A “Last Stand”? - 800 Bullets (2002)

By Tony Williams

August 29, 2025

When does a genre officially end? Usually, it is towards the end of an extended period whether several decades or just a few, concluding with, at least, one acclaimed product before the entire field dissipates. Yet genres often appear again decades later after their supposed demise in either revisionist formats or tributes to past achievements. We await two such announced examples: Franco Nero’s return to his key role in an official sequel to Django (1966) or Robert Woods with The Return of El Puro. Both will make the record books as the longest awaited sequels in film history with the same stars performing their original roles – should they ever appear. Some films attempt a revival such as Tex and the Lord of the Deep (1985) but usually emit a last gasp before the genre eventually dies. Classification is often difficult. Yet all genres are full of surprises whether displaying a female Zorro at the climax of The Three Swords of Zorro (1964), also featuring the smallpox pock-marked visage of Antonio Prieto (1905-65) who played the older Rojo brother in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), or the much later 800 Balas that attempts both a (21st century homage to the genre as well as an appropriate closure. Both films are Spanish, and this cultural connection reveals the necessity of excavating other national influences that became incorporated into what became known as The Italian Western, though, was a hybrid construction from the beginning and towards the end.

Directed by the renowned Alex de la Iglesia (1965 - ) it surprisingly flopped on its first release. Though set in the present, it is not “officially” a Western. But it succeeds as a fond homage to the heyday of the genre than any of its competitors and has several claims to be regarded as a contemporary successor to the genre suggesting new directions for future explorations. Although read as an Oedipal- Spielberg response in one reading of the film, it is actually a reworked tribute to the professional group of Howard Hawks films as well as Eastwood’s Bronco Billy (1980).[1] 800 Bullets also operates as an unconscious tribute to John Ford’s The Sun Shines Bright (1953) with its now ageing stuntmen who have worked during the heyday of the Italian Western resembling those diminished survivors of the Civil War described as “the doddering relics of a lost cause”[2] Carlos discovers that his grandfather is still alive but continuing his trade as a stuntman with others into their declining years for the benefit of bored and disdainful tourists, Captivated by the films of Spielberg and playing (21st guerrilla games as opposed to traditional cowboys and Indians, he discovers a “lost horizon” where his father once worked before a fatal accident and where his drunken grandfather still continues his profession living on his former role as Clint Eastwood’s stunt double.

Played by veteran Sancho Gracia (1936-2012) who appeared in In A Colt’s Shadow (1965), Taste of Killing (1966) and Django Kill (1967), Grandfather Julián is now an overweight, unshaven alcoholic playing the sheriff in a staged performance, reminiscent of Robert Mitchum’s J.P. Harrah in Howard Hawks’ El Dorado (1966), a shadow of his former self also evoking Dean Martin’s Dude in the director’s earlier Rio Bravo (1959). He is also someone given that valuable Hawksian “second chance” when he confronts his former best friend and betrayer Cheyenne (Angel de Andres) towards the end of the film at the cost of his life.

Carlo’s mother Laura (Carmen Maura) is the logical development of Jill McBain in Once Upon A Time in the West (1968), a female entrepreneur skilled in the global economy “art of the deal”, making money no matter what the social consequences may be, and anxious to prevent her son knowing about the world of her late husband. However, Carlos wishes to learn about this “lost world” in which his father and grandfather inhabited.

During one scene, Julián tells Carlos of his enthusiasm for the world of cinema. “There are some shitty moments in life. Not enjoying yourself while you can is the biggest sin in life.” Laura once attempted to drag his father away from his preferred life of cinematic adventure. “She did not like him being a stuntman” but he knew this was his world. “He was very good, much better than me. He was afraid of nothing. He was afraid of nobody. Everybody needs their own private space for pleasure whether audiences or performers as Bronco Billy demonstrates.

Another Hawks component emerges, that of “having fun,” a factor the director regarded as being important for any good film and it is evident that Julián and his team enjoy their work and have fun, no matter how frustrating their world of utopia can be. The arrival of “Eastwood” at the end of the film has significant resonance. He not only embodies the image of that star who set the whole genre in motion but also symbolizes that magic world of entertainment where escapism is an integral component containing its own form of utopia for audiences and performers alike, united in enjoying that unique cinematic world, “the stuff that dreams are made of.” That is what Bronco Billy is all about. So is the classic Italian Western as well as its past and future examples.

800 Bullets is a hybrid film. So was the Eurowestern with its international cast and crew. It knew the world of its predecessors, a world that was slowly ending when Hollywood made fewer Westerns than before despite the fact that European audiences loved them. Both Italy and Spain tended to copy the Hollywood Western until it became evident that changes had to occur both to avoid the fatigue affecting the genre as well as the fact that overseas audiences still wanted to see them. A Fistful of Dollars broke the Hollywood model. It became evident that changes had to happen, but this did not stop European studios importing actors associated with Hollywood Westerns whether in film or television. After his first Leone film, Clint could no longer become “Rowdy Yates” again.

“Clint Eastwood” finally appears. He is too late to help his friend when alive but present to confirm the legitimate status of Julián as a stuntman who worked with him in his formative years. Played by the multi-talented Ramon D. Del Pomar (1950- ) but voiced by Constantino Romero (1947-2013) known for dubbing Eastwood’s voice along with other American actors in Spanish films, his presence forms an pt conclusion to a film which synthesizes several traditions. As the camera tracks back from the group at the graveside, an imposing figure in black, back to camera, stands before them. Laura and Carlos are at opposite sides of the frame. Following a panning shot along the group of mourners, two females (Rocio and Sandra), the rest male, the camera cuts to the feet of the Stranger and up to his shadowed face. Though concealed by the brim of his hat, the face is recognizably “Eastwood” who has returned to the site of his early triumphs to pay his respects to a friend. He has a Deputy Sheriff’s badge in his hand. He tosses it into the open grave of Julián that has the marker “Specialist.” The badge lands on his coffin.

This image is evocative on so many levels. It reverses Harry Callahan’s throwing away his badge at the end of Dirty Harry (1971), giving the previous action a more positive overtone. It is Deputy Sheriff’s badge verifying Julián's role as a double for the star in dangerous scenes. It also posthumously affirms that earlier image of the manufactured poster in the museum where Julián walked beside the star. Although one skeptical tourist noticed the fact that Julián's image was attached to that of Clint and was not real, in another sense it was since Julián was a central contributor to the star’s image acting as a stuntman Deputy Sheriff ensuring Eastwood’s safety on the films he worked with him. Eastwood’s final gesture confirms Julián's posthumous status as a returned member of that Hawks professional group reworked within the context of this film. Yes, the Italian Westerns differed from both Ford and Hawks. But they all exhibited that key aspect of professional collaboration and teamwork essential for the smooth running of any film in production. The camera cuts to the face of “Eastwood.” He lowers his head in respect. Then the image changes to a close-up of his hand closing on Carlos’s hand as he sates, “I was a friend of your grandfather. The camera moves, reveals Carlos as he replies, “I know.” It ends with him facing the camera.

This is a beautiful ending in more than one way. A hero has returned home now wearing black rather than his traditional poncho. Times have changed for all presents. As the Italian Western developed after Eastwood’s departure so did the actor himself, appearing in many genres, becoming director, composer, and song writers as multi-talented as the actor who portrays him in this very brief scene. 800 Balas is the one film that perhaps offers appropriate closure for this special genre.

[Tony Williams is a professor at Southern Illinois University. His research includes literature and cinema. He has authored and/or co-authored the following books: Italian Western: The Opera of Violence (1975); Jack London: The Movies (1992) and many others. Williams’s articles have appeared in Asian Cinema, cineACTION, Cinema Journal, Excavatio, Film Criticism, Film History, Journal of Chinese Cinemas,Movie, Postscript, Vietnam Generation, Wide Angle, as well as sensesofcinema.com. Williams was appointed Contributing Editor to Film International in 2016.]