Ringo Não Discute... Mata

Spaghetti/Chorizo Western with the most successful intervention by secondary idol Fernando Sancho. This is the original installment from Gemma-Tessari trilogy formed by ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨The return of Ringo¨ and ¨Kiss, Kiss , Bang , Bang¨ , though the later is set in modern times and deal with a heist . All of them are amusing and entertaining and starred by similar cast as Gemma , Fernando Sancho , Lorella De Luca , Nieves Navarro and Antonio Casas ; furthermore same artistic equipment . They are familiar films , in fact , the actress Lorella De Luca married director Duccio Tessari and Nieves Navarro married the producer Luciano Ercoli . This is the second part from Duccio Tessari trilogy , starred by an awesome Giuliano Gemma . It's a tremendously exciting story of an ex-soldier named Ringo who had only one more killing to go . Ringo (credited as Montgomery Wood) is a civil war soldier who goes back to his familiar land to find his family decimated, his senator father was killed , his manor taken over by a bunch of Mexican bandits named Esteban ( Fernando Sancho) and Paco Fuentes (Jorge Martin) and his fiancée ( Lorella De Luca) about to marry the nasty Mexican behind all this . Ringo (Giuliano Gemma) is spending time in discover the schemes the bandits . Once again Ringo seeks vengeance , he goes undercover disguised as a Mexican beggar and learns he has a daughter . Meanwhile , the gang of a nasty Mexican named Esteban (Fernando Sancho) and his bandits occupy a mansion and take the ranch and its inhabitants . The local Sheriff (Antonio Casas) gets no option but to send in Ringo. Ringo goes the ranch against Fuentes's hoodlums who kill and mistreat countrymen . Ringo comes to the ranch just in time to make sure its inhabitants and rescue his lover , taking place a cat and mouse game , but later the events get worse .

This Western is superior than subsequent outing because it displays thrills , emotion, shoot'em up , intrigue and is pretty amusing . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some shots or stunts every few minutes . This is a good S.W. plenty of action , shootouts , fist-play and without touches of humor as in previous entry . Ringo is stunningly played by Gemma . Giuliano is very fine, he ravages the screen , he jumps , bounds and leaps, hit and run ; plus jokes , laughs , he's a complete show . Fernado Sancho as a cruelly baddie role as Mexican bandit is terrific , subsequently the would play similar role in other Spaghettis . In the movie appears usual support actors as Spanish : George Martin , Antonio Casas , Pajarito as Italian players as Zamperla and Frank Oliveras . Special mention to Nieves Navarro or Susan Scott as attractive and rogue woman but she unfortunately would finish shooting erotic cinema . It's a co-production Spanish-Italian and shot on location in Fraga , Huesca , Spain that is well photographed by Francisco Marin , though is necessary a fine remastering because the film-copy is washed-out .¨Fraga¨ resulted to be the location where were shot lots of Western produced and directed by Catalan people as Alfonso Balcazar , J.J. Balcazar , Jose Antonio De La Loma , Juan Bosch, Ignacio F. Iquino and Julio Buchs , among others , because Almeria was too far and the landscapes bear remarkable resemblance . There are many fine technicians and nice assistant direction and excellent production design by the usual Juan Albert Soler , he creates a magnificent scenario on the interior ranch and barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets filmed in Fraga and ,PC Alfonso Balcazar Studios, Barcelona and San Jose, Andalucia, Spain . As always , the musician Ennio Morricone, composes a nice Spaghetti soundtrack and well conducted and splendid leitmotif ; it's full of enjoyable sounds and emotive score , including enjoyable songs at the beginning and the end.

This Italian writer / filmmaker Duccio Tessari so consistently mixed the good with the mediocre that it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next . He wrote several Western as ¨A fistful of dollars ¨, ¨A train to Durango ¨Seven guns for McGregor¨ , ¨The return of McGregor¨ . He directed five Western as ¨Tex e Il Signore degli abissi¨ and with abundant touches of humor as ¨Vivi o Preferibilment Morti¨, ¨Don't turn the other cheek¨ and ¨Zorro¨ with Alain Delon and of course ¨Ringo ¨and sequel , mostly starred with his fetish actor Giuliano Gemma . Tessari directed all kind of genres as drama , adventure , wartime as ¨1981 Un Centesimo Di second ,1978 Das Fünfte Gebot ,1976 La Madama ,1976 Safari Express , 1973 Tony Arzenta ,1973 Los Héroes Millonarios ,1972 Forza 'G', 1968 I Bastardi¨. Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable movie that will appeal to Spaghetti Western buffs .

This western may be similar to other westerns in its revenge-plot. At the same time though, there is a romance to it, seldom found in westerns. Just like 'The thief of Bagdad' (Michael Powell) had a unique atmosphere of mysticism, so does this western, although it is less pronounced and may even seem involuntary. Nevertheless, deliberate or not, it conveys a feeling of times long gone by and may even resemble something quite different of its kind, such as the 30-page adventure story by Carl Barks (Donald Duck Four Color: 'In old California'). Because of all this a 10 out of 10.

The Return of Ringo (1965)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Captain Brown (Giuliano Gemma) returns home from the Civil War and finds that a group of Mexican bandits led by Fuentes (Fernando Sanches) have killed his relatives and taken over the town. Naturally this isn't going to sit well with Brown so he must come up with a plan to take everything back.

Looking at the title of this thing you might think that it's a sequel to A PISTOL FOR RINGO but it's not. Well, it kind of is but not really. What you've basically got is a somewhat remake because the majority of the actors from the first film return here but they're are now playing different characters. THE RETURN TO RINGO is certainly a step down from the first film but there are still enough entertaining moments to make it worth watching.

The biggest difference that you'll notice with this film is the fact that there isn't as much comedy as the first one and that this here is a lot more darker. It's interesting to see what Duccio Tessari did with this film because he basically got the same cast and crew and got to make the first movie over. I found this to be rather interesting and especially how we got to see the actors appear in different types of roles. I'm not sure how often something like this happened but it was a curious decision and it probably played out better than had the director gotten new actors for these new roles.

Both Gemma and Sancho are once again the highlight of the picture as they are both very good in their roles and really do a great job with the hero-villain aspect. Lorella De Luca is also very good in her part and the rest of the supporting players are nice as well. Throw in the nice score, the good cinematography and some pretty good action and THE RETURN OF RINGO is a worthwhile film for fans of Spaghetti Westerns.

Giuliano Gemma returns from fighting in the Civil War to find his father murdered, his wife stolen, and his hometown taken over by wealthy racist Fernando Sancho and his family, who reclaim it for Mexico, oppressing it's non-Mexican population, and even going so far as to nailing a "No Gringos" sign on the local saloon!

Not really a sequel to A Pistol For Ringo, this reunites the cast and crew for a less humorous follow-up that's actually better than the previous film, knowing exactly what buttons to push to get the audience firmly on Ringo's side and cheering his eventual squaring off with the thoroughly nasty villains.

Gemma and Sancho are truly Spaghetti western treasures, as is composer Ennio Morricone, who blesses this with one of his best non-Leone western scores.

Recommended.

Il ritorno di Ringo (The Return of Ringo) is directed by Duccio Tessari and Tessari co-writes the screenplay with Fernando Di Leo. It stars Giuliano Gemma, Fernando Sancho, Hally Hammond, Nieves Navarro, Antonio Casas, George Martin and Manuel Muniz. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Francisco Marin.

After fighting in the American Civil War, Ringo (Gemma) returns to his home town of Mimbres to pick up his life from pre the conflict. However, he finds the town is in the grip of Mexican bandits run by brothers Paco (Martin) and Esteban Fuentes (Sancho), their control over things extending to Ringo's wife, Helen (Hammond)...

No Entry For Dogs, Gringos And Beggars.

A sequel of sorts to A Pistol for Ringo (1965), with the same makers, cast, locations etc reconvening for a different story and scenarios, this ranks as one of the better follow up movies going. After a wonderfully sang title song opens up proceedings and we get introduced to Ringo (officially Montgomery Brown) via a bit of gun play and story setting, pic quickly identifies itself as a mournful revenge and rescue piece. We are deftly placed on the side of the protagonist, rooting for him to claim back his life and in the process rescuing his loved ones and vanquishing the whole town from racist bloody tyranny. It's a classic Western tale told with style at a suitably unhurried pace, the characters are formed because they get time to breathe, all relevant to the journey and the final destination that Tessari is taking us to.

I've come back Paco Fuentes!

With Sancho and Martin delightfully vile as the villains, it falls to Gemma to turn in a good one as our hero, and so it is. Ringo is a great character as written, his world turned upside down, and he has been funeralized as well! Ringo gets beaten, stabbed and emotionally battered, but he fights with guts and cunning. He is really cool as well, during adversity he can climb a rope one handed, cock his rifle the same, he is even prone to free falling from rooftops to enact skillful kill shots. For sure this is a Spaghetti Western hero for the ages. The natural beauty in the tale is obviously in the form of Hammond (socko gorgeous) and Navarro (socko sexy), these both dovetail nicely with the more grungy aspects of story and character actions and moral standards. While the makers enjoy filling the play with colourful support characters, such as a camp florist, alcoholic sheriff and a fortune telling whore.

Tech credits are very high. Tessari has a superb eye for a telling eye catching scene or sequence, cue Ringo doing a slow walk down the street, his form transformed via a number of coloured glass windows, scenes such as the way Ringo and Helen's initial recognition is lighted for ultimate worth, Ringo rapid fire with bandaged arm as a rest, strategic motifs like a knife thrown in a heart drawn on a tree, and of course the justifiably famous scene of Ringo in a doorway with dust storm raging around him, a scene that's as chilling as it is thrilling. Stunt work is great as well, in a sub- genre of film known for its exaggerations, it's pleasing to see so many falls enacted with genuine believability, none more so than for the exhilarating last quarter of film. This last quarter brings our hero into his pomp, all while bodies and buildings are way laid by bullets (get that wicked Butterfly monikered artillery repeater!), an action prelude to the final outcome that we want, in fact demand!

Then finally there's Morricone, whose score is one of his non Leone best. It's a swirl of emotions, darting in and around the main character, occasionally rising to thunderclap status for key dramatic scenes, with a music box tie-in that's heart achingly effective. Morricone's work is the cherry on the cake, for this is a superb Spaghetti Western of blood, brains and balls, and worth seeking out by anyone interested in the better half of this mixed sub-genre of film. 8.5/10