1000 dollari sul nero

After returning from twelve years in jail for a murder he did not commit, a man returns to his home town to confront his brother Sartana who he knows framed him for the crime. Sartana now rules over the area with the help of his gang of thugs but not only that, he's also stolen his brother's woman. The good brother sets about putting this right.

This is quite notable for being a more serious minded spaghetti western than was the norm. Despite this, it's still a fast-paced and entertaining affair. The plot-line is still fairly typical for the genre and by the end of this you can't say it doesn't deliver the usual spaghetti goods. Ultimately, though, it boils down to a tale of two brothers, with Anthony Steffen playing good one and Gianni Garko the one who's psychotic.

The sound of a plaintive solo trumpet.......a tight shot of Anthony Steffen as ex con Johnny Liston... introduces this slightly mad..somewhat fascinating...often bad but never dull Spaghetti Western from 1966. After spending 12 yrs in prison for a murder he didn't commit, he encounters a deadly ambush as he returns to town ........only to find it under the boot of a gang of vicious thugs...led by none other than his brother, Sartana (No..not THAT Sartana)....a loony self styled 'General' commanding the forces of a brutal protection racket. Johnny also discovers his former lover, Manuela, in his camp...(which looks kinda like a combination Aztec temple/fort built into the side of a mountain..) He visits his wacked out mother.....living in what looks (architecturally) like a Greek Temple...the "queen", if you will..of the town..deluded & under the spell of luxury & power...anointed by her mad son's butchery.

Quite a morning...huh?

Directed by Alberto Cardone..a/k/a Albert Cardiff...best known for his work as assistant director on "Ben-Hur"..& second unit director on "Barbarella"...., this was Gianni Garko's first Western...and it's quite a debut. You've never..& never will again..see Garko like this...as a cruel, crazed, , psychotic maniac....with 3 entire towns under his domination......whose citizens are forced to pay tribute.........in return for his "protection".

Oozing with classical themes & references...elements of Greek tragedy...Shakespearean drama....high Italian opera..( I half expected to see someone break into an aria at any moment... a Greek chorus commenting on the action wouldn't have been a surprise, either)....Oedipal themes...religious parables (Cain & Abel)...A Christian passion play of resurrection & redemption......all stirred and whipped into a very 'Italian' melodrama. ..and quite violent (babies, women..all's fair game here) Western.

As far as I know...this was the only pairing of Steffen & Garko, who star as the conflicted brothers..............and probably the first use of "Sartana" as a character's name.

As Sartana's 'troops' march into a nearby town to collect their booty....Johnny declares "this town's under my protection", setting up some gun battles, which are basically boundary & limit defining contests......leading up to the inevitable confrontation..brother against brother...... & a starkly surreal & well filmed (best in the movie) ending......including, (but not limited to) the fires of Hell.......with the main street of the town acting as the river Styx' path to the Underworld...a biblical quote from Leviticus as we fade..with the heavens darkening & grumbling...(Zeus didn't make an appearance...but that doesn't mean he wasn't in the vicinity......)

Composer Michele Lacerenza was a trumpet player on the Fistful of Dollars score...& manages to come up with a serviceable soundtrack...including the melancholy trumpet theme...numerous Morricone rips--> electric guitar & flute..., organ music...and what sounds like incidental opera music.

While there's no shortage of things gone a little wrong here...there are ridiculous shots of the sun accompanied by cheesy organ music... some absurd dialogue..bad dubbing..... silent film style- like overacting.....& some intense closeups of maniacal laughter...which we all know & love from countless SW...I would never dismiss this as one to avoid.

There's a lot going on here..& while much of didn't work...some of it did...& can be quite a hoot if viewed w/ the right spirit.

It could qualify as a somewhat campy...fascinating failure of a stewpot of themes & references...& w/ the 'Wow' factor of Garko's Spaghetti Western 'debut'...the pairing of Steffen & Garko.... It can be a somewhat bizarre...weirdly entertaining hour and a half or so.

I'm beginning to think that if a movie is not in wide distribution that you can take one point off the IMDb rating. Look at the reviews for this one. One six and everyone else giving it a 7 or 8, but the IMDb rating is 6.3. That's the only reason I'm writing this. It's better than 6.3. lol Not that my "7" really expresses that, but we have to use integers. I'd give it 7.5, and there's LOTS of the genre between 6.3 and 7.5.

I loved the music score, it's a solid story and there's a great edginess about everyone and everything. Sets are good, gun play is solid. I think fans of the genre will want to see it.

1000 dollari sul nero / Blood at Sundown

December 18, 1966

Johnny has done twelve years for a crime he didn't commit. He returns to find that his brother Sartana is running runshod over the town. Johnny has also got to contend with the beautiful daughter of the man he supposedly killed. Sartana is fond of abusing Maneula and her dumb-mute brother.

'Now take a nice walk. It'll help you to think better.'

This is a dystopian setup, as I expect to find in a lot of spaghetti westerns. It's a town run by the criminal element. In this case, there's an alliance between an outright thug and a judge. State is indistinguishable from the underworld. The girl melts the heart of a bitter man. His transformation is reflected by the removal of an obscuring hat. The terrible state of society has been facilitated by the tacit approval of a maternal figure. We're all looking for a man to come out of the desert and restore order. In their own defense, the town's people are mostly pasive and useless for the longest time. Garko is effective at conveying the last days of a despot in his bunker.

Anthony Steffen's dubbed voice doesn't match the ultra-grizzled appearance of the character. The bad guys have their hideout in the ruins of an Aztec temple. One of the gang members, played by Sieghardt Rupp, in some shots looks like Timothy Carey. (I would have loved to have seen Timothy Carey in a spaghetti western, provided he did his own voice.) I dig the music by Michele Lacerenza.

'Very well. I love violence! What do you want?'

Alberto Cardone directed L'ira di Dio (1968.) Ernesto Gastaldi also wrote giallos like Your Vice is a Locked Room . .. and The Case of the Bloody Iris. Erika Blanc was in Kill, Baby, Kill (1966). Gianni Garko was no stranger to playing Sartana in films like I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death (1969.) (This predates all those films.) Carlo D'Angelo was in The Great Silence (1968). Roberto Miali was in something called Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961.)

*** / *****

Steffen and Garko have been in a lot of awful movies, no doubt about that, so "Sartana" can easily be considered a climax in their careers, respectively.

It's the story of two brothers fighting each other, Steffen playing the straight and honest one, Garko portraying a sadistic, screaming blond loony. Their mother tries to stop him. Intense pictures, intense emotions, the director even alluded to Shakespearean tragedies a few times, but you needn't take that too seriously. All in all, well done, spaghetti western above average.