Roy Colt et Winchester Jack

If this film is judged only on its own merits, without reference to other entirely unrelated entries in the Mario Bava lexicon, it holds its own as light-hearted entertainment. Unlike most Italian comic westerns, this one holds the interest largely due to its three central players' well rendered characters and exploits. The cinematography is also far better than many others in the genre.

Charles Southwood is perfect as the scruffy, irrepressible Jack, in contrast to the stolid, lachrymose-faced Roy (Halsey)and both of them can be relied upon to out-cheat the other when they aren't busy beating the tar out of each other to show their mutual affection. Southwood is really quite outstanding and should have been in a lot more films.

Marilu Tolo is very effective here (much more than she is in most of her roles) as the feisty and very resourceful Indian prostitute who is determined to coerce someone into marrying her, preferably Jack or Roy. Don't miss the sequence when she hooks up with Southwood and forces him at gunpoint to take a bath before becoming a "client." Under protest, Southwood descends to the cellar and has to break the ice on the water before stripping off his smelly long-johns to take the plunge. By the shrunken state of his retracted genitals, the water is cold indeed. The shotgun pointed at him by the comely Tolo probably helped, too. Now there's a touch you would never have seen in an American-made western.

The outlaws Roy Colt (Brett Halsey) and Winchester Jack (Charles Southwood) are frequently fist fighting, disputing who the boss of their gang is. Roy Colt decides to leave the gang and find a honest job; he saves the crippled banker Samuel (Giogio Gargiullo) from a hit man and the old man hires Roy to work with him. Meanwhile Winchester Jack rescues the Indian girl Manila (Marilú Tolo) that is arrested by two bounty hunters; she stays with him, charging to have sex with Winchester. When the bandit Reverend (Teodoro Corrà) finds that Samuel owns a treasure map, he teams up with Winchester Jack and they steal the map from Samuel. But Roy Colt is assigned sheriff by Samuel to chase Reverend and his henchmen and retrieve the treasure. Roy Colt betrays Reverend first and Winchester Jack later, while Manila leaves Winchester Jack to stay with Roy Colt, in a greedy mouse-and cat game of betrayals while hunting the hidden treasure.

The comedy "Roy Colt & Winchester Jack" is a parody of the western movies that is silly most of the times but has at least three hilarious scenes: when Manila asks Winchester Jack to marry her or pay ten dollars to have sex; when the clients sees who is dancing in the cabaret; and when the cuckold Winchester Jack sees Manila with Roy Colt and the cactus forms a pair of horns ("cornuto") in his head. This movie entertains and maybe fans of western genre might like it more than I did. I prefer Mario Bava's works in the horror and thriller genres. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Spaghetti western directed by Mario Bava about two outlaws (Brett Halsey, Charles Southwood) trying to find a treasure. Outside some nice cinematography this film is pretty much a wasted effort for everyone involved, especially the director. I'm a fairly big fan of Bava but this here certainly ranks down at the bottom of his filmography. The film goes for way too many laughs, which is okay if any of them were actually funny. In the end the film is basically a rip of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are a few good moments but not enough to make it worth watching.

This is the only western that I know of that was directed by the great Italian horror director Mario Bava. He directed quite a few non-horror movies, but his true talent is mainly exhibited within the categories of horror and giallo. His other films usually aren't meant to be taken very seriously, and this one is no exception. That having been said, this film is still lots of fun to watch, especially if you are a spaghetti western fan.

The music score is great. The trumpet, guitar and organ music set the proper tone for a spaghetti western.

The acting seems about average for a Eurowestern. Marilu Tolo is beautiful as Manila, and she steals the show by doing the best acting out of the entire cast, as well as being so nice to look at. The character called "the reverend" is very annoying, and suffers from some very corny translation in the subtitles. I probably would have given this movie a higher rating if it had been dubbed in English, since I prefer watching westerns that way. They could have at least done a better job with the subtitles! This movie is a bawdy, humorous spaghetti western, not the dark and vengeful kind one might expect from a director of horror movies. The humor misses in a couple of parts, but works pretty well in general if you recognize this as a light-hearted film. The story is one of those in which everyone double crosses one another in the search for gold. It is typical, but engaging and fun. There is a twist at the end, but I saw it coming about 10 minutes into the film.

This one's not bad, and all connoisseurs of the spaghetti western should see it at least once.

Silly and funny Western about two drifters carry out several adventures , saloon brawls and resolve conflicts among nasty robbers that want to take a treasure . This is a serviceable comic spaghetti western which doesn't take itself too seriously . This good natured comic spaghetti packs diverting elements , tongue-in-cheek , thrills , shootouts , fighting , explosions , and results to be quite entertaining but middling . It is set California, the 1870s . Roy Colt (Brett Halsey) and Winchester Jack (Charles Southwood) are outlaws and although they are good friends , they cannot get along peacefully . Meantime , a beautiful Indian (Marilú Tolo) helps both drifters and plays both sides against each other . They take on a sadistic priest-turned-crime boss , nicknamed The Reverend (Teodoro Corrà) , and his hoodlums , who attempt to rob a valuable treasure . Roy then decides that he has enough of being an outlaw and leaves the bunch in search of a good , honest job as a sheriff in nearby Carson City . Roy , Winchester and his cohorts foil the planned robbery to keep the treasure for themselves . Our two not so upright heroes rob the robbers but, needless to say, get distracted by the gorgeous Indian girl .

Comical Spaghetti Western about a simple and plain plot , as two outlaws compete with each other over a treasure map , being realized in Terence Hill/Bud Spencer style and considered to be rip-off of the Trinidad and Bambino westerns . The film is plenty of fistfight between Brett Halsey and Charles Southwood over who will take the treasure and who will become sole leader of their band . This is a slightly funny film with entertaining as well as bewildering events , giggles , craziness , twists and lots and fun . In ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨ there are pursuits , stagecoach attacks , crossfire , saloon brawls , cutthroats gunslingers and many others things . This bemusing movie is packed with tongue-in-cheek , slapstick , a steady stream of gags , lively situations abound , sheer belly laughs , crazy humor , too much fun and to be perfect for youngsters . It's a middle-budget film with ordinary actors , technicians , decent production values and poor results . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some fights , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . Mediocre Western All'Italiana made in laughable style with a screenplay written by Mario Di Nardo , including amusing dialogue , silly situations , plot twists and turns . Filmmaker Mario Bava often uses disconcerting and surrealist situations to give us a passable movie plenty of funny happenings as well as absurd incidents ; and that , at least , kept me entertained for the almost half an hour of duration . The cast and support cast are passable . As sympathetic acting by starring trio : Brett Halsey , Charles Southwood and Marilù Tolo as a young Native American woman . Furthermore , there appears ordinary secondaries of Spaghetti Western , such as : Guido Lollobrigida or Lee Burton , Bruno Corazzari , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd and Franco Pesce , among others .

Roy Colt and Winchester Jack was regularly directed by Mario Bava . This was one of the films on which Mario Bava's son, Lamberto Bava , began his career as his father's assistant ; Lamberto would latter become a director himself , winning a successful career . Mario was the main creator of Italian ¨Giallo¨ genre , Bava ("Blood and Black Lace", ¨House of exorcism¨ , Black Sabbath¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental representatives . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms and utilization of images-shock . Bava directed all kinds of genres such as , Sci-Fi : ¨Planet of Vampires¨ , Peplum : "Hercules in the Center of the Earth" , ¨Battle of Marathon¨ , Historical : "Erik the Conqueror" , "Viking Massacre" and Western : "The Road to Fort Alamo" , ¨Ringo from Nebraska" and this ¨Roy Colt and Winchester Jack¨.