THE SINGER NOT THE SONG

The Singer Not the Song – U.K. title

Le fléau de Quantana – Belgium title
A História de um Homem Mau – Brazilian title
Hjertet og sværdet – Danish title
De Zwarte Tiran – Dutch title
Tuli ja tuhka – Finnish title
Le cavalier noir – French title
Sommer der Vergluchten – German title
I moira tous itan grammeni me aima – Greek title
E dio creo un uomo cosi – Italian title
Il coraggio e la sfida – Italian title
A Esperança Nunca Morre – Portuguese title
El demonio, la carne y el perdón – Spanish title
El dimoni, la carn i el perdó – Spanish title
Den blodiga dalen – Swedish title
Vadiler kahramani – Turkish title
The Singer Not the Song U.S.A. title
 
A 1961 British production [The Rank Organisation (London)]
Producer: Roy Ward Baker
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Story: “The Singer Not the Song” by Audrey Erskine-Lindop
Screenplay: Nigel Balchin
Cinematography: Otto Heller [Technicolor, CinemaScope]
Music: Philip Green (Harry Green)
Running time: 132 minutes
 
Cast:
Anacleto Comanchi/Valentino – Dirk Bogarde (Derek Bogaerde)
Padre Michael Keogh/King – John Mills (Lewis Mills)
Locha/Linda DeCortinez – Mylène Demongeot (Marie-Hélène Demongeot)
Old Uncle – Laurence Naismith (Lawrence Johnson)
Chief of Police – John Bentley
Padre Gomez – Leslie French
Presidente – Eric Pohlman (Erich Pollak)
Vito – Nyall Florenz
DeCortinez – Roger Delgado (Roger Roberto)
Phil Brown – Philip Gilbert
Chela – Selam Vaz Dias
Pablo – Laurence Payne
Dona Marian – Jacqueline Evans (Grace Evans)
Pepe – Lee Montague (Lee Goldberg)
Jasefa – Serafina Di Leo
Senora Gonzalez – Marjorie Forsyth
Gonzalez – Arthur Goullet
Saddler – Thomas Hare
Police Sergeant – Jan Muzurus
Arcelia – Patricia Plunkett
Marco – Frank Sieman
Francisco Goya – John Steed
Farmer – Arthur Brough (Arthur Baker)
Henchman – Larry Taylor
With: Eileen Way

Father Michael Keogh, is sent by Rome to Quantana, a remote Mexican town which is under the control of a ruthless bandito named Anacleto Comanchi. Anacleto is educated and intelligent, but is completely against the teachings of the Catholic Church, but he finds in Keogh a man he strangely admires and with whom he can have intelligent conversation. However, he does not allow this to distract him from his goal: to get rid of the priest from Quantan and continue to his hold on the town at any cost.

 

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjSl8uwsLHQ

2013 Almeria Western Film Festival

Mario Adorf’s Back in the Saddle

Mario Adorf appears in a new German TV commercial for Aachen Münchener. At 83 years of age he’s as agile as ever: For the new TV spot he plays a Western villain as good as anything with: a leap from the roof of the bank on to a waiting horse followed by a wild ride through town into a saloon where he grabs a whiskey bottle and rides up stairs out through a window and a fast ride into the prairie.

 
According to the press release he did all his own stunts. The film director is played by comedian Oliver Polak.
 
At the end over a roaring campfire comes he’s offered a cigarette and a bill to light it with. Adorf exclaims, “You don’t play with money”, the slogan of Aachen Münchener since 2010.

 

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iXd1gBc0Hc

Remembering Guido Malatesta

Guido Malatesta was born on Ocotber 2, 1918 in Gallarate, Navara, Lombardy, Italy. He began working as a professional journalist but after he moved to Rome he was drawn to the cinema, as a creator of stories, then scriptwriter and assistant director, and finally becoming a director in 1957 with the film “The Billionaires”. He continued to make films until a few days before his death on June 14, 1970 in Rome. Primarily known for his sword and sandal movies he also directed four Euro-westerns including “A Coffin for the Sheriff” (1965) starring Anthony Steffen and Eduardo Fajardo. Following the fashion of the times he used the Americanized name James Reed.
 
Today we remember Guido Malatesta on what would have been his 95^th birthday.

RIP Giuliano Gemma

Giuliano Gemma died today October 1^st in a head-on car accident outside of Rome. He was 75. One of the icons of the Euro-western genre, he was a huge star and very popular in Italy. His happy go lucky, handsome, boyish image contrasted with the anti-heroes of the genre. Such was his power he was able to demand that Albert DeMartino be replaced by Giorgio Ferroni on “Fort Yuma Gold”. He appeared in 14 Euro-westerns from “A Pistol for Ringo” in 1965 to “Tex and the Lord of the Deep” (1985) a 20 year career, before he became an award winning dramatic actor. He was also an accomplished sculptor and had his own studio where he would spend most of his time. He was honored at this year’s Los Angeles Italian Film Festival and the documentary of his life made by his daughter Vera was shown. Gemma leaves a wife, journalist Baba Richerme and two daughters Vera and Giulana from a previous marriage.

 

YouTube death announcement link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXE-uHZ_KOg

SING, COWBOY, SING

Sing, Cowboy, sing – German title

Zpivej, kovboji – Russian title
Preerian Elvis – Finnish title
Spievaj, kovboj! – Czechoslovakian title
A két rodeos – Hungarian title
Sing, Cowboy, Sing – English title
 
A 1980 East German, Russian co-production [DEFA (Potsdam-Babelsburg)]
Producers: Gerrit List, Georgete Vilcu Savescu
Director: Dean Reed
Story: Dean Reed
Screenplay: Dean Reed
Cinematography: Hans Heinrich [Orwocolor, widescreen]
Music: Karel Svoboda
Songs: “Heigh Cowboy”, “Thunder & Lightning”, “Susan” sung by Dean Reed
Running time: 86 minutes
 
Cast:
Joe – Dean Reed
Benny – Václav Neckár
Susanne – Kerstin Beyer
Maria – Violeta Andrei
Dave Arnold – Jurie Darie
Barkeeper – Stefan Diestelmann
Sheriff of Hidden Junction – Helena Ruzicková (Helena Málková)
Deputy Sheriff of Hidden Junction – Jirí Ruzicka
Sheriff of Rose City – Siegfriedt Seibt
Sheriff of Leadville – Vlad Radescu (Vlad Radesch)
Deputy Sheriff – Ion Dorutiu
Silvia – Elke Gierth (Elke Martens)
Pythonin – Gertraut Last (Gertraud Last)
Chinese cook – Chuan His Kao
Ned – Cristian Sofron
Ned’s mother – Elena Sereda
Judge – Mihai Mereuță
Joana – Theresia Wider
Saloon girl – Rose Becker
Siedler – Peter Pauli
Hotel clerk – Paton Price
Telegrapher – Bodo Schmidt
Boy with frog – Dean Price
Cowboys – Miron Murea (Mircea Murea), Dan Dobre

Rodeo riders Joe and Benny earn their money with demonstrations of their skills. As jugglers and singers they travel from town to town to make ends meet. After a rodeo show Joe meets a woman whose daughter Susanne is so impressed with him that she secretly hides in Joe's covered wagon. She is only discovered long after the cowboys have left the city. The send a telegraph message from the nearest town Hidden Junction to Leansville that they have found Susanne and will bring her to her mother. Meanwhile Dave Arnold wants to marry Susanne’s mother to obtain her grandfather’s land left to her in his will. He goes after Joe and Benny with a search warrant because he’s accused them of kidnapping Susanne. In a shootout with the "kidnappers" Arnold is critically wounded. Susanne remains hidden in Joe's wagon because she sees him as the ideal father.
 
The sheriff of Hidden Junction learns that Joe and Benny have a warrant out for their arrest. They both flee the city. They also leave Rose City after they start a fight in jail and are able to escape with Susanne's help. Also helping them is an attractive blonde named Silvia, who falls in love with Benny. In their flight, Joe, Benny and Susanne finally come to a peaceful valley and the town of Liebenthal, settled by Germans, which is run by the feisty Pythonin. The village has been fighting for some time against the attempted takeover by Dave Arnold. The villagers learn that Joe and Benny have a common cause with Pythonin and together they fight Arnold’s thugs, including the Sheriff of Leansville. There is a showdown, in which Joe, Benny, Susanna and Silvia defeat the enemy. Susanne's mother Mary, who learns of the attack on Liebenthal, comes to the city, and retrieves her daughter. Joe becomes part of the family, while Benny joins up with Silvia.

Remembering George Peppard

George William Peppard, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 1, 1928. Handsome and debonair George Peppard occasionally displayed considerable talent through his career, but was too often cast in undemanding action roles. Following Broadway and television experience, he made a strong film debut in “The Strange One” (1957). He started getting noticed when he played Robert Mitchum's illegitimate son in the popular melodrama “Home from the Hill” (1960). He then established himself as a leading man, giving arguably his most memorable film performance as Audrey Hepburn's love interest in “Breakfast at Tiffany's” (1961). Seen by the studios as a promising young star, Peppard was subsequently cast in some of the major blockbusters of the early/mid-1960s: “How the West Was Won” (1962), “The Victors” (1963), “The Carpetbaggers” (1964) and “Operation Crossbow” (1965). He reached the peak of his popularity in another such lavish production, “The Blue Max” (1966), in which he effectively played an obsessively competitive German flying officer during World War I.

 
However, by the late 1960s, he seemed to settle as a tough lead in more average, often mindless adventures, including “House of Cards” (1968), his only Euro-western “Cannon for Cordoba” (1970) and “The Groundstar Conspiracy” (1972). In the early 1970s, his declining popularity was temporarily boosted thanks to the television series ‘Banacek’ (1972). With his film roles becoming increasingly uninteresting, he acted in, directed and produced the drama “Five Days from Home” (1979), but the result was rather disappointing. In the mid-1980s, he again obtained success on television as Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-chomping leader of ‘The A-Team’ (1983). Married five times Peppard died at age 65 of pneumonia on May 8, 1994 in Los Angeles, California.
 
Today we remember George Peppard on what would have been his 85^th birthday.