Spaghetti Western Trivia – 1977 “Canada Dry Ginger Ale” Commercial

 

I discovered this amazing 30-second Canada Dry Ginger Ale commercial from 1977.  What a cast!  Aldo Ray, Broderick Crawford, and Jack Palance!  I don’t remember it, so it might have aired only in the U.S.  The exteriors of the first two scenes look like they were shot in California.

Broderick had just hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ earlier that same year.  While Oscar winners Broderick Crawford and especially Jack Palance made several spaghetti westerns, even Golden Globe-nominated Aldo Ray made at least one macaroni war movie: “Suicide Commando” (1968).

At first, I thought Jack was imitating Dr. Fu Manchu (over a decade later, Harry Alan Towers announced Jack for that role in a project that was unfortunately unrealized).  Yet, on second viewing, I realized that he was reprising his 1954 role as Attila the Hun from “Sign of the Pagan!”  I’d really like to see that Douglas Sirk picture, which was apparently Universal-International’s first film in CinemaScope (in the unusual 2:55 aspect ratio).

You Tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fQhvtiqL0c

 [submitted by David Shaw, Michael Ferguson]