'DUCCIO TESSARI PULLS A ROGER CORMAN' DOUBLE FEATURE!
A PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965) THE RETURN OF RINGO (1966, ARROW BLU-RAY... BOTH STREAMING ON TUBI)
Though lesser known than the "Django" and "Man Without a Name" series, Duccio Tessari's two official "Ringo" westerns were popular/good enough to spawn their own wave of imitators. Giuliano Gemma (billed in the credits as Montgomery Wood) makes an appealing leading man, both movies have narratives/supporting casts that build interesting cinematic worlds around Ringo (action/shootouts are secondary to complicated plots that take the entire narrative to unravel), and both feature generic Ennio Morricone scores/songs. When watched back-to-back these "Ringo" features make the most out of the tried-and-true practice by its Spanish/Italian producers of squeezing an extra movie from existing sets/contracted actors. Sometimes the fun is in the remixing.
"A Pistol for Ringo" finds our gunslinger-with-a-code in the jail of sheriff Ben (Jorge Martín) awaiting trial for his self-defense gunning down of four men. A daring bank robbery by a gang of Mexican bandits that crossed over from the border ends with a hostage standoff at the hacienda of a wealthy Boston colonel (Francisco Sanz) and his daughter Ruby (Lorella De Luca), who happens to be the sheriff's fiancé. Since the leader of the bandits (Fernando Sancho, hamming it up like a pro) is a bloodthirsty maniac and Army reinforcements are days away, Ben and the town's bosses decide to let Ringo infiltrate the ranch in exchange for a percentage of the bank loot. Once on the inside Ringo goes back-and-forth between Sancho and Ben trying to score a better deal for himself. Set on the eve and during Christmas Day, "APFR" has fun upending spaghetti genre tropes. The old colonel putting the moves on Sancho's squeeze (Nieves Navarro, whose Dolores is more than just a pretty face) is an interesting charm offensive, dynamite goes 'boom' in a picturesque escape canyon and an epic fist fight between Ringo and r@pey henchman Pedro (José Manuel Martín) is the pic's action highlight. Fun times. 3.85 SUN-REFLECTED MIRROR SIGNALS... AT 11PM?! (out of five).
Bearing no continuity with its predecessor and moving cast members around (though Fernando Sancho and Lorella De Luca were too good as main baddie and damsel in distress/love interest to not return in similar roles), "The Return of Ringo" benefits from Fernando Di Leo co-writing the script alongside Tessari. Decorated Union Capt. Montgomery 'Ringo' Brown (Gemma) returns after the Civil War and goes undercover as a Mexican peasant (in brown face make-up, which looks as troubling as it sounds) in his frontier hometown that's been taken over by the Fuentes clan. Attending his own funeral and getting the lay of the land from the terrorized locals (including series comic relief Pajarito, whose short stature and goofy face stick out), Ringo gets the crap beaten out of him (and his good shooting hand mauled, ala "Django") but holds up because of his woman's impending forced marriage.
It takes an hour of set-up before Ringo turns the tables on his torturers, but the final 36 minutes are the epic payoff western fans yearn for. If you can get past the not-insignificant hurdle of brown face being prominent for two thirds of its running time "TROR" makes a great double bill with its "Pistol" prequel. Both are worth seeing just to have fun with the cast switcheroo. 3.75 'MONTERREY' BRANDED GATLING GUNS (out of five).
An Eastwood western gap for me. Outstanding picture!!! Also yet another bingo-card sploitation flick as it covers: Westerns, War Films, Revenge, Siege, and more. It uses a pretty standard revenge-for-murdered family starting scene but then for most of the run time plays out like a roadtrip movie. Wales meets and befriends a diverse cast of characters. Lots of beautiful old west set pieces and locations. Great action pieces throughout. Loads of tension as Wales is improperly made a man most wanted and has countless run ins with those looking to snag the reward. Finally the writing is realllllly good with consistently quoteable scenes!
Wales: "You dont have to do this, boy" Bounty Hunter: "Mans gotta make a livin" Wales: "Dyin aint much of a livin, boy"
Jane Fonda is an educated woman who comes back to her frontier town to be a schoolteacher, but cruel fate and the corruption of men forces her to become an outlaw instead. The movie is nowhere near as serious as that sounds, though. It’s a lighthearted, frequently goofy western comedy with Lee Marvin hamming it up all over the place in a dual role and Fonda being indescribably, incomparably adorable as the leader of her little gang of doofuses. Fun times in the west!
'DUCCIO TESSARI PULLS A ROGER CORMAN' DOUBLE FEATURE!
ReplyDeleteA PISTOL FOR RINGO (1965)
THE RETURN OF RINGO (1966, ARROW BLU-RAY... BOTH STREAMING ON TUBI)
Though lesser known than the "Django" and "Man Without a Name" series, Duccio Tessari's two official "Ringo" westerns were popular/good enough to spawn their own wave of imitators. Giuliano Gemma (billed in the credits as Montgomery Wood) makes an appealing leading man, both movies have narratives/supporting casts that build interesting cinematic worlds around Ringo (action/shootouts are secondary to complicated plots that take the entire narrative to unravel), and both feature generic Ennio Morricone scores/songs. When watched back-to-back these "Ringo" features make the most out of the tried-and-true practice by its Spanish/Italian producers of squeezing an extra movie from existing sets/contracted actors. Sometimes the fun is in the remixing.
"A Pistol for Ringo" finds our gunslinger-with-a-code in the jail of sheriff Ben (Jorge Martín) awaiting trial for his self-defense gunning down of four men. A daring bank robbery by a gang of Mexican bandits that crossed over from the border ends with a hostage standoff at the hacienda of a wealthy Boston colonel (Francisco Sanz) and his daughter Ruby (Lorella De Luca), who happens to be the sheriff's fiancé. Since the leader of the bandits (Fernando Sancho, hamming it up like a pro) is a bloodthirsty maniac and Army reinforcements are days away, Ben and the town's bosses decide to let Ringo infiltrate the ranch in exchange for a percentage of the bank loot. Once on the inside Ringo goes back-and-forth between Sancho and Ben trying to score a better deal for himself. Set on the eve and during Christmas Day, "APFR" has fun upending spaghetti genre tropes. The old colonel putting the moves on Sancho's squeeze (Nieves Navarro, whose Dolores is more than just a pretty face) is an interesting charm offensive, dynamite goes 'boom' in a picturesque escape canyon and an epic fist fight between Ringo and r@pey henchman Pedro (José Manuel Martín) is the pic's action highlight. Fun times. 3.85 SUN-REFLECTED MIRROR SIGNALS... AT 11PM?! (out of five).
Bearing no continuity with its predecessor and moving cast members around (though Fernando Sancho and Lorella De Luca were too good as main baddie and damsel in distress/love interest to not return in similar roles), "The Return of Ringo" benefits from Fernando Di Leo co-writing the script alongside Tessari. Decorated Union Capt. Montgomery 'Ringo' Brown (Gemma) returns after the Civil War and goes undercover as a Mexican peasant (in brown face make-up, which looks as troubling as it sounds) in his frontier hometown that's been taken over by the Fuentes clan. Attending his own funeral and getting the lay of the land from the terrorized locals (including series comic relief Pajarito, whose short stature and goofy face stick out), Ringo gets the crap beaten out of him (and his good shooting hand mauled, ala "Django") but holds up because of his woman's impending forced marriage.
It takes an hour of set-up before Ringo turns the tables on his torturers, but the final 36 minutes are the epic payoff western fans yearn for. If you can get past the not-insignificant hurdle of brown face being prominent for two thirds of its running time "TROR" makes a great double bill with its "Pistol" prequel. Both are worth seeing just to have fun with the cast switcheroo. 3.75 'MONTERREY' BRANDED GATLING GUNS (out of five).
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
ReplyDeleteAn Eastwood western gap for me. Outstanding picture!!! Also yet another bingo-card sploitation flick as it covers: Westerns, War Films, Revenge, Siege, and more. It uses a pretty standard revenge-for-murdered family starting scene but then for most of the run time plays out like a roadtrip movie. Wales meets and befriends a diverse cast of characters. Lots of beautiful old west set pieces and locations. Great action pieces throughout. Loads of tension as Wales is improperly made a man most wanted and has countless run ins with those looking to snag the reward. Finally the writing is realllllly good with consistently quoteable scenes!
Wales: "You dont have to do this, boy"
Bounty Hunter: "Mans gotta make a livin"
Wales: "Dyin aint much of a livin, boy"
Cat Ballou (1965)
ReplyDeleteJane Fonda is an educated woman who comes back to her frontier town to be a schoolteacher, but cruel fate and the corruption of men forces her to become an outlaw instead. The movie is nowhere near as serious as that sounds, though. It’s a lighthearted, frequently goofy western comedy with Lee Marvin hamming it up all over the place in a dual role and Fonda being indescribably, incomparably adorable as the leader of her little gang of doofuses. Fun times in the west!