Amore, piombo e furore

"There ain't no soft-hearted gunfighters" says Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) to Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) late in Monte Hellman's lyrical western "China 9 Liberty 37" a/k/a "Amore, piombo e furore". The English title reflects the words on a crossroad's sign shown at the start of the film.

Hellman fans will be happy to finally find this film available on DVD, as a 2005 release by Mill Creek Entertainment. Although the IBDb does not yet link to it, Amazon has it listed as "China 9 Liberty 37/Gone With the West". The second movie on the DVD, "Gone With the West" (a/k/a "Little Moon and Old Jug"), is a James Caan-Sammy Davis Jr. western best described as "The Rat Pack on LSD". It is a horrible western made even worse by the condition of the print they used to make the DVD, but it does feature one of the most intense cat-fights in cinema history.

The print for "China 9" is a bit better but suffers from a poor "pan and scan" full-screen treatment and weak audio tracks. It also has some editing glitches, which probably resulted from the need to cobble together a decent print for transfer to DVD. And I suspect the original release was longer than this 98minute version.

Hellman and Oates also collaborated on "The Shooting" and if you enjoyed that effort you should really like "China 9". In "China 9" Oates plays a retired gunfighter mining gold on land he refuses to sell to the railroad. Testi (the best of a long line of English-challenged pretty-boy European actors who worked in the western genre in the 60's and 70's) is hired by the railroad to kill Oates. But the two gunfighters hit it off and Testi refuses to complete the job. In the meantime Oates' wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter) comes on to Testi. They run off together believing she has killed Matthew, but he survives and begins to hunt them down. To add additional complications to the story, the railroad recruits a squad of gunfighters to kill both Matthew and Clayton.

Clayton Drum is good western hero. Although he drinks a lot of cocaine based tonic, he maintains his professional integrity and refuses to sell out to the wild west show promoters or the dime novelists. The world may be changing and making him irrelevant, but he sticks to his principles. "My life is not for sale".

Fans of "The Hunting Party" will find a familiar storyline, Fellini fans will find a nice homage to their favorite director, and Sam Peckinpah fans will find an actual appearance-while a small speaking part it is more than just a cameo.

The action sequences are extremely well staged, although the effects are on the cheap side. The action in the big final showdown scene is totally credible and leaves one wondering why other directors can't exercise their imaginations and come up with equally plausible shootouts. Plus there is an extremely nice twist to the story's resolution that you don't see coming. Finally, Hellman goes out on a slick "mise en scene" shot that actually advances the story a final notch.

"China 9" is an absolute must-see for fans of Jenny Agutter. Hellman liked to give his films an overexposed grainy look (as if the film stock was pushed a couple of steps in processing). Combined with minimal makeup this gave his heroines a strikingly haunting and earthy beauty, check out Millie Perkins in "The Shooting" and "Ride the Whirlwind". Like Perkins, Agutter has never looked better and is more than credible as the catalyst of this love triangle.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This one comes very late in the Spaghetti Western timeline, is directed by an American, and plays out like a love story. It's different to say the least.

Fabio Testi is Clayton, a condemned man who is reprieved at the last minute, as long as he tracks down Warren Oates and kills him. Oates used to work for the Railroad and they don't like loose ends, so Clayton has to take him out. A problem arises in the form of Jenny Agutter, Warren's much younger, hot wife whom Clayton first spies skinny dipping. Clayton shacks up at the Oates/Agutter household under the pretence that he's passing through, but Oates is no fool, and Agutter starts making goo-goo eyes at the hunky Clayton.

Not a shot is fired in anger for the first fifty minutes of this film, as Clayton decides he can't kill Oates by he can get it on with Agutter, which leads to Oates attacked her and Agutter retaliating in a surprisingly violent way (she stabs him in the back and brains him with a rolling pin). Clayton and Agutter think Oates is dead and they can be a couple, but Oates wakes up and gathers his numerous brothers for some revenge...as does the Railroad when they find out Oates isn't dead...

As this is a late era Spaghetti Western, the pacing isn't exactly full throttle, but I was surprised to see that the violence was very realistic - people get shot and fall over instead of clutching themselves and spinning around the place, and the violence is very abrupt and sudden, like the accidental shooting of a hooker through a window or two corpses being shot over and over again.

Plus, Testi stands out as the lightening fast Clayton, made weak through his love for Agutter. Apart from her dodgy Irish accent, Agutter does well too and spends a lot of time naked with Testi (I actually gave birth to Testi's child just by watching this film!). Warren Oates stands out too, with his mumbly, tired character.

This must be one of the very last Spaghetti Westerns, and it's worth tracking down if you can find an uncut version of it. Sam Peckinpah makes a surreal cameo too, just to add to the sense of weirdness.

'China 9, Liberty 37' is last of Monte Hellman's westerns, and his weakest attempt in that genre. The film tries to combine elements of spaghetti western with Hellman's usual existential vision. Although entertaining and thrilling at moments, the film falls into mediocrity as there isn't enough spaghetti nor existentialism.

Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) is a gunslinger waiting to be hanged, but is given last minute pardon when men from railroad company hire him to kill Matthew Sabinek (Warren Oates) who used to work as a hired gun for same men years ago. Sounds interesting? Clayton rides into the farm where Matthew lives with his young wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter). The younger and faster gunslinger, who has grown weary of the killing, decides not to complete his mission when he starts to like Matthew and two men become sort of friends. And then enters farmer's gorgeous looking wife.

There is the feel of growing tension in the first quarter of the film, that promises to become tense thriller, but then falls flat as generic love triangle and revenge story. Fabio Testi's lack of charisma against the talents and gravely looks of great Warren Oates becomes obstacle that doesn't allow proper chemistry to evolve between two main characters. Monte Hellman's other westerns (or western type movies) weren't always very thick and original on plot either, but they were executed with fascinating ways and ideas.

Recommended to the fans of Warren Oates and Monte Hellman, and when you do, try to get the uncut version as there are some meaty lines (an nudity) to juice things up a little bit.

Also, another great western director Sam Peckinpah treats the fans of the genre with wonderful cameo as an author Wilbur Olsen who wants to write story based on Clayton's life.

It's 1881. Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi) is given a last-minute opportunity to escape the hangman's noose by the railway men. He has to kill a rancher named Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) who owns land wanted by the railway company. Matthew lives in the middle of nowhere with his wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter).

This is mostly for Agutter fans. Warren Oates has been in many superior westerns and I don't know Testi. This is more a romance novel than a spaghetti western. The movie should have stayed on that dirt farm until one of them is dead. The End. That's the movie. The story loses steam once it moves away from the farm and the tension from the isolation. It's not great but some of it is still interesting.

This moves at an unhurried pace, and you may feel as if you've seen much of it before, especially if you're a spaghetti western fan. But it's worth seeing for the character played by Warren Oates, a former gunfighter whose behavior swings from the sympathetic to the unforgivable and almost back again. In a modest Western like this, it's a pleasant surprise to see ambiguous characters. So that his conflict with Fabio Testi, a younger gunfighter who steals Oates' wife, is full of uncertainty. For all the familiar trappings, you're uncertain how it will end; and that should keep you watching. As the object of desire, Jenny Agutter is constrained by a mumbling Irish brogue and an under-written part. But you can see why Testi is smitten with her. Bottom line: see this for Oates, a great actor in a worthy role.