Ringo, il volto della vendetta

Cash-strapped drifters Anthony Steffen and Eduardo Fajardo save the life of a life of a trouble-prone Mexican ex-con with half of a treasure map tattooed across his back. Soon, the three find themselves partnered up with oily con-man Frank Wolff and a crooked sheriff in a game of double and triple-crosses.

Clearly inspired by The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, this is straight-forward and colorful, with lots of twists and great performances by Steffen, Fajardo (who gets to be a good guy in this one), and villain Wolff, whose character seems to corrupt nearly every person he comes in contact with.

Well photographed, this makes full use of some excellent Spanish locations. It's always good to see Italian westerns with a lot of emphasis on outdoor action, with a good portion of the film taking place on the trail.

This movie has an original title that resumes almost everything about its story: Los Quatro Salvajes ( or The Four Ruthless Men). You'll see why. Two miserable adventurers (Steffen and Fajardo, in his best performance) help a Mexican guy to escape an attack of fierce 'bandoleros' just to find out that this Mexican outcast has a great secret: he knows - or, better, partially knows - where a great gold treasure is hidden. Why just 'partially'? Well, because he has just a part of the map to the treasure site tattooed in his back! Because of this he must find the other guy who has the rest of the map equally tattooed in the back; this guy is now a sheriff and so the hunt begins. An interesting story that resembles me a bit the Houston's classic 'Treasure of Sierra Madre' is charmingly developed by veteran director Mario Caiano although a bit far fetched and meaningless in some scenes and situations. Fajardo is terrific and Alejandra Nilo is a gorgeous face along the way. A spaghetti western that will delight the addicts of the genre and will be a good surprise to a new public as well.

Ravioli/Chorizo Western with a prolific Italian director and two main actors from Spaghetti . Entertaining Spaghetti Western with shootouts , action ,violence and amusement . The story is similar to previous classic ¨The treasure of the Sierra Madre¨ but realized in Spaghetti style and bears remarkable resemblance to "The Ruthless Four" by Giorgo Capitani . This is a tale of fear , greed and murder , as three partners fall out over the gold they have clawed out of the inhospitable and bandit-ridden deserts and mountains . IT deals with two adventurers (Anthony Steffen , Antonio Fajardo) save the life of a man (Armando Calvo) who has a tattooed treasure map on his back. The second needed map is on the back of a sheriff (Alfonso Goda) and the chase starts . They form a trio of unlikely pals ; both of whom match wills and wits and fight outlaws , elements and ambition among them . Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding the mine , but also bandits , betrayals , and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster . As they struggle among themselves to unearth a fortune in gold from a remote mine without falling prey to each other's bullets. Along the way they save the damsel in distress (Alejandra Nilo) who is being pursued by the Mexican local population .

Offbeat ravioli/tortilla Western follows the Sergio Leone wake , especially to ¨The bad , the bad and the ugly¨ , as it is proceeded in Spaghetti models . It's an exciting western with breathtaking gunfight between the protagonist Anthony Steffen against the heartless Frank Wolff and his nasty hoodlums and a stirring ending fight .It's an entertaining story with a touch of peculiarity , some great characters, and an amazing music . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . Steffen is appropriate in his usual character , he ravages the screen , shoots , hit and run and kills . The picture is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom. His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include features as ¨Seven Dollars to Kill¨, ¨The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨ and ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ . Steffen's performance in the movie is a bit wooden for the role of such an interesting character , but the fantastic performance by the always great Eduardo Fajardo as the slimy, menacing outlaw make up for , he is terrific, and bears a hysterical and mocking aspect , subsequently he would play similar roles .

The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count , full of horse ridding , pursuits and shots and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes . There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , such as in the ending gunfights . The movie gets the usual Western issues , as avengers antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies and spectacular duels , among them . The sense of pacing is such interesting that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors , rocky landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets by expert set designers Cubero and Galicia who designed several Westerns as Spanish as international ones . The musician Francesco De Massi composes a nice soundtrack and well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie; as it's full of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background . It contributes tremendously to the atmosphere of the film, including an emotive leitmotif, the score is perhaps the best part of this film . Striking cinematography by Julio Ortas including a correct remastering . Outdoor sequences with barren and rocky exteriors filmed in Spanish places located on outskirts Madrid , Colmenar Viejo , Hoyo De Manzanares and La Pedriza , and of course , Almeria . In Hoyo de Manzanares was built a Western village by the producer Eduardo Manzanos Brochero , here screenwriter too , called 'Golden City' and resulted to be the locations in which were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Spanish and Italian and occasionally American people.

Mario Caiano's direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and humorous and more inclined toward violence and packs too much action , but especially this thrilling Western contains long shot'em up and violence . He directed this acceptable western , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career , as he directed several Spaghetti : ¨Brandy¨, ¨Avenger of California¨ , ¨Ringo, face of revenge¨ , ¨Bullets don't argue¨, ¨Lone and angry man¨, ¨A train to Durango¨. Caiano is a craftsman who has directed all kind of genres as Peplum as ¨Ulisse vs Ercole¨, ¨I due Gladiatori¨, ¨Maciste Gadiatori di Sparta¨ and Terror : ¨Nightmare castle¨, ¨ Eye in the labyrinth¨ and even Pornonazi as ¨Nazi love camp 27¨. Although Caiano couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . Muddle and uneven Western but will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados . Rating : 6 , riotous Western in which there's too much violence , action and enough excitement

This film starts with that Almeria backdrop that we love so much. Ringo (Anthony Steffen) and his colleague Davy (Eduardo Fajardo) rescue Fidel (Armando Calvo) from a certain death at the hands of a posse of gun-hands. Their motive? Well it had nothing to do with Fidel's safety, but an assumption that there must be a reason that the gang would be so keen to pursue him.

This intuition is well founded. Once they have rescued Fidel for a second time - after a full on bar brawl - they discover that he has a map tattooed on his back. It turns out to be just half of a map for hidden gold, with the second half on the back of a crook-turned-sheriff following a pact whilst the two were captive in prison. The aptly named "Trikie"(Frank Wolff) has overheard the conversation, and insists on joining the three on the trail of the gold. The group successfully track down the Sheriff, who double crosses them - the first of many double-crosses as they follow the map and the film develops.

"Ringo - Face of Revenge" is pretty watchable, although in truth fairly average spaghetti fare. With not a hint of revenge! The story itself has many twists and turns that successfully kept my attention, but the actual delivery of Caiano's direction seemed often lacking. I couldn't help feel that certain scenes were simply added in to cement the gaps in the story, and help the viewer realise what was actually going on (but unfortunately the cement was weak and lacked substance).

That said, there are some great scenes - my favourite being the moment when the captured group decide that the only way to prevent the double crossing sheriff from learning the secret of the other half of the map is to burn the tattoo off of Fidel's back. Ouch! As far as the acting is concerned, Fajardo really excels in the role of the eccentric Davy. Both Wolff and Steffen on the other-hand both appear quite subdued (although, I guess that was largely Steffen's style).

If you enjoyed "Some Dollars for Django" you will probably enjoy this movie also, as it has a similar feel (and not just because of Steffen's lead role). To me it remains in that group of westerns that I quite enjoy watching, but would be in no particular rush to watch again.

Though the title "Ringo: Face of Revenge" suggests otherwise, there actually isn't any kind of revenge in this particular spaghetti western. I'm used to this kind of bait-and-switch in the spaghetti western genre, so I didn't mind this. And there is some genuine merit to be found in the movie's 97 minutes. There is a low key but effective musical score, for one thing. And while the movie seems to have had a slightly lower budget than usual, director Mario Caiano manages to spend the limited funds well so the movie doesn't come across as cheap. Caiano also manages to generate some decent action sequences, and effectively film the various plot twists and turns so the viewer keeps wondering where the movie is headed to. But at the same time, Caiano puts some odd touches in. The movie is a little slow, and could have been tightened somewhat. There is also a frequent casual feeling to the story when things should have been nailed down more. The casualness to some of the violence is a little off-putting, and the portrayal of Ringo and his actions don't always make him come across as likable. When you weigh the good with the bad, this spaghetti western ends up being just okay. Fans of the genre will probably get some entertainment out of it, but if they never see it, they are not missing that much.