El pistolero sin nombre

Have you ever awakened from a vivid dream that quickly fades? That is exactly how I would describe my viewing experience with " The Man Called Noon." The story of a gunslinger with amnesia is extremely vague. You know it all is leading somewhere, but you have too little information to care about the characters. What you do get is a showcase for stunt falls, some truly excellent photography and memorable locations. What you don't get is enough character development to comprehend the motive behind all the gunslinging chaos. Rosanna Schaffino's magnificent brown eyes are more interesting than most of the characters. Richard Crenna is no Clint Eastwood, and since the "Dollar Westerns" preceeded Noon, it is easy to see why "The Man Called Noon" is so obscure. I would describe this as difficult to sit through, difficult to understand, but worth seeing once for the unbelievably stunning photography. MERK.

I would never put paella westerns and Louis L'amour in the same sentence, let alone in a film, as L'amour books are traditional as it gets, but it works here. From the tense intro till the end, the film lives up to the excellence of the book, capturing the mystery, the characters quite well. The landscape lends itself to the suspense - and the action is gritty and exciting, especially at the end ( the ranch in the cave is well-imagined.)

Though there's action, it never overrides the narrative, and the focus is on Richard Crenna, looking cool, all dressed in black looking like Johnny Cash, who has lost his memory after an attempt on his life. From there, with the help of the underrated Stephen Boyd, he tries to learn who he is, and for his efforts he gets a passel load of bullets heading his way.

Great cast - Farley Granger, Rosanna Schiaffino and the hottie villainess Patty Shepherd. - great action. A bit confusing at times, but amnesiac films - like Bourne identity - tend to have this streak, and you have to sit it out and be patient and you'll soon get the answers. Maybe the dialogue could've been sharper, more clearer, however, it is a solid western that should get more attention.

This is an average Spanish/British/Italian co-production filmed of course in Almeria , Spain . It deals with Robert Noon (Richard Crenna), a gunslinger who has turned amnesiac. Helped by Rimes (Stephen Boyd), another gunfighter who has befriended him, he attempts to figure out who he is actually. He gradually aware that his wife and child have been killed . Is he Noon ? . The duo goes to ranch Rafter where lives Fan Davidge (Rosanna Schiaffino) who will support them , there the foreman named Henekker (Jose Jaspe) gives him a letter signed by Noon and Dean Cullane . As they go to El Paso where lives the scheming sister (Patty Shepard) of the lawyer named Dean Cullane . As time goes by, Noon also recalls a lot of gold buried somewhere but he is double-crossed . Niland (Farley Granger), an ambitious judge and the outlaw Ben Janish (Angel Del Pozo) along with his hoodlums ( Aldo Sambrell, Jose Canalejas, Fernando Hilbeck, Julian Ugarte) will do everything to prevent Noon and Rimes from achieving their objective .

In the picture there're action western, shootouts, thrills, and a little bit of moderated violence . It follows American models more than Italian , displaying an intrigue about possible fake personality . The film is well starred by a fine star-cast though wasted as Stephen Boyd , Richard Crenna , Rosanna Schiaffino ; all of them early deceased , exception Farley Granger who passed away this same year . The starring Richard Crenna played another British Western titled ¨Catlow¨ that bears remarkable resemblance , as the same author Louis L'Amour , some actors and similar Almerian scenarios .The motion picture has been filmed on La Pedriza , Manzanares of Real , Madrid and Almeria(Spain), where during the 6os and early the 7os were shot several spaghetti western . The film well filmed in Tabernas and Texas Hollywood-Fort Bravo, Almeria, with a good production design including great a fortress , one of the best ever created , firstly used in ¨El condor¨ and where were posteriorly shot several Spaghetti as ¨ Blind man, Massacre at Fort Holman, ¨ and ¨Conan the Barbarian¨. Nevertheless, today the fort has been partially crumbled and only remain some ruins . There appears usual Spanish western secondary actors : Angel del Pozo, Julian Ugarte, Barta Barry , Ricardo Palacios, Jose Canalejas and of course Aldo Sambrell, among others. Atmospheric score by Luis Bacalov who subsequently won Oscar for ¨The postman and Pablo Neruda¨ and colorful cinematography by John Cabrera , though is necessary and urgent remastering .The movie is regularly directed by Peter Collinson. Collinson's directorial treatment provides it with action, gun-play, and suspense . He was an expert on thriller (Sell out, Target on assassin), intrigue (Spiral staircase, Ten little Indians, Open season), terror(Straight on till morning), Warlike-adventure(You can't win ém all), his biggest hit was ¨The Italian job¨ , until his early death by cancer at 41. Rating : Mediocre but entertaining .

reviewers on this page complain that this is just another ordinary western - that's the same as saying that the Taj Mahal is just another house - which it is - but what a house!

OK, this is not the Taj Mahal of anything but it is a western in which somebody took the time to find the right angles to shoot from and the right beautiful music to accompany everything with. This time and care put in, changes this film from being a trivial western into being a nicely mysterious experience with imagery that stick to the mind.

The mystery - it is true - is not so much in the dialogue as in the silence between the spoken words. The action is not as important as the scenery in which it takes place.

In the end you are left with a feeling of surprising satisfaction for something that on the surface seems trivial indeed.

There's a thin line between good style and bad style, and this film lands squarely on the wrong side of that line. The director knows a few camera tricks, such as filming scenes from severely low angles with a cowboy boot or wagon wheel dominating the frame (copied from countless other spaghetti westerns) but he has no feel or flow.

Oddball cast. Richard Crenna, not exactly the most physical of actors, is hilariously unbelievable as a tough man of action. Your guess is as good as mine as to how he wins all those fist fights. And he's either bionic or a cousin of Bruce Willis' character in "Unbreakable", because he survives a couple nasty falls and countless flurries of gunfire with nary a scratch. In fact, the villains in this movie have to be the worst shots in the history of film. The more I think about it, I'm not sure who or what they were aiming at but it couldn't have been Crenna.

There's Stephen Boyd, about a decade past his prime, drawling and mumbling his way through a turn as some sort of a slippery opportunist, the Han Solo role. Actually not a bad performance. And also Farley Granger, 20 years or so removed from his fling with matinee idol stardom. He's a more interesting looking actor at this point with graying hair and richer voice, but he comes off as all kinds of ridiculous in the big dumb, senseless finale. Hard to tell if his acting is much improved with such a poor script.

It's also got an inappropriately exuberant music score, bad stunt doubling, a confusing plot with too many names you never can attach to faces, and some gratuitous violence that might have been offensive if it hadn't been so nonsensical. Despite all that, at least it DOES make an attempt to stylize the material and give it a little pizazz. That's more than some films do.