Dites-le avec des oignons

Spaghetti-westerns weren't just Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, friends; they weren't even just Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.

I saw this film years ago on the Caribbean SuperStation, a short-lived satellite channel from Aruba. I found it weird and fascinating, a spaghetti-western gone nuts; but I didn't catch the title. Afterward, all I could remember was that (a) the hero was named Onion, (b) Martin Balsam was a co-star, and (c) a child in the film spoke with an adult's voice. After some time, I began to wonder if I'd just ... imagined the film.

Now, thanks to the IMDb, I can rest assured that (a) I did indeed see this film, (b) it does exist outside my imagination, and (c) others have seen it, too.

Spoof and entertaining tongue-in-cheek spaghetti Western . Silly slapstick euro-western , Terence Hill-style . Funny but average film with action , struggles , and shootouts by expert Enzo G. Castell . This Spanish-Italian co-production deals with a likable countryside man (Franco Nero) called Onion Stark who arrives in a little town named ¨Paradise City¨ , where he attempts to start a new life . Stark buys a parcel of land from a family whose father (Antonio Pica) was recently killed . He assumes the land is worthless , attempting to grow an onion farm , he subsequently joins forces with a pair of orphan boys . After a while , Stark is chased by three bounty hunters (Romano Puppo, Nazzareno Zamperla , Massimo Vanni) going after him . Later on , Onion Stark to be aware that the parcel is actually worth a lot of money , he realizes what it has valuable petroleum . Meantime , a greedy landowner who has a strange mechanical hand , proprietary of a powerful oil company , called Petrus Lamb (Martin Balsam) , has robbed all the property around the town due to the vast oil reserves under the location . After that , Lamb and his band of fanatics hoodlums along with a corrupt sheriff (Leo Anchoriz) and deputies (Dan Van Husen) set out to take the precious lands from Stark and decided to steal lands at whatever cost . Onion is helped by a publishing editor called Pulitzer (Sterling Hayden) and his daughter (Emma Cohen) with whom falls in love . Finally , it revolves around the increasingly ridiculous tryings to take the lease out of Stark's possession . At the ending takes place an absurd duel between Onion and the nasty hoodlums .

This is a regular Faglioli-Spaghetti Western in Trinity and Bambino style and for that reason there is a cult to dirtiness with an appropriately goofy tone , customary issue in this sub-genre . It looks passable , have some pretty amusing characters , some bemusing pursuits in silent cinema style and a really catchy theme song . The movie made me laugh a few times , even though I insist that it has too much slapstick humor for its own good . The movie takes parts from Enzo Barboni movies such as ¨Trinity is my name¨ and ¨Trinity is still my name¨ . The film is plenty of action , fun , brawls , shootouts , surprise-filled entertainment , chases with cycle , motorcycles , pony , and including a horse with hat . The picture contains funny gun-play along with fist-fight very much in the Terence Hill/Bud Spencer territory . The violence isn't crude but suits the light-weight comedy fun and silly slapstick like the Trinity series . This film reaches its sidesplitting comedic highlights with a couple of wild anything-goes rough'n'tumble fist fight scenes . It certainly has an enthusiast cast , plenty of slapstick , some very impressive gymnastics , especially in the massive fight sequences . The movie was finely starred by habitual Spaghetti as Franco Nero . Here Franco steals the show with his gestures , faces and excesses , including some scenes eating onions ; furthermore , the silly final filled with modern motorcycles , cycles and embarrassing shoot'em up . The picture displays crazy characters with twists , thrills and being quite amusing . It does eventually outstay its welcome , and there are a surprising amount of fights and laughters . Moreover , the lively support cast play their broadly caricatured parts with tremendous lip-smacking enthusiasm . There appear usual secondaries as Italian players : Romano Puppo, Nazzareno Zamperla , Massimo Vanni , American players : Sterling Hayden , Martin Balsam , as Spanish actors : Leo Anchoriz , Daniel Martín , Antonio Pica , Charly Bravo , Mariano Vidal Molina , Manuel Zarzo , Xan Das Bolas , Jorge Rigaud .

A really catching and commercial score musical by Guido and Mauricio De Angelis who often work with Castellari . Atmospheric cinematography filmed by Alejandro Ulloa shot in Almeria , of course . Silly screenplay with ridiculous situations written by the usual Luciano Vincenzoni , Sergio Donati , both of them Sergio Leone' regulars and Miguel De Echarri , also producer . Enzo G Castell makes a nice camera work with usual zooms and clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , slow motion shootouts and bemusing scenes . Enzo relates the nutty story at a constant zippy pace and maintains an amiably silly tongue-in-cheek tone throughout . He made more Western as ¨ Johnny Hamlet¨ , ¨Kill them everybody and came back alone¨ , ¨Seven Winchester for a massacre¨, and in similar style ¨Tedeum¨ . His masterpiece is : ¨Keoma¨. Some of them are serious , others are goofy and plenty of slapstick and slapdash . This is a bewildering story , funny in lots of parts and it will appeal to Spaghetti Western fans . It's a mediocre film , but still better than a lot of the ulterior spaghetti western comedies to come .

I found this in a second-hand shop that had a VCR and TV to preview the used tapes. From the bizarre opening shot of the oil field and the director's credit, I knew this was one worth the dollar.

Franco Nero does his best Terrence Hill impression as the character Onion who arrives in town to start an onion farm on a parcel of land he's bought real cheap from a farmer. What he doesn't know is that evil oil magnate Petrus Lamb has bought/stolen all the property around the town due to the vast oil reserves under the town. Lamb has a strange mechanical hand that's serviced by Adolf Hitler! Thru a plot device out of Once Upon A Time in the West, Onion's property is still owned by the orphans of the original farmer who's been killed by Lamb's henchmen. The rest of the movie revolves around the increasingly silly attempts to steal the lease out of Onion's possession.

First of all, the film is very well directed by Enzo Castellari so that already lifts it out of the typical spaghetti western doldrums. The script is very silly with frequent forays into total surrealism. Onion fights with a gun and the many onions that he has hidden in his pants. During a duel he always asks, "Gun or Onion?" The first fight scene with Onion is right out of the first Trinity movie except it mostly done with onions. I suppose it's a parody of sorts, but how do you parody a parody? Martin Balsam is game as the evil Lamb and he seems to be having fun with the mechanical hand he's wearing. I enjoyed the movie for the most part although the overuse of sped-up footage towards the end is a let-down. The English dubbing crew had some fun with this film as they gave Onion a Jimmy Stewart voice and one orphan sounds like Bugs Bunny imitating a gangster. For some reason it works! I wonder what the Italian original sounds like.

Not the greatest but with enough bright spots that I enjoyed the film.

I'm sorry for Enzo G. Castellari. This very professional director, very able in stunt scenes and car pursuit, that sometimes in his movies lives for itself, have made this Trinità clone with Franco Nero copying Terence Hill. Is not a bad work 'cause Castellari knows his job but is excessively derivative and I think that in the career of a popular director wasn't a necessary step.

I saw this film for the very first time not too long ago on TV. I thought it was just the typical spaghetti-western, with a lot of gunfights,blood and dead people. Obviously I was wrong.

During the first ten minutes or so it seems a standard European western, but then appears a horse pulling a wagon full of onions where "Onion" (Franco Nero) is hidden. That´s when the fun begins. I´d like to remark from this film the surrealistic details it contains such as the nazi look of the villains, the capacity of our hero "Franco Nero" eating and even drinking! raw onions.

If you have the chance to watch it, just do it. I believe you won´t be disappointed.

It seems as the couple Franco Nero / Enzo G. Castellari always made good films... (Check some of them: "High Crime", "Keoma", and "The shark hunter"). enjoyable films...