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Ferdinando Baldi's "Il Pistolero Dell' Ave Maria" aka. "Forgotten Pistolero" Of 1969 is good Spaghetti Western with an excellent score. Baldi is responsible for several good Spaghetti Westerns, including the great "Blindman" of 1971 and "Texas Addio" of 1966 with Franco Nero in the lead, and although "Forgotten Pistolero" is not one of his greatest achievements, Baldi proves once again, that he is an above average Western director. While "Blindman" is my definite favorite of Baldi's movies, I couldn't say whether I preferred "Texas Addio" of "Forgotten Pistolero". On the one hand, "Texas Addio" has Franco Nero, without doubt one of the Italian Western's best actors, in the lead, and the supporting cast includes Luigi Pistilli, Livio Lorenzon and Gino Pernice. On the other hand, the acting in "Forgotten Pistolero" is also very convincing, the score is excellent and the storyline is a bit more interesting than that of "Texas Addio".

After Sebastian's father, Civil War General Juan Carrasco (José Suárez) is murdered by his wife Anna (Luciana Paluzzi) and her lover Tomas (Alberto De Mendoza), their son Sebastian flees with his nanny and former wet-nurse. Years later, grown Sebastian (Leonard Mann) has become a fast and excellent shot. One day Rafael (Peter Martell) comes to Texas, where Sebastian lives, and brings back the dark memories of Sebastian's childhood. Rafael, who is the lover of Sebastian's sister Isabel (Pilar Velásquez), is constantly victimized by Anna Carrasco's henchmen (one of them played by Piero Lulli), and Sebastian agrees to join him back to his mother's estate in order to free his sister from their unscrupulous mother and to avenge his father's death.

This is the second movie starring Leonard Mann I've seen, after "Three Amens For Satan" of 1971. "Three Amens For Satan" was certainly no masterpiece, but Mann definitely delivered a good performance. In "Forgotten Pistolero" he is once again very good in the lead, and although Mann is not a very well-known Spaghetti Western actor, it should be said that this guy definitely had potential to play silent avenger types. Peter Martell also delivers a credible performance as Sebastian's sidekick Rafael, and Alberto De Mendoza is good as the villainous Tomas. The best performances in this movie, however, are in my opinion those of Luciana Paluzzi as the sneaky mother Anna Carrasco and beautiful Pilár Velásquez as Isabel. Piero Lulli fits perfectly into his (regrettably small) role of the brutal thug as always. The score by Roberto Pregadio is excellent, and the film is shot quite nicely in decent locations.

"Forgotten Pistolero" is a solid and entertaining Spaghetti Western, not a genre-highlight, but definitely a good film. 7/10

"Gunman of Ave Maria" ends up missing the mark. It has a good story. The male cast is fine and the female cast is dreamy but, for some reason, it doesn't really come together. It kind of plays like a Lifetime version of a spaghetti western. I guess they deserve some points for trying something different but I don't think I'll be re-watching "Gunman of Ave Maria" any time soon.

Poor Mexican farmer Leonard Mann is met one day by mysterious stranger Peter Martell, who tells him that he's really the son of a wealthy landowner, murdered by his unfaithful wife and her lover. They then travel to his boyhood home to seek revenge, reclaim his birthright, and save his long-lost (and long suffering) sister from his mother's now ex-lover.

The Forgotten Pistolero, which borrows a little from Hamlet, is a well-told story, with excellent production values, and enough great western/Mexican atmosphere to go around. The imitation Ennio Morricone score by Roberto Pregado is pretty swell too.

The entire cast give really great performances, though the lack of any real bankable international star probably helped get this above-average Italian western unjustly buried. Mann and Martell are exceptional though, and they do make a great team.

The climax amidst a flaming backdrop is superb and ultimately quite satisfying.

However, there are some unanswered questions regarding Mann's apparent amnesia in regards to his childhood, or lack thereof. Is he even the same person? Did he tell the villain the truth when they first met? No answer is given.

(1969) The Forgotten Pistolero/ Gunman of Ave Maria/ Il pistolero dell'Ave Maria DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Co-written and directed by Ferdinando Baldi very loosely based on "Oresteia" by Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. It centers on gunman, Rafael Garcia (Peter Martell) being sidetracked by three bandits attempting to follow orders of bringing him back. He succeeds in shooting all of them as well as some others around him leaving a bandit, Francisco alive so that he can give him a message. The next scene has Rafael reaching to an isolated ranch before he falls off his horse upon pleading with the rancher, Sebastian Carrasco (Leonard Mann) for some water. It appears Sebastian does not recognize Rafael at all, and he fills him on his past history that the current lady he has just buried nearby is not her actual mother. That Sebastian's actual mother is still alive and is hanging around in a town called Oaxaca. And after hanging around with him some more, he tells him how his actual mother, Anna Carrasco (Luciana Paluzzi) shot and killed his actual father, General Juan Carrasco (José Suarez) by shooting him on the back, who was conspired with a bandit leader, Tomas (Alberto de Mendoza). And that the lady, Sebastian he had just buried was nothing more but the nanny/ housekeeper. That he also happens to have a sister, Isabelle (Pilar Velazquez) married to a store keep. This sets the stage for them to set things right as viewers find out that the hired bandits were ordered to fetch Rafael and return him back to Anna. That Rafael spent years looking for Sebastian and has finally managed to convince him to join him.

There is many twists and turns with some complicated scenarios as well as some surprising revelations gives this film a pass. The ending wasn't bad either.

As soon as the Forgotten Pistolero starts, the theme tune is instantly familiar - with the whistled score probably surpassed only by Morricone's Dollars trilogy soundtracks, or maybe the Magnificent Seven, when it comes to being used as the backdrop to western sketches everywhere. It is made all the more beautiful by the mountainous Almeria backdrop.

The film itself is equally impressive. Directed by the prolific Ferdinando Baldi, it begins with Rafael (Pietro Martellanza) being pursued by a gang of Mexicans. Surviving the ambush (to the sound of that glorious theme), he finds himself finally locating child-hood friend Sebastian (Leonard Mann).

Sebastian is informed that the woman he believed to be his mother, and who had raised him since a child, had in fact rescued him as an infant from the brutal attack and mass murder that had cost his father his life. Rafael tells him that this attack had been arranged by his real mother (Paluzzi) and her lover.

Sebastian's sister, who had witnessed the massacre all those years ago, had since fallen in love with Rafael (for which he had been severely punished and hounded). The extent of this punishment becomes clear later in the movie when, whilst captive, he is forced to lie next to a beautiful lady, and taunted that he now only has his muscles to prove his manhood.

This revenge story follows a different path to the majority of Euro-westerns, with emphasis on the tale rather than action (that said, there are some great action scenes). It is a highly captivating and atmospheric movie, gripping from start to finish. Well worth the watch but - warning - you'll be whistling the music for days!