Spaghetti Westerns by Howard Hughes Read Free Book Online

in John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) was named the Ringo Kid. For his Ringo, Tessari cast up-and-coming leading man Giuliano Gemma.
    Ringo is a far cry from Eastwood’s ambivalent stranger. He is referred to throughout the film by the nickname Angel Face and he resembles conventional Hollywood heroes. He has principles, doesn’t drink alcohol (preferring milk), but is still outside the law – he begins the film languishing in jail for gunning down four vengeful brothers (in self-defence, of course).
    A Pistol for Ringo is a melding of the familiar and the groundbreaking. Ringo, the sheriff and Miss Ruby are very much Hollywood characters. The sheriff (uniquely for Spaghettis) is honest and moral; generally, we would find him in league with the bandits or too lethargic to intervene. Miss Ruby, the sheriff’s pretty fiancée (played by Tessari’s wife, Lorella De Luca) is also a stereotype, gradually falling for Ringo. Tessari’s trick is to have these ‘types’ behave in unexpected ways, upsetting the audience’s expectations of traditional Westerns. The Mexican villains are more recognisably Italian in origin. Fernando Sancho’s portrayal of a swaggering, moustachioed bandido is a true archetype for the Spaghettis that followed and guaranteed him work for years to come, though he was constantly typecast. By contrast, Sancho’s señorita Dolores (Nieves Navarro), a rough-and-ready bandida , changes during her stay at the hacienda and is finally civilised by the bourgeois ranch owner. The scruffy bandits dining in luxury make for some great comic situations.
    The film is unusual in the Spaghetti-Western canon as it is set within a definite time period (the days leading up to Christmas), with the final escape attempt taking place on Christmas Day. A religious subtext even has Ringo waking up in a stable on Christmas Morning. The film is tightly plotted and surprisingly low on violence (barring the executions of the hostages), though it was still trimmed for foreign release – including a humorous scene where the bandits join in with the family carol singing. Ennio Morricone’s score is inventive (even incorporating themes based on ‘Silent Night’), whilst still owing something to its Hollywood model. This is further echoed in the opening ballad ‘Angel Face’ sung by Maurizio Graf – ‘Ringo had an angel face, but whenever Ringo loved, Ringo fought.’
    The film was unexpectedly successful in America in 1966 (where its release predated the arrival of the ‘Dollars’ films in 1967), probably because audiences appreciated Tessari’s knowing exploitation of the genre’s conventions. Plus it also looked like one of the more imaginative American B-Westerns of the fifties, because of a youthful, appealing cast – Italian Gemma hid behind the hip pseudonym Montgomery Wood.
The Verdict
     
    An excellent, well-thought-out film that spawned several in-name-only sequels. Search out the only official follow-up – Tessari’s own aptly titled The Return of Ringo (1965).
For a Few Dollars More (1965) 
     
    Directed by : Sergio Leone
    Music by : Ennio Morricone
    Cast : Clint Eastwood (Manco), Lee Van Cleef (Colonel Douglas Mortimer), Gian Maria Volonte (El Indio), Klaus Kinski (Wild the Hunchback)
125 minutes
     

Story
     
    In the American South-west, El Indio, a notorious Mexican bandit, is sprung from the Territorial Prison by his gang. With Indio on the loose, the reward for his capture – dead or alive – reaches $10,000, and two gringo bounty hunters decide to track him down. One is an ex-Confederate colonel named Douglas Mortimer, while the other is Manco, a poncho-clad loner. Individually, the pair figure out that Indio will try to rob the most impregnable vault in the territory at El Paso, and arrive there to stake out the bank. Realising that they’re after the same prey, the two finally team up and, as part of their plan, Manco infiltrates the bandit gang. But their scheme backfires and, during the