On m'appelle Alleluia

By the 1970s, many spaghetti western filmmakers decided after years of making serious spaghetti westerns to start making some that were more comical in nature. "They Call Me Halleluja" (a.k.a. "Heads I Kill You, Tales You're Dead") is one such western, and overall it's a pretty fun exercise. It's goofy fun almost right from the start, with assorted slapstick and various other comic touches (a machine gun sewing machine.) The peppy score by Stelvio Cipriani is the icing on the cake. The movie is not perfect - there are a few moments when it seems that linking footage is missing, and in the second half of the movie, the characters seem to forget about the treasure they had previously been seeking. And the second half also starts to get a little tiresome with its seeming padding. But overall, if you like spaghetti westerns and you are not in a completely serious mood, this movie will do nicely.

Roberto Camardiel is running the revolution against Emperor Maximillian, but things aren't going so well. In fact, he's facing a firing squad. Fortunately the peasants, led by scalawag gun-runner George Hilton save him. But the Revolution cannot succeed without machine guns, and that calls for money, so the plan is to steal the Emperor's Crown Jewels and have Hilton convert them into Gatlings. What the Emperor Norton will say in Petaluma, no one knows.

When we think of spaghetti westerns, we think of Sergio Leone with Clint Eastwood as the Man With No Name, and this definitely qualifies. In many ways, it looks like THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, but while that was filled with dark, sardonic humor, this one seems to take all the deaths as good, clean fun, just a boy's adventure, with Hilton outwitting and outrunning everyone else. It's fine on those terms, but lacks any depth whatsoever.

I bought a copy of this film from an on-line cult-movie dealer solely on the basis of its title: HEADS YOU DIE,TAILS I KILL YOU. This is one case where a spaghetti western lives up to its nifty title. Though a bit overly-plotted, this is a machinegun-paced, fun oater. More in common with the westerns of Howard Hawks and Burt Kennedy than the sweltering pasta dishes of Leone and Corbucci. Holds your interest throughout its running time. Great script.

This is a film about a gunslinger who owns a machine gun that's also a sewing machine, a nun who is a secret agent like James Bond, and a Russian Prince who does Cossack Kung Fu – Let's see what IMDb commentator Ed the C has to say about it:

QUOTE "How did Mexico get Revolvers before the US Army in the Civil War? Maximillian's reign in Mexico ended just before the Start of the American Civil War. Amazing. The Revolver was Brand new Technology at the Start of the Civil War. First guns were a powder Charge and pellet, the Movie Shows a rapid firing revolver which was not introduced until the early 1870's. In 1847 appeared the First Colt Revolvers used by the Texas Rangers. But it was not a "Fan" firing revolver seen in the Movie. The War against the Comanche's an early version of the Revolver was used but it was hammer-less thus incapable of fan Firing."

Thanks, Ed the C – your last name has three letters missing from it.

This is one of Guiliano Carnimeo's daftest, and therefore most entertaining, Westerns, For his fourth film of 1971, George Hilton plays anti-hero who rescues a Mexican general from execution by using his machine gun/sewing machine combo on the Mexican army. The general then gives him the task of recovering some valuable jewellery, but of course there's a gang of hoodlums after it too (led by the usual corrupt businessman), and a nun who is a secret agent, and an uppity Russian prince who blows up bad guys with a guitar doubling as a rocket launcher.

This film is not about realism, you might get that when George uses a birthday cake with dynamite for candles to blow up the bad guys, or when he puts laxative in their food and they all crap themselves, or when he shoots someone over his shoulder without looking. Or how about when the nun climbs up a telegraph pole and uses a gadget to send a message in morse code?

I don't know how he does it, but Guiliano Carnimeo manages to find the balance between comedy and violence that is painfully lacking in other Westerns about this time. Maybe they just don't go far enough, but Carnimeo packs the film with absolute madness, and then turns the film into an eighties action flick at the end for good measure! I suppose George Hilton helps, with his Latin charm and quips (some of which make no sense) – looks like there was a sequel to this one too!

Oh, good music as well, plus, the cinematography is by future director Stelvio Massi!

A first rate Italian Western starring the great George Hilton and which was recently shown at Tarantino's (very own) festival of classics. His own runaway success has really brought these obscure 'Spaghetti's' into the public eye. This example is more along the lines of the fun 'Sabata', rather than (the gritty) 'A Fistful of Dollars' and showcases a vast array of unusual/inventive weaponry. Highly enjoyable and strikes a near perfect balance of comedy and action.