The Spaghetti Western thread

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

Thanks for the input, everybody.
Just bought it from Franco Cleef.

I hope that song isn't sung throughout the entire movie.
Unlike collecting Franco films, one can always rely on a spaghetti western to be reasonably coherent, a talkie, in color and in focus.

I'm looking for interesting and unusual stories on the plausible side of the imagination in spaghetti westerns. Even when the storytelling falters the Italian craftsmanship on display is impressive.

[Zane C. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Zane C.]

Watched DJANGO VS. SARTANA last night. It was ok, but nothing special, pretty by the numbers. The print from the Mill Creek set was pretty good, though.

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

Is Franco Cleef no longer doing projects? I haven't emailed him in a year or so. I sure hope not - he did good work, and was a nice guy to boot.

I'm corresponding with him now. He still makes his DVD-R's available but he hasn't said if he's doing new projects.

MASSACRE TIME (I much prefer that title to THE BRUTE AND THE BEAST) has an extended whipping scene, that while not explicit like he would get later, shows Fulci's fascination with suffering early on. That said, it's a much more traditional western than his later FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE and SILVER SADDLE. I also think it's his best western. It has a solid story, wonderful score, and the ending has some amazingly poetic imagery - it's a finale that gives me goosebumps even after multiple viewings...

I look forward to watching it. AIP released it in theaters in 1969 as THE BRUTE AND THE BEAST. I tried to upload the poster for you but the system wouldn't let me.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

How is the quality of THE BRUTE & THE BEAST? I have a Japanese dvd of it, but I think it's letterboxed. Someone gave me it and a Sartana movie (also a Japanese dvd) because he had some extra copies around, but I just haven't dug in yet.

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

The Wild East disc of B&B is very nice looking. I actually think it just edges out the Italian dvd which was the best I had seen this film look. The WE dvd is a tad brighter and sharper. I was glad to hear the AIP english dub, it's a better one than the international one (which is also included), but the AIP dub was damaged beyond repair in a few spots so once in a while it switches to the international one very briefly...not terribly distracting, and in fact if you haven't seen the film before you might not notice but I did.

The second part of an ongoing George Hilton interview is there, this segment isn't as good as the first as he spends half the short runtime recounting the plot of A BULLET FOR SANDOVAL. There's also an audio interview with Fulci that is interesting - he bad mouthes Franco Nero for one thing!

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

Oh, and BU recently put out A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL out on blu, it is an excellent, highly political SW.

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

Oh, and BU recently put out A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL out on blu, it is an excellent, highly political SW.

And it includes that awesome feature length documentary on Volonte.

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

It's been out for a while but I just recently picked up the 2 disc dvd of THE STRANGER RETURNS from Colosseo Film. It looks amazing! Blows the Alfa boot and my TCM recording away. It has 2 versions of the film: US release at 1.67:1 16:9 and also a 1.37:1 4:3. Only looked at the first so far and it really does look spectacular. Has a Tony Anthony commentary too. I hadn't watched the film in years, this is imo the best of the 3 stranger films. I love the recurring bit where he spends all this time rolling a cigarette only to take one drag and throw it away in disgust that he can't roll a decent smoke, haha. Cipriani really nailed the soundtrack too, it's one of my favorite sw scores.

This looks like a promising company, I have their 2 disc release of EXECUTION SQUAD as well, one of my favorite poliziotteschi. Anyone know what else they have released?

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

And it includes that awesome feature length documentary on Volonte.

Haven't watched that yet, but will do so soon!

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

To say I'm disappointed in the Triple-X edition of THE PRICE OF POWER and the German edition of THE BOUNTY KILLER is putting it mildly. At least the latter is anamorphic. Both DVDs are slightly blurred, smudgy transfers. Analog quality at best. I'm annoyed with those clowns at the spaghetti western forum for talking me into buying these inferior DVDs. Good money down the drain that I could have spent on better-quality transfers.

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

To say I'm disappointed in the Triple-X edition of THE PRICE OF POWER and the German edition of THE BOUNTY KILLER is putting it mildly. At least the latter is anamorphic. Both DVDs are slightly blurred, smudgy transfers. Analog quality at best. I'm annoyed with those clowns at the spaghetti western forum for talking me into buying these inferior DVDs. Good money down the drain that I could have spent on better-quality transfers.

I think the German release of THE BOUNTY KILLER is the best release available, which is a shame because it's quite a good film and deserves better.

The Triple X discs frustrate me due to the awful 5.1 mixes that they all seem to carry. I've only got a handful of their discs (MY NAME IS PECOS, SOME DOLLARS FOR DJANGO and another - ADIOS GRINGO or WANTED, I can't remember) but they all contain poorly-produced 5.1 mixes.

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

I got an email from Wild East today, confirming their next release is a Craig Hill double feature - THE DIRTY 15/THE CROWS WILL DIG YOUR GRAVE. The former is also known as FIFTEEN SCAFFOLDS FOR A KILLER, I have seen that and it's a good one. Will be nice to get an improved print. Haven't seen the latter and am looking forward to it. Due in about a month - Sept. 3.

https://www.wildeast.net/the-dirty-1...312-p-191.html

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

My Name Is Nobody is getting a Blu-ray release in France 9/18/12.



It's on Blu-ray in Italy but with no English option. Apparantly this French version will have English audio.

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

I recently saw a pretty offbeat sw, KILL THE POKER PLAYER. It's about a mystery killer bumping people off with poisonous snakes. Robert Woods is an insurance investigator looking for a bank robber who's eliminating his confederates. With the mystery angle, this one plays like a giallo at times. Not a lot of action but it's quirky enough to be interesting. Has a good cast too, including Susan Scott, Frank Brana, and Ernesto Colli (the squirrelly looking guy who gets his head crushed by a car in TORSO). I knew it was going to be a weird one when Carlo Savina's main theme was a lounge piece borrowed from an earlier score - it also has a chase on horses near the end scored by a jazzy number, I laughed out loud at that. Not a great sw but well worth a look for a diehard.

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

I just watched the uncut widescreen Tepepa with fansubs. The last time I saw it was a life time ago, in a 42nd street grindhouse with four or five other movies. Pay $2 at 11 am and stay all day. Jeez the memories. Next door was a novelty store where you could buy false drivers licenses and false social security cards. Excellent film even if it weren't a spaghetti western although Milian's schtick can become tiresome after awhile. Nice to see Orson Welles play a full role. He should have directed it.

"Orson Welles was a genius and people should cross themselves when they speak his name." -- Marlene Dietrich.