Chiedi perdono a Dio... non a me

Ardisson should have done more spags. He had the look and the chops to pull off the laconic protagonist. This film is a stark reminder of what might have been, as director Musolino passed away at a young age after making only two films (this being the better one). It is well made, with a style that reminds of Leone without completely ripping the master off.

Standard violent revenge story. Ardisson was always good as an action man in the 60s and early 70s and who doesn't love Sanchez in his usual jovial roles? The use of music from Goldfinger unfortunately took me out of the story when it appeared. There's less female pulchritude than usual for a Euro western. Cristina Iosani's exotic and busty sex appeal, on display in Robert Woods' My Name Is Pecos, is covered up in long dresses here as she plays Ardisson's love interest. The Gatling gun sequence is loud but bloodless, like it is in most westerns and US TV shows with the exception of The Wild Bunch.

"May God Forgive You...But I Won't" is a rock solid spaghetti western. It's a good looking movie. It tells its story well and its action is well staged. George Ardisson does a nice job as the hero. The supporting cast also does a nice job. "May God Forgive You...But I Won't" does go off the rails once in a while but it quickly gets back on track. I've been watching a lot of spaghetti westerns these past couple of years. They are a hit or miss kind of thing. This movie goes on the plus side of the ledger. (IMDB has a six hundred character minimum so I have to ramble on a little bit longer. How was your day?)

It becomes pretty clear a few times in this spaghetti western that it was trying to ape the original "Django" movie, not just for the fact the hero in this movie has a name similar to "Django". That didn't concern me that much, especially since for the most part the movie seems to be trying to do its own thing. The movie does have some interest here and there - a good musical score, a story that goes in a few unexpected areas, and a decent action climax. But the movie has some significant problems. One of the main problems is that the motivations of some key characters remains vague or simply not explained at all. Another problem is that the movie unfolds at a somewhat slower pace than you usually get for a revenge western. Fans of spaghetti westerns will probably get enough enjoyment out of it, though it isn't one that should be actively sought out.

Old MacDonald had a farm... and a son called Cjamango (Django in some dubbed versions). When MacDonald is killed, Cjamango (George Ardisson) hunts down the murderers in a typical revenge story. Jack Smart (Peter Martell) drinks too much, doesn't live up to his name and is killed quickly. His older brother Dick (Anthony Ghidra) gets a lot of men together now and chases Cjamango. Barrica (Pedro Sanchez) knows that there is a price on the heads of most pursuers, so in exchange for the bounty money, he helps Cjamango. After the courteous exchange of various brutalities between Cjamango and the smarter Smart brother, Cjamango remembers a friend of his father owns a machine gun from the civil war. Guess what? The first 30 minutes are not very encouraging to watch the rest, especially since the camera work is a bit static, but as soon as Cjamango meets the main villains, the action becomes a bit more lively (or rather, deadly), and in the end you get a typical, violent genre movie, not more than average but not less either. Some locations are familiar from "For A Few Dollars More", by the way.