Rocco - der Einzelgänger von Alamo

'Ballata per un Pistolero' is a so-so spaghetti western, with a trifle story, good scenes of shootings and a good photography background and competent music score.

This movie was released in DVD here in Brazil and it takes my special attention for two reasons: first of all, I'm a great addict of spaghetti western (in fact, I'm writing a book about movies, actors and directors of this genre) and second because 'Ballata per un Pistolero' has not in the cast none of the actors who were always around, like Giulianno Gemma, Franco Nero, George Hilton or Anthony Steffen.

The movie is a standard example of these kind of movies. In the main role we find an actor of old Yugoslavia (here under the name 'Anthony Guidra') who made a good work as an aging gunman in a hunt against two criminals. By his side goes a young bounty hunter (played by Angelo Infanti, in an infamous wooden performance) and the ending will bring the revelation of a secret between these two different men.

Not a great movie, to be sure. I give this a 5 (five) out of 10 (ten). But the movie is somewhat amusing and well done, especially if you are a spaghetti western enthusiastic.

A so-so Ravioli Western that packs duels , go riding , emotion , shoot'em up , fist-fight , intrigue , nastier villains and some familiar faces who include Anthony Ghidra, Anthony Freeman or Mario Novelli, and Angelo Infanti . We open with a hellacious , frightful bandit, who brutally kills riders in a stagecoach for money. Then we cut to a dreadful bounty killer (Angelo Infanti) following an older rough and gritty gunman (Antony Ghidra) and subsequently , confronting two odious, nauseating killer brothers : the hardcore villains El Bedoja (Alfio Caltabiano) and Chiuchi (Mario Novelli) . Both of whom decide to rob a bank together. But the outlaws begin by robbing a stagecoach before going on to rob a bank .Then , they are relentlessly pursued the clad-in-black bounty killer (Angelo Infanti) who collects the money and a righteous ex-sheriff (Anthony Ghidra) who doesn't rest and shows off even more skill in using his gun on his ghastly purports . After robbing the bank and needlessly shooting several townsfolk , the foul cutthroats hide out in a mine, taking beautiful Maruja (Monica Teuber) as a hostage. Asan attractive girl gets kidnapped , one gets captured and then relies on the others to save . Although Rocco and Nigros follow different paths , they must work together to beat a repulsive adversary and eventually unite forces which , of course , leads up to a well staged crossfire and a predictable plot twist . Later on , they hire Explotion (Dante Maggio) for the dynamite. Because Rocco is out of ammunition, he impales one of the gunslingers with a wooden stake. After that , a second showdown plays out in a farm.

This is another standard, very ordinary Spaghetti Western with typical ingredients and with plenty of clichés . A simple and plain plot about the classic issue : the merciless confrontation between two expert shooters agains their vile nemesis : two nauseous , disgusting brothers , and at the same time both of whom seeking for vengeance , but eventually they join forces . Acceptable action sequences with rousing crossfire and spectacularly bloody shootouts and there is a surprising twist at the final. ¨Ballad of a Gunman" there is plenty of habitual Spaghetti Western ingredients to be had here, including violence , despicable antiheroes and hideous , sickening vendettas . The production values are extremely cheap with many of the locations looking nothing more than poor sets . However, the crossfire towards the end in a collapsing mine is top-notch . It is a moving western with breathtaking showdown between the stoic starring Anthony Ghidra and his loathsome, revolting enemies : Tano Cimarosa and Mario Novelli . An average Spaghetti Western about a run-of-the-mill plot , as avaricious and corrupt gunfighters , starring Angelo Infanti/Nigros who attempts to get the money, while Anthony Ghidra/Rocco justice, and the two compete with each other to track down two repugnant, horrendous villain brothers , Chiuchi : Antony Freeman and El Bedoja : Caltabiano. This is a horrid story about ambition and greed , a dark and sinister subject one might expect from a typical Spaghetti , being more a story of ambitious people than about avenger gunslingers seeking revenge . The story is one of those in which everyone double crosses one another in the search for money , as a number of betrayals while attempting to take the stash .Stars Anthony Ghidra as an aging gunman who has a personal agenda against the renown bandits in a merciless hunt against two repellent criminals . Antony Ghidra is really fine and he easily steals the screen away from the cocky and arrogant young bounty hunter played by Angelo Infanti . The Servian Dragomir Bojanic-Gidra starred various Spaghetti Westerns being a main figure in the genre , such as : ¨A hole in the forehead¨ , ¨Cjamango: The Revenger¨ , ¨The last killer¨, ¨Tequila Joe¨ and ¨Ramon the Mexican¨ . While Mario Novelli is the highlight of the film by performing a complete evil and abominable jackass , that's why he rapes and hit women, he even shoots defenseles people and an innocent dog.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Alfio Caltabiano , though it has flaws , gaps and failures . However , Alfio working hard to give us some interesting camera angles to spice things up. Alfio was a fine actor usually playing secondary roles and he often played forming a nice couple along with Lou Castel . And he shoot six films : ¨Cosi sia¨ , ¨Una spada per Brando¨ , ¨They still called Amen¨ , ¨Bootleggers¨, ¨Comandamenti per un gangster¨ and this ¨Ballata per un pistolero¨(1967). Ballata per un pistolero rating : 5.5/10 . It may be nothing new for enthusiasts of the genre but it has enough violence and anti-hero antics to keep fans interested throughout it's running time.

Ballata per un pistolero (1967), which I saw under the title Pistoleros, at first appears to be a rather unremarkable if decently executed Western alla'italiana. As is the case with most of this genre, and perhaps any genre, this film is largely a rehearsal of narrative elements form earlier films that proved resonant with audiences. Here, story elements from Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, especially For A Few Dollars More (1965), are the sources for most the entire film. However, while director/screenwriter/actor Alfio Catalbiano failed to create much emotional resonance with this movie, his movie provides an interesting and surprisingly self-consciousness commentary on the genre and Leone's films in particular which makes this movie of real interest for fans of the genre.

Catalbiano was not a very prolific director and this was his first effort, which must explain the self-conscious imitation of Leone that is evident through the movie. This awareness of the conventions and phases of the western was nothing new in the WAI in and of itself. The early examples all have a strangely surreal feel to them, they are familiar but something is off in the prominence of certain features or their arrangements. Leone, Tessari, and a few others successfully used this awareness in their ironic re-arrangements. Were the focus had previously been on the American western, in Catalbiano's case the focus seems to have turned to the WAI itself. This would explain the increasing amount of slapstick as well as the outright commentary on the world created in other films of the time. Along with films like Vado... l'ammazzo e torno (1967) this may mark a turning point from the sincerity (if ironic style) of the best WAI to the often unwatchable slapstick westerns that came to dominate the genre after Lo chiamavano Trinità (1970).

Most of the story is a based on For A few Dollars More, with an older "mentor" character Rocco (Anthony Ghidra) competing/cooperating with a younger man Blackie (Angelo Infanti). Costume and style are switched, with the younger man in black with a Colonel Mortimer "look" while the older man is closer to the "Man with no name." Catalbiano himself plays an Indio/Ramon Rojo-type character complete with rifle and amoral detachment. Numerous other elements, from the final showdown to the Allentown bank robbery, all have a suspicious similarity to sequences in FAFDM. The comic barroom brawl in the middle of the movie and the funny prospector "Explosion" all point to other sources, however, and are a little out of step with the rest of the plot. However, there is a character who bears a little resemblance to the Clint Eastwood of the Dollars films who is repeatedly beaten and out-shot in what had to have been a deliberate in-joke.

Catalbiano made good use of arches, depth, and lighting in a manner which betrays his reliance on Leone's style. The first sequences in the film also have the flowing camera movements associated with Leone and they help make what might have been an otherwise dull opening into something a little more interesting.

The most interesting aspect to the film, and one that should have been more fully developed by Catalbiano, was the attitude of the older man, Rocco, to the younger bounty hunter, Blackie. It evolves from disgust to curiosity to concern. Both are "traveling the same road" and this correspondence has the same strange fated, quasi-religious character of other WAI such as Requiescant (1967) where it was used to great satirical effect. The resolution of this element to the relationship is something of a rejection of the surreal comic cynicism of Leone's first two westerns. This is further emphasized by the continued focus on the 'collateral damage" of the violence in the film, as at the ranch or the strange street funeral service that Rocco watches. In fact, there was a great deal of concern with the bystanders in Leone's westerns, especially the later ones, but Catalbiano's focus is much more explicit and has to be understood as a reaction to perceptions of the genre. Blackie's first gunfight recalls Mortimer's in FAFDM, but the ending is very different, very cynical, and funny in light of the earlier film.

Overall, the Ballata per un pistolero is not very emotionally involving, but it has several sequences which are definitely pop-western "cool." Rocco's first gunfight, followed by his use of a piano as a flight of stairs, is unexpected and fun. The usual WAI elements are in place, complete with the hidden symmetries and Gothic family western distortions which are an important, if not often noticed, element of the genre. In particular, the relationships between father/son and brother/brother recurs again and again in these movies. Finally, the movie follows the same liminal plot as most WAI with the near-death and resurrection of the main character Rocco. As in many WAI, this involves a literal crucifixion of Rocco on a bizarre spinning target which the outlaws use for guns, knives and harpoons (In a mine?). For genre fans, this film is recommended. Other viewers would probably be not be interested.

Top spaghetti western list http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849907

Average SWs http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849889

For completists only (bottom of the barrel) http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849890

Rocco wants to kill Chiuchi and El Bedoja, two brothers who decided to rob a bank together. On his side but not really with him is Nigros, a bounty-hunter who just kills for living. The story consists of cliched plot devices and is spiced with a lot of violence. The bad guys don't kill Rocco when they have the opportunity and viceversa. The story is sometimes disjointed, the acting is regular at best and there is no remarkable score. Film is somewhat entertaining overall, though.

3 / 10.