Acquasanta Joe

A gang of ex-civil war soldiers led by Colonel Donovan uses their prized weapon of a stolen cannon to rob a bank. Bounty hunter Acquasanta Joe happened to keep his life-savings there, and so when a reward pops up for one of their double-crossing men Charlie Bennett who took off with some of the money. Joe finds him and brings him to Donovan, only to hopefully cash-in on the reward the army has for Donovan and his men.

For most part Mario Gariazzo's "Acquasanta Joe" is a second rate, cut and dry spaghetti western with few unusual marks creeping in. The problem I had was that it felt extremely uneventful (very flabby midsection) and despite few effective sequences, the highly obscene comedic developments (which always tried to be goofy) had myself cringing. More often everything just seemed to sit there, lacking strong characters, action and script. Gariazzo's direction is very low scale, brutish and tight, but there's no flair or distinctive style brimming from it. Which was needed to make sure the energy levels stood up, and keep certain bizarre moments from falling down flat. There are some decent set pieces, when the cannon is in use, but the uneven blend has too much filler and bland air. The film looks cheap and low end. Like something made for TV. It can't seem to hide it or use it to its advantage. The material doesn't surprise and stays traditional in all aspects, but it holds a confident structure to it. Marcello Giombini's nippy music score is an uncanny assortment (some funky modern guitar riffs) that actually worked. Franco Villa's cinematography threw many swift, fast and odd camera angles amongst the grit. The performances are pretty forgettable, but tolerable. The hazy Lincoln Tate in the central turn as the protagonist Joe is kinda lacking, especially with his presence. Ty Hardin's turn as Donovan is mainly feeble, however he has some minor sparks. Richard Harrison was enjoyable enough, as the deserter Charlie. Silvia Monelli doesn't do nothing much but look all steely. Only spaghetti fans should bother, but nonetheless rather disappointing.

A bounty hunter who goes by the name of "Holy Water Joe" or "Acquasanta Joe" decides to put all of his savings into a bank. However, when gangster Donovan and his gang rob the bank, he sets out to get his money back. But, rivalry in the gang makes things complicated, as the union army also is interested in finally putting the gang to rest. "Holy Water Joe" gets four stars. Two for the performance from Ty Hardin of "Bronco" fame who absolutely steals the show with his nutty performance, and two more stars for the grand gun-cannon-bow and arrow battle at the end, other then that its a strange mixture of spaghetti western violence and zany comedy, with a rather bland forgetful lead in Lincoln Tate.

Colonel Donovan (Ty Hardin) and his right hand man Charlie Bennett (Richard Harrison) are planning a bank robbery, disguised as soldiers. The successful bounty hunter Acquasanta Joe (Lincoln Tate) was the bank's best customer and loses all his well earned money. Of course, Joe chases the bandits. He finds that Bennett cheated Donovan and ran with the money. Now Joe doesn't hunt Bennett to bring him into a prison - he wants to bring him to his former boss instead, because that's even worse. However when he catches Bennett, the money has disappeared...

Another cheap western, but not all bad. Richard Harrison has the best role, because he can put some comedy into his portrayal of Bennett as a shameless crook, coward and traitor. Ty Hardin plays a sympathetic rogue who really has to struggle between Bennett on one side and Acquasanta Joe on the other - and decides to use creative weaponry. Lincoln Tate, however, is not memorable in the title role.

I'm actually not that big a fan of pasta-westerns, but I like director Mario Gariazzo and decided it might be worth a look for that reason. Everything Gariazzo ever directed was low budget trash, but his movies are packed with wackiness and fun ideas making them perfect viewing for the eurotrash aficionado. There's the sleazy giallo "Play Motel", the "based-on-a-true-story" cannibal-exploitation flick "Amazonia", the crime film "Bloody Hands of the Law" (in which Klaus Kinski uses a blowtorch on some poor guys crotch), the lovely but insanely stupid sci-fi sex comedy "Very Close Encounters of the 4th Kind" and my personal favorite, the very stiff alien-conspiracy flick "Eyes Behind the Stars" which predates the X-files series with about 15 years.

"Acquasanta Joe" is a pretty goofy comic western which stars Ty Hardin, Lincoln Tate and "show-me-the-money-and-i'll-act-in-anything" actor Richard Harrison. The film starts out pretty interesting but once the bank robbers Vs. bounty hunter premise has been established the film pretty much loses its paste and becomes kind of dull. In a long period in the middle the film is really going any place. "Acquasanta Joe" has some interesting points though, which makes it an acceptable time waster for more jaded viewers. First of all, I really liked the progressive rock soundtrack by composer Marcello Giombini (who made some really zany electronic stuff later in his career). Cowboys and gunfights to Hawkwind-like music, works for me... Also the movie is packed with some pretty odd moments, culminating in a canon versus bow and arrow duel at the end. That, I can honestly say i've never seen before...

See it if you're into spaghetti westerns or borrow it from a friend.

Seen on an old Swedish semi-letterboxed VHS tape from the Wahlters label.

At at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865) a jobless band of robber soldiers commanded by a rebel Colonel (Ty Hardin) steal at a bank where the earnings to date of a tough bouty hunter called Acquasanta Joe (Lincoln Tate) are deposited. After that, the latter goes after them to retrieve his savings , but then things go wrong .

This run-of-the-mill spaghetti Western contains bank robbery, thrills , crossfire , explosion , treason, plot twists , crosses , double-crosses and brief doses of humor with tongue in cheek. So-so Spaghetti Western including regular ingredients as violent confrontation , shootouts , betrayals and with the novelty of an Union army cannon that a gang of cutthroats uses to get their purports . Stars Ty Hardin who can be remembered as a TV figure star in the Sixties as Bronco series (1958-1962) , from here he starred secondary roles in WWII films as PT 109 , Merrill's Marauders , Battle of Bugle . But he then emigrated to Italy to play some Spaghetti , warfares and Euro-thrillers . Unlike his fellow Clint Eastwood he didn't get successes and Ty became involved in B-films and routine Spaghettis , like this one . Equally , it stars Lincoln Tate , another failed American B-actor who also performed Spaghettis and other second-class films . Along with some familar faces from Pasta , Peplum or Euro-spy sub-genres, such as : Mario Novelli or Anthony Freeman , Alfredo Rizzo , Ferdinado Poggi co-writer too , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd . And , of course , Richard Harrison , co-director so well, he played lots of action movies , Westerns , Sword and Sandals and thrillers throughout a long career around forty years , starting in USA and, subsequently , mostly developed in Italy .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Mario Gariazzo , as it has several flaws , gaps , shortfalls and failures . Gariazzo was an Italian craftsman who wrote and directed all kinds of genres , such as : Sci-Fi : Brother from space , Eyes behind stars , Very Close Encounters of the fourth phase ; Terror : The Obsessed ; Erotic or Softcore : Erotic flash , Top Model, Sor Emmanuel , Play Motel ; Action : Il Carabinieri , Execution Squad , and Spaghetti Westerns : this Acquasanta Joe, Good will fogive my pistol , The Masked thief , Long day of massacre , Day of judgement also starred by Ty Hardin along with Rosalba Neri, Rossano Brazzi . Rating : 4.5/10. Below average . Only for Spaghetti Western aficionados.