, you know, and it’s really devastating to see that burn in front of my husband’s eyes,” Ms Pillmann told The Telegraph.
“It is heartbreaking to see all this work and love of
labor, you know that we put into our place, and our safe haven is gone,” she
said.
You Tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B7Sn28woSM
Who Are Those Singers & Musicians ~ Ralf Paulsen
Ralf Paulsen was born in Berlin, Germany on April 3, 1929. Paulsen was one of the main representatives of the Wild West wave in the 1960s in Germany. In 1959 he had his first success as a singer of the slager ‘Tränen in deinen Augen’.
His biggest success came in 1963 with the German version of the title song of the U.S. television series Bonanza. He then recorded numerous western songs and slager, which were also recorded by other performers (including Bruce Low) and did not bring him the desired success. There you can hear titles like ‘Das alte Haus von Rocky Docky’, ‘Es häng ein Pferdehalter an der Wand’, ‘Geisterreiter’, ‘Oh My Darling Caroline,’ .Mr. Ed and Tom Dooley..
Well, into the 1990s, Paulsen still recorded country songs before dying in Berlin on February 26, 2015, at the age of 85.
PAULSEN, Ralf
[4/3/1929,
$5,000 on One Ace –
1964 [sings: “Die Gejagten der Sierra
Massacre at
Special Birthdays
Aram Chorbanian (actor) would have been 95 today but died in 2018.
Ian
Foster (actor) is 65 today.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Little Known Western Actors ~ Stefano Cedrati
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Stefano Cedrati is an Italian film and television actor. He appeared as an actor in 11 films and TV series from 1975 to 1992. I can find no biographical information on him.
His only Spaghetti western appearance was as a garage spectator in a crowd scene in 1975’s “Noi non siamo angeli” (We are No Angels) in 1975.
CEDRATO, Stefano (aka Stephano Cedrati) (Stefano
Cedrati) [Italian] – film, TV actor.
We are No Angels – 1975 (garage spectator)
Spaghetti Western Locations for “The Forgotten Pistolero”
We continue our search for locations for “The Forgotten Pistolero”. After Isabella leaves the cemetery after visiting her father’s grave we see the man who was at the cemetery in town unloading a wagon. He’s approached by three riders, who are Francisco and two of his men. They make fun of Ignacio him for being the husband of Isabella. Francisco tells Ignacio that Rafael is riding this way and to tell him when he arrives in town. Francisco rides off.
This scene was filmed in Tembleque, Toledo, Castilla-La
Mancha, Spain.
For a more
detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit
my friend Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm and Captain Douglas Film
Locations http://www.western-locations-spain.com/
Friday, January 17, 2025
Spaghetti West Trivia – Leone’s Calamity Jane & Wild Bill Hickok
Sergio Leone’s told Paese Sera on January 20, 1966, that
after making “For a Few Dollars More” he was only going to make two more
westerns. The first was “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and then he was going
to make a film about the real Calamity Jane. He said, “I want to make a film
that is totally different to the saccharine versions the Americans have given
us. It’ll be the true story, a tough one, with Calamity who will have to be
what she was a drunkard, grungy, who one day falls hopelessly in love with that
handsome scoundrel Hickok. Sophia Lore will play Calamity and Steve McQueen
will play Hickok.”
Little Known Western Actors ~ Fortunato Cecilia
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Fortunato Ceclia was born in Rome, Italy on October 25, 1931. He appeared in 31 films from 1968 to 1982. He also wrote the screenplays for three films. I can find no other biographical information on him.
His only appearance in a Spaghetti western was as a banjo player in 1968’s “Ciccio perdona…io no!” (Ciccio Forgives…I Don’t!). The problem with this credit is there are no scenes in the film with a banjo player. There is banjo music on the soundtrack but no scenes with any musicians. There is one quick cut of a man and saloon girl ending a dance so possibly a scene with Fortunato playing the banjo was cut.
CECILIA, Fortunato (aka Renato Cecilia, Cecilia
Fortunato) [10/25/1931, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 3/19/2010, Rome, Lazio, Italy] –
writer, film actor.
Ciccio Forgives…I Don’t! – 1968 (banjo player)
New German DVD release “30 Winchester für El Diabolo”
“30 Winchester für El Diabolo”
(30 Winchesters for El Diablo)
Director: Gianfranco Baldanello
Starring: Carl Möhner, Topsy Collins, John Heston, Jose
Torres, Mila Stanic
Country Germany
Label: Western Classics
PAL
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1, 16:9 - 1.77:1
Languages: Italian, English, German
Subtitles:
Running time:87 minutes
Extras: Reconstructed German theatrical version
(81:83min); trailer; gallery
ASIN: B0DN61WCWC
Release date: January 17, 2025
Today is the 50th anniversary of the opening of “The White, the Yellow, and the Black”
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the premier of “Il bianco, il giallo, il nero” (The White, the Yellow, and the Black) directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Guliano, Tomas Milian and Eli Wallach. It tells the story of Sakura (Tomas Milian) a young, aspiring samurai, who goes on the trail of a sacred pony, that the Emperor of Japan sent as a gift to a colony of Japanese immigrants in the West, and that fake Indians, the henchmen of the dishonest banker Butler (Jacques Berthier) kidnapped to provoke a war against the redskins, who oppose the passage of a railroad within their territory. For his ransom the evildoers ask for a million dollars, which, kept in a box, is entrusted for delivery by sheriff Black Jack (Eli Wallach). Attracted by the big money is an unscrupulous scoundrel Italian-Swiss, Blanc de Blanc Giuliano Gemma), who tries to capture Sakura and Black Jack. Divided in purpose, the three are forced by events to join forces to repel the attacks of Butler’s henchmen - and especially a greater fool a former Confederate Major (Manuel de Blas) determined to prevent the discovery of the pony. The trio finally eliminates their opponents, unmask Butler, then go on go on their own separate ways: Sakura with his pony; Blanc de Blanc with a rich premium paid by the Japanese for the discovery of the horse and Black Jack empty-handed.
The film made 1,897,807 lire upon release and is ranked
the #16th highest grossing Spaghetti western of all time.
Il bianco, il giallo, il nero – Italian title
El blanco, el Amarillo, y el negro – Spanish title
Le blanc, le jaune et le noir – French title
Samurai – Canadian title
Stetson – Drei Halunken erster Klasse – German title
Ο άσπρος, ο μαύρος και ο κίτρινος – Greek title
Ο καλός, ο κακός και ο κίτρινος – Greek title
Dispara primeiro… pergunta depois – Portuguese title
El blanco, el Amarillo, y el negro – Spanish title
Samurai Kid – English title
Ring Around the Horse’s Tail – English title
Shoot First… Ask Questions Later – English title
The White, the Yellow and the Black – English title
A 1974 Italian, Spanish, French film co-production
[Tritone (Rome), Mundial (Madrid),
Filmel
(Paris)]
Producer: Solino Norberto
Director: Sergio Corbucci
Story: Marcello Coscia, Antonio Troiso
Screenplay: Mario Amendola, Renee Asseo, Luis G. de
Blain, Sergio Corbucci, Santiago
Moncada
Cinematography: Luis Caudrado (Luis Encinar)
[Technicolor, CineScope]
Music: Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
Songs: “White,
Yellow and Black”, “Bump” sung by Dilly Dilly (Guido & Maurizio
De
Angelis)
Running time: 112 minutes
Cast:
Blanc de Blanc/Stetson/Swiss – Giuliano Gemma
Sakura – Tomas Milian (Tomás Rodríguez)
Sheriff Edward ‘Black Jack’ Gideon – Eli Wallach
Major Donovan – Manuel de Blas
Kelly Butler – Jacques Berthier
Kady – Romano Puppo
Sergeant – Neno Zamperla (Nazzerano Zamperla)
Yamoto/Osaka – Hideo Saito
Console Giapponese – Frank Nuyen
Robson/Robinson brothers – Cris Huerta (Crish Brieva),
Tito Garcia (Pablo González),
Joaqin Solas
(Joaquin Solis del Cerro), Alfonso de la Vega, Beni Deus (Veancio
Mejuto), Luis
Induni (Luigi Radici), Edy Biagetti (Eduardo Biagetti), Scott Miller
Deputy in jail - Ernesto Váñez (YANEZ)
Clementine Gideon – Maria Isbert (Maria Sorriano)
Grampa Gideon - Pasquale Barrachina
Redheaded saloon girl – Mirta Miller (Mirta Chatard)
Saloon girls – Denise Bataille
Prisoners – Victor Israel (Josep Vilanova)
Prisoner priest - Ricardo G. Lillo
Albino – Dan van Husen (Daniel van Husen)
Chief Muchaco – Jose Villasante
Comanchero – Rafael Albaicin (Ignacio Escudero)
Army officers – Franco Tocci, Lorenzo Robledo
Watson brother – Scott Miller
Donovan henchmen - Jose Panizo, Fernando San Jose,
Lisardo Iglesias
Soldier – Aldo Dell’Acqua (Arnaldo Dell’Acqua)
Soldier guard on train – Franco Tocci Franco Tucci
Indian squaws - Carla Mancini, Ana Farra (Anita Farra)
With: Giovanni Petti, Lorenzo Piani, Pietro Torrisi, Jose
Villasante
Stunts: Antonio Ramirez Pequeño Oso, Pietro Torrisi
Special Birthdays
Kenneth Talbot (cinematographer) would have been 105 today but died in 1993.
Stevo Petrovic (actor) is 95 today
Cristina Galbo (actress) is
75 today.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Little Known Western Actors ~ Felice Ceciarelli
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Felice Ceciarelli was an Italian character actor born in Manziana, Rome, Lazio, Italy on August 25, 1938. He is the brother of actor Vincenzo Ceciarelli [1934-1968]. Felice appeared in several westerns as a stuntman, but he has gone uncredited. He is credited for one film and a made for TV movie called “Onora il padre” (Honor Thy Father) in 1986.
His only credited film was also his only Spaghetti western appearance as a Mescal henchman.
Felice died in Sorano del Cimino, Lazio, Italy on September 15, 2010. He was 72.
CECIARELLI, Felice [8/25/1938, Manziana,
Rome, Lazio, Italy – 9/15/2010, Sorano del Cimino, Lazio, Italy ] – stuntman, film actor, brother of film
actor Vincenzo Ceciarelli [1934-1968], married to ? father of two daughters.
They Call Me Trinity – 1970 (Mescal henchman)
Sartana’s Here… Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin (1970) – Review
We Have Issues
By greigzilla
January 15, 2025
During his second movie, the extravagantly titled I Am Sartana, Your Angel Of Death, the titular gunslinger enigmatically announced that “Anyone could be Sartana”; but in an irony worthy of the Spaghetti Western itself, this proved to be strangely prophetic when, in his third outing, lead character found himself being played by a completely different actor.
Yup, for a sole entry in the Sartana saga, Gianni Garko
found himself temporarily replaced by George Hilton (no relation to Paris) but
while the cult franchise found itself with a new face, you could rest assured
that the titles continued to be as absurdly badass than ever; hell, they’re
practically bordering on entire paragraphs at this point. But before I get too
carried away coming up with fake ones (“Sartana Just Arrived… Quick, Look Busy”
or “Beware! Sartanas In Rear View Mirrors Can Look Closer Than They Appear”),
let’s get down to the business of slinging some guns.
We rejoin a slightly different looking Sartana as he lurks on a trail awaiting the arrival of a transportation of gold, but for once he’s not looking to pull off some grand scheme to steal it. No, rather he’s waiting to shoot a man riding shotgun on the wagon as he’s actually a wanted felon with a healthy bounty on his head; but proving that weird shenanigans still to the enigmatic gunslinger like shit to a blanket, he soon finds himself embroiled in yet another conspiracy with gold at its center. While Sartana watches, the transport is attacked by a gang of Mexican bandidos led by the ferocious Mantas and everyone is killed, but instead of making off with the gold, the gang disperse, leaving dynamite in their wake to destroy everything. However, after putting out the fuse with some textbook sharpshooting, Sartana discovers that there is no gold and the lock boxes are only filled with sand.
Smelling a conspiracy with a payday at the end, Sartana disguises himself as a peasant and infiltrates the gang to not only discover what is going on, but quickly accepts a side mission to help Mantas’ abused wife and child escape to safety and after shooting a few of his goons for good measure, he discovers that the whole ambush was a smokescreen to hide the fact that the unscrupulous owner of a nearby mine has organized the ruse in order to keep most of the gold for himself.
Taking from the Man With No Name playbook, Sartana soon
is playing off Spencer and the Mexicans against each other in order to
eventually steal the already stolen gold, but matters get even more complicated
when Trixie, the owner of an impoverished saloon, gets involved. However, the
biggest threat to Sartana’s plan (not to mention his health) is the arrival of
parasol carrying dandy, Sabbath, a rival of our anti-hero who just may be
faster on the draw than he is…
Curiously for a film with such a weighty title, Sartana’s Here… Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin carries around a few confusing alternate monikers thanks to alternate dubs that prove to be rather interesting. But while the first replacement title, A Fistful Of Lead, is obviously shamelessly riffing on Sergio Leone (why not just go the whole hog and call it The Hero, The Villain And The Aesthetically Challenged), the really confounding version is a German one that seems to palm it off as a Django/Sabata movie. Exactly why you would take a movie that’s already part of an established series and then suddenly link it with two others I have no idea (and I’m not planning on going down that rabbit hole anytime soon, either), but in many versions, Charles Southwood’s character switches from Sabbath to Sabata and I guess we’re just all going to have to deal with it.
The actual movie on the other hand is actually a fairly straightforward Sartana adventure filled with the usual hunt-the-gold plot that requires a metric ton of double crosses and farfetched twists to get it through to the end. Once again, as all the characters get in a confounded muddle about who can trust who and where the gold is, Sartana simply walks through the engineered chaos like the human cheat code that he is.
So once again, returning director Giuliano Carnimeo stages a bunch of sequences where our hero effortlessly outwits everyone with a hundred foot radius that sees Sartana obsessively hide his gun in things so he can shoot his unsuspecting foes through them (loaves of bread, a boot, a hanging holster) or pull off laughable trick shots like flinging a dagger at the trigger of a well discarded rifle to shoot a dude. However, at this point in the franchise that Sartana’s true superpower is less in having omnipotent skills a preparation more like being smart enough to pick complete morons for enemies. George Hilton does a fine job of slipping into Gianni Garko’s boots; although one could argue that Garko played Sartana so enigmatic, Leslie Nielsen could probably do a better than average job of filling in if needs be. Elsewhere, Charles Southwood’s Sabbath/Sabata is given a gimmick that’s as frilly as the little white parasol he carries around with him everywhere that’s either supposed to be a distraction or an effete lifestyle choice, but either way he’s every bit of a crack shot than his rival and we even get a classic, femme fatal bar owner thanks to a flame haired Erika Blanc.
Of course, the real stars here are the endless quirks that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual story but instead give the style of the flick a sense of character itself. There is absolutely no reason for Sartana to be so obsessed with hard boiled eggs any more than Sabbath chooses to spend his down time reading the poetry, but it adds eccentric layers to personas that don’t actually exist other than all the fancy shooting. Everyone here is so in love with their own prowess with a gun, they would probably shoot a remote control to turn a TV on if they had existed yet and I’m wondering how cheap ammunition must have been if Mantas can afford to shoot the individual petals of a flower when mulling over who is a faster shot. Of course, it’s all part of the game and in this world of pinpoint accuracy and triple crosses, the only thing more inevitable than Sartana’s ultimate victory is that you’ll barely be able to follow how the fuck he got there.
However, while the previous film complicated matters by having Sarbata fingered for a crime he didn’t commit, Sartana’s Here… Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin keeps things – well, I don’t want to say simple, but certainly more straightforward and the whole plot of missing gold is getting incredibly old now too – especially considering that the Sabata series pretty much did the exact same thing despite being camper than Sabbath’s parasol.
Still plenty of fun and absolutely jam packed full of
exagerated incident that’s will either make you cheer, scoff, or some throat
wracking mixture of both, this third outing of the West’s trickiest trickster
is nevertheless starting to feel a little samey. However, if you’ve never seen
a Sartana movie before (or a Sabata one too for that matter) its eccentricities
should prove that the film is as fun as the title, but nowhere near as
unwieldy.
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