5 gachettes d'or

I've always liked Italian westerns and I enjoyed this one as well. Good script by Argento, great music by Lavagnino (who composed the score for such great Italian as Tutti a casa). But let's admit it, there is an evident problem with the casting. Bud Spencer, William Berger and the other dude are O.K. within the limits of the genre, but - oups ! - in the role of the bad guy, they're facing one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, no less. Ladies and gentlemen, Tatsuya Nakadai ! English being only my second language, I am a little bit limited when it comes to finding the right words to describe the work of this phenomenal actor. His fame outside Japan mostly came from a series of outstanding samurai movies such as Hara-Kiri, Sword of doom or Goyokin. (Among many others) Yet all those samurais are remarkably different from one another, for Nakadai's trademark is mercurial versatility. His acting technique sometimes seems so different from one movie to the next that you'd hardly believe it's the same man. And of course he interpreted plenty of other characters besides samurais, such as the unfortunate hero in Kobayashi's monument The Human Condition.

I could go on talking about this artist for quite a while. Suffice it to say that watching this western put me somewhat in a sad mood. I'm sure Mr. Nakadai enjoyed himself a lot doing this movie - and it shows ! - but when you have the incredible luck to get such an actor in your cast, frankly it is your responsibility to come out with an outstanding spaghetti western, not just an average-to-good like this one unfortunately is. It's too bad such a project didn't fall in the hands of a more imaginative Italian western director - Sollima or Corbucci or even Colizzi.

Yet again, this western is good enough, and is certainly worth watching would it be just for Tatsuya Nakadai alone, playing the villain - and madman - James Elfego with rejoicing maestria. Since the character is in no way a Japanese, Mr. Nakadai does not have his legendary 'sword of doom' with him - but watch your head, for he does have a machete !

My first positive review for a while, and it's for this little Western potboiler. A guy who has spent five years in prison for the murder of his wife which he was not responsible for organises a band of the meanest hombres around and goes to kill the real culprit of the crime. The murderer happens to be the leader of a bunch of merciless gangsters who hold up stagecoaches and dispose of anyone who gets in their way, so our hero and his desperadoes have their work cut out for them. But where there's a will..

Lacking the technical expertise of Clint Eatwood's finest, this is still a thoroughly engaging spectacle. So what if the dead bodies sometimes move, and the fists obviously never make contact with skin? Thanks to robust characterisations, lashings of wit, enthusiastic gun battles and an infinitely hissable villain this is well worth catching at the wee crack of dawn when you can't sleep. In fact, it's so entertaining I am postponing my own bedtime at 2.30 a.m to recommend it to everyone. Now that's commitment. YAWN. 6/10.... ZZZZZZZZZ *Head collapses on Z key*

Yes, it is true, giallo master Dario Argento helped write this speghetti western from the late 60s. I have never been a big fan of western movies, but my love of Italian horror cinema has taken me into this genre. They just don't make

westerns, or any genre for that matter, like this anymore.

This film has all the great makings of what a good western movie should be.

You have the duels, the horse chases, and the classic saloon card game. The

fact that this is a low budget film is what attracts me. The sometimes badly

dubbed in english also humors me. But put those things a side and you have a

pretty good story. The way the final "duel" comes together is classic.

Overall, this is may not be "the one" when it comes to speghetti westerns, I am by no means a connoseur of Italian western film. But I walked away pleased.

Now I have to go and watch a few more Italian cowboy flicks to compare.

TODAY IT'S ME...TOMORROW YOU!, aka TODAY WE KILL, TOMORROW WE DIE!, is a 1968 spaghetti western directed by Tonino Cervi and starring Brett Halsey as a Django lookalike who goes on the warpath to avenge the death of his wife. The film's origins are clear, with the straightforward revenge story concocted by Dario Argento no less. The first half sees posse members being assembled (a bit like THE DIRTY DOZEN) while the second sees them carrying out their mission of vengeance.

There's little in this movie you won't have seen elsewhere, but I was surprised at how well shot it is. The locations are atmospheric and the cinematography is excellent, with plenty of gritty shoot-outs for action fans. Characterisation is slim but the characters themselves are engaging, from Halsey's taciturn lead to the likes of William Berger, Bud Spencer and Wayde Preston as various members of the posse. The music is stirring and as a whole the production values can't be faulted.

The best actor of the lot is a real surprise: Japanese star Tatsuya Nakadai, star of the late Kurosawa movies RAN and KAGEMUSHA: THE SHADOW WARRIOR, playing the bad guy. Nakadai gives a multi-layered and extremely decent performance straight out of Japanese samurai cinema, and acts everybody else off screen. Simply said, he's brilliant and lifts the movie whenever he appears. The rating gains a star due to his presence alone.

I'm sure this title has been broadcast on Italian TV many times over the years but, only after renting it on DVD along with many another Spaghetti Western, did I bother to check out whether it was any good – and I was surprised to see it receive a *** rating on the "Cult Filmz" website! As it turned out, I found myself agreeing with that assessment – which makes the film one of the better (if largely unsung) entries in this profuse, eclectic and erratic genre.

An interesting name in the credits is that of co-screenwriter Dario Argento; actually, early in his career the soon-to-be horrormeister worked on several such efforts in this capacity (including the ultimate genre masterpiece, Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST [1968]). Similarly, director/co-screenwriter Cervi started out as a producer on films by such Italian art-house heavyweights as Antonioni, Bertolucci, Bolognini, De Sica, Fellini, Lattuada, Monicelli and Visconti, etc. – though, later, he even dabbled in nunsploitation flicks!

Anyway, as I said, this is a pretty good Spaghetti Western – albeit saddled with a catchpenny (and meaningless) title – involving a typical revenge plot: leading man Brett Halsey (appearing, unnecessarily, under the amusing pseudonym Montgomery Ford!) emerges from prison after five years, having been framed for the murder of his Indian squaw bride (shown in sepia-toned flashback, this is pretty much a genre fixture); he rallies a compact but formidable band of gunmen/mercenaries (shades of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN [1960]) and sets out in pursuit of the real culprit, ex-pal Tatsuya Nakadai (the celebrated Japanese actor is given the Mexican name of Elfego, though he wields a deadly machete in the fashion of a samurai!).

Halsey appeared in a number of low-brow Spaghetti Westerns (one of them being ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK [1970], incidentally an irregular – and disappointing – stint in the genre by Mario Bava, another seminal figure in Italian horror cinema) but this is most probably the best one he did. Accompanying the appropriately dour and black-clad lead, among others, are beefy Bud Spencer (a future icon of brawling comic fare – by the way, I have three more Spaghetti Westerns of his lined up for this week, one of which also credits Argento among its scriptwriters) and genre/Euro-Cult stalwart William Berger (his character is something of a fop and, furthermore, has a gambling addiction).

Nakadai's presence here, then, is a delightful surprise – which definitely works to the film's advantage (his demise, in a confrontation not unlike that in a Budd Boetticher Western, is a particular highlight); with this in mind, prolific composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino incorporates several weird Oriental sounds into the traditional Spaghetti Western motifs – and the result is effective indeed. Sergio D'Offizi's notable cinematography, however, isn't rendered justice by the English-dubbed print utilized for the VCI DVD – which is considerably scratched and muddy (at one point, Halsey remarks that "It'll be dark soon"…but the sky, as it appears, is already pitch-black!). Needless to say, the film contains the expected set-pieces of violent action – including an admirably sustained forest ambush at the climax.