Amore, piombo e furore

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)

** (out of 4)

Condemned gunman Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) is saved from the noose but he must track down farmer Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) and kill him since he refuses to sell his valuable land to the railroad company. Clayton goes to do the deed but ends up falling in love with the man's wife (Jenny Agutter), which just adds more problems. This Italian/Spanish co-production from cult director Hellman has a few decent moments but in the end this is a pretty boring affair from start to finish. I know Hellman has a strong cult following among some film fans but I can't say I'm one of them. This film here is yet another Spaghetti Western that tells a rather familiar story but Hellman puts his own spin on things and these spins actually hurt more than help. This film has a lot of problems including letting the viewer know who we should be cheering for. The film starts off with Testi being the bad guy and we're given Matthew to like. At around the thirty-minute mark we switch sides as it turns out Matthew is a real jerk who abuses his wife and the director has decided to put us in a love story. The love story between Testi and Agutter never works for several reasons. One reason is that the two have no chemistry and one can't help but roll their eyes at the love banter they give at each other. The screenplay mentions that Agutter is shy and "changes her clothes in the barn" but that doesn't keep her from being nude in this thing at least six different times. The nude scenes are only available in the R-rated cut (most boots are of the TV print) and are the main reasons to watch this thing. Agutter is an incredibly beautiful woman so seeing her nude is about the only thing that keeps this sucker moving. However, even the sex scenes are messed up by Hellman as he decides to film them in a slow-motion fashion with an incredibly bad score over them and a couple even has some sort of weak pop song. Why on Earth Hellman decided to do this is anyone's guess but it doesn't work. I also didn't believe Testi in his role too much but then again this could be due to the fact that Hellman seemed more interested in showing off his body than anything else. Oates is always dependable and he turns in a good performance even though the screenplay does him no favors. Agutter's role is pretty thankless but she gives it all she can. Look quick for Sam Peckinpah as a writer.

This one comes very late in the Spaghetti Western timeline, is directed by an American, and plays out like a love story. It's different to say the least.

Fabio Testi is Clayton, a condemned man who is reprieved at the last minute, as long as he tracks down Warren Oates and kills him. Oates used to work for the Railroad and they don't like loose ends, so Clayton has to take him out. A problem arises in the form of Jenny Agutter, Warren's much younger, hot wife whom Clayton first spies skinny dipping. Clayton shacks up at the Oates/Agutter household under the pretence that he's passing through, but Oates is no fool, and Agutter starts making goo-goo eyes at the hunky Clayton.

Not a shot is fired in anger for the first fifty minutes of this film, as Clayton decides he can't kill Oates by he can get it on with Agutter, which leads to Oates attacked her and Agutter retaliating in a surprisingly violent way (she stabs him in the back and brains him with a rolling pin). Clayton and Agutter think Oates is dead and they can be a couple, but Oates wakes up and gathers his numerous brothers for some revenge...as does the Railroad when they find out Oates isn't dead...

As this is a late era Spaghetti Western, the pacing isn't exactly full throttle, but I was surprised to see that the violence was very realistic - people get shot and fall over instead of clutching themselves and spinning around the place, and the violence is very abrupt and sudden, like the accidental shooting of a hooker through a window or two corpses being shot over and over again.

Plus, Testi stands out as the lightening fast Clayton, made weak through his love for Agutter. Apart from her dodgy Irish accent, Agutter does well too and spends a lot of time naked with Testi (I actually gave birth to Testi's child just by watching this film!). Warren Oates stands out too, with his mumbly, tired character.

This must be one of the very last Spaghetti Westerns, and it's worth tracking down if you can find an uncut version of it. Sam Peckinpah makes a surreal cameo too, just to add to the sense of weirdness.

"There ain't no soft-hearted gunfighters" says Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) to Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) late in Monte Hellman's lyrical western "China 9 Liberty 37" a/k/a "Amore, piombo e furore". The English title reflects the words on a crossroad's sign shown at the start of the film.

Hellman fans will be happy to finally find this film available on DVD, as a 2005 release by Mill Creek Entertainment. Although the IBDb does not yet link to it, Amazon has it listed as "China 9 Liberty 37/Gone With the West". The second movie on the DVD, "Gone With the West" (a/k/a "Little Moon and Old Jug"), is a James Caan-Sammy Davis Jr. western best described as "The Rat Pack on LSD". It is a horrible western made even worse by the condition of the print they used to make the DVD, but it does feature one of the most intense cat-fights in cinema history.

The print for "China 9" is a bit better but suffers from a poor "pan and scan" full-screen treatment and weak audio tracks. It also has some editing glitches, which probably resulted from the need to cobble together a decent print for transfer to DVD. And I suspect the original release was longer than this 98minute version.

Hellman and Oates also collaborated on "The Shooting" and if you enjoyed that effort you should really like "China 9". In "China 9" Oates plays a retired gunfighter mining gold on land he refuses to sell to the railroad. Testi (the best of a long line of English-challenged pretty-boy European actors who worked in the western genre in the 60's and 70's) is hired by the railroad to kill Oates. But the two gunfighters hit it off and Testi refuses to complete the job. In the meantime Oates' wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter) comes on to Testi. They run off together believing she has killed Matthew, but he survives and begins to hunt them down. To add additional complications to the story, the railroad recruits a squad of gunfighters to kill both Matthew and Clayton.

Clayton Drum is good western hero. Although he drinks a lot of cocaine based tonic, he maintains his professional integrity and refuses to sell out to the wild west show promoters or the dime novelists. The world may be changing and making him irrelevant, but he sticks to his principles. "My life is not for sale".

Fans of "The Hunting Party" will find a familiar storyline, Fellini fans will find a nice homage to their favorite director, and Sam Peckinpah fans will find an actual appearance-while a small speaking part it is more than just a cameo.

The action sequences are extremely well staged, although the effects are on the cheap side. The action in the big final showdown scene is totally credible and leaves one wondering why other directors can't exercise their imaginations and come up with equally plausible shootouts. Plus there is an extremely nice twist to the story's resolution that you don't see coming. Finally, Hellman goes out on a slick "mise en scene" shot that actually advances the story a final notch.

"China 9" is an absolute must-see for fans of Jenny Agutter. Hellman liked to give his films an overexposed grainy look (as if the film stock was pushed a couple of steps in processing). Combined with minimal makeup this gave his heroines a strikingly haunting and earthy beauty, check out Millie Perkins in "The Shooting" and "Ride the Whirlwind". Like Perkins, Agutter has never looked better and is more than credible as the catalyst of this love triangle.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

It's 1881. Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) is given a last-minute opportunity to escape the hangman's noose by the railway men. He has to kill a rancher named Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) who owns land wanted by the railway company. Matthew lives in the middle of nowhere with his wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter).

This is mostly for Agutter fans. Warren Oates has been in many superior westerns and I don't know Testi. This is more a romance novel than a spaghetti western. The movie should have stayed on that dirt farm until one of them is dead. The End. That's the movie. The story loses steam once it moves away from the farm and the tension from the isolation. It's not great but some of it is still interesting.

A somewhat odd spaghetti Western. I am not familiar with this Monte Hellman, but at first I thought he was trying to be Sergio Leone. Later, I thought he was trying to outdo Leone. I am not sure if the setting is supposed to be southeast Texas, even though there are towns named China and Liberty there, but the countryside there is wooded, and even a bit swampy. Excellent photography of the arid Spanish landscapes. The sound was awful, though, with score and background noise often drowning out dialog. Fabio Testi was the wooden anti-hero, with a serious Italian accent. Warren Oates was the only really well-developed character. Jenny Agutter was oh, so beautiful. But she was alternately reserved and wanton, so it was hard to figure out her character. (You really have to see the uncut version. It is available if you search hard enough for it.) There were a few anachronisms and plot holes but not terribly so. A pet peeve of mine is people suffering grievous wounds, like gunshots and stabbings, and seemingly having no ill effects after three days. I know it moves the narrative along, but sheesh. Anyway it was OK, and just a bit better due to Agutter.