Joe l'implacabile

Anyone expecting another grim, operatic Italian revenge oater can skip Dynamite Joe. Rik van Nutter is an Eastwood lookalike from a few angles and Antonio Margheriti plays that up in the first few minutes before Joe goes back to a Robert Conrad/Wild Wild West style hero who's a specialist with explosives. van Nutter does an all around good job as a womanizing, easygoing troubleshooter. Hired to transport a gold shipment, Joe sets off huge explosions, romances two pretty girls, tangles with Mexican bandits and crooked American politicians. The cinematography is good, the music by Savina fits the tone of this wacky film and the action is fine, especially a stage coach Chase. There have been comedy westerns alla Italianni before such as Any Gun Can Play and straight westerns with some humor in spots but Dynamite Joe is total silly tongue in cheek slapstick which probably accounts for the heavy criticism.

"Dynamite Joe" is a fairly obscure spaghetti western, rarely seen in the U.S., probably because there are no American actors in it. It's a lot more light-hearted than a lot of Italian westerns, but it doesn't work too well as either a comedy or a western. Rick Von Nutter stars as "special agent" Joe Ford, better known as Dynamite Joe. The character (and the film) seem to be influenced by both the James Bond phenomena, heavy in the 60's, and the TV show "Wild Wild West."

Joe's hired by the government to get a gold shipment safely through dangerous territory and past a group of "comancheros." He manages to do this when a wagon is made from the gold. (Yeah . . . that's believable!) Along the way we're told Joe has "an obsession with the letter G: gold, girls, and gunpowder!" The audience is also treated to (or tortured by) a couple of songs by a saloon girl (who looks a lot like Annette Funicello).

There is the usual -- for spaghetti westerns -- backstabbing and corruption of supposedly noble characters, and a number of mostly predictable twists in the plot. And then there's director Margheriti's famous work with miniatures during a sensational flood sequence. And as usual, the special effects in the sequence alternate from spectacular to dreadful, often within seconds.

In short, "Dynamite Joe" is watchable, but is far from the apex of Italian westerns. And Rick Von Nutter just walks through the title role on what I presume is supposed to be his charm. (Note to Rick: It ain't happenin', dude!)

Too much gold disappears during transports, so that the bank director hires an expert to guard the next one: Dynamite Joe (Rik Van Nutter)! Bandits and corrupt business-men are already making plans how to get rid of him, but Joe is prepared for many enemies with plenty of explosives.

The first western movie by Antonio Margheriti is somewhat too pedestrian. In the first half of the movie, nothing much is happening except discussions with bank directors and watching the saloon dancers. Only in the middle of the movie, when the villain seriously starts to attack Dynamite Joe (who replies with, guess what, a very big explosion), the audience wakes up and gets the opportunity to watch a movie that is somewhat entertaining at least in the second half, when the gold transport is on the way. Rik Van Nutter (best known for playing Felix Leiter in the James Bond movie 'Thunderball') is a kind of hero that rather is at home in secret agent movies and appears to be miscast here.

In order to put an end to the numerous ambushes on the gold transports which are a real menace to the finances of the American government, the agent Joe Ford, called Dynamite Joe due to his liking for explosives, is entrusted with controlling the next transfer.

Dynamite Joe starts with a bang when Dynamite Joe (Rik Van Nutter) appears and at first you'll be forgiven to think that this is a Sergio Leone' Dollar film knockoff as Van Nutter, who strangely resembles Clint Eastwood, is dressed in a poncho, but soon you will realise it's further from that. It's a thoroughly tongue-in-cheek western, a romp, an antithesis to the grim, nihilistic spaghetti westerns, and reminds me of the TV show Wild Wild West. An exploding watch, an exploding leather bag, an exploding derringer, an exploding Stagecoach, a bandit who takes his throne with him wherever he goes, gold-Stagecoach painted red, male guards dressed as women but they have beards , and beautiful women vying for a cool hero who hardly blinks an eye during the mayhem. Definitely an outrageous romp with Bondian traits. It's an absolute blast- fun western all the way. It has some good action, too. Rik Van Nutter makes one cool hero and is winking at the audience. Pity there weren't sequels to this.

Spaghetti westerns are very variable in quality, not a lot of great ones and not many terrible ones either, somewhat in between. 'Dynamite Joe' is a relatively obscure film, except that the full film is on Youtube and it just aired on Movies4Men just now.

Watching it via the latter with little else to do, 'Dynamite Joe' turned out to be an okay one-time watch, particularly if one is a Spaghetti western completest and wants to see even the obscure ones, but is easily forgettable and doesn't have enough to warrant repeat viewings. Not awful by all means (you can do with so much worse), but there is not much explosive here let alone enough to live up to its title.

'Dynamite Joe' does have its good things. It's not bad looking, it's evocative in design and has the right amount of rustic grit and much of the photography is lovely, especially the opening shot. The music fits quite well, sometimes rousing and at other times subtle, it's not the most lushly orchestrated score in the world but it at least is not discordant with the setting. The songs are catchy.

There are moments of amusing comedy and occasional exciting action.

On the other hand, both the direction and pace are pedestrian, especially in the far-too-long-to-get-going first half and the story is far too ordinary and seems reluctant to give any tension, imagination or conflict. Instead it tries too hard to be light-hearted and ends up playing it too safely and politely.

Regarding the script, some amusing comedy aside, it lacks lustre as well and doesn't flow naturally. The characters are little more than bland, indifferent in development clichés and the acting is nothing to write home about. Rik Van Nutter sleepwalks through the lead role, and the rest are either bland or over-the-top.

In summation, okay but forgettable very soon after watching. 4/10 Bethany Cox