Inferno no Oeste

After much wrangling over a treasure map, mystery man (and pacifist!) Richard Harrison leads a group of men and a young boy in search of an ex-Confederate's stolen gold, battling bandits and eventually one another to be the last one standing.

Between God, The Devil And A Winchester is a great spaghetti western with lots of action and a satisfying adventure loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Gilbert Roland is excellent as a wily wagon master with an iron gauntlet on his hand, who plays all sides and may or may not be a villain. His performance in this is an absolute pleasure to watch and makes up for any of the film's shortcomings.

While nothing special in itself (and in spite of its portentous title), this one scores a few points for transposing Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pirate adventure "Treasure Island" to a Spaghetti Western landscape! Folco Lulli plays the Billy Bones figure – who sets the plot in motion; 'Long John Silver' is Gilbert Roland, sporting an iron hand instead of a wooden leg! Also involved are preacher Richard Harrison, while 'Jim Hawkins' is incarnated by a Mexican boy (who, naturally, befriends the roguish Roland).

Director Girolami (using the pseudonym Dario Silvestri), who dabbled in everything from comedy to action-oriented efforts, is the lesser-known father of cult film-maker Enzo G. Castellari (curiously enough, Roland co-starred in the latter's debut feature – ANY GUN CAN PLAY [1967] – which, incidentally, is also a Spaghetti Western). The film remains watchable, thanks also to a notable score from Carlo Savina; it does, however, include a couple of almost campy moments – one in which a badman is set on fire when a Mexican girl he has attempted to rape breaks a lantern over his head, but he takes care to repeatedly shoot her prior to expiring himself(!); another is when Roland's thin cigar is lit by a shot fired from the gun being handled by non-practitioner Harrison!

Ha! I'm so dumb I didn't get the Treasure Island thing!

Richard Harrison (with moustache on loan to Burt Reynolds) is an ex-priest or possible still priest who ends up with a treasure map to some gold somewhere that was previously owned by some arsey old guy but is now sought after by bandits and a guy with an iron hand whom the film spends a massive amount of time pondering the question of whether or not the guy is evil or not. That sentence made complete sense I'm sure.

This guy is called Quisido or something and he says he's protecting Harrison and this young kid but then he's making deals with the bandits and Enzo Castellari's brother (who here seems to have dyed his hair and lathered on loads of fake tan, if that was him)...

Plot aside (it's the usual stuff), I can tell even through the crappy copy I've got that this is probably a really good looking film. Made by Enzo's dad but nowhere near as entertaining as Zombie Holocaust. Also, I have made fun in the past of Richard Harrison's inability to act (he can sure glare though), I still enjoy seeing him in a film and he's good as an action star, especially here where's he's sworn's he's never's to fire's a gun's.

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This ¨Anche Nel West Céra Una Volta Dio ¨ (1968) by Marino Girolami¨ is based on Treasure island , classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson , it deals with a stranger (Folco Lulli , similar role Treasure island's Billy Bones) arrives in an inn and hides a treasure map the bandits wish . Being chased by outlaws suffers an accident , then a boy (Jack Hawkins-alike) witnesses where it was hidden and he gains access to a treasure map . The kid retrieves it and passes it on to the local preacher . Later on , he persuades a guide called Juan Chasquisdo (Gilbert Roland , lookalike Long John Silver) and a priest (Richard Harrison) , an innkeeper (Roberto Camardiel) to accompany him in his search to recover it. All of them are pursued by cutthroats (Raf Baldassarre). The priest recognizes that much of the treasure was likely that from a local mission. They set out to get it before the bandits encounter it.

This Paella/Spaghetti Western is filled with action , thrills , horse riding , intrigue , betrayal and crossfire . This Ravioli/Paella Western packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and some moments genuinely entertaining if you can avoid thinking too much . It contains bits of campy and refreshing events with turns and twists . Nice acting by Gilbert Roland as a rogue thief sporting an iron hand instead of a wooden leg ; he starred some Spaghetti such as Sonora, Goldseekers , Johnny Hamlet and Any Gun Can Play . Richard Harrison's performance in the movie is a bit wooden for the role of such an interesting character , but the fantastic performance by the always great Folco Lulli and sympathetic Roberto Camardiel save the show . Furthermore , a motley group of usual Spanish/Italian secondaries such as Luis Barboo , Xan das Bolas , Jose Sacristan , Ennio Girolami , Raf Baldassarre , among others . Atmospheric cinematography by Pablo Ripoll, though being necessary a correct remastering , and features a sensitive musical score by Carlo Savina , including emotive songs . This is a passable Spaghetti Western with some amusing moments and nice outdoors shot in La Pedriza , Manzanares Del Real , Colmenar Viejo (Madrid) , and interior filmed in Elios studios (Rome) .

Strong and robust Richard Harrison was a magnificent muscle-man . He was one along with Ed Fury, Brad Harris, Kirk Morris, Reg Park, Mark Forest, among others, whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures, but anybody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity. Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos ¨ and ¨South Pacific¨ , while shooting another inferior character in ¨Master of world (1961)¨ produced by American International , he met producer James H. Nicholson's daughter and married her within six months. Frustrated at not being able to secure meatier roles in America , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe along with his greatest success ¨The seven Spartans¨. He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades. His lead role, of course, immediately typed him as another Herculean type and, to avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man, he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the red¨ , ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨Joe Dakota¨ ¨ ,even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part . He also starred Wartime genre as ¨Leopards of Churchill¨ and ¨36 hours in hell¨ and spy intrigue as ¨Master stroke¨ and ¨077 challenge to the killer's¨ . Once Italy closed down film production after the muscular craze had died down, he, like others, found himself unemployed. He did manage to scrape up work in Hong Kong, but a large portion of them were bottom-of-the-barrel Ninja movies.

The film was professionally directed by Marino Girolami , under pseudonym Fred Wilson or Dario Silvestri , he is father of Enzo G. Castellari and Ennio Girolami who here appears as a nasty bandit and brother of Romolo Guerrieri . He was a craftsman working in all kind of genres as Western such as "Badmen of the West" ,"Two Ringos from Texas", "God Was in the West, Too, at One Time" and specially , Terror and comedies .

Other Spaghetti Westerns freely based on famous novels and plays are the followings : ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ by Leopoldo Savona with Anthony Steffen that takes elements about ¨Hamlet¨and ¨Macbeth¨ of Shakespeare . Other Spaghetti freely based on famous play by Shakespeare is ¨The Fury of Johnny Kid¨ by Gianni Puccini with Peter Lee Lawrence and Cristina Galbo from ¨Romeo and Giuletta¨ along with "Bullets and the Flesh" by Marino Girolami . Other Spaghetti based on known and classic plays and novels are the followings : ¨Johnny Hamlet¨(1968) with Andrea Giordana directed by Enzo G Castellari ; ¨The return of Ringo¨ by Duccio Tessari inspired on the ¨Odyssey¨, and ¨John Il Bastardo¨(1967) based on books from Zorrilla and Moliere ; ¨Long days of vengeance¨ by Florentano Vancini with Giuliano Gemma and Francisco Rabal , being based on classic novel titled ¨The count of Montecristo¨ written by Alexandre Dumas .

Between God, the Devil and a Winchester (1968)

** (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining Spaghetti Western is a variation on Stevenson's Treasure Island. In the film, an old man shows up with a treasure map and hires a bandit to take him to the location but the old man is killed during a shoot out. A kid and a peaceful man eventually get a hold of the map and once again the bandit is taking them to the location when more double crossing happens. There are several major plot holes with this film including the fact that bandits keep being used even though the characters know very well that this is just going to lead to trouble. Every time one of the bandits are killed it seems the group brings another in for help. Another problem is that the film is very poorly made and comes off looking incredibly ugly with some very bad camera-work. Some of the tracking shots in this thing are beyond bad. Even with all that said the film does have a few good moments and that includes one scene where a woman is being attacked by the bandit so she breaks a lantern over his head. Gilbert Roland, iron hand and all, is very good and keeps the film moving. Carlo Savina's music score is certainly the highlight of the film.