Best Lesser-Known Spaghetti Westerns You’ve Got To See

 Wealth of Geeks

By Kyle Logan

May 28, 2023

In the late 1960s and ’70s, after the decades-long reign of the Hollywood Western, Italian filmmakers took the genre by storm with their darker, more explicitly violent takes on the genre. Many of these films aren’t stories of honorable sheriffs and innocent townspeople but instead focus on characters who are, at best, morally gray. Look at the best-known film from the “Spaghetti Western” subgenre, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, wherein “the good” is a greedy man whose only claim to goodness is that he isn’t as bad as the other two characters.

There are tens if not hundreds of these films, and fans often move through the genre’s classics quickly after they begin exploring, leaving them searching for lesser-known gems. So when one Spaghetti Western fan asks an online film forum for recommendations of unknown best of the genre, other fans are more than happy to stick up for the lesser-known movies they love.

1.      Day of Anger (1967)

Lee Van Cleef had a fantastic 1967 in Spaghetti Westerns. Day of Anger is one of three that he starred in that year after The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was released. Day of Anger stars Van Cleef as a villainous gunslinger who takes a young man under his wing and then takes over a town, only to have his apprentice turn on him to defend the town. It’s not a complicated movie, but it features excellent shootouts and sets.

 2.      Death Rides a Horse (1967)

The second of the three Spaghetti Westerns starring Lee Van Cleef released in 1967, Death Rides a Horse once again features the sharp-featured star developing a relationship with a younger man. This time, both their characters are on the trail of the same band of outlaws, each seeking their revenge. But things become more complicated when the young man learns about Van Cleef’s connection to the gang. 

3. The Big Gundown (1967)

The third Lee Van Cleef movie released in 1967, The Big Gundown, follows Van Cleef as a bounty hunter searching for an accused rapist and murderer. Things become more complicated when he finds the man. It’s a western with several film noir elements in its plotting and packs a serious socio-political punch.

4. They Call Me Trinity (1970)

Not all Spaghetti Westerns are bleak and violent. They Call Me Trinity is a broad comedy that tells the story of two men who defend a town of Mormons from bandits that features more laughs than thrills but doesn’t lose anything in shifting its focus to humor.

 

5. Cemetery Without Crosses (1969)

Cemetery Without Crosses is an especially bleak film within its genre. It is a revenge western that explores loneliness, futility, and regret. It’s a film that’s not easy to watch. But it is rewarding for those interested in a movie that considers revenge and why we seek revenge philosophically.

 

6.  Mannaja (AKA a Man Called Blade) (1977)

Mannaja is a delightfully chaotic film starring Maurizio Merli as a hatchet-throwing bounty hunter whose arrival in a mining town sets off an increasingly violent series of events. The movie is a bit complicated, but in a way that’s never difficult to follow, so much as enjoyably ridiculous.

7. If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968)

The first in a series of five films, If You Meet Sartana Pray for You Death stars Gianni Garko as the eponymous gunslinger Sartana who finds himself at the center of a multi-faction hunt for gold. It’s another film, like Mannaja, that is somewhat complicated but always remains focused on delivering the genre goods, including a wild final shootout.

8. Rita of The West (AKA Crazy Westerners) (1967)

A movie that the person recommending it called “insane,” Rita of the West centers on the eponymous Rita, played by Italian-Swiss singer Rita Pavone, as she attempts to rid the world of gold, which she sees as the source of all evil. Her adventures include several musical numbers and run-ins with parodies of beloved Spaghetti Western heroes Ringo and Django.

9. The Legend of Frenchie King (1971)

The Legend of Frenchie King is a delightfully over-the-top western that pits iconic bombshells Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale against one another before pairing them up to take revenge on the men who have attempted to manipulate them. It’s a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously and is just about having a good time with two gorgeous women, and it greatly succeeds.

10. Four of The Apocalypse (1968)

An early film from director Lucio Fulci, who would become best known for his horror films in the following two decades, Four of the Apocalypse follows a group of four petty criminals as they travel across 1870s Utah and do their best to stay alive while being hunted by a sadistic bandit. It’s a brutal movie that portends Fulci’s later greatness as the “godfather of gore” but also takes a genuine interest in its characters. It packs an emotional as well as a visceral punch.

11. And God Said to Cain (1970)

One of a few Spaghetti Westerns that veers into horror territory, And God Said to Cain, begins as another fairly typical revenge story but morphs into something more like a ghost story as the protagonist takes out his enemies under cover of darkness. Add to that the use of catacombs, and several fans think the movie plays out more like a gothic horror story with a Spaghetti Western cover than an outright Western.

12. Cut Throats Nine (1972)

Another horror/western hybrid, Cut Throats Nine, is also one of the most vicious films out of the Spaghetti Western bubble. The movie follows a group of criminals who are attacked and set loose while being transported to prison. The one lawman who survived the attack is trying to keep them while keeping himself and his daughter safe.

 

50th anniversary of the premier of “The Judgment of God”

 

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the premier of “Il giustiziere di Dio” (The Executioner of God). It was directed by Franco Lattanzi and starred William Berger, Donal O’Brien and George Wang. The film tells the story of Tony Lant (William Berger), a famous Arizona gunslinger, who leaves his wife Carol and his gun when his son accidentally falls into a pit and dies. Lant becomes a priest and builds a mission with an adjoining orphanage. Now known as Father Lanthony he ignores the fact that in the basement of his church lies hidden a large quantity of gold bars, the result of a robbery. Two bands at the same time go on a treasure hunt and the men of Ramon Orea George Wang), also called the gang of the Tris, they break into the church and open the passage to the gold with dynamite. They seize the gold but kill all the children in the orphanage. Tony is released from the well where he’d been thrown by his faithful servant Goliath (Victor Stock) and begins to hunt for the bandits. After a long search, he tracks them down through their spending of the spoils from the robbery. The priest draws Orea to the mission and into the hands of the sheriff who captures him with large posse. Having in the meantime also witnessed the death of Carol (Nuccia Cardinal), the former gunslinger is directed towards an Indian reservation where he will continue his ministry.

 

Il giustiziere di Dio - Italian title

Le justicier de Dieu - French title

The Executioner of God - English title

God’s Gunman - English title

The Judgment of God - English title

The Executioner of God – English title

 

A 1973 Italian production [Cigno Cinematografica (Rome)]

Producer: Giovanni Vari

Director: Franco Lattanzi

Story: Franco Lattanzi

Cinematography: Franco Appetito [Technicolor, Techniscope]

Music: Piero Piccioni (Gian Piero Piccioni)

Running time: 87 minutes

 

Cast:

Padre Tony Lang/Lant/Lanthory - William Berger (Wilhelm Berger)

Frank ’Ace of Hearts’ - Donal O’Brien

Ramon Orea ‘Ace of Diamonds’ - George Wang (Wang Yie)

John ‘Ace of Spade’ Ivan Greeve

Ramon henchman - Maurizio Mannoia

Carol Lang/Lant/Lanthory - Nuccia Cardinal

Paul ‘Goliath’ - Victor Stock (Victor Stocchi)

Tim Robson/Bronson/Donny – Attilio Dottesio

Paul’s sister – Giovanna Mainardi

Ringo - Tony DiMitri (Antonio Dimitri)

Red – Lorenzo Piani

Hotel bouncer – Bruno Arie

Hotel brawler – Franco Pasquetto

Barman – Clemente Ukmar

Brenda – Clara Hopf

Abilene Sheriff - Antonio Calo

Sheriff – Angelo Casadei

Deputy – Sergio Silveri

Safecracker – Nello Palladino (Aneillo Palladino)

Safe robbers - Luciano Conti, Benito Pacifico

with: Alessandro Perrella, Alberta Santilli, Gianni Cardillo (Gianni Cardello), Nicola Mozzillo, Raffaele Rossi, Osiride Pevarello

RIP Sergio Calderón

 

Sergio Calderón, the amiable Mexican character actor who made his mark in such notable films as “The In-Laws”, “Men in Black” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End:, died on May 31^st. He was 77. Calderón portrayed a Mexican revolutionary at the turn of the 20th century in “Duck, You Sucker!” (1971), by Sergio Leone, and was a murderous Mexican chief of police opposite Albert Finney in John Huston’s “Under the Volcano” (1984). Born on July 21, 1945, Calderón moved from his home in a tropical village to Mexico City when he was 10 and studied at the Instituto Andrés Soler of the Asociación Nacional de Actores. He then made his onscreen debut in “The Bridge in the Jungle” (1970), starring John Huston. Among the three dozen or so films on his résumé were “The Revengers” (1972), “The Children of Sánchez” (1978), “Old Gringo” (1989), “The Missing” (2003), “The Ruins” (2008) and “Little Fockers” (2010). He also showed up on the final season of the FX series ‘Better Things’ last year. Sergio appeared in two European westerns the previously mentioned “Duck You Sucker” in 1971 as a Mexican Revolutionary and in 1988’s “Blood Red” as Perez.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Matilde Antonelli

 [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.]

Matilde Antonelli was born on June 1, 1934, she appeared in at least seven films from 1970 to 1978. Among those were two credited appearances in Spaghetti westerns in “Django… Adios!” 1971 she appears as Marianne/Mary Ann and in “Savage Guns” 1971 she plays the role of Suzy. I can find no other information on her.

ANTONELLI, Matilde [6/1/1934, Italy -     ] – film actress.

Django… Adios! – 1971 (Marianne/Mary Ann)

Savage Guns – 1971 (Suzy)

Spaghetti Western locations Then and Now - “Catlow”

 This riding scene is from “Catlow” and shows Yul Brynner in the lead. The scene was filmed in the Rambla Indalecio/Rioja, Almería, Spain.

Here’s the same location as seen in 2022.

Voices of the Spaghetti Western “Two Violent Men”

 As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.

I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe these actors are as well-known as the actors they voiced.

Today we’ll cover “Two Violent Men”

[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English]

Cassidy – Alan Scott (I) Cesare Barbetti, (S) Ángel María Baltanás

Sergeant Bob Logan – George Martin (I) Pino Locchi, (S) Simón Ramírez

Mary Sheridan – Susy Andersen (I) Fiorella Betti, (S) Ana María Saizar

Ann Kenny - María Badmajew (I) Rosetta Calavetta, (S) Matilde Vilariño

Linda Ranson – Silvia Solar (I) Rosetta Calavetta, (S) Mari Ángeles Herranz

Ana María Saizar  (1924 – 2013)

Ana María Saizar was born in San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, Spain in 1924. Saizar was a Spanish voice actress who began her professional career as a dubbing actress in 1948 at the Sevilla Film Studios. In the 1950s, in Madrid she began to work in the great dubbing studios of the country and specifically, from 1956, at Oro Films, where she remained until the mid-1980s. She dubbed into Spanish the voice of some of the most important Hollywood film stars of the time, such as Sofia Loren, Anne Baxter, Grace Kelly and Carole Lombard.

For television, she highlighted her work as Miss Rottenmeier in the animated series ‘Heidi’ (1975). Although she also voiced Miss Cassandra in ‘The Mayan Bee’, Flower in ‘Once Upon a Time... the man’, Barbara Bain (Hellen Russell) in ‘Space 1999’, Doris Roberts (Mildred Krebbs) in ‘Remington Steele’ and Peg Phillips (Ruth Miller) in ‘Doctor in Alaska’.

She retired in the late 1990s and died in Madrid on December 19, 2013.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Franco Antonelli

 [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.]

Franco Antonelli is/was an Italian costumer and wardrobe supervisor but was credited as an actor in “California” starring Guliano Gemma. His career began in 1962 with his participation as a costume designer on “Black Invaders” with Amedeo Nazzari and his last credit was as a wardrobe coordinator on 1987’s “The Last Emperor” with Peter O’Toole. Antonelli also worked on “Flash Gordon” in 1980, “Conan the Barbarian” 1982 and “Red Sonja” in 1985.

ANTONELLI, Franco (aka Antonelli) [1907, Campobasso, Italy - 1988, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – costumer, master of arms, stuntman, film actor, married to ? father of Roberto Antonelli, Mathilde Antonelli.

Cjamango - 1966 [master of arms]

Face to Face – 1967 [costumer]

Little Rita in the West – 1967 [costumer]

Viva Django -1968 [costumer]

A Long Ride from Hell – 1968 [costumer]

Halleluja to Vera Cruz – 1973 [wardrobe]

California – 1977