Un homme nommé Sledge

"A Man Called Sledge" is unique among the spaghetti westerns I have seen so far because it is the only one directed by an American. Vic Morrow must have been a big fan of spaghetti westerns himself, because he really got it right. It must have been a lot of fun for an American director to go to Spain and Italy to shoot an authentic spaghetti western back when the genre was still being pumped out.

I wasn't expecting much spaghetti style from this film because I knew it was by an American director with mainly American actors, but the movie really surprised me. It's nowhere near the very top of the spaghetti meter, but on the other hand you would never mistake this one for a Hollywood western. It's got Italian written all over it. The music score by Gianni Ferrio is quite good. A couple of parts sound a little too much like jazz for me, but most of it is well-suited for the genre, especially the tunes with vocals and over-the-top cheesy lyrics.

Don't let the fact that this movie is one of the later-era spaghetti westerns and has James Garner in it fool you into thinking it's one of those goofy comedy type of Euro-westerns. There are a couple of funny lines in the film, but overall it's very serious and tragic with plenty of violence and action. This is not a happy film at all, which is definitely a good thing in this case.

The production values and acting are above-average for a Eurowestern. James Garner and Dennis Weaver, both of whom have usually portrayed happy/funny do-gooders in American films and television shows, do an excellent job here in their roles as seriously bad people. Casting them for those parts was probably done for effect. It reminds me of how Leone used Henry Fonda as the evil character in Once Upon a Time in the West.

This is one that is definitely worth seeing if you are into Euro-westerns.

In the Old West, a gunfighting outlaw called Sledge(James Garner) connives his way into a prison in hopes of getting his hands a cache of gold on stored there . Sledge join forces with a varied bunch of bandits (John Marley , Dennis Weaver , Claude Akins , Bruno Corazzari , among others) attempting to take a large shipment of gold into a prison fort . The misfit group of outlaws wind up battling each over a cache of gold . A quintet of unlikely partners match wills and wits and fight enemies and each other .

Entertaining Spaghetti Western with shootouts , action ,violence and amusement . It is a mainstream Western amusement with a lot of surprises , thrills and including a love story between James Garner and a whore played by gorgeous Laura Antonelli . This film realized in Spaghetti style contains action-Western , gun-play , fist-play and is pretty bemusing . Vic Morrow's spaghetti western, probably won't be making too many top ten lists, but its an agreeable flick . It's an exciting western that scrutinizes the greed and paranoia that afflicts a misfit group , including breathtaking showdown between protagonists and the enemies . The film blends violence , thrills , high body-count and it's fast moving and exciting . There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts or stunts every few minutes , including a spectacular final confrontation . Although by many to be director Vic Morrow's finest film , this is a tale of fear , greed and murder , as some partners fall out over the gold they have robbed from an impenetrable safe . It also has probably the most brutal prison escape ever put on film . Underrrated by some reviewers , but till interesting to watch . It above all things mostly also remains a real characters movie, in which the five main roles are the essentials . Their dynamic together is also great and is what mostly keeps this movie going. They are five totally different characters, which is the foremost reason why they work out so great together on film . This theme about confrontation among mean people for a cache of gold has been treated in various Spaghetti such as ¨Ruthless four¨ by Giorgo Capitani with Van Heflin , Gilbert Roland , George Hilton , and ¨A reason to live , a reason to die¨ by Tonino Valeri with James Coburn , Jose Suarez and Bud Spencer . Here James Garner is superbly believable and gives a nice portrait of an increasingly unhinged thief . James Garner enthusiasts might be surprised to see the star play a villain . Furthermore , John Marley is very good as a cunning old man and remaining support cast is pretty well . There appears Spaghetti's ordinary actors such as Ken Clark , Wayde Preston , Steffen Zacharias , Fausto Tozzi , Bruno Corazzari , Angelo Infanti , Luciano Rossi , Barta Barry , among others.

The musician Gianni Ferrio composes a vibrant soundtrack and well conducted ; including a catching leitmotif and considered to be one of the best . In addition , a marvelous song at the beginning titled ¨Other men's gold¨ , with lyrics by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter , sung by Stefan Grossman . Atmospheric scenario with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under sunny exteriors and a shimmer sun and fine sets by production designer Mario Chiari with striking cinematography by Luigi Kuiveiller . The picture resulted to be shot entirely on location in Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and 70s had been shot innumerable Ravioli/Paella Westerns , and interiors in Dino De Laurentiis Cinematographica S.A. , Rome . The motion picture was well written by Frank Kowalski ad Vic Morrow who also directed . While Morrow was filming ¨Twilight zone : the movie¨ , he was unfortunately killed on the early morning hours of July 23, 1982 in a tragic, freak accident on the set while filming a scene involving a helicopter which crashed right on top of him and two young children . Rating : 6'5 , acceptable Spaghetti with good lead from James Garner .

Although there are a lot of familiar "television" names associated with "A Man Called Sledge", there is nothing extraordinary about the film itself or about any of the performances. In fact, the only thing that distinguishes it from a 1960's-70's television series like "The Rat Patrol" is a bigger cast and a lot more violence.

James Garner is the biggest star and apparently thought he should try to break away from all the light comedy stuff he had been doing ("Maverick", "Support Your Local Sheriff"-"Gunfighter" etc.). Unfortunately his earthy likability works against him, as Sledge is a humorless character written to cash in on the popularity of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti western character. But Eastwood's stuff was not this flat and uninteresting.

I suppose that "A Man Called Sledge" could be classified as a spaghetti western although the pacing is too slow to really fit that sub-genre. Fans of the slow-paced "Combat" television series will feel an instant connection as Vic Morrow directed the film and co-wrote the script with Frank Kowalski. Throw in some then trendy slow-mo shots and cross-dissolves, which call attention to themselves rather than serve a story-telling purpose.

The plot is the standard "big heist" thing (insert "The War Wagon" here) with Sledge plotting how to heist a $300,000 gold shipment. His gang includes Claude Akins and Dennis Weaver. The problem is that while on the move the shipment is guarded by 40 outriders and while stopped it is locked in a vault inside the territorial prison. I think there was an episode of "Alias Smith and Jones" with the same plot.

The story would make a decent hour of television but gets old very fast as a very padded feature length film. Garner does not allow any of his charm to leak into his characterization and the film does not generate enough suspense to hold a viewer's interest.

The thing finally crashes and burns shortly after the heist when the gang engages in a contrived and totally illogical card game.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

A Man Called Sledge

The main proponent of laxed prison sentences is always the man who prints the Wanted Posters.

Mind you, the outlaw in this Western doesn't need any likeness to land him in jail – just the promise of untold riches.

Tipped off to a regular gold shipment that is locked up overnight at the nearby prison, notorious bandit Luther Sledge (James Garner) rounds up his gang (Dennis Weaver, Claude Akins) and plots to purloin the bullion by getting himself apprehended.

Incarcerated, Sledge frees the inmates and escapes with the booty during the melee.

However, infighting amongst Sledge's men over the gold during a poker game results in bloodshed, and the kidnapping of Sledge's prostitute girlfriend.

An unorthodox Western thanks to its substantial Italian influence, A Man Called Sledge features a refreshing departure from the affable gunslinger characters that Garner usually played.

Furthermore, pioneer prisons were notoriously ineffective on account of their sod roofs.

Yellow Light

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If you have read my profile I am a huge fan of Spaghetti Westerns, Film Noir, and Italian Giallo..this film has a mixture of all 3....in many ways this film does not look like a Spaghetti Western, almost like the recent film Open Range about average cowpokes who are very human and have to get by the best they can....Soundwise it is a very Spaghetti i.e. the high-pitched carbine sounds of the weapons and in an Italian Western it could be anything from a Derringer, rifle or Gatling Gun or even a small cannon, but that is what gives the Spaghetti Western its own identity, like bad effects are novel for a Godzilla film....anyway the storyline is very nourish especially James Garner who is quite excellent in this atypical role of a ruthless and merciless outlaw.....The Giallo comes in at 2 points, the creepy and ghoulish way one of his men ride thru town sacrificing his life shooting from his horse a la EL CID...and all 3 of the genres in the latter 3rd of the film.....the score by Gianni Ferrio is quite moody and hip for its day, today it is a little dated, but hey I like dated, again it gives it an identity...I am very proud to own the film finally on DVD in its original widescreen format of 2:40 to 1 ratio....and I enjoy anything that Dino De Laurentiis has produced, from Ulysses 1954 to most recently RED DRAGON with Anthony Hopkins...if you are a Italian Western buff I highly recommend this film..p.s. this film was shot in English but as most Italian productions most of the audio is Post Production, that explains why actors like Tony Young was evidently not available for post ADR and they had to re-voice it with another actor....