Blaue Bohnen für ein Halleluja

Gunslinger Rita Pavone is out to get all the gold in the west and destroy it, since gold is te root of all evil. She takes on various spaghetti western types, shoots them, and takes their gold to be guarded by Indians led by Gordon Mitchell, who wears full Cherokee head dress and carries a putter. She and Terence Hill fall in love. But when he tries to get away with the gold, he is condemned to death. Handed over to the Indians, they refuse to execute the sentence because he saved Miss Pavone's life. He becomes the local sheriff (displacing a willing Teddy Reno, Miss Pavone real life husband); like a character out of Gilbert & Sullivan, he can't kill anyone until he kills himself first.

Signorina Pavone has been a popular recording artist since the early 1960, which is why there are about five big production number sung by her in a 1960s pop style with elaborate backing singers and dancer in bright Technicolor. Apparently some more silliness was added after Hill became a comedy star in the Trinity movies. It's a thoroughly enjoyable piece of nonsense.

One of those Col. Tom Parker-ish vehicles for the rising pop musician, but even at their worst, the Elvis movies would manage a moment of wit that made them bearable. Little Rita nel West is a decidedly inferior offering in the category. All but one of the musical numbers terrible, with star Rita Pavone English-dubbed for dialogue, Italian lip-synched for the songs. The Monkees did this sort of thing better. Little Rita is one big labored joke, a clunky spoof of spaghetti Westerns so lacking in subtlety that it's easy to tell that the movie was made for an audience no older than twelve. Little Rita's appearance in defiance of her chronological age seems to have been expressly engineered for that demographic. Then after an hour of cinematic imbecility she sings "Tu Sei Come", a longing, melancholy ballad perfectly shot day for night, and with one song nearly redeems this silly movie.

The 'Spaghetti Western' fan's Bible, 'The Good, The Bad and The Violent' by Thomas Weisser really gives this movie a hard time, even voting it one of the Top 10 Worst Spaghetti Westerns Of All Time(No.9 to be exact)...but that's all a little too harsh. Compared to the Franco and Ciccio efforts, or any movie by Demofilo Fidani, or indeed any of the cheap, shoddy Sartana cash-ins; this is quite a solid little movie.

And it's good for a laugh.

Weisser and his cohorts even admit that the sequences in the movie featuring Django are quite droll. As are the scenes with Johnny Ringo and Black Star(called Black 'Stand' in the subtitles of the version I watched). Indeed, the scenes which parody the Spaghetti Western cliches are extremely stylish and very well done.

The song and dance numbers, often cut from American prints, are quite bizarre and I feel that this movie would be better served on a double-bill with 'Head', the Monkees movie.

A word of warning though, if you see this movie on the Japanese DVD then you'd be as well turning the English Subtitles OFF if you want to follow the plot as they make no sense whatsoever...especially in the lyrics to the songs. Or keep them on and get an extra few laughs for your money.

All in all I enjoyed this fun movie and it's certainly an alternative to, say, the vile misogyny of something like Cut-Throats Nine.

Little Rita (Rita Pavone) is a female gunfighter who travels to the Far West , she has a glorious dream , to get the best world , that's why she is chasing bandits . Little Rita believes that all the badness in the world comes from the gold rush . Pavone takes the valuable gold from them and hides it in a cave and assisted by Sitting Buffalo she has decided to destroy it and to blow it up by dynamite . In her mission she is helped by the Indian Chief Sitting Buffalo (Gordon Mitchell) and by her colleague John Fitzgerald Francis (Lucio Dalla) . All of them undertake several adventures and risks . Along the way Little Rita takes on the speedest gunslingers as Ringo (the muscle man Kirk Morris) , Django (Natale) and others as Jesse James (Remo De Angelis , ordinary master of arms) and Zorro (Romano Puppo , habitual Pasta secondary) . Rita meets a reformed Pistolero called Black Star (Terence Hill)and she decides to share his way of life . Later on , Rita is taken prisoner by the Mexican nasty Sancho (Fernando Sancho) and his ominous henchmen who try to rob her precious gold . The draw-fast Black Star seems determined to help her , he then rescues her , but things go awry .

The film is a Rita Pavone recital , as she dances , sings , stooges , make acrobatics , tongue twister and put faces and grimaces . This ¨Little Rita¨ film blends the common scenarios , as invincible and tough antiheroes , difficult and fast showdowns with numerous deceases , impulsive and quick zooms as well as amazing musical numbers . Lots of gags and sketches , some of them funny but in the movie lacks a real freshness . Parody movie with a myriad of silly and amusing gags , laughs , comedy with tongue in-cheek and it has its good moments here and there . This is a disconcerting and fun farce with the famous singer and it displays too much fights , punches , shootouts and hilarious as well as spectacular musical numbers , such as : dancing at the Indian settlement , the Pecos town choreography and saloon dances . This ¨Rita in the West¨ belongs to a sub-genre , the Musical spaghetti western along with ¨Una Donna Per Ringo¨ by Rafael Romero Marchent with Sean Flynn , Pili and Mili and ¨Per un Pugno Di Canzoni¨(66) by Jose Luis Merino with Gustavo Rojo and Renzo Palmer . Picture is a Rita Pavone vehicle , as she plays as Little Rita who has a dream : she dreams to avoid the evil that emerges from human ambition and attempts to get a better world and as she schemes to blow up one day all the gold she can put her hands on and get rid of the root of all greed : money . That's why she confronts outlaws as ¨Ringo/Kirk Morris¨ but this role has nothing to do with Giuliano Gemma/Ringo , but he bears a remarkable resemblance to ¨Clint Eastwood/Man without name , including his Poncho ; besides , she contends Django who is dragging his coffin , adding his known machine gun and he subsequently attacks Rita in the customary cemetery full of crosses similarly to Sergio Corbucci's Django . This is an attractive flick which many consider her best musical comedy . As Rita is an nice singer , authentic comedian and real Farceur . If you like Pavone's crazy interpretation , you will most definitely enjoy this one .

Cinematography by Enzo Barboni or E. B. Clucher (author of ¨Trinity series¨ with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer) is well made . It contains a catching , original musical score by Robby Poitevin and Alessandroni and enjoyable songs sung by Rita Pavone and Lucio Dalla . The motion picture titled ¨Little Rita nel West" , "Crazy Westerners" , "Little Rita" (USA title) or "Locuras En El Oeste" was professionally directed by Ferdinando Baldi , under pseudonym , Freddy Baldwin . Ferdinando was a craftsman who directed all kind genres but especially Western such as "Carambola's Philosophy : In the Right Pocket" , "Blindman" , ¨Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria" or "Forgotten Pistolero" , ¨"Django Sees Red" , ¨Rita in the West¨ and ¨Adios Texas¨ at his best . The pic will appeal to Rita Pavone , Terence Hill fans and Spaghetti Western buffs . Rating : Nice and acceptable. Well worth seeing .

If you're like me, you found this movie researching other westerns to watch with Terence Hill in the cast. If you've seen a lot of westerns, then this one from 1967 is a treat, not to be taken seriously. It's a parody (note the intentionally blue-eyed Indian chief). Elvis Presley was doing westerns around the same time, so I guess it was decided to do one to showcase an Italian female rock star. The song-and-dance production numbers are first rate with large numbers of dancers and extras and choreography. Sometimes the audio sounds mono on the quick-paced songs (in Italian), that's my only complaint. I've seen things in this western I've never seen in other westerns. There's even some cartoon animation. Since it is a western, there is some shooting of guns and death (sometimes portrayed with humor), some physical fighting, but no foul language or nudity and it is suitable for the entire family to sit down and watch in my opinion. The filmmakers wanted to ensure that teenage fans of Rita Pavone could see it so they kept it clean.