Lo llamaban... Cementerio

This exciting picture displays Western noisy action , gun-play , fun situations and bits of humor. The film gets the comic remarks from Western parody united the features of typical Spaghetti . ¨Camposanto¨ is an entertaining SW with lots of mayhem , crossfire and funny incidents and fun ; however , being slightly mediocre . This time the new hero is named Camposanto o Cemetery (John Garco) who looks exactly like Sartana , he is a tidy and rapid gunfighter . Camposanto protects a young pair of brothers , sons of a baron land whom is blackmailing some hoodlums (Ivano Staccioli) . Cemetery join forces with Duke (Austrian actor resident in Italy named William Berger who played several Westerns and unforgettable co-starring in ¨Sabata¨ as the banjo man) , another blond and long-haired gunslinger against nasties who are suborning cattlemen . The dark , elegant hero , a freelance gunman , named Camposanto (Gianni Garco or John Garco) appears to chase the nasty gunfighter and discovers the rackets and killings . The confrontation will be inevitable between the town's despots , a cruel murderous , and , of course , Sartana .

This first movie on Camposanto character starred by Gianni Garco is plenty of action , shootouts , tongue in cheek , double-crosses, twists and loads of violence . This bewildering picture gets the humorous remarks from Western parody combined to features of Spaghetti . Camposanto is another hero of second class in the S.W. genre as Sabata (Lee Van Cleef) , Sartana (Gianni Garco) or Cuchillo (Tomas Milian) . Cemetery character bears remarkable resemblance to Sartana . ¨Cemetery¨ or ¨Camposanto¨ is a two-fisted and tough gunfighter with technical weaponry (like a Western James Bond) and a lot of tricks similarly to previous Sabata . Giuliano Carmineo , alias Anthony Ascott, directed various Sartana with George Hilton who replaces Gianni Garco , as Hilton played more natural and roguish than Garco who was cold and peculiar . This entertaining picture gets the humorous remarks from Western parody combined to features of Spaghetti . The movie gets the usual Italian Western issues , such as : greedy antiheroes , violent facing off , quick zooms , exaggerated baddies , among them . It appears secondary actors who are habitual in Italian Western and Peplum genre , such as : Nello Pazzafini , Ivano Staccioli and Rick Boyd . Special mention to androgynous Franco Ressel , Spaghetti's customary as a powerful tyrant . Enjoyable musical score by Bruno Nicolai , Ennio Morricone's usual collaborator , full of guttural sounds and whistles . Average cinematography by habitual Stelvio Massi and atmospheric set decoration by Carlo Leva .

The picture was regularly directed by Giuliano Carmineo or Anthony Scott , subsequently he directed another Spaghetti-hero named Sabata with Gianni Garco in the title role . Giuliano Carmineo realized several Spaghettis , most of them featuring mainly the same cast again , such as "Di Tresette Ce N'è Uno, Tutti Gli Altri son Nessuno" ,"Lo Chiamavano Tresette... Giocava Sempre Col Morto" that actually was the last time George Hilton/Chris Huerta and Carnimeo worked on such a western comedy together , ¨The moment to kill¨, ¨Find a place to die¨ , ¨Uomo Avvisato Mezzo Ammazzato... Parola Di Spirito Santo¨ (original title) or "His Name Was Holy Ghost" , ¨They call me Hallaluya¨ , and the Sartana movies : "Have a Good Funeral, My Friend, Sartana Will Pay" , ¨Sartana the gravedigger'(69) ,"Sartana's Coming, Get Your Coffins Ready" , ¨Light the fuse Sartana is coming¨(1971) , among others . Giuliano also directed other kinds of genres , as Sci-Fi : ¨Exterminators of the year 3000¨, ¨Computron¨, Giallo : ¨The case of the bloody iris¨ , Crime thriller : ¨Secrets of a Call Girl¨ , Buddy movie films : ¨Convoy Buddies" or "Kid Stuff" , "The Diamond Peddlers" . This "They call him Cemetery¨ is clearly inferior to his entries in Sartana series . Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable .

This isn't a profound movie and doesn't try to be. It's a low budget action comedy (with a little bit of parody) which is great fun to watch, but doesn't try at all to be a classic.

Film scholars are gonna have nothing to go on here, but will inevitably compare it to Leone and Kurosawa just like they do to every other Spaghetti Western (or Samurai film in the case of Kurosawa specifically). Here's a hint: Just because it's a Western made in Italy doesn't mean the movie was trying to accomplish what Leone was.

The movie itself? As a fun movie I'd give it a ten out of ten, because it's perfect for what it is. If you have some spare time or if you see it in a bargain bin or whatever, go for it. It's a funny, quirky little movie. It's not a great film, but if movies like this didn't exist, I'd go freaking nuts. As much as I appreciate Citizen Kane, I'll never enjoy it like I enjoy these kinds of movies.

Seriously, where did Spaghetti Western Comedies go? The literal translation (best I could do) is "The Smoking Colt ... Call Him Cemetery" and don't worry about the fact it doesn't translate well, every other portion of the movie does.

There is an amazing theme song, good humor, plenty of gun fights, just in general a real positive energy throughout the entire film. The quality of the print was pretty awful, so I hope someone picks this up and restores it. The man called cemetery is a grizzled veteran of Westerns All'Italiana who appeared as the anti-hero several times and knows how to stare down a bad guy and can not-be-bothered-while-people-are-shooting-at- him with the best of em. Take the time out to watch this forgotten gem.

Rating: 30/40

Before I review the film, I want to say a bit about the DVD that has both this film and another so-called 'spaghetti Western' ("Il Prezzo del Potere"). The picture quality is very poor and the DVD has no captions--just really bad quality dubbing. While in some films in the genre the dubbing was excellent (such as in the Clint Eastwood films), this one is not particularly good. As for the picture, it's scratchy and dark--so dark in one important scene that you have no idea what is happening. It is obviously a second-rate (or possibly third-rate) packaging of the film. You can't blame the film makers for this. In its original form it must have been a much better film.

The film begins with two brothers coming to the West to see their father. Apparently, they have been educated back East and have no idea of the life on the range. To call them ignorant is charitable--they are idiots. When they stand up to a representative of a group of extortionists who are threatening their father's ranch, they beat him (the extortionist--not the father) up...and have no idea that the gang will naturally come looking for them. They also naively assume the law will simply arrest the gang and can take care of the problem non-violently. Can anyone be THAT stupid in a film of this genre??!! Fortunately, a man in black ('Cemetery') stumbles upon them and takes pity on them--teaching them how to use a gun and not be a couple ignorant rubes! In many ways, this man in black is similar to characters played by men such as Lee Van Cleef in Westerns--a decent and inexplicable guy and also someone you don't want to irritate! In addition, he has an acquaintance who is also equally bad whose loyalty to his boss seems a bit suspect at times--leading to an interesting showdown between the two master gunfighters near the end.

While there were approximately 68 bazillion Italian Westerns made during this era (give or take three), what sets this one apart a bit is that it doesn't take itself so seriously. Sure, it has all the requisite killing, the bad guys and the scary bad hero, but it manages to make you laugh occasionally (such as the swimming scene as well as when one guy's mustache ended up looking like Charlie Chaplin's--thanks to some fancy shooting). While certainly not in the same league as the Sergio Leone films, this is very good and worth seeing--plus I doubt it was intended to be in the same league. Still, this one is more a very good time-passer with a bit more to offer--even if some of the humor is a bit broad (such as the fight scene with the ranchers).

Overall, the film loses a couple points for the dubbing and print quality and earns an overall score of 6. In its original form, no doubt it would be a bit higher.

Written by the director of the famed Trinity comedy western films and directed by man who helmed 3 of the four official Sartana films, this outing works and doesn't at the same time.

The story of two greenhorn brothers fighting against a gang terrorizing ranchers is trite and only provides a reason to bring together the two main characters of the movie, Ace of Hearts/Cemetery (played by Garko) and Duke (played by Berger). Both are uber-cool bounty hunters who know and respect each other well and find themselves in a situation where they are working for opposite sides. Whenever these two actors are on the screen, either together or solo, the film is interesting. The direction is uneven as well, sometimes it's very stylish and well photographed, other times banal and full of gratuitous zooms. The script might have worked if the English actors who were chosen for the greenhorn brothers weren't so miscast. Bruno Nicolai's theme for the film is great but, like many of these films, it is repeated to the point of near insanity. The audio is very muffled in the English soundtrack and the print going around at this time is slightly cropped.

So it's not a complete waste of time, if a better print ever shows up I might watch it again.