Matá-lo

At the beginning of the movie, Bart (Corrado Pani) is about to be hanged. With a grin, he sticks his head through the noose. Soon we see the reason for his happiness: bandits attack the town and rescue him. Bart watches a widow (probably of his latest victim) shoot herself after he kissed her, but he doesn't care at all. Later he murders his rescuers in cold blood and teams up with Theo (Antonio Salines) and Philip (Luis Davila). They arrive in Benson City, a ghost town, and meet Philip's love interest Mary (Claudia Gravy). They steal a box full of gold from a stagecoach - Bart, the protagonist so far, is casually shot there - and hide in the deserted town again for a couple of days. But Theo, Philip and Mary are not alone. The last inhabitant, the old Mrs Benson, still lives there, and Ray (Lou Castel), a boyish stranger, arrives with a woman who survived an accident in the desert. When Mrs Benson offers Ray a gun to fight against the bandits, he tells her he never fired a gun before... but he's got boomerangs.

"Matalo" is not just a movie - it's an unforgettable experience. Directed by Cesare Canevari, Mario Migliardi had the freedom to experiment with the soundtrack which has many distorted strange noises and a psychedelic guitar playing which is obviously contemporary to Jimi Hendrix. You can count the dialog scenes in the movie by the fingers of one hand. Even if people talk, it is often not a convenient exchange of information for the audience, but a meaningless distraction, for example in the scene when Mary teases Theo by showing her leg, while Philip boasts about all the gold they stole.

Bart says: "It is easier to love God than your next one, because God doesn't cheat" (in the original: "E più facile amare Dio che il prossimo perché Dio non ti frega mai"). Bart is often laughing to himself, as if he told a secret joke to himself - more likely, he is amused at the absurdity of his existence.

If somebody shoots, it's not the aim, it's the sensuality of the action that matters. Bart loves to smell the smoke of his gun after he fired. Before the stagecoach robbery, Bart and Philip don't discuss their plan like they would do in an ordinary movie. Often it is not important what is shown, but what is not shown, because that questions your habits as a viewer. After Julio Ortas' camera turned in circles, we see bodies on the ground. Who killed whom? Never mind. We all must die. God doesn't cheat.

Spaghetti westerns are known for their absence of well defined good and evil, a familiar element of most earlier Hollywood westerns, and this moral ambiguity is one of the key hallmarks of 60's and 70's pop culture. With a title like Matalo! (a term which is roughly translated as 'kill 'em all!') this 1970 film certainly has the cynical morals and body count of typical spaghettis, but director Cesare Canevari takes this all a step 'further' by adding superficially entertaining gimmicks of the era, like hippie fashions, druggy cinematography, and especially Mario Migliardi's preposterously enjoyable prog-rock soundtrack, which sounds like a melting Ash Ra Temple LP played through a phase shifter. The central character is a hoot; a smiling trigger-happy psychopath named Bart, played by Corrado Pani, who cheerfully shoots everybody in sight. This is a uniquely odd specimen of the spaghetti western genre, which makes it essential. Worth your time as long as you don't take it seriously.

i LIKE MOVIES THAT MAKE ME STRANGE SENSATION!According to Mereghetti's dictionary of movies, this western is "as a Leone at last in mescalina" and with some moments that reminds Monte Hellman's movies for the use of the empty moments. This movie seems to me an august nightmare, with the hot, the desolation and the wonderful state of madness that characterized the end of the summer. Also notable is the score of Mario Mingardi, a mix of Jimi Hendrix and Luciano Berio, with electronics that supplies dialogues. I think that in western there is nothing like the duel of Matalo, a pistol against boomerangs! Recommended for all who like strange movies in the heart of the night with a little drop of alcohol or something else!

I watched this movie for the second time and really enjoyed it. I see there is allot of mixed feelings about Matalo. Too me this movie had very surreal tones and eerie sounds giving the Benson Town that Ghost Town feel with a touch of Horror film suspense to it. I know the costumes had a hippie look to them but the opening scene of the movie of Bart out of focus walking to be hanged was brilliant camera work and direction. Corrado Pani (Bart)in his first and only SW he ever played in was fantastic as the lead bad guy role. I am shocked to see him not in any SW after this for the genre was alive still in 1970 and slowly fizzing out till 1978. It shows Bart and his ultimate drive in life is money and it does not matter who you walk over or hurt to get it. I loved allot of scenes in the movie like Bart doing a sort of flashback thought of his father and how important money is and the old Benson lady in denial who believed that the money would revive the great Benson name and life back in the town. The boomerang slinging stranger a different type of hero who is tormented by Bart's gang and to be saved by his horse with a strange supernatural touch to the scene. What, I disliked was the final scene with the gunfire between Bart and his gang and the repetition of the camera spinning over and over was too much. It was great to see Bart show his sole purpose in life as the only one going after the donkey with all the money even though to no avail being mortally wounded.

When someone gets a credit for providing electroacoustic special effects, you know you're in for something different. Matalo is a very different type of Western. The hero doesn't even carry a gun. He carries boomerangs.

This whole heap of weirdness doesn't have much of a plot by the way. What we get is a dodgy character called Bart get saved from hanging by a bunch of laughing Mexicans. He then proceeds to steal a bunch of gold and after Bart and the Mexicans get out of town (to a soundtrack of psych-rock), Bart shoots every single one of them and ends up meeting his two friends. They all end up at a creepy ghost town where every grave has the name Benson, and every shot front also sports the name Benson. While a fourth bandit turns up in the form of sexy Claudia Gravy, the movie starts flashing subliminal shots of an eyeball while we realise that someone else is creeping about town. Plus, Claudia seems to be playing mind games with every one of these guys.

This is all told to the sound of howling wind and strange effects, whirling camera shots, acid rock, trippy editing and bizarre acting. When Bart is seemingly shot dead during another robbery, the other three start conspiring against each other while waiting to head to Mexico.

The hero take shapes in the form of Lou Castel and his boomerangs and he spends most of the film being held captive and getting tortured, especially by Claudia Gravy (she sits on a rope swing while threatening him with a knife in one of many strange scenes). There's also a scene where a horse decides to join a fight, and those boomerangs make for some groovy camera shots when we finally get to the weird showdown at the end.

Although not as satisfying as the similar Django Kill! If you live...shoot! or as goofy as Get Mean, this is still one weird-ass Western that should be tracked down. Just don't expect much action. Claudia Gravy has a great second name, doesn't she?