Ringo - Such Dir einen Platz zum Sterben

Giulio Carinomeo (aka Anthony Ascott) was not really in the class of great Italian directors like Sergio Leone or Sergio Corbucci, but he was a solid Spaghetti Western director, and this is one of his better efforts. A pair of husband-and-wife American adventurers discover a vein of gold in the badlands of Mexico controlled by a notorious Mexican bandit named "Chato". They are besieged by bandits and the husband is crippled and trapped by a rock slide, so his wife (Pascale Petit) has to go for help to the rough-and-tumble nearby town of "Nido de Aguila" ("Eagle's Nest")where most of the surly locals are much more interested in trying to rape the pretty "gringa" than in helping her rescue her husband. She does meet a seemingly amoral American mercenary (Jeffrey Hunter), who agrees to help her out for a share of the gold, and the latter puts together a gang of treacherous Mexican cutthroats (as well as false gringo preacher)to accompany them. The pair are in jeopardy then not only from "Chato's" band, but from their own vicious gang.

There is a real aura of menace hanging over this movie as pretty much all these rough men are after "the gold . . .and the woman" in that order. (Ironically, these Mexican borderlands are still pretty much ruled by bandits, but it's drugs rather than gold or gringas that they fight over these days). There's a surprising amount of female nudity here for this genre (although not much by the standards of later Italian genre films). The woman are pretty much treated like chattel, but it isn't so much Petit's gringa that gets freely passed around as a guitar-playing Mexican prostitute (former Miss Italy Daniela Giordano with a spray-on tan). The Old West was not portrayed with this much raw savagery in any of the American Westerns and really only a few of the Italian ones like "Cutthroat Nine" or "Four for the Apocalypse".

The real weak link here is probably Jeffrey Hunter as the only halfway decent guy around. He looks the part of a mercenary, but he just isn't very compelling. There were any number of Italian or expatriate American actors who could have played this role better. The end also doesn't really live up to the sense of menace created in the early going, and exploitative tag-line, "They came for the gold and her body. . . they didn't get the gold" is pretty inaccurate (for better or worse) as another reviewer mentioned. Still, this is a solidly entertaining pasta oater

Though somewhat standard "gang hunts for gold" spaghetti western fare, it is well-directed and has solid performances. The score is also well-done, one of the better non-Morricone ones I've heard. Fast-paced with several nice action scenes, with a couple of great, cold-blooded sudden shootings. The VCI DVD is ok, letterboxed but the transfer is soft and rather noisy throughout, with a lot of grain in dark scenes. The mono sound, though, is rich and well-recorded. The film is definitely worth a look for anyone looking for an entertaining, obscure western.

Released in 1968-69, but not in the USA until 1971, "Find a Place to Die" is a Spaghetti Western starring Jeffrey Hunter as a dishonored ex-officer drinking his woes away in Mexico when a beautiful woman (Pascale Petit) hires him and several others to save her husband and their gold mine claim from a band of local bandits. Daniela Giordano is on hand as the beautiful Juanita at the cantina.

The plot is obviously borrowed (or, more accurately, ripped off) from 1954's "Garden of Evil" and combines it with a pensive Spaghetti Western flavor, lacking the goofiness and moral hollowness of, say, 1966's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." The melancholy is heightened by a moving song Juanita sings at the cantina in the first act; the tune is reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith's excellent acoustic piece for 1970's "Rio Lobo." Too bad Giordano (as Juanita) didn't have a bigger role, but it's big enough.

There are several other things that propel "Find a Place to Die" above most Italo oaters: The group Lisa (Petit) compiles consists of a few interesting people, including an ex-con turned minister who seems to be sincere but is dubious at the same time. Secondly, their ordeal becomes almost a survival situation and I favor survival flicks. Thirdly, the story arc of the disgraced ex-Confederate (Hunter) is almost inspiring. Lisa says she's naturally drawn to him because she knows he's not like the other worthless cutthroats. The warmth of love slowly wakens the laconic loner out of his brooding stupor and draws the best in him out. Love is power and, when you find it, you need to plug into it if you want to live. Only a fool rejects it or, worse, abuses it. Lastly, being shot in Italy at some kind of ancient ruins, particularly the notable building of the cantina, the movie has a unique look for a Pasta Western, which of course were typically shot in Spain.

The movie is lean at 89 minutes.

GRADE: B

This is actually quite a sad film to watch. Not because the story is sad, but because it illustrates just how far (down) Jeffery Hunter had come since his hey-day. A couple are defending their gold mine from bandits (using dynamite!) when the husband becomes trapped under a collapsed wagon. Now rather than just use her horse to remove the offending bits of wood, "Lisa" (Pascale Petit) sets off to find some folks who will come to her aid. Unsurprisingly, she alights on a group of miscreants who are quite happy to help so long as they get her gold, herself - or, ideally, both! It might be, though, that "Joe" (Hunter) - a lapsed Confederate soldier - could have just a little more chivalry than the others and, of course, when they arrive at the mine we are soon to find out! Add to the mix, the fact that the original attacking banditos - lead by "Chato" (Mario Dardanelli) have not given up their own ambitions to seize the gold and we have a sort of explosive siege western where nobody can trust anyone. Adolfo Lastretti is quite entertaining as ruthless the "Rev. Riley", but otherwise this is a cheap and cheerful spaghetti-style western that was clearly made quickly, on a budget, and with scant regard to a decent script or production values. There's no chemistry at all between Hunter and Petit and indeed the whole thing has a rather unpalatable seediness to it that I found distinctly off-putting.

Find a Place to Die is a spaghetti western from director Giuliano Carmineo, who later on helmed the excellent giallo The Case of the Bloody Iris. This western is definitely less enjoyable than that thriller though. In it a woman seeks the help of a gun-fighter to avenge her husband's murder and to retrieve her stolen gold.

It's a fairly bog standard entry in the Italian western sub-genre with little to recommend it to anyone beyond spaghetti western fanatics. It is, however, graced by the presence of former Miss Italy Daniela Giordano, who appeared in a few interesting movies, most notably Mario Bava's fun sex comedy Four Times That Night. But she isn't really in this one enough, although she does feature in perhaps the most memorable scene in the film where she sings a song while strumming a guitar. This moment was at least a little different to the norm for these types of flicks but otherwise this one is business as usual spaghetti style. It's solid but nothing too great.