Acquasanta Joe

At at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865) a jobless band of robber soldiers commanded by a rebel Colonel (Ty Hardin) steal at a bank where the earnings to date of a tough bouty hunter called Acquasanta Joe (Lincoln Tate) are deposited. After that, the latter goes after them to retrieve his savings , but then things go wrong .

This run-of-the-mill spaghetti Western contains bank robbery, thrills , crossfire , explosion , treason, plot twists , crosses , double-crosses and brief doses of humor with tongue in cheek. So-so Spaghetti Western including regular ingredients as violent confrontation , shootouts , betrayals and with the novelty of an Union army cannon that a gang of cutthroats uses to get their purports . Stars Ty Hardin who can be remembered as a TV figure star in the Sixties as Bronco series (1958-1962) , from here he starred secondary roles in WWII films as PT 109 , Merrill's Marauders , Battle of Bugle . But he then emigrated to Italy to play some Spaghetti , warfares and Euro-thrillers . Unlike his fellow Clint Eastwood he didn't get successes and Ty became involved in B-films and routine Spaghettis , like this one . Equally , it stars Lincoln Tate , another failed American B-actor who also performed Spaghettis and other second-class films . Along with some familar faces from Pasta , Peplum or Euro-spy sub-genres, such as : Mario Novelli or Anthony Freeman , Alfredo Rizzo , Ferdinado Poggi co-writer too , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd . And , of course , Richard Harrison , co-director so well, he played lots of action movies , Westerns , Sword and Sandals and thrillers throughout a long career around forty years , starting in USA and, subsequently , mostly developed in Italy .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Mario Gariazzo , as it has several flaws , gaps , shortfalls and failures . Gariazzo was an Italian craftsman who wrote and directed all kinds of genres , such as : Sci-Fi : Brother from space , Eyes behind stars , Very Close Encounters of the fourth phase ; Terror : The Obsessed ; Erotic or Softcore : Erotic flash , Top Model, Sor Emmanuel , Play Motel ; Action : Il Carabinieri , Execution Squad , and Spaghetti Westerns : this Acquasanta Joe, Good will fogive my pistol , The Masked thief , Long day of massacre , Day of judgement also starred by Ty Hardin along with Rosalba Neri, Rossano Brazzi . Rating : 4.5/10. Below average . Only for Spaghetti Western aficionados.

A gang of ex-civil war soldiers led by Colonel Donovan uses their prized weapon of a stolen cannon to rob a bank. Bounty hunter Acquasanta Joe happened to keep his life-savings there, and so when a reward pops up for one of their double-crossing men Charlie Bennett who took off with some of the money. Joe finds him and brings him to Donovan, only to hopefully cash-in on the reward the army has for Donovan and his men.

For most part Mario Gariazzo's "Acquasanta Joe" is a second rate, cut and dry spaghetti western with few unusual marks creeping in. The problem I had was that it felt extremely uneventful (very flabby midsection) and despite few effective sequences, the highly obscene comedic developments (which always tried to be goofy) had myself cringing. More often everything just seemed to sit there, lacking strong characters, action and script. Gariazzo's direction is very low scale, brutish and tight, but there's no flair or distinctive style brimming from it. Which was needed to make sure the energy levels stood up, and keep certain bizarre moments from falling down flat. There are some decent set pieces, when the cannon is in use, but the uneven blend has too much filler and bland air. The film looks cheap and low end. Like something made for TV. It can't seem to hide it or use it to its advantage. The material doesn't surprise and stays traditional in all aspects, but it holds a confident structure to it. Marcello Giombini's nippy music score is an uncanny assortment (some funky modern guitar riffs) that actually worked. Franco Villa's cinematography threw many swift, fast and odd camera angles amongst the grit. The performances are pretty forgettable, but tolerable. The hazy Lincoln Tate in the central turn as the protagonist Joe is kinda lacking, especially with his presence. Ty Hardin's turn as Donovan is mainly feeble, however he has some minor sparks. Richard Harrison was enjoyable enough, as the deserter Charlie. Silvia Monelli doesn't do nothing much but look all steely. Only spaghetti fans should bother, but nonetheless rather disappointing.

I rated this one with solid 5/10 points. It's very limited in various ways. Let's face it, most Italian westerns weren't blessed with a high budget, this wasn't either and it shows. The action takes place mostly somewhere in a canyon or woods, you barely get to see. Still, it's entertaining. The characters are stereotypes, starting with the hero Holy Water Joe, the ruthless but cunning headhunter who brings down a pack of bandits that robbed the bank he put all his earnings in. The action is quite fast and though this kind of movie naturally isn't a grade A product it's fairly entertaining. The soundtrack is quite interesting, as it contains both the usual orchestration for spaghetti westerns as well as some 60/70s style music. A product of it's time I guess. However, I felt entertained by this one and for that it gets a bonus pushing it to 5 of 10 points, with the entertainment factor higher than that.

To me you have to really be a fan of this genre to enjoy this Spaghetti western. The biggest problem to me is the script. There are way too many plot holes that are just never explained, and questions as to why they are doing this or that. There are some good action scenes and moments. I loved the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie just for the action alone. I will say another problem with the movie at times was the music score, which seemed way too lighthearted or comical at times for what was happening on screen turning moments that should have been played for more dramatic effect into comedy. My last problem with the movie was with the English dubbing -- at least on the version I watched. The voices seemed too alike at times as if a person not very talented was doing both parts at the same time, and didn't know how to disguise their voice well. In conclusion, I say if you are a fan of the genre, don't pass this one up. It is worth it for the action at times alone.

It was around this time during the spaghetti western craze that many spaghetti westerns started to add some comic elements, some being outright comedies. "Holy Water Joe" (a.k.a. "Acquasanta Joe") plays it straight for the most part, but there are several scenes that are clearly there to generate laughs. When this comic side of the movie is placed against the serious side, it is sometimes jarring, because the movie has several sequences where people are viciously gunned down or threatened with hanging or being blasted by a cannon. Apart from that flaw, I didn't find the movie as terrible as some of the other IMDb users did. I'm not saying it's a great or even good western, but I found it lively enough to pass the time (though not much more.) If you are a fan of the spaghetti western genre, it's probably safe enough to give it a try.