Selle d'argent

Like the same director's "Four of the Apocalypse," whether or not this film ultimately succeeds for you probably depends on your willingness to tolerate its flaws for its strengths.

Its flaws include bad acting on the parts of Giulliano Gemma and Sven Valsecchi, who are the two leads, a frustrating tendency to establish promising themes, only to allow them to dissipate after the first thirty minutes, and another frustrating tendency to put all the best action scenes in the first act.

Its strengths include the presence of Geoffrey Lewis, Aldo Sambrell, and Donald O'Brien, some excellent classic western action that's filmed with a modern sense of realism (read: BLOOD SQUIBS), and great photography, locations, costumes and sets that give an overall feeling similar to that of Fulci's other 70's western, mentioned above. The musical score, overall, is great and befits the feel and tone, although the hippy-dippy theme song may mar it for some.

For fans of Fulci and/or Italian westerns from the 70's, this is more than worth checking out...between this and "Four..." it's obvious the guy was up to something interesting and cool with his westerns during this time period, it's just too bad he didn't have a better sense of pacing and focus and evidently wasn't aware that you save your best tricks for the end of the movie, not the beginning.

Fulci's third and final Western may have a straightforward plot, but the whole thing is so well made I couldn't help but like it anyway. In HD, parts of it look like an oil painting.

Guiliano Gemma plays Silver Saddle, a guy who required his saddle by killing the guy who killed his father at the age of ten. Since then, Gemma has wandered the land and hating on the family who hired the guy who killed his dad. Or something like that.

While out one day, Gemma bumps into Two Strike Snake (Geoffrey Lewis, who I did not expect to see turn up in an Italian film), Snake likes to loot dead bodies and knows Gemma because he's famous for leaving bodies everywhere. Eventually, Lewis manages to talk Gemma into taking an assassination job - that of one of the hated family. Gemma's all up for that...until he discovers that the target is a child, and even though Gemma hates that family, he does not kill kids. But who wants him dead?

I've not watched Massacre Time, but compared to Four of The Apocalypse this film is a lot less violent. It's still violent mind you (head shots etc) but no one eats anyone else's arse like in Apocalypse. No Tomas Milian types writhing about in filth screaming either. It's tale of the good guys versus the bad guys, with all the usual ingredients thrown in, like Mexican bandits, greedy landowners and corrupt sheriffs, but seeing as how it's made by Fulci with his best crew, I have no complaints whatsoever.

And that includes the soundtrack. I though it added a slight melancholy atmosphere to the film. Is this really known as the last ever Spaghetti Western?

Lucio Fulci will probably always be best known for his gory zombie movies; but he also directed some of the best films in the Giallo genre as well as a few other gems elsewhere. Fulci only directed three films in the popular Spaghetti Western genre; and I for one am thankful for that as it was clearly not his strong point. His first attempt at the genre, Massacre Time, was an above average western, if not especially brilliant. Four of the Apocalypse was well made but frankly dull, which brings us on to this film; which is more exciting (slightly) than Fulci's last effort, but too sappy for a western and too lacking in important areas. The plot is very typical for a Spaghetti Western and focuses on a man who, as a child, witnessed his father being killed. He grows up to become a bounty hunter going by the name of Silver Saddle and naturally he wants revenge and starts plotting once he finds the people behind his father's death. However, he ends up coming across the young son instead and after thwarting an assassination on the boy, sets off for his revenge.

The music is generally a very important element of the Spaghetti Western; and again it's a place where this one is seriously lacking. The score is, simply, horrible. What we get is a singer droning on about the plot of the movie and it will do nothing but make you cringe! Ennio Morricone, this isn't. The film seems all too keen to shy away from the stuff that usually makes this genre so great - namely, violence and action, and instead decides to put its focus on the relationship between the central bounty hunter character and his enemy's nephew; a young and irritating blonde haired kid. This relationship may be interesting for some; but personally I found it very boring and it wasn't what I went into this film looking for. There are a few action scenes but nothing particularly startling and the way the film moves is rather boring far too often. Prolific Spaghetti Western star Giuliano Gemma takes the lead role and is one of the film's few saving graces as he puts in a believable performance. The ending is rather decent too and wraps things up nicely; but this is not a great western unfortunately.

Admittedly, riding through in the Wild West with a silver saddle on your horse is ultimately prestigious if you're a bounty hunter, especially if you obtained it by killing its previous owner at the remarkable age of 10 years old, but it's not exactly practical or user-friendly! Our boy Roy always has to take his saddle with him to the saloons or to the brothels he visits, or must pay some money to a bum to guard it. I'd prefer an old-fashioned and rudimentary saddle, thank you very much!

After this totally pointless and very personal observation, my more elaborate thoughts on this awesome and too often overlooked Spaghetti Western! I knew immediately I was going to love "Silver Saddle". Because it's from Fulci, first and foremost, and he is my all-time favorite director (tie with Mario Bava), and secondly because it features a title song especially written and sung for the film. Not just masterful instrumental tunes, like from Ennio Morricone, but an actual song. Whenever a western has a song like that, it always ends up in my list of favorites. Other examples include: "Django", "Keoma", "The Big Gundown", "Run Man Run", and "Jonathan of the Bears".

With its release year being 1978, "Silver Saddle" is generally considered as the last Spaghetti Western to come from Italy. There were a few noteworthy attempts to revive the genre, like with a belated sequel to "Django" in 1987 or by Enzo G. Castellari in 1994 with "Jonathan and the Bears", but the magical era really did end in 1978 with "Silver Saddle" as its swan song. But what a film! Westerns may not be Fulci's biggest expertise, but he made two great ones previously ("Massacre Time" and "Four of the Apocalypse") and this one is magnificent as well. Talking about expertise, Lucio Fulci is THE ultimate master of gore and violence, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the gunfights, duels, and kills in "Silver Saddle" are extremely bloody and explicit.

The plot is simple and straightforward, but that's usually an advantage in Westerns. Lone rider Roy Blood roams the West, which has been his destiny ever since he was 10 years old and killed the ruthless landowner Mr. Barrett, after he killed Roy's father. Now a feared bounty hunter, Roy is confronted with the corrupt and greedy Barrett family once more, but he never thought he'd develop an emotional connection with one of them...

This is a stylish western effort from Fulci. The atmosphere is captivatingly melancholic, the sound & picture quality are impeccable, the body count is high, and the performances are splendid. Giuliano Gemma never was my favorite Spaghetti Western actor (at least not compared to other regulars like Tomas Milian, Anthony Steffen, or William Berger) but he's solid here. The supportive cast is even better, with Geoffrey Lewis is the best role I have ever seen of his.

While Italian movie director Lucio Fulci is best known for his bloody horror movies, he actually did dabble in other genres in his career. He even made a few spaghetti westerns, "Silver Saddle" being one of them. Made when the spaghetti western genre was breathing its last breath, it's been all but forgotten today. To a degree I can understand this. It does have more than its share of dull spots, and Giuliano Gemma is only adequate in the lead role. But the movie all the same has enough interest to satisfy spaghetti western fans. Fulci throws in some interesting direction at times, such as with some particular camera movements as well as how he composes what's in front of the camera. Though there isn't enough action, what action there is in the movie does catch your attention, particularly with some very bloody squibs thrown in. Gemma's somewhat underwhelming performance is made up for by the presence of American actor Geoffrey Lewis, who is amusing without being overbearing. And the music is great; you'll be humming the title song for days after watching the movie. It's no classic, but it's a respectable final effort for a genre that was breathing its last.