Giù la testa... hombre

A quite usual trashy Italo-Western, stupid storyline full of clichés and lack of logic, some mediocre actors, dirty settings, lots of punch-fights and people shoot dead on a massive scale.

This has nothing to do with Django. - At least not in my German translated version, this German DVD-release is called "Adios Companeros" and has Macho Callaghan fighting against Butch Cassidy and Ironhead because their gang killed his one (he's the only survivor). Then you have Butch Cassidy and Ironhead fighting each other because they quarreled and the gang split. And you have Ironhead fighting against everyone because he's just the biggest and most greedy asshole anyway. Yeah, that's it, no more cleverness in the storyline, hehe.

A small role by Klaus Kinski as Reverend Cotton is remarkable (that's why I bought this DVD). In one scene he attempts to separate two men fighting by hitting them and screaming "I said love!" and in another scene he wins a competition in throwing horseshoes and goes nuts for a second - FANTASTICFANTASTICFANTASTIC!!!

It's also remarkable that JOE d'AMATO aka Aristide Massaccesi did the cinematography - I love this master of incompetent exploitation-thrash, so it was an "aahhh" for me.

I am a big fan of the Spaghetti Western Genre, and I usually also like most of the cheaply made ones. Infamous Director Demofilo Fidani, however, is rightly known for some of the cheapest, trashiest, and, well, worst contributions to the genre. The plots of Fidani's movies were usually very weak, and since his talent was quite limited, he usually tried to sell the movies by adding famous Spaghetti Western names like "Django" of "Sartana" to the titles. I the particular case of "Giù La Testa... Hombre" of 1971 he just took the title of Sergio Leone's "Giù La Testa" (aka. "Duck You Sucker") and added 'Hombre'. The movie can be found under various titles ("Fistful Of Death", "Western Story"...), I personally bought it under the name "Adios Companeros", which this movie shares with another Fidani film with almost the same cast, "Per Una Bara Piena Di Dollari", which is also entitled "Adios Companeros" in the German language version.

The plot is rather weak, it basically follows a guy named Macho Callaghan (Jeff Cameron) and his involvement with two rivaling outlaw gangs lead by Butch Cassidy (Jack Betts) and Ironhead (Gordon Mitchell).

The leading performance by Jeff Cameron is, kindly stated, not very convincing. Neither did I find Jack Betts very good as 'Butch Cassidy'. B-movie legend Gordon Mitchell, however, is always worth a try, and although he probably wasn't a very good actor, I always found his performances in the Spaghetti Westerns quite funny and original, and he actually saved some of Fidani's movies (such as the rather crappy "Django And Sartana... Showdown in the West").

There is one funny and original thing about "Giù La Testa... Hombre" - the great Klaus Kinski is playing a priest! I could have imagined Kinski in any role, but before seeing this movie I would never have guessed that anybody would cast him as a priest. One scene, where he breaks up a fight, is probably the only good moment in this. One more interesting thing about this film is that the legendary director and king of sleaze Joe D'Amato did the cinematography. Overall, only watchable for the purpose of seeing Kinski play a priest.

The Ballad of Django is a meandering mess of a movie! This spaghetti western is simply a collection of scenes from other (and much better!) films supposedly tied together by "Django" telling how he brought in different outlaws. Hunt Powers (John Cameron) brings nothing to the role of Django. Skip this one unless you just HAVE to have every Django movie made and even THAT may not be a good enough excuse to see this one!!

I agree that Klaus Kinski's performance was, as usual, stunning, especially when he attempts to seperate the two men fighting by hitting them and screaming: "I said love!" hehe... Is that a spaghetti western? In its own way, I think it is. The director is Italian. There weren't any fancy editing or haunting score though. Nor a striking character. Nor an amazing performance. The movie is pretty straightforward, almost real. Settling scores. Revenge. The lone and mysterious anti-hero. Gangs. Violence. All-in-all, it was so-so, but not a total waste of time. There were some fun moments. But it was just too...plain. You know what I mean? I bought it for less than a buck, so I didn't lose much. ;-)

Butch Cassidy (Hunt Powers), Ironhead (Gordon Mitchell) and their gang shoot a group of people to steal their horses. However, one of their victims, Macho Callagan (Jeff Cameron), survives and pursues the gang members. The penniless Macho wins a gun at a gamble and can begin to take revenge. Quite cleverly, he earns the gang's trust first to set Ironhead and Butch against each other.

One of the better Westerns by low budget director Demofilo Fidani, still it serves only the most modest demands. Klaus Kinski plays a small but funny part as a reverend.

Note: "Giu la testa, hombre" is sometimes confused with "Per una bara piena di dollari" from the same director with similar cast. Best way to distinguish them: in that other movie, Kinski plays a bigger part as the boss of the bandits.