Lo chiamavano King

(1983) His Name Is King/ Lo chiamavano King DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

No plot to really speak about except that the stars of the film has bounty hunter nicknamed 'King' seeking retribution on the Benson brothers for murdering his brother and assaulting his brothers wife with Mexican bandits clashing with the Yankees! Consist of twists that could be seen a mile away in which the viewers were able to figure it out before the star of the film does! Very okay rendition Italian production Western film which after Sergio Leone's popular 'Spaghetti Western' trilogy films on anything else he made after it, much of the others or the copycats that came before or after it hadn't been very good or cannot match the same kind of success for they still appear to be very watchable anyways, always wondering which direction story wise on any of Italian production films is going to go! The camera style are usually the opposite of any American western film and they contain a lot of close ups and voice overs! And after finishing seeing this, I was wondering what Sergio Leone could've done with this film since it's something what he would've done, but ended up to be someone else's job that is good enough, could've been better.

Don't be fooled by that top billing Klaus Kinski here! He's 'doing a Kinski', which is a term I made up for a top name actor who turns up on a film set, films a few scenes, then goes off to the pub with the cash. Kinski appears to be slightly more involved in the action here, but he's not around much. Better examples of him 'doing a kinski' are Footprints on the Moon, Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe and If You Meet Sartana, Pray For Death (really badly spliced Klaus footage in that one). You could also call it 'doing a Palance' as Jack does the same thing in The Happy and Short Life of the Brothers Blue and It Can Be Done Amigo. And John Ireland in 'Run Man Run'.

No, the real star of the show here is Richard Harrison (and his moustache), now I was as surprised as anyone to find out Harrison (and his tache) had a career outside of the multi-Oscar winning Ninja Terminator, the much lauded Golden Ninja Warrior (first five minutes) and the awesome Majestic Thunderbolt (which of course led to a children's animated series), but here he is! He's a called King and some bad dudes smuggling machines guns to the Mexicans have gone and killed his brother. Granted, King killed one of them first, but…I dunno.

So King's out to get vengeance, supported by his pal Kinski, who basically stays in one place throughout the film and doesn't interact much with Harrison. Harrison however goes around getting into various gun fights with the baddies, getting captured and such like. There's a distinct misogynist tone to this film with two rapes and the Mexicans pimping out their sisters to the bad guys.

Harrison ain't much of an actor. In fact, I've barely seen him do more than raise his eyebrows, but he is a good action star so it's fun to watch him taking on all these bad guys. He doesn't chase after a guy and brain him with a baseball bat while wearing roller skates like Majestic Thunderbolt, but you can't have it all.

Short film too!

Mish mash of a western from Italy.

King is a bountyhunter after a vicious gang of brothers who are selling gatling guns to Mexicans.

Boring, uneven, uninspired and unimaginative run of the mill spaghetti western. Only scenes that work are the ones where Klaus Kinski appears on screen, which is alltogether about 10 minutes anyway.

Best missed.

Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.

A bounty hunter called King (Richard Harrison) tracks a heinous gang of gunrunners across the border into Mexico and he kill them , in retribution they carry out a masssacre . As Harrison plays John "King" Marley whose brother was killed and his wife Carol Marley (Anne Puskin) was beaten and raped. Of course King is looking on vendetta against cuttthroats of the Benson Gang led by vicious Ben Benson (Goffredo Unger) .

This moving Ravioli Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action , riding pursuits , but being an inferior and twilight entry in this prolific Spaghetti genre . Italian production filmed in Almeria, Andalucia and Lazio , Rome , Italy , being full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , gun-down , lots of shots , fights and with some looks that say it all , including a thrilling ending that is the best part of the movie . Starring Richard Harrison who stands out his strong , piercing eyes and striking look , featuring as a man taking on a band of cutthroats . Harrison is passable as a bounty hunter who becomes into a tough , bloody avenger when learns his brother's cruelly murdered, as he ravages the screen , he jumps , horse riding , hits and runs . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between the two-fisted Richard Harrison against the dangerous and ambitious killers . Richard Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos¨, ¨South Pacific¨ and ¨Master of world . Then , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe . He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades . To avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man , he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the Red¨, ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo¨, ¨Stagecoach of the Condemned¨ , ¨Gunfight at High Noon¨ and ¨Joe Dakota¨ , even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part . Support cast is frankly nice , thanks to the familiar secondary actors . Here appearing important secondaries from Spaghetti Western , such as : John Bartha as a marshal , Luciano Pigozzi or Alan Collins nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd, Tom Felleghy , Antonio Vasile , Vassili Karis and of course , Klaus Kinski giving a peculiar acting in his ordinary style as a suspect sheriff .

Here stands out the Spaghetti musical score by Luis Enrique Bacalov who subsequently , many years later , he would win an Academy Award for ¨The Postman and Pablo Neruda's soundtrack¨. Adding catching songs at the beginning and finish when out starring Richard Harrison is horse riding here and there . There are fine technicians , appropriate assistant direction and mediocre production design , creating an atmospheric scenario across the Spanish/Italian outdoors , including the stark landscapes , dunes , rocks , and mountains with evocative cinematography by cameraman Guglielmo Mancori, but a perfect remastering being really necessary . Being shot on location in Desert of Tabernas, Almeria, Spain and Lazio , Rome and studios on Elios Film, Rome, Italy . The motion picture was regularly directed by Giancarlo Romitelli under pseudonym Don Reynolds (Il torcinaso , L'oro dei bravados , Si muore solo una volta , operación Rembrandt) . Rating :4/10 . Only for hardcore Spaghetti enthusiasts.

I'm a spaghetti western fanatic, enough so that even lesser efforts in the genre entertain me. However, with this particular spaghetti western I find it hard to generate much enthusiasm, so I can only imagine what a non-fanatic might think of this movie. It has a somewhat confusing plot, with characters doing things that often seem murky. Harrison's character is an unexceptional hero, and several times is off-screen for long periods of time. Kinski's character ends up being bizarre due to Kinski acting completely different from what his character says or does at the same time. That does give the movie some moments of (unintended) humor. The movie does have some good action sequences and has a good musical score, especially the title song, which is one of the best ever composed for a spaghetti western. But in the end, you'll forget most of the movie not long after watching it, so I would only recommend it if you are really into Euro westerns (and Klaus Kinski).