Ein Einsamer kehrt zurück

a very moving film, strongly influenced by Shane. the hero (played by George Martin) returns to his family 6 years after avenging his brother's murder. he agrees to put down his guns and become a rancher. meanwhile, some baddies (very bad) threaten his family and the local ranchers. Klaus Kinski, as a bounty hunter stalks the hero to claim a $5,000 reward. great performances and a powerful ending. a beautiful Morricone score. apparently, only available in DVD in a Best Entertainment German Pal 0 release (it played on my DVD player).

When his brother is killed in cold blood on his wedding night, "Trinity" (George Martin) leaves his own wife and children to track down and kill the man responsible. After establishing a reputation for being a deadly gunman, he then returns several years later to his family--only to discover that neither his wife "Norma Harrison" (Marina Malfatti) nor his son "Jimmy Harrison" (Augusto Pescarini) want him back in their lives. However, he eventually works out a deal with his wife to be allowed to work on the farm and sleep in the barn with the solemn promise not to pick up a gun ever again. Unfortunately, there is a price on his head and a notorious bounty hunter named "Scott" (Klaus Kinski) wants to collect it. Complicating matters even more are some hooligans in town who want to take over all of the nearby ranches and are only too willing to resort to murder and blackmail to get what they want. Now rather than reveal any more of the story and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this turned out to a pretty good "Spaghetti Western". I especially liked the performance of George Martin and the way the internal conflicts were displayed. In any case I rate this film as above average and recommend it to those who might enjoy a movie of this type.

This is the sequel to "Clint el solitario" (1967), again with George Martin and done by director Alfonso Balcázar (who also uses the synonym "George Martin" sometimes).

It's a mediocre italo-western with a typical american family-western storyline: Clint who killed the murderer of his brother in the first movie and therefore was imprisoned escapes from there and wants to get back to his family. His wife and the 2 children had to flee from their home and live on a farm in Texas now. She accepts Clint as a helping hand on the farm just if he lays down his weapons and swears off violence. But soon unscrupulous gangsters want to force them to sell their land and farm. And a headhunter is coming for Clint. So, here it goes...

If you don't like children as important characters of a movie because it often makes them childish, stay away. The acting is second stage professional, nothing special, everything mediocre... But this is more the american style of western, mainly because of the storyline. I can't stand heroes of a Western who don't have a gun on their belly all the time (better: out of their belly). And here you have this family- and farm-crap most of the time. And the wife demanding "No Violence! - or you cannot stay!" - Phhaaa!

Of course it's a trashy italo-version of it with a cheap and dirty setting, really evil and disgusting baddies, some bloody senseless killing and some good punch-fights. And there are some cool blood-red flashbacks to the first part. AND - YOU - HAVE: KLAUS KINSKI - of course he is great, the 100% uncaring headhunter, an invidious mien, but always above everything, long blond hair, smoking cigar permanently - cool as always! In this movie his character has quite a leading role. And I bought this DVD - which was released as "Ein Einsamer kehrt zurück" in Germany - because I love Italo-Western and Klaus Kinski. So it was o.k.! The atmosphere as you could expect it from an Italo-Western is nothing special, most of what you can describe as atmosphere is done by Klaus Kinski. Everything's mediocre - except Klaus Kinski of course!

I was wondering no one commented this movie as it has Klaus Kinski in a leading role and Ennio Morricone did the music.

Unless of course you want to see something like this. "Return Of Clint The Stranger" tries to combine these two sub-genres in one movie. Instead it actually combines problems that have plagued both genres and in the end what we get is a half-baked unpolished film mixed with the already over-used "American dream" type story.

"Return Of Clint The Stranger" is a story about a man named Clint whom after avenging the death of his brother and sister-in-law is forced to leave his family and go into hiding. He returns 5 five years later to them in the hopes that he can once again be accepted. Of course no story is complete without the villains and here we have them in the form of a greedy banker who is trying to drive Clint's family off their own lands.

I can almost guess what director Alfonso Balcázar was trying to do. He wanted to deviate from the established persona of the Italian western. He was trying to give this movie a bigger sense of depth, by adding more developed characters. The problem is, they are not particularly interesting in fact they are annoying clichés of the same characters you might see on any of the pre-Leone era American western. Clint himself is a very uncharismatic protagonist. We see that through his actions when he is trying to protect his family. At one point he tries bribing several of the henchman hired by the banker, but instead he gets hit in the head and they steal his money. He also unknowingly helps in causing the death of one his son's friends. And while some of these faults could have helped creating a more complex, filled with guilt character Balcázar fails to tap on them. Instead he continues to present the story in a monotonous way, Clint shows no visible regret of his actions and remains in the same passive mood. The entire story is mash of ideas that lack a proper realization. Klaus Kinsky's character for example could have been more strongly implemented into the plot instead of just throwing him this shallow role of a bounty hunter. The story's conclusion wasn't particularly memorable, the showdown between Clint and the banker's men wasn't all to great lacking the ingenuity of the better Italian westerns.

This movie can't brag about production values either. It's cheap, sleazy and while that could be forgiven in most westerns of the genre simply because they aim to entertain, here it helps to booster every other weak point in the film. This tried to be something more than pure entertainment. Tried and failed. I will pass on commenting on the acting simply because the version I watched was dubbed in Bulgarian. The music is a total lackluster, it lacks the punch of some of Morricone's earlier work and there is no doubt he did the score only for the money.

"Return Of Clint The Stranger" is not a good movie. It tries to add something new and fresh to the genre but it fails. It fails so much that it becomes hardly watchable on any standard.

Trinity is probably wondering why he bothered returning home after a five year stint running from the law. His son Jimmy has turned into a whiny bitch who looks like Jamie Oliver, his daughter Betty doesn't even know who he is, and worst of all, his wife tells him if he picks up a gun again, he can leave for good! C'mon, who else was going to avenge his brother's death?

And what kind of world is this where a man can have three square and a roof over his head, yet can't stand up to the usual evil banker who is using hired goons to force people to sign over their land? That just makes Trinity look like a pussy in front of his own kids! There's also the bounty hunter Klaus Kinski lurking about the place too, chewing on a cigar and eyeing up Trinity. What kind of weapon can you use against Klaus Kinski if you don't have a gun? A mirror?

There were two things bothering me throughout this not bad, not great Western. One was the barman. The IMDb lists him as Gustavo Re, but I'm not fooled. That's the eighties version of Luciano Pigozzi! No doubt he got bored on the set of some Bruno Mattei action flick, invented a time machine, hopped back to 1972, created the Gustavo Re persona, and lived a different timeline until 'Gustavo' 'died' in 1979. Prove me wrong!

The other was the voice actor who dubbed the character Betty. I've heard that annoying voice before (and in no way it resembles a child either). I'm still none the wiser for who this is or what film I've heard it before. It might even be from some eighties Italian horror film, which just raises more questions about this film questionable position in the space/time continuum. And the film stars a Spanish guy going by the name of George Martin, and yet it is directed by a different Spanish guy also pretending to be George Martin.

Otherwise: bad guys, gunfights, inner turmoil, gunfight, film ends. NEXT!