The Spaghetti Western thread

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I'd love to see WE release more hard-to-get-hold-of SWs. A release of DUEL IN THE ECLIPSE would be most welcome, for example. For the past couple of years, most of their releases have been of films I already own in fairly good editions, thus with very little need for me to upgrade or double dip (eg, DEATH RIDES A HORSE). The Kinski double bill has been the standout of WE's more recent releases.

Absolutely Paul, DUEL IN THE ECLIPSE* would be a great one for WE to release (as would TWO FACES OF THE DOLLAR to name another). Some suspect (and there's fairly good reason for doing so) that they release stuff that is sourced from import dvds and add an English track. I like to support them, since these days they are basically the only company doing region 1 spaghetti westerns. The NEST OF VIPERS/TAILS YOU LOSE disc was another better recent one.

* -- I have this one thanks to a trade with you years ago.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

An interesting article about what all was involved in the upcoming Grindhouse Blu-ray release of The Big Gundown here.

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

Grindhouse's THE BIG GUNDOWN Blu-ray is available for pre-order at amazon. It is limited to 3000 copies, so get your pre-order in now.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Done.

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

Blue Underground is releasing COMPANEROS on Blu-ray in the spring of 2014

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Excellent. Nice to see a few more SW's getting some love on Blu.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

HANGING FOR DJANGO BD in stock at Diabolik. DVD is too.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Saw this linked at the SWDB forum, HANGING FOR DJANGO at dvd beaver. Not good news, seems like a major disappointment. I'll see for myself in the next few days as I ordered it.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Long Live Your Death AKA Don't Turn the Other Cheek (1971)

An Amazon Exclusive.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...&pf_rd_i=typ01

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Long Live Your Death AKA Don't Turn the Other Cheek (1971)

An Amazon Exclusive.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...&pf_rd_i=typ01

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Wild East released that several years ago. Despite the two big gun leads and some other fine spaghetti western characters like Eduardo Fajardo and Horst Janson, I was fairly underwhelmed with this one. Lighthearted film that too often steps into full-on comedy territory. Fairly fast paced and lots of action though, so it's not completely without worth.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Spaghetti western buffs will be interested to know that the English dub of MAN OF THE EAST (E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico, 1972) is widescreen, anamorphic, and seemingly uncut at 125 minutes and 2 seconds. I don't know how the transfer compares to the Koch Media DVD in Germany, but it looks fine, about the same as your average Wild East DVD. I think everyone would be pleased to see it in this quality and in NTSC.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

I would like to know if John Sturges really directed THE VALDEZ HORSES aka CHINO (1973). John Sturges is the only director credited although imdb and other sources credit one Duilio Coletti as the director or co-director. I wonder who is responsible for what. Some posters credit "a Dino DeLaurentiis film" while others credit "a Dino DeLaurentiis production of a John Sturges film." Sturges had previously directed Charles Bronson in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) and THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963).

It was filmed under the title VALDEZ THE HALF BREED in Almeria, Spain and is clearly an Italian / Spanish production, although it plays out like an American film. There is some action, but not enough to call it an action film.

Bronson plays Chino Valdez a half-breed who lives in isolation because he is unwelcome on either the Indian reservation or the American town, where he'd like to be welcomed. Valdez breeds and trains horses to sell to Anglos. One day a homeless Anglo boy (Vincent Van Patten) shows up looking for work and shelter. He reminds Valdez of himself when he was young, and Valdez becomes his reluctant mentor. At the same time a wealthy Anglo rancher stops by to buy horses accompanied by his spoiled sister (Jill Ireland). She teases Valdez out of his shell, piques his emotions and the two embark on a doomed affair. The brother does not approve, and vows to break them up and destroy Valdez. In the end Valdez is faced with no good choices which he must somehow make the boy understand, although he does not understand it himself. VALDEZ THE HALF-BREED is an austere character-driven drama about class, racism, defeat and unrequited love in the old West. The themes are the antithesis of a spaghetti western, which makes me think John Sturges may have been the guiding hand. But there are some incredibly sloppy set-ups and illogical decisions made that Sturges could not be responsible for.




The film never found an audience, at least not in the USA where it was alternatively titled CHINO and then VALDEZ HORSES. It popped up now and again on the bottom half of double-features in the mid-1970s which is how I first saw it. Even with the missteps, I rate it as one of Bronson's best performances and Sturges' best western after HOUR OF THE GUN (1967). The film proliferates in cheap public domain editions that are cut and muddy-looking. Studio Canal / Optimum in the U.K. released the only clean, sharp transfer on DVD that I know of. It appears to be uncut, open-matte, and the 4% PAL speed-up isn't too severe.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...F8&me=&seller=

Anyone seen this film?

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I haven't seen THE VALDEZ HORSES in almost 25 years, Richard, but I remember it vividly. It always felt very 'American' in style, so I never doubted Sturges' involvement, but there's a slightly 'rushed' quality to the whole production, I always felt. I enjoyed it quite a bit and should really pick up the UK DVD as it's quite cheap and readily-available, plus I've heard good things about it (as compared with previous DVD release of the title).

According to an interview with Elmore Leonard, when the movie was in postproduction Sturges asked Leonard to write three extra scenes to give the film more weight: Leonard says, 'I watched it on a Moviola, and I wrote a love scene and a gunfight, and a knife fight. And stuck those in' - and passed them on to De Laurentiis. 'The Sturges picture had a very mixed cast. (The new scenes) just explain the background. How Charles Bronson happened to be married to his girl or have a girlfriend who has an English accent. You know, they have to go through this whole routine of back-story to point out these things. It's a waste of time. You don't need back-stories. So that was it'. In the same interview, Leonard talks at length about Sturges' JOE KIDD. It's a good interview. It's in the book linked to below:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Cid8sExtrZgC&dq

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

I'll read that. I understand his point about not needing backstories in narrative and I agree with him, but I would point out that actors need backstories to motivate themselves. Of course the backstory can be arrived at off-camera and not be explained in the film, so that when camera rolls it's present in the performance. Acting is an emotional process, not an intellectual one. On another point, VALDEZ HORSES may be an example of how good material can be undermined by a rushed schedule. Taking the time to do things right makes all the difference.