Acquasanta Joe

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.

Like SARTANA IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH (1970), I watched this via C'Est La Vie's R2 DVD and, in hindsight, both film and disc are of similar quality. The lead is Lincoln Tate in the title role of the bounty hunter pursuing Ty Hardin's band of Renegade Union soldiers; Richard Harrison appears as one of the latter's associates who later double-crosses him.

Having watched so many Spaghetti Westerns this past week, the films' plots get intertwined in my mind – and, frankly, I can't recall much of what this one was about!; I do know that Hardin's gang carries with it a cannon to aid in their bank robberies and that his leadership is challenged at one point by a bald-headed associate whom Tate eventually dispatches with a horde of arrows in the style of Akira Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD (1957). Hardin eventually joins forces with Tate to retrieve a stash of money hidden in a cave, and also involved is Hardin's half-breed (and gun-toting) woman – who has her eyes on Tate as well.

The director biography, included among the extras, makes some claim for him being a versatile film-maker but, personally, it's the first I've ever heard of him: his career spanned all sorts of genres from Spaghetti Westerns to crime thrillers, horror, sci-fi and even erotica (as it turns out, he also made the sentimental drama THE BALLOON VENDOR aka THE LAST CIRCUS SHOW [1974] – starring James Whitmore and Lee J. Cobb – which, when released in Malta back in the day, proved a huge box-office success)!

I rated this one with solid 5/10 points. It's very limited in various ways. Let's face it, most Italian westerns weren't blessed with a high budget, this wasn't either and it shows. The action takes place mostly somewhere in a canyon or woods, you barely get to see. Still, it's entertaining. The characters are stereotypes, starting with the hero Holy Water Joe, the ruthless but cunning headhunter who brings down a pack of bandits that robbed the bank he put all his earnings in. The action is quite fast and though this kind of movie naturally isn't a grade A product it's fairly entertaining. The soundtrack is quite interesting, as it contains both the usual orchestration for spaghetti westerns as well as some 60/70s style music. A product of it's time I guess. However, I felt entertained by this one and for that it gets a bonus pushing it to 5 of 10 points, with the entertainment factor higher than that.

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.

To me you have to really be a fan of this genre to enjoy this Spaghetti western. The biggest problem to me is the script. There are way too many plot holes that are just never explained, and questions as to why they are doing this or that. There are some good action scenes and moments. I loved the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie just for the action alone. I will say another problem with the movie at times was the music score, which seemed way too lighthearted or comical at times for what was happening on screen turning moments that should have been played for more dramatic effect into comedy. My last problem with the movie was with the English dubbing -- at least on the version I watched. The voices seemed too alike at times as if a person not very talented was doing both parts at the same time, and didn't know how to disguise their voice well. In conclusion, I say if you are a fan of the genre, don't pass this one up. It is worth it for the action at times alone.