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SPAGHETTI WESTERNS: Fascist Hatred under a Socialist Veneer By Keith J. Crocker
I truly believe that what makes viewing a foreign film so interesting for so many Americans is the prospect of seeing a certain situation through the eyes of another culture. I mean basically we here in the States pretty much know how our fellow countrymen are going to react to certain situations, and this reaction will always be hot or cold, liberal or conservative. It takes a real well rounded person to view the complexities of situations and react to them in accordance with the feelings they elicit. It's interesting to me that so many love genre films, but so few really care to read into them and dig out an often deeper meaning then the subject matter the films themselves explore. Follow me on this. Why do foreign genre films differ from their good old American counterpoints? It's too easy to say "Oh, it's made in Italy, or France, or China, that's why it's so different"... but that, my friends is way too easy a way to explain away something. No, films carry much deeper meaning, and they also act as a mirror reflecting the very societies that make the product in question. So let me start by asking a question that I myself will answer: Just what makes Spaghetti Westerns so different from their American counterparts? The answer is: Politics. Let me explain... For starters, it's best to look at the American Western first. The earliest American westerns were black & white, and I don't just mean the color they were shot in. I'm talking about the politics they presented in the form of dramatic entertainment. For starters, they lived a lie that American culture held steady. This lie being that settlers of the American west were the good guy and the Indians were the bad guy. Backward thinking by todays standards, but a common thought not challenged back in the days. The biggest problem with this concept being that it presented only one side of the story, it wasn't multi-demensional. Oh, they did have bad cowboys, but, these guys were easy to pick out because they wore a black hat, held up banks and interfered with progression (wealth and progression being the foremost thing on the minds of Americans, even in today's world of phoney liberal concerns). These bad guys were rebels, and rebels represent a threat to the status quo. Actually, the American western would go on unabated in this presentation until the Italians put a whole new slant on the American mythology. That's right, the Italians presented the American expansion of the west in a completely different manner. No longer were the good and bad guys seperated, in fact, the good guys had more than there share of bad, and visa versa. This was a brilliant move on the part of the writers of Spaghetti Western films, because by the time the Italian western burst upon the scene (1964 ushering in the first and best of them, A Fistful of Dollars), Americans were beginning to question their own views of superiority, as well as their own cowboy mentality when it came to foriegn policy. In truth, human nature is not a Jekyll & Hyde situation, but rather a combo of both that makes up one person. Isn't it funny how it took outsiders to show us that we are not the perfect, God fearing people we had been presenting ourselves to be. The Italian westerns blazed onto the American silver screen in searing color, and made all the more realistic with gratuitous depictions of violence, another element that was somewhat cleaned up in the American editions of the classic American tale. But to stop there and say this is what the difference between the American western and Italian western is all about would be false. Here's what most are not seeing.
The Italian variation on the American western, while initially stemming from what many would call "Tribute", has a far more interesting perspective. What the Spaghetti Western really succeeds in doing is more along the lines of a criticism, or in some cases condemming of American culture. And if you dig even deeper, you would not be hard pressed to say that these films are actually an attack on democracy and capitalism. In fact, what these films are is fascist statements wrapped up in a socialist veneer. In order to prove my point, I'm going to use one of the best examples of spaghetti ever commited to film, Sergio Corbucci's classic Django (1966). The very first time I saw this film, it was like having a bucket of cold water pourred over my head. The guy that showed it to me was simply trying to turn me on to Spaghetti Westerns. He knew I was never really a fan of Westerns, other than Sam Peckinpah's work, which was extremely violent but purely American. Peckinpah, content to take his rage out on studio heads rather than condemn the American culture, and so this friend at the time told me just how violent most Spaghetti Westerns were, hoping to sell me on the violence angle. But from the moment Django ended, I was aware that more than violence had occurred on screen. In fact, I'm not quite sure if I've ever seen such contempt of American culture played out before, the exception being propaganda films of the Axis countries during World War Two. Django is played out against a backdrop of dark grey skies, wind swept rain, and mud roads. Never before has the American west looked so foreboding. When Django (Franco Nero), a half breed vagabond comes into this mud trap, he drags behind him a coffin that is supposedly carrying his dead wife. In reality, it houses a machine gun, which will be used to decimate dozens during the film's running time. In the first part of the film, Django uses his machine gun to decimate an army of renegade white supremacists lead by the demented Major Jackson. When a Mexican gang, former enemies of Major Jackson, decide to hook up with Django and rob Fort Charriba, Django discovers the hard way that this gang has no intention of sharing the bounty with him. Hence, he steals it from them. They in turn capture him, smashing his hands with the butt of their rifiles, and having their horses' hoves trample over his hands for good measure. In the meantime, Major Jackson has reformed his vigilante squad, and decimates the Mexican gang with no mercy. Django is left to a duel with Jackson...
For those of you unfamiliar with the propaganda perpetrated by the fascists during WWII, I'd recommend a fantastic picture book called simply Propaganda. The text tends to take the side of the British, Americans and Russians, painting them as good guys and the Axis as bad, which in itself is propaganda. Regardless, there is a fantastic picture in the book of a German propaganda poster which presents America as a monster, made of far too many cultures and contradictions in order to be unified. This monster has the head of a Klu Klux Klan hood, its mid section is a cage containing negroes dancing the jitterbug, the arm of a criminal in prison wear, toting a machine gun, a Jewish Star of David dangling from its groin, black arms holding money in one hand, a noose in the other, an American Indian sitting on the shoulder... the message is simple, America is too multicultural and way too conflicted to be unified. Guess what, the Spaghetti Western states the same thing, only hides their contempt under the banner of social concern. Nobody really likes the word fascist, but socialist seems to be an easier word to digest. Yet folks forget that the Nazis were socialists, as had been Mussolini prior to crowning himself king of Rome! The point is that despite the current claim that Hitler and the fascists are the product of Right Wing hatred, the truth is they were actually the product of Left Wing bigotry. When Django rids the muddy town of the bigoted Major Jackson's men, we (the audience) explode with excitement. Jackson is a warped pervert who enjoys massacring Mexicans without mercy. He is disillusioned, according to him the South has won the war and he will be calling all the shots. Later, the Mexicans who Django has freed from Jackson's tyranny turn on their liberator, Django, and basically treat him in the same manner the Jews treated Christ after Judas turned him in. So treacherous are the Mexicans portrayed in this film that by the time Jackson and his men regroup and sabotage the banditos, we are hollering even louder than we did when Jacksons men were shot by Django. In effect, we have been manipulated into believing that as bad as Jackson is, he's still preferable to the Mexicans! The message is simple. In order to build a unified society, you must have law and order. In order to have law and order, you have to have control. But how can you have control in a country that has civil wars? How can you have control when you have treacherous Mexicans on one side of the land, bloodthirsty Indians on the other, and European white settlers in the middle? The Italian view is that you can't.
Almost all Spaghetti Westerns end on a downbeat note, with a hero working for the common good (Clint Eastwood, Franco Nero, Guliano Gemma) being sacrificed, or martyred in a Christ like fashion (Franco Nero's torture in Django or Jean-Louis Trintignant's shooting in The Great Silence), or having to abandon a cause that they might have helped come to a temporary conclusion, but in the long term cannot be solved because of the local yocals inability to coincide with law and order. But as savage as Mexicans are portrayed in Spaghetti Westerns, it's Americans themselves that are made to look so ruthless, so distrusting and yet so untrustable, so quick to pull the trigger, a bigoted and greedy monster always on the run for money or gold, with no obstacle left unturned or unshot. If Americans are as bad as these films said they were, this country would not have been able to grow, at all! Granted we've always had corruption, but to be fair some of the greatest human rights movements evolved in this country. To be the monsters the Italian western portrays us to be, would have meant the west would never have been settled because everyone would have massacred each other in the process. Like all classic propaganda cinema, the worst of the enemy is brought to the forefront, and as far as Americans go, redeeming values seem to be lacking. It's a lawless land habituated by savages. But to drive their point home, the Italians go all out with the violence quota. When an overweight Mexican gunman decides to step on Clint Eastwood's hand while Eastwood lies unconscious from a beating in Leone's brilliant A Fistful of Dollars, not only does the audience wince in pain, but closing your eyes doesn't make it any better because the sound of bones cracking is heard loud and clear on the soundtrack. In Django, the Mexicans, feeling triumphant now that Django has wiped out Jackson's posse, capture a Jackson sympathizer, cut his ear off and force him to eat it. It's scenes like this that make it hard to sympathize with the Mexicans once the tide turns. In fact, as cruel as Jackson is, we tend to elevate him from the Mexicans because at least he can organize and really turns the tide on the Mexicans, who are portrayed as sloppy and unaccountable.
And the list of atrocities continues... In Leone's gorgeous Once Upon A Time In The West, Henry Fonda's gun for hire not only shoots a child in cold blood, but later seduces the wife of the man he killed. In Lucio Fulci's Colt Concert (1966) the hateful "Junior" (Nino Castelnuovo) whips Tom (Franco Nero) in order to humiliate him in front of a houseful of guests. Chaco (Thomas Milian) dismembers a bound sheriff for no other reason than to be brutal in Fulci's Four Of The Apocolypse (1975), and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. In Django Kill (1966), directed by the surrealist Giulio Questi, a man is shot full of bullets made of gold. His greedy compadres decide to cut into the still living man in order to extract the bullets, which they do, with their bare hands. Needless to say, this kills the man in the process. Questi, who claims to have been a resistance fighter in Italy against the Nazis, said this film was his attack on Fascism, though to be fair the only fascist in sight seems to be the screenwriter and director, who have dreamt up one of the most obnoxious and toxic views of the old west ever portrayed. It's interesting to note that the bulk of Italy's best genre directors either had family members or were perhaps themselves members of Mussolini's fascist party. A perfect example of this would be Passolini, whose father was a high ranking official in Mussolini's army. Passolini considered himself to be a communist. When he made Salo, The 120 Days of Sadom (1975), he claimed it to be an anti-fascist statement. In reality, it could just as easily be interpreted as a warped sexual fantasy played out by a homosexual sadomasochist. Passolini loved to indulge his desires with male prostitutes from one of Italy's poorest sections. Should we then excuse his predatory behavior under the banner that he was employing these poor young men and giving them an opportunity to make money? You tell me, if a person who likes to dominate and manipulate calls himself a socialist, does this make his actions any more justifiable? This article is not at all intended to to condemn Spaghetti Westerns. It is actually an attempt to explain why they are far more interesting and complicated than their American counterparts. You don't have to like the message, but the art used to expel the message must be celebrated, and so good is the subterfuge of the Italian western that its biggest fanbase is right here in the good old U.S. of A, the very same place the films themselves condemn as an undisciplined, multicultural rat race! Ok, so we checked out the politics, but there's even more to Italio Westerns than that! So, Cinefear's own Heather Drain has contributed her own take on what makes those Guinea guns glow. Check it out right HERE. And after your done doing that, scroll on down this page and pick yourself up some wild and quite rare Spaghetti Westerns, courtesy of your frineds at Cinefear. We provide the one drug you'll ever really need, MOVIES! Here is a collection of ultra rare Euro Westerns that a genre fan can't do without. Each title is $20, order four and get the fifth title free. If your a fan of the genre or even if you've never seen a Spaghetti Western, here's your chance to get your hands on the cream of the crop. So saddle up and draw! New titles added weekly... so check back often! ADIOS COMPANEROS (1971) Directed by Demofilo Fidani and photographed by Joe D'Amato, Klaus Kinski gets to play a good guy in this flick. He plays a priest who helps Macho Callaghan infiltrate Butch Cassidy and his wild bunch. The expected bloodshed ensues. Widescreen, in English. ORDER ACQUASANTA JOE (1971) Bounty hunter Acquasanta Joe decides to bring in a gang lead by an ex-soldier who is having trouble leaving behind his murderous ways from the war. It doesn't help that this ex-soldier carries around a cannon as his choice of weapon. Can Acquasata Joe bring these guys to justice? Letterboxed and in English. Directed by Mario Gariazzo. ORDER ALLELUJA AND SARTANA ARE SONS OF... SONS OF GOD (1972) More light hearted than heavy handed, the two title charectors must fight and shoot their way's through some seriously rough situations in the old west. With Robert Widmark and Rob Ely, directed by Mario Siciliano. Letterboxed. Enjoy! ORDER A MAN FOR HANGING (1974) Ok, technically, this is NOT a Spaghetti Western. It was shot here in the good old U.S.A., but it's modeled right after the Guinea guns and grue genre. Peter (Crawling Hand) Breck playes a psycho who had his face hideously scarred by some chick and now rides about the old west raping and killing little ladies. This PG rated flick pushed the limits back in the day when films like Blood & Lace were rated PG. ORDER A TOWN CALLED HELL (1971) Here is a bleak, brutal British/Spanish co-production directed by the American Robert Parrish, this films hatred and cruelness a direct influence from Peckinpah's classic Wild Bunch and Ken Russells The Devils. Robert Shaw plays a revolutionary turned priest while a mad bandit played by Telly Savallas shoots and kills folk for little reason. Enter Stella Stevens and her weird side kick Dudley Sutton seeking revenge for her husbands murder, and toss in Martin Landau as a turncoat general who thinks nothing about hanging people, and you have an overacted and brutal masterpiece. This is the uncut Euro version, widescreen! You heard me right. All the American discs and tapes are full screen, cut TV prints. This is the one you've been looking for. ORDER BALLAD OF DEATH VALLEY (1966 aka The Return of Ringo) Giulliano Gemma plays Ringo, who while in jail for shooting four in self defense, is given an offer by the sheriff to track down some desperadoes who robbed a local bank and kidnapped the sheriff's wealthy fiance. Classic spaghetti. ORDER BANDIDOS (1968) Here is an ultra rare, uncut, English language, widescreen version of the only western ever directed by Massimo Dallamano. Teacher and pupil come to blows during a train robbery, leaving teacher wounded and lusting for revenge. He decides to teach a new recruit with hopes of using the new pupil to kill the bad pupil. Very well directed, a true under appreciated classic. ORDER BLOOD AND GUNS (aka Tepepa 1969) Thomas Milian, John Steiner and Orson Wells have a ball in this violent tale of a revolutionary battling the corrupt colonel from a previous revolution. A masterpiece of Spaghetti by Giulio Petroni. ORDER THE BOUNTY KILLER (1966) Hatred doesn't get any better than this. Richard Wyler gives Mexican bandit Tomas Milian a chance to prove that he's a good guy, and what happens? Well, he turns out to be a vicious killer instead. Can endless violence be far behind? Letterboxed, in English, off a Euro source, ultra rare and it has never looked better. ORDER CALIFORNIA(1976) Extremely gruesome Western in which vicious bounty hunters track down confederate soldiers who went AWOL. A stranger with no name happens into town during one of these persecutions, and decides to turn the tables on the bounty hunters. Directed with an eye for bloodshed by Michele Lupo. In Italian. ORDER CHARLEY ONE EYE (1972) Crazy western shot in Spain by Don Chaffey has Richard Roundtree as a Union army deserter who heads to Mexico after he kills his commander. He befriends an outcast indian (Roy Thinnes) while escaping a sadistic Bounty Hunter (Nigel Davenport). Long lost semi-spaghetti western straight from a Dutch master. In English with Dutch subtitles. ORDER CJAMANGO (1967) After being robbed and left for dead in a saloon massacre, Cjamango decides to take back his loot from the unsavory El Tigre, bad guy extrodinair. Interesting side note is that the anti-hero takes care, albeit somewhat unwillingly, of a little boy who admires him. Among the countless Spaghetti shoot-outs and Django take off's, here is one of the rarest titles, in English, letterboxed. Ivan Rassimov gets a good part in the Cjamango charactor. Directed by Edoardo Mulargia. ORDER CUT THROATS NINE (1971) Perhaps the sickest Spaghetti Western ever made. Truth be told, the film was made in Spain by the Spanish. A general and his daughter escort a dangerous group of criminals across the mountains. Well, an accident lets these goons escape and that's when the cruelties get way out of hand. With Alberto Dalbes and Emma Cohen. Directed by Joaquin Luis Romero. More of a horror film than a western, this is a classic! ORDER CHUCHILLO THE APACHE (1977) Crazy spaghetti western made by our taco eating buddies in Mexico. When the calvary wipes out an Apache tribe, a surviving Apache child named Chuchillo grows up to be a powerhouse avenger, shooting, stabbing and scaping calvery men when ever he can get his hands on then. Violent fun. In Spanish with Greek subtitles. ORDER EL CHUNCHO (1966 - aka A Bullet For The General) Fantastic piece of work involving a revolutionary being manipulated by a mean old whitey. Klaus Kinski is great as the gunslinger who practices religion. Directed by Damiano Damiani. With Gian Maria Volonte, Martine Beswick and Lou Castel. In FRENCH. ORDER DJANGO EINE PISTOLE FUR 100 KREUZE (aka Gunman of 100 Crosses - 1971) Ok folks, here's a super cool spaghetti starring Tony Kendall as a gunslinger (here dubbed in as Django!?) who avenges the death of a Notary. Aside for the usual villians, this flick has a cool super woman villian (Monica Miguel) dressed like Zarro who cracka a pretty mean whip, and even whips off the clothing of our tormented heroine (Marina Malfatti). Shottings, stabbings, beatings. Letterboxed. In German. ORDER DJANGO, THE RUNNER (1966) Fulci's first, ultra violent western, made much more like his horror flicks, has Franco Nero returning to his home town only to find that his psychotic step brother has taken over and rules everything with violence and the lash of his whip. Hatred seems ten times worse when it comes from Fulci. With George Hilton. Uncut, letterboxed, in English with Dutch subtitles. ORDER DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST (1966) Django's dad is set up by his business partner Clusker and shot by a bounty Killer. Django inherits his fathers part of the business and a need for revenge to settle with Clusker. Directed by Alberto De Martino, and starring Glenn Saxon and Erica Blanc, a number one boner inducer in Italy. Another ultra rare classic! ORDER DJANGO VS SARTANA (1970) Classic, mean spirited Spaghetti Western has Dajango and Sartana butting heads because they have been set up by some local scumbags. But Lord help the scumbags when Django and Sartana realise what has happened. Directed by Pasquale Squitieri. Off a Greek master in English with Greek subtitles. ORDER FAST HAND IS STILL MY NAME (1974) Ultraviolent, mean spirited Spaghetti western that really earned it's Euro X rating. During the civil war, the squad commanded by Captain Jeff Mulligan is attacked by the confederate gangleader Machedo (The hateful William Berger). Mulligan is tortured by Machedo, who cripples his hand in the process. Mulligan gets revenge by strapping a gun assembled on a prothesis to his crippled hand. A Romans view of the west, this film is littered with beatings, brandings, shootings, more violence that you can point a gun at. Directed by Mario Bianchi. Letterboxed, in English. Delicious. ORDER FIVE BLOODY GRAVES (1968) Once again, not Italian made, but rather a take-off on the Italian genre directed by Al (Blood of Draculas Castle) Adamson. Indians and pale faces go at it in bloody color. Rape and violence ensue. Watch for John Carradine and Al Adamsons dad Denver Dixon in a cameo. ORDER FOUR DOLLARS FOR VENGENCE (1968) More crazy anti-American propaganda, this one set during the wayning years of the civil war. Whippings, shootings and other assorted fun. ORDER GANG OF THE 'FARE' WEST (1972) Sergio Corbucci directed this old west version of "Bonnie & Clyde" with Thomas Milian and Susan George as the two male and female bandits, and Telly Savallas in an over the top performance as the bad guy sheriff who is after them. Done only as Corbucci can do it. Letterboxed, in English. Go for your gun, partner... ORDER GATLIN GUN (1968) Insane Western has bad guy half breed John Ireland kidnapping both the title gun and it's inventor in an attempt to sell the gun to the South and the inventor to the North during the bloody civil war. A wrongly accused of treason renegade sets out to right the wrong. See a man use a knife to dig a bullet out of his hand, in extreem close-up! Bloody and hate filled. In English, off a nice Greek master tape. ORDER GIUNSE RINGO... FU TEMPO DI MASSACRO (1971) Ringo heads to a town in the Mexican border to investigate the poisoning death of his brother. Turns out the reason is more supernatural than natural. Nice mix of western and horror on a shoestring budget. Tape starts rough, but smooths out as it goes along. In Italian. ORDER GOD, GUTS & GUNS (1973) Hateful, pessemistic, bloody Mexican produced western directed by the master of bad taste himself, Rene Cardona Jr.Slow mo' bloody gun fights, naked saloon gals, guys taking a piss, and nasty fist fights. That's all you need to know, you'd be a fool to pass it up! ORDER GRAND DUEL (1971) Lee Van Cleef ends up having to protect a helpless drifter wrongly accused of murder. Much Guinea grue ensues. ORDER HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL MY FRIEND, SARTANA IS PAYING (1970) Here is the premo Spaghetti, featuring the charismatic Giani Garko as Sartana, investigating the death of his silver mining buddies. Guns flair, bodies fall. This is a prime, English language, letterboxed print, straight from Europe, this film has never looked so good. ORDER THE HUNTING PARTY (1971) Insane, hate filled Western directed by Don Medford, this flick has Gene Hackman hunting after his kidnapped wife Candice Bergen. Seems outlaw Oliver Reed has kidnapped her in order for her to teach him how to read. But the only thing his gang and himself get to read is bullets shot from guns that can hit a target from over 800 yards. Needless to say, this film is a bloodbath. Ultra rare with fantastic quality! ORDER THE LAST DAY (1971 aka Vendetta at Dawn) This ultra violent flick, written by Luigi (Grim Reaper) Montefiori (aka George Eastman) and directed by Sergio (SS Camp 5: Woman's Hell) Garrone is basically a version of Last House on the Left only transported to the old west. A Rancher (Montefiori) returns who to find his wife and family raped and massacred by outlaws. Needless to say, he decides to take justice into his own hands. As hateful as it sounds. ORDER EL MACHO (1977) Fun and violent flick has a look alike filling in for a murdered bandit in order to infiltrate the gang. Problem is, the original bandit wasn't liked much, and everywhere the double goes, he ends up getting the shit kicked out of him. In Italian. ORDER MY HORSE... MY GUN... YOUR WIDOW (197?) Another crazy spaghetti western fresh from a Euro master, worth having for just the title alone. With Craig Hill, Claudie Lange. Directed by John Wood. ORDER ONE DAMNED DAY AT DAWN... DJANGO AND SARTANA MEET (1971) A town terrorised by an outlaw gang is aided by both Sartana and Django, who team up to get rid of the badguys. A classic Spaghetti Western. With Fabio Testi and Hunt Powers. ORDER 100 PISTOLS FOR A COFFIN (1968) Umberto Lenzi directed this violent western in which Jim Slade (Peter Lee Lawrence) discovers that his parents have been killed upon returning from his incarceration for refusing to fight in the Civil War. He dons a gun and swears revenge on the gang that killed them. John Ireland plays a preacher who offers Jim a hand. Best part involves escaped lunatics terrorizing the town.Off a Greek master in English with Greek Subtitles. ORDER UNA NUVOLA DI POLVERE... UN GRIDO DI MORTE... ARRIVA SARTANA (1971) One of the best in the Sartana series, our buddy Gianni Garko is back, solving a murder mystery and whiping out a conspiracy of low lives trying to covet stolen loot for themselves. Tons of cool gadgets, including a wooden Indian head, and an organ that fires bullets, add to the fun. Widescreen and beautiful, but in Italian. ORDER EL PISTOLERO DELL 'AVE MARIA (1969, aka The Forgotten Pistolero) Directed by Giallo fave Fernando Baldi, more pessamistic hatred for your collection. When a woman betrays her husband after his return from war, her two children and a servant boy ban together to get revenge many years later. Massacres, implied child molestation, adultery, you name it, this baby's got it. In Italian. ORDER QUINTANA (1969) A sort of "Zarro" type story of an outlaw out to right wrongs in the old west. However, since it's Italian made, expect the violence and hatred quota to be triple. Directed by Vincenzo Musolino and starring George Stevenson. In English, letterboxed. Can you go wrong?! ORDER REQUIEM FOR A GRINGO (1968) Insane, hate filled Spaghetti Western that's more like a horror film than a Western. Brutal bandits take over a ranch and abuse the local peones. A lone gunfighter with an interest in Astrology decides to come and read their futures for them by pumbing the bandits full of lead. Very brutal. Directed by J.L. Marino, who gave us Killers in The Castle of Blood as well as Beyond The Living Dead. With Fernando Sancho, everyone's favorite fat bad guy. ORDER REVENGE OF THE WILD BUNCH (1970 aka Machismo: 40 Graves for 40 Guns) Here's an American made film trying very hard to look like an Italian made rip-off of The Wild Bunch. A jailed Mexican bandit is offered a pardon if he will cross the border into Mexico and bring back a gang of murderous gold thieves. The highlight of this flick is the slow motion gun fight at the end, complete with bullets entering and exiting there intended targets. Lots of nude chicks as well. Directed by Paul Hunt. ORDER ROUGH JUSTICE (1969) Klaus Kinski is perfectly cast as a screwball sex addict who likes to take the ladies in a rough style in this over the top piece of Spaghetti. Since Kinski was in fact a real life sex addict, this role was tailor made for him. ORDER SARTANA IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH (1971) Sartana, played this time out by the incredible William Berger, helps a group of bandits escape prison in an agreement to get half the gold the gang has stolen. As usual, he gets crossed and double crossed. Does Sartana take this sitting down? Do pigs fly? Letterboxed, in English, a delight! ORDER SARTANA THE GRAVEDIGGER (1969) Sartana (Gianni Garko) has been framed for a bank robbery, and is hence a wanted man. Three bounty hunters (Gordon Mitchell, Klaus Kinski and Jose Torres) make it tough for him as he tries to prove his innocence. Directed by Guliano Carnimeo.Uncut, widescreen, but in German. ORDER SCALPS (1987) Insane Bruno Mattie western that is so brutal, it's hard to watch. When a pervert rancher massacres a trib of indians in order to possess one squaw, our little warrior joins forces with a widowed farmer in order to defeat the rancher and his possee. In English. ORDER SENTENZA DI MORTE (1967) A bandit hunts down four men responsible for the death of his brother, and disposes of them one by one in spectacular fashion. Nice, violent Western complete with cool, odd ball characters such as an insane Albino (Thomas Milian) and an ultra serious Gambling man who plays for life or death (Richard Conte). Directed with a steady hand by Mario Lanfranchi. In Italian. ORDER SEVEN WINCHESTERS FOR A MASSACRE (1967) Violent, hard line action directed by the masterful Enzio G. Casterrelli. A group of nuts who refuse to believe the South has lost the war decide to spread terror. A goverment plant infiltrates and busts up the party. An excellent shoot out in an India cemetery anticipates the Indiana Jones films. Letterboxed, in English, off a nice Greek master. ORDER SHANGO (1970) Anthony Steffen is back playing Shango, a Texas rainger who wants to simply spread the word that the Civil War is over. However, a nasty confederate Major does not believe the war is over and is willing to kill Shango just to shut him up. The usual over the top hatred is present, certainly in the Django tradition. In English with Dutch subtitles. ORDER SOME DOLLARS FOR DJANGO (1970) William Berger plays Django in this take off of the famous film. Django turns legit and takes a job as a sheriff in a very corrupt town, guess how the bad guys receive him?! Uncut, letterboxed, in English, and very brutal. ORDER A STRANGER IN PASO BRAVO (1969) Anthony Steffan is on hand as a pistelero who has put down his pitols in search of an answer regarding the death of his wife. Once he figures out the answer, you'll never see a man's pistol do more damage again! Very violent, unpleasent western, filled with the usual hate, including a man being burned alive. ORDER SUNDANCE CASSIDY AND BUTCH THE KID (1969) Italian rip-off of the Paul Newman classic, this flick was brought to this country by Edward L. Montoro and Film Ventures International, and given one of the most hysterically funny rip-off campaigns by Donn Davison. In reality the film was Alive or Perferably Dead, directed by Duccio Tessari and starring Giuliano Gemma and Nino Benvenuti. ORDER TASTE OF THE SAVAGE (1972) Violent, hateful Mexican Western involving a mother and son avenging the death of their husband/father. Even Cameron Mitchell has the balls to show his face. For nihlists only. ORDER TEX AND THE LORD OF THE DEEP (1984) Giuliano Gemma is back and better than ever in this super interesting Western/Sci-Fi hybrid that was made late in the game, but well worth the wait. Based on the comic book by Sergio Bonelli, Tex Willer (Giuliano Gemma) and his side kicks Kit Carson and Tiger Jack, find themselves involved in a number of strange murders were the victims bodies are unexplainably mummified. Very much like the Indiana Jones films of the time, only more gruesome. Directed by Duccio Tessari. ORDER THERE IS A NOOSE WAITING FOR YOU, TRINITY (1970) Klaus Kinski is a bounty hunter after a fellow called Clint, but known here as Trinity for the titles sake. Ennio Morricone provides his usual brilliant score. Directed by Alfonso Balcazar. Uncut, widescreen in English. ORDER THEY BELIEVED HE WAS A SAINT (1972) This is a fun western featuring Anthony Steffen and Fernando Sancho. Awaiting the release of an old goldminer from prison, a desperato must protect the old man from various other theives if he hopes to get a hold of the old farts money. More laughs that blasts, it still holds your attentio. Directed by Juan Bosch. In English with Dutch subtitles. ORDER THEY CALL HIM AMEN (1972) More comedy that bullet hit, and it features a screenplay co-written by Dario Argento, so that may perk your interests. Great bar fight scene that rivals the violence of a Three Stooges short. In English with Dutch subtitles. ORDER THREE BULLETS FOR A LONG GUN (1974) Now here's a weird twist for the Euro western, a German/South African production starring a fellow named Beau Brummle. Try's hard to be like the relationship films established by Leone, but comes off more like a weird comdy filled with Spaghetti type violence (whippings, brandings, you get the idea!) ORDER TIME OF VULTURES (1967 aka LAND OF THE BADMEN) This flick has George Hilton in the title role and a fantastic performance from the wonderful Frank Wolff as the villain "Black Tracy". Hilton plays Kitosch, who his mocked and abused by his ranch hand workmates, but its not long before he turns the tables and runs riot with the demented Wolff. Along the way there is revenge, robbery, betrayal and just about everything a good western should have. Directed by Nando Cicero. Letterboxed, in English. Nice... ORDER EL TUNCO MACLOVIO (1969) Here is a Mexican produced Western that ia as violent, stylistic and exciting as the Italian produced films. The opening has a beautifully shot and edited shootout that downs at least six guys in 90 seconds. How can you go wrong!? Directed by Alberto Mariscal. In Spanish ORDER TWICE A JUDAS (1968) Klaus Kinski stars in this tale of a rancher who becomes the victim of a ruthless swindler who killed his wife and brother and upsurped his estate. Suffering from amnesia due to a head wound, the ranchers memory returns slowly but surely, and he decides to violently reclaim what is his. ORDER VENGENCE (1967) Directed by horror master Antonio Margheriti, Richard Harrison stars as Joko, a gunman out to avenge his partner, who in turn was tortured and killed by four treacherous bandits pretending to be partners. With Margheriti being an expert in gothic, it's not surprising that this nasty western comes off much more like a horror flick. In English, full screen. ORDER VENGENCE TRAIL (1971) A young man who witnessed his family being slaughtered by Indians grows up to become a professional scalp hunter, slaughtering any Indians he can get his hands on. Imagine his embarrasment when he discovers that his kin was actually killed by the local, rich, whiteman! Can revenge be far behind? Loaded with bigoted hatred. With Klaus Kinski and Leonard Mann. Letterboxed, in English, gorgeous, what else did you expect... ORDER WHITE APACHE (1987) When a wagon train of fur hunters is ambushed by a horde of merciless outlaws, the only one left alive is a pregnant woman who gives birth to a child with the help of an Apache chief. When the child grows into a young man and is accidently forced into white society, the shit hits the fan. Another overtly violent and hate filled western from Bruno Mattie. In English. ORDER
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