Le Dernier des salauds

(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.

I don't think this one ever got a release in the USA. It's got a great score, good action, and kind of a soap-opera plot, but the actors do a good job and production values and sets are top notch. Leonard Mann and Peter Martell play two young gunmen who share a tragic past; childhood friends, they were separated when Mann's father was killed by his mother's lover. He was spirited away by a faithful servant while his sister (the lovely Pilar Velazquez) remained to be raised by the two murderous lovers. Rafael (a brooding Martell), childhood friend and servant also remains, but is practically a prisoner of the household until he grows up and escapes, searching for the missing Sebastian. Complications ensue. This one has a bit more heart than most spaghetti westerns, and if you are a fan of the genre, you'll enjoy it. 8/10

The DVD I've ordered features the film (Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria) in its original Italian language. Some aspects of the story may have been changed in the English language version.

I will tell you just the very beginning of the story. I only want to give you a taste of the film. There will be no real spoilers (I think).

A lone rider going through a canyon. Up on the cliffs horsemen watching him. Close-ups of their faces, hands ready for action. The scene is enhanced by a hauntingly beautiful score.

The rider is Rafael (Pietro Martellanza). As a boy he had worked in a hacienda in Mexico. The owner of the hacienda was absent fighting against the french. For those that have no knowledge of the history of Mexico, very simplistically told, the french had invaded Mexico in 1861 and installed Maximilian of Habsburg in power. He became the emperor of Mexico! The french rule lasted until 1867, when the Mexicans led by Benito Juarez, expelled the french and shot the Emperor. Crazy, ain't it?

Coming back to the film, Rafael worked in this hacienda that belonged to the Carrasco Family. The patriarch and owner of the hacienda, General Juan Carrasco, was absent fighting against the french. Rafael was the best friend of his (the general's) son Sebastian (Leonard Mann), and loved and was loved by Sebastian's sister, Isabella (Pilar Velazquez). Children, the three of them. But while General Carrasco was away fighting the french, his wife Ana (Luciana Paluzzi) was having an affair with the hacienda's foreman, Tomas (Alberto de Mendoza). After the french had been defeated, General Carrasco returns home and is received in high style by everyone in the hacienda. A party is held to commemorate his return. Suddenly... betrayal and tragedy.

The characters are scattered to the four winds. Years pass and the dust seems to have settled down, but a chance meeting will rekindle old memories. The day of reckoning has arrived.

This story almost seems a Mexican melodrama, but it's filmed with a grandeur and style that's unique. The party that is held in homage to General Carrasco, when he returns from the war, with its dancing, singing and eating, is flamboyantly portrayed. The same holds true for the scene in which a character enters a small Mexican village where a celebration is taking place in the streets ... firecrackers, people laughing, singing ... Then the saloon, with wild and beautiful women dancing barefoot on the counter... Ferdinando Baldi is very skilled in telling a story by way of images - editing, framing, close-ups, music ... everything adds up to create the right atmosphere and the proper emotion. It's true that sometimes he goes overboard, as he proved with the completely over-the-top film's ending, that's so operatic, so melodramatic, as to put even the wildest Mexican melodramas to shame.

A good, well-told story featuring beautiful women (Luciana Paluzzi, Pilar Velazques and many others), sunny, dry landscapes, and a wonderful soundtrack. I didn't like so much the ending, though, with its fire and brimstones conclusion, but this is a matter of taste. Highly recommended if you like your spaghetti hot and wild.

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!

"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.